I saw this meme today. Now, I’ve got to say, I’ve never been impressed by Ayn Rand. I think she was a selfish, self-serving idiot. She wrote what is, basically, a kid’s book called ‘Atlas Shrugged.’ It’s an over-simplified story of the glories of the so-called “free market” that works out well for the protagonist because SHE wrote the story and got to choose the outcome. The conservatives of this once-great nation have glommed onto it like the new and improved Bible. She means to be railing at government but when I read this all I can think about is Jeff Bezos and his ilk. It’s like so many other things conservatives cling to. It’s technically true but aimed at the wrong target.

Specifically because so many cons are in thrall to the one percent, her final line is likely true, as well. They honestly believe that government is the problem and that, given the chance, the one percent will, eventually, do the right thing. Of course, they also believe they can defeat a virus by shoving a black-light up their asses so…they may not be a dependable source. The one percent isn’t going to do anything for anyone but themselves any time soon. They’ve had 40 years to do something. Still waiting. It’s well past time to tax the rich their fair share. Let them pay taxes at a rate commensurate with the rate they extract from society. (You keep all the money? YOU pay all the taxes!)

I’ve written before about my idea I call ‘Backs or Bucks.’ The concept is simple. People – and I mean everybody – should contribute to society, either with their backs or their bucks. For most of us, it’s some combination of the two. But, according to my view, the more one contributes to society with their backs, the LESS they should be asked to contribute with their bucks and vice-versa. The one percent, generally, don’t do any work. They just take the spoils of the work others do. I know many don’t believe me. Here’s one way a person can tell if someone is working or not.

The IRS recognizes two types of income based on the source derived. Not to put too fine a point on it, they call the two types either ‘Earned Income’ or ‘Unearned Income.’ See that keyword there, ‘Unearned’? Basically, it’s money that came your way even though you did nothing to earn it. There’s another name for that you’re more likely to have heard, Capital Gains. American homeowners tend to see Capital Gains in the increased value of their houses. The one percent see Capital Gains in pretty much everything they do and they don’t pay taxes at the same rate as working people, either. They pay far less. The top book rate for Capital Gains is currently 20%. The top book rate for earned income is 37%.

People who don’t fully understand exactly HOW they’re getting screwed in this deal will tell you what the one percent WANT them to tell you: the one percent deserve to take more because they started the company. I actually agree with that sentiment – to a point. See, Bezos DID start Amazon and, I think we can agree, it’s been wildly successful. But Bezos only filed some paperwork to start a company. The wild success of Amazon is NOT because the company was started. It’s because of the workers doing the work that produces value. There’s a rule about that: Capital is always dependent upon – and secondary to – labor.

So, sure, Bezos started the company and “deserves” more – but how much more? To me, the answer to THAT question is the answer to another question. How much money could Bezos make if he didn’t have any employees? THAT’S how much more he “deserves.” But he keeps FAR more than that. From my point of view, it’s wage theft. The one percent like to say that if we just give them all the money, it will encourage them to, maybe, someday, do something good for those around them. I say that high taxes on the one percent will cause them to actually do what they always promise low taxes might someday encourage them to do. The cons have had their “free market” run and, like always, have been proven wrong. It’s time to return to a regulated, taxed market – call it the “fair market.”

President Biden is proposing a new tax rate that would take the capital gains tax as high as 49%. It’s not enough, but it’s a start. I vote yes. Honestly, I don’t believe the new rates will ever be enacted. The one percent have too much American money and they’re using it against Americans. But just the idea that someone proposed doing the right thing, out loud and in public, shows promise.

Hope springs eternal, I guess…

So…the recall is over. Gavin will stay governor until the regularly scheduled election – next year. What a stupid waste of money. I know, taking advantage of California’s stupid recall rules is pretty much the only way a modern conservative could ever hope to win a statewide office in California. That’s because most conservative politics these days are just bat-shit crazy. I saw many of the ads being run by the cons. The ads consisted of lists of issues. I didn’t hear any solutions. I DID hear some threats. Larry Elder said he would drop all mask mandates, killing Californians like we’re Floridians or Texicans. One guy ran around campaigning with a bear – and then got all butt-hurt when people paid more attention to the bear than to him. Take the hint, sir. The bear seemed more rational.

My guess is that Gavin will stay governor after the next election, too. I’m not sure I felt that way before. Gavin has made some stupid mistakes (French Laundry, anyone?) and I think he was on the ropes a little bit, there. The Republican Recall did more to rehabilitate Newsom’s career than anything Gavin might have done himself. So, the next time you meet a conservative, shake their hand and thank them for their service – to progressives…

Not surprisingly, the cons tried to trot out the Republican lie about rigged elections. Elder said he was concerned about “shenanigans.” To his credit, I haven’t heard him pushing the line since he conceded. I, for one, am tired of listening to cons talking about election fraud. Let’s be clear. No one in America cheats at elections like the Republicans. No one. Between gerrymandering and restrictive voting laws, they work tirelessly to deny voters the opportunity to vote – so long as they’re likely progressive voters.

California suffered many years under the weight of conservative gerrymandering. We passed a law that did away with the practice in the state. I’ll believe conservatives are interested in battling voter fraud when they pass similar laws in their states. They won’t, though. They’ll just keep pointing their fingers at progressives and screaming “voter fraud!” Nothing like a little conservative projection to get the day started. The con leaders KNOW they have nothing of value to offer average Americans so they have no choice. If they’re going to destroy America, they’ve GOT to cheat to do it. And, sadly, they’re bound and determined to destroy America…

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Speaking of threatening America, the cons tried to hold a rally in support of the traitors who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. They called it the “Justice for J6” rally. Apparently, it was a flop, much as the original assault they’re not celebrating. Cons are trying to re-write the details of what happened. It’s one thing to encourage and/or take part in a direct assault on America, it’s another thing to take responsibility for it. So far, there are something like 650 cons “taking responsibility for their actions” (read: facing criminal charges) whether they want to or not. Saturday’s J6 rally brought out about half that number. The “bravest?” The “most dedicated?” No. Just the dumbest of the dumb…

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I write these awesome essays on my blog page, http://www.mybaconpress.com, then post a copy to Facebook. I mention it because I’m a little curious to see how Facebook will respond to my highlighting their current kerfuffle. (Most likely? They won’t even notice…) Have you heard the charges being leveled at Facebook now? According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook has understood the damage they do to our society for a long time. (Duh…) The Journal is using internal documents to support their charges. Facebook denies the charges and claims the Wall Street Journal is cherry picking internal information. After everything I’ve seen from Facebook, I’ll believe the Wall Street Journal on this one…

On the upside, we can look forward to an upcoming visit of Zuckerberg to Congress so he can offer the standard Facebook mea culpa. “Our bad.” “We’ll do better.” “We should have known.” Always remember, they did know…

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I think it’s time to re-introduce regulations on, well, on just about everything. This country fell into a hell-hole of pretending regulations were bad and kept business from profiting. As always when it comes from cons, half-true. The regulations were good, in part because they kept businesses from profiting, or, rather, profiteering.

I don’t think business is inherently evil. Nor do I think they’re inherently good. Business exists for one reason: profit. They should, by rights, do every legal thing they can do to produce profit. That’s their job. So it’s up to the societies in which they operate to define what is legal and what is not through laws and regulations. As a society, we’ve abrogated our responsibility to set limits on business and, as a society, we’re now suffering the consequences. We need to take back control. WE need to provide the limits and the ethical guidance business lacks. Just a thought…

I was listening to the Pat Thurston show on KGO radio. As part of the annual 9/11 fluff job, she was talking to someone about the various and sundry lies the US government told the American people to get us into George’s illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the first place. The question came up, did the people spreading the falsehoods knew they were falsehoods or did they really believe the stories they were telling? Every time I hear this line, people seem to settle on, “Well, we just don’t know. They SEEM to have really believed…”

They didn’t. They knew better. They just stuck to their story. 43’s administration made a concerted effort to exaggerate (or just make up) threats and to significantly downplay (or just make up) mitigating information. We were told, for example,that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction (he didn’t). The international weapons inspectors on the ground in-country kept trying to push back, insisting no such WMD’s existed in Iraq. American media gave the naysayers short shrift. We were told that George’s misadventure in Iraq would pay for itself with Iraqi oil (it didn’t). None of them ever talked about how oil was going to compensate a family over a lost loved one – a soldier who answered their country’s call.

Most people know, now, that the American War in Afghanistan and Iraq was based almost entirely on lies. Even the New York Times got in on the act. There was plenty of evidence the administration AND the media knew lies were being hyped even then but the overall message we were being lied to was buried under an onslaught of pseudo-patriotism. The warmongers got away with it because they had effective control over the media.

It started with Ronald Reagan eliminating the Fairness Doctrine. Bill Clinton put the final nail in the coffin of independent journalism by eliminating the rules of ownership, allowing now five companies to have so much control over the media they effectively control the message from sea to oily sea. It’s why we rarely heard anything about Afghanistan while the profits were rolling in and, now that those profits have been interrupted, we’re hearing almost daily about Taliban atrocities. Media Manipulation.

I’ve always kind of privately enjoyed the reality that the one percent tested their market control over the media by impeaching Clinton. Poll after poll showed that people – sometimes as high as 85% of respondents – did NOT think his personal peccadillo with Monica rose to the level of impeachment. But pushing for impeachment in the media went forward. Over time, enough people were convinced by media misinformation. Clinton was actually brought to trial. Pure media manipulation – and a complete success. The media did the same for 43 when he was trying to sell his wars for profit – because, well, profit.

In a kind of ‘War is Peace’ moment, I noticed that every time a big company bought a smaller company – reducing competition – the merger was approved under the idea that increased competition is good. Well, yeah, it is. We should have some. But we don’t. Instead, we have a conglomeration of rich people delivering an ongoing message: what’s best for rich people is best for every body. (It isn’t.) But they didn’t leave it at that. They began to use their outsized voice to sow division. They know that Lincoln (citing the Bible) was right, a house divided cannot stand – against them. Cleverly, one segment of our society was co-opted and conditioned to always take a contrarian viewpoint – ALWAYS. Nothing mattered except the contrarian message.

I used to say that under the right conditions, conservatives would kill their own grandmothers. I thought I was being facetious. Then COVID hit. By then, I was quite comfortable with my observation about the conditioned conservatives. It holds up over and over and over again. It can even be fun, playing the ‘How Are Cons Going to Contradict’ game. One can ALWAYS predict how cons will obstruct by figuring out the contrarian message. So I understood the one percent’s quandary. I thought they were trapped. COVID-19 would kill their audience (and loyal foot-soldiers). How, I wondered, would they take a contrarian position? At first, THEY wondered, too. There was a brief moment – maybe three days – when even conservatives knew to protect themselves and others from the virus. Anecdotally, even Tucker Carlson was said to have told higher-ups at FOX “News” the message HAD to be to work against the virus.

But that would have meant unity. It would have meant listening to experts and taking science seriously. In short, it would have undermined everything they had been creating in the conservative bubble for 40 years and, they seem to have understood, even a moment of unity could be dangerous – to them. So? Bye bye, grandma. (And uncles and aunts and sisters and brothers, mothers and fathers, and now children.) No masks. The virus is a hoax. They’re coming for your freedumb.

Most people delivering that message got the jab. Some had to. FOX has a policy, they followed the policy. Most (likely all) of the politicians in thrall to the one percent got the jab but pretended otherwise in order to keep the acolytes stirred up. Hell, Donald Trump got the jab while it was still in experimental stage. It hadn’t even been approved for emergency purposes, yet. But he took the shot and then called the virus a hoax.

You can talk about any issue, the cons will take a contrarian viewpoint, no matter what. It’s the message they receive. It’s the message they believe. But it’s a message that deceives. So, what do we do? There IS an answer and it’s pretty straightforward. We need to return to the rules of media ownership Bill Clinton destroyed and return the Fairness Doctrine Ronald Reagan destroyed. But in order to do that, we’d need politicians, now owned and operated by the one percent, to do the right thing. We’ve seen – in abundance – that isn’t going to happen.

So, COVID will keep killing. Climate change will keep killing. The American War will find a new country to profit in and keep killing. The American Experiment continues it’s decline. But, hey, the DOW is at record highs, right?

Let us not talk falsely now, shall we? We’ve known that the cons packed the Sour Cream Court in order to start harming Americans in a wide variety of ways in the first place. Can anybody really be surprised they’ve attacked poor women…again? As you certainly know by now, Texass has passed an anti-abortion law that makes it nearly impossible to access one in that state. Now, obviously, this will have NO effect on any woman with resources. If she needs an abortion, she can travel out of state, get it done, come home.

Of course, there are groups of men in several other stupid states that are rushing to tell women what they can and can’t do with their bodies based on the Texican standard. They must be so excited they get to tell women what to do again. “Hey, you get your bitch-ass back in the kitchen – and make me some pie!” That’s the professed attitude of fourth-grader Eric Cartman on ‘South Park.’ Sadly, it continues to be the attitude of fourth-grade level thinking in Texass.

I think women across Texass (and those other states) should cross their legs and KEEP them crossed. If they can, I mean. Victims of incest can’t. Rape victims (redundant, I know) can’t. Leave it to Texass to victimize the victims. Hopefully, some clever sod will start a black market in Texass and the other moron states in RU-486, the so-called ‘morning after’ pill. One doesn’t have to wait to find out with RU-486. Of course, it’s expensive so STILL no help to poor people.

Quick question, though. Have they or have they not also made clear that the phrase ‘my body, my choice’ is false? Clearly, the standard is ‘your body, our choice.’ Now, there are many out there celebrating this decision. Does it not also mean that society can, in fact, force you to wear a mask? I wonder how the American Taliban are going to work that one out? They will – double standards are their thing – but it will be interesting to see them twisting logic and making exceptions that work best for them.

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Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, the Taliban has claimed they’re going to be the new and improved religious zealot morons who won’t be as bad as they were before. Sure. They’ve broken up a women’s rights march in Kabul by firing live rounds near the crowd. I guess that IS an improvement. At least they didn’t shoot the women – yet…

I see it as a kind of playoff. Who is going to be the most vicious, the most cruel to people in the name of their – apparently – vicious and cruel god, the religious idiots in Afghanistan or the religious idiots in Texas? Stay tuned…

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Hey, speaking of stupid, the gubernatorial recall bought by the cons is moving forward, wasting time, and costing huge amount of money but doesn’t seem to be recalling the governor at this point. Good. I realized, FAR too late, that I should have begun a write-in campaign to replace Newsom should the recall succeed. I’ll just have to live with the fact that I missed this round but I have high confidence that the cons will be out again, working on yet another recall, just as soon as the next Democrat gets elected governor – which I believe will be in 2022. That’s when you’ll be hearing from me, asking for your support.

The cons tried four times to get Newsom recalled before they bought this one. There’s no reason to believe they won’t try again just as soon as they can. I think the state legislature needs to change the rules to make a recall a bit more difficult – because these guys are relentless. I started off – I think I wrote this last week – saying I thought the Lieutenant Governor should just move up. After all, that person is elected as well. Then I realized, because that person is elected, the cons might try to get a con elected Lt Gov and then start the recall process even sooner. It might be even easier for them to corrupt the system.

The political ads are boring though, aren’t they? The cons trying the coup are listing problems California has. No, there’s not much substance when it comes to solutions. They just list the problems and promise to do “everything they can” to fix them. Well, I’ll make the same promise. I’ll do everything I can to fix California’s problems. Hell, I’ve already done “everything I can” to fix California’s problems. Call it a “proven record…”

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A friend of mine went to an emergency room the other day and was dismayed by the number of people there waiting for treatment for non-emergency issues. Emergency rooms MUST, by law, treat all comers. He thinks there should be some system that allows people to gain access to medical help without gumming up emergency rooms. I agree.

I see the occasional letter to the editor declaring we ought to teach children in school things they might need on a daily basis instead of focusing on college-bound tracks only. You know, like we used to.

Driving on the roads these days has become something of a challenge and a moment by moment risk of one’s life. FAR too many people are out there driving who have never been taught to drive and it shows.

You know what ALL of these observations have in common? Tax cuts for the rich. We should have national health care but we can’t because it would involve taxing the rich. We SHOULD teach children real-life, day-to-day skills but schools had to make choices – because of tax cuts for the rich. There are no more traffic control cops working on a regular basis because of – wait for it – tax cuts for the rich.

When you hear the euphemism “tax cuts” what you’re REALLY hearing is “service cuts.” The evidence is overwhelming…