Here’s a funny thing: CheetoJesus’s social media platform, ‘Truth Social,’ seems, by all measures, to be crashing and burning. That part doesn’t surprise me. The Dumbass has never started a successful business in his life. The part I like is the part about Devon Nunes. Nunes is a FAR right conservative. He polluted the halls of Congress for something like 18 years and like so many other permanent fixtures in our Congress, likely would have stayed forever. Except he bought into the trumpery. He voluntarily resigned his position in the House and went to work for the Orange Moron! Ha, ha! Now he’s out of the House (thank the gods) AND it looks like, soon, he’ll be out of a job, too.

Nunes is from a (IMHO) lazy, whiny rich family so he’ll be fine. But I LIKE seeing people who buy into the trumpery live the results of their faith. It’s kind of…comforting…

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The politicians sure have gotten themselves into a pickle, haven’t they? I saw a headline in the Guardian, ‘Garland Under Pressure to Charge Ex-President.’ Oh, what to do, what to do? Here’s the pickle: the United States DOES NOT jail ex-Presidents. So far, EVER. I believe the idea is that if one party’s president is jailed, it will lead to a tit-for-tat and the jailed president’s party will LIVE to jail the other party’s president. The very concept reeks of corruption but it worked for, like, 227 years. Nixon (R) pressed the boundaries by overseeing a criminal break-in. He resigned but otherwise walked away – and the Republicans STILL haven’t forgiven the Democrats. Bush (R) 43’s crimes were international war crimes. Not so much criminal activity in the US and so, apparently, “easy” to overlook. But then came the trumpery (R…hey, there seems to be a pattern, here). This guy is SO corrupt, even a small scratch at the surface exposes criminal activity and the deeper one looks, the worse things get.

Investigations across the land have found enough evidence to put anybody else in prison for a while. But this is an ex-president. Okay, so maybe he gets a pass on his financial criminal activities. Rich people stealing from everyone else is the very basis of the so-called “free market” system so we’re all kind of used to that. But treason? An attempted coup? Really? After the Orange Moron’s insurrection on January 6th, enough evidence has been produced to indicate his guilt. So now what? He’s an ex-president. Enter the “protected for life” rule. But he’s a traitor. He stands AGAINST the US Constitution. He actively tried to overthrow the government of the United States, fercrissakes. Can one give that a pass? He’s out there still, planning the next chapter of his coup and he STILL has widespread support among his base. (Don’t be too surprised. The Bible makes clear that many people will love the Beast of the Sea – and, boy howdy, do they!)

So…if they DON’T prosecute, the country is in dire risk of an authoritarian overthrow and descent into dictatorship. If they DO prosecute, the disloyal opposition pretends to take it personally (ignoring evidence) and this once-great nation, that apparently operated by handshake agreement – falls apart anyway. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. It’s a bad choice. I don’t like, but I understand, the concept of not prosecuting a president lightly, even if it means letting them get away with some things but if we can’t prosecute treason, we’ve failed already and it’s only a matter of time before the facade comes down.

For my part, I’d prefer to fall on the hill of doing the right thing. Charge and prosecute the Trump Crime Family, most especially Donnie “the Don.” If the evidence supports conviction, convict them. If We, the People are destined to suffer regardless of the choice we make, let’s at least make the right choice, to do the right thing…

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To hear cons tell it, the only reason gas is so expensive is because Biden cancelled plans to allow drilling on public land and a pipeline extension that wasn’t expected to move one drop of nasty-ass, tar-sands oil until 2032. No, he didn’t cancel the leases the oil cartels already have. He just wasn’t going to issue any MORE leases on public land. His position? They should use some of the 9,000 leases they already have. Oil companies don’t like to use leases they possess. They put them on their balance sheets to boost company value, then let them sit idle. But the oil companies KNOW they have a strangle-hold on the world economy. They KNOW they simply shut off the spigot and – viola! – they get anything they want. They’ve done it again. Biden is now acquiescing and allowing leases on public land again. So, if the cons are correct (the cons are almost never correct) we should be looking at gas prices more like, oh, I don’t know, say, $2.00/gallon, right? Any day now, I’m sure.

The truth is, no president has much control over what goes on in a corporate boardroom. The truth is, gas is expensive because of greed and nothing else. Trumpery still reigned in this once-great nation when the oil cartel decided to cut production because, darn it, they just were pocketing enough of the world’s hard earned money. The so-called supply chain interruptions just gave them an excuse and they went for it. Enthusiastically.

As the greed-blinded execs raised prices as aggressively as possible – ostensibly because of the change in policy, not availability – gas went up 30 cents a DAY here in California. Now it’s coming down. A penny here, a penny there. It’ll never be where it was when the money grab began. Maybe it will drop to $5.00/gal – and people will feel relieved. At least it’s not $6.00.

As most of us know, the world is addicted to oil. World leaders will, eventually, do whatever they’re told to do because the oil “dealers” have what the world needs. But, as any/every addict knows, the only way to recover actual freedom and dignity is to break the addiction…