Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, hee, hee, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ho, ho, ha, ha, Oh, my side hurts! ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,

That’s me, laughing at those wacky, zany Republicans and their “hearing” into Biden’s “crimes.” They just get nothing, and nothing, and then more nothing. But having nothing doesn’t stop ’em. They’re going to run into that wall, over and over and over again. Hilarious!

They SHOULD be passing the debt ceiling increase but that would be responsible, doing the right thing. Republicans don’t DO the right thing. EVER! So instead, they’ve launched a hearing into the various and sundry ‘crimes of Joe Biden.’ (Checks notes. Is this correct? Joe Biden?) Yeah, Joe Biden. They brought in a hard-hitting first “witness,” Jonathon Turley from Fox Not-News, apparently because he was opposed to Trump’s second impeachment.

His testimony? No, he doesn’t see any impeachable crimes from Joe Biden. Oh, he thinks the hearings should continue because they might find something, but, no, they haven’t found anything yet. Yeah, that’s how it’s supposed to work, hearings in search of crimes. So far, so good…

These guys are an embarrassment to the country, to the world, and to humanity in general. But not to Republicans. Republicans think they’re hard-hitting, intrepid “investigators” seeking the dirt on a political opponent and they’re desperate to find… something… anything. They NEED some law-breaking from Biden in an attempt to counter all of the law-breaking from 45 but it just isn’t there. Private citizen Hunter, sure, but it just doesn’t have the same zing as getting Joe.

Meanwhile, Democrats are actively mocking them to their faces and they don’t even understand. At some point, stupid on stupid, trying to be even more stupid and, sadly, succeeding spectacularly is going to be a problem for this once great nation. It’s a good thing nothing important is going on right now or the Republicans might drop the ball entirely…

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

Speaking of the Republican debt ceiling failure, welcome to the Republican shut-down! Count that a prediction at this point. They actually have one more day, today, to get something done. In my lifetime, I’ve seen Congress get something done in one day exactly one time in my life. (I hadn’t even known it was possible.) It was when conservatives in Congress, trying to make some point, declared Terry Schiavo still alive. Doctors said no, she’s gone, but the cons took a vote and – viola! – resurrected (in a very much still-dead kind of way, though).

Cons have been very quick to try to convince people that nobody will be hurt. Specifically, what they mean is that none of THEM will be hurt. The Democratic controlled Senate is working, today, to try and get something passed as a stop-gap but the America-hating Freedumb Caucus in the House is going to say no to everything. This is their goal, their dream-come-true. They pretend they’re trying to save money but this isn’t the process for that. This is just a question of whether we pay our bills or not and the cons are saying, “NO!” That, alone, is going to do harm.

Perhaps we could slash the Pentagon budget in half. That would save LOTS of money. Hey, we could shut down the money-wasting, time wasting, politically motivated “impeachment hearing,” the very embodiment of “wasteful spending.” I also like the idea of refusing to spend one Federal cent in any district represented by a no-voting “Freedumb Caucus” member. That will save some money, too. Hey, if it’s what those, particular (and particularly stupid), constituents want, let’s give it to them. “No money for you – in keeping with your preference!”

I don’t really see any reason the rest of the country should suffer. Let the constituents of the “Freedumb Caucus” live with ZERO Federal assistance for awhile, say, through the next election. If they return their Freedumb caucus member to the House, they’re approving of no Federal assistance. (That won’t happen. That would involve having an actual principle about a thing.) If they prefer to receive their Social Security or Medicare or Disability payments or whatever other Federal assistance from which they might benefit, they need only replace their insane and always-wrong “representative.” Simple. Meanwhile, NONE of the Congress critters should be paid nor any expenses reimbursed until they do their job…

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

Well, Diane Feinstein has passed, aged 90. If you’ve been alive over the last couple of days, you’ve learned everything you could about her from most outlets. For me? I liked her when she was younger, less so as she aged. I thought she should have stepped down, at least when staffers started having to explain to her who she was. I don’t mean her any disrespect but she clearly overstayed her abilities and that was not in the best interests of the country, despite the rhetoric.

Governor Gavin Newsom gets to appoint her replacement. He says he’s going to pick a “place-holder.” He doesn’t want to choose any of the declared candidates for fear of giving one of them a boost the others don’t get. I expect a replacement sooner rather than later. We’ve all seen the state Feinstein was in. Again, despite all the talk, we’ve all been on a kind of death watch for her. Newsom must have someone in mind already…

Well, Donnie lost again. In court. Why, it’s almost as if this guy depends on lies and more lies to convince people of things but if he has to prove something, hmm, he never can. Like, EVER. Now it turns out his business empire is based on fraud as well. That’s not my opinion. A court just said so. They said, “Hey, your business empire is based on fraud!” That’s pretty clear. So, 45 has turned to his preferred legal strategy: lying and whining and attempting to try the case in public instead of the courtroom.

The numbers are self-explanatory. If you have a building genuinely valued at a million dollars but you report the value as five million to get a loan and only $27.50 at tax time? You’re lying. Period. But when you walk into a deposition and state, also clearly and under oath, that you use your “gut” to value your buildings? When you insist that using appraisers would take too long in the process of doing business so you just “estimate?” The prosecutors are going to look at you, likely dumbfounded, and say, “Uh…you realize those are the actual charges, right? You just made up numbers to serve your needs in the moment?”

So they had the charge that he did it. They had the numbers to prove he did it. They had his own statement, explaining clearly that, of course he did it. How could they NOT rule such a fraudster a fraudster?

The State of New York isn’t going to let a Trump do business of any kind anywhere in the state pending an appeal he’s going to attempt but lose. (They got barred from non-profits for criminal wrongdoing a few years ago.) I was worried a bit about Ivanka. She got dismissed from the suit. Not, it turns out, because she wasn’t connected to wrongdoing. Ivanka got dismissed because the Statute of Limitations had run on business deals in which she had participated. So, I was concerned the corporation might just welcome her back to the corporation and plop her down in the Chairman’s seat as a figurehead.

Actions speak louder than words and I’ve also learned that, despite all his claims that the whole thing is a witch hunt and he can prove his innocence, he was quietly trying to re-incorporate and shift all of his assets out of New York, indicating that, for all of his bluster, he knew he was going to lose. Letitia James stopped the process. The state WILL get what Trump owes.

But the judge has cancelled all of Trump Organization’s business certificates and the holdings are being put into a receivership for liquidation. With the business certificates all canceled effective immediately? I think the stable business genius is out of business in the State of New York…

I’ll tell you this: his rank and file MAGA cons are going to have to get second and third jobs to pay his legal AND living expenses. I guess it’s a good thing they’re so comfortable they can afford to bail out the self-proclaimed (but probably lying) billionaire…

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

Remember when 45 told people they were going to get tired of winning? Has he won anything since? This dude is the biggest loser I’ve ever seen – and I’ve known some losers…

His latest loss is his attempt to get Tanya Chutkin to recuse herself. She’s the judge in the D.C, J6 trial. She has sentenced several of the traitorous MAGAs and, I suspect, she’s looking forward to sentencing 45. He thinks that shows bias. I think it proves she’s been paying attention. Based on what I know, I expect a conviction in that trial but, I’ll tell you the truth, if I were sitting on the jury, I’d pay attention to possible exculpatory evidence and take it into account. (Trump claims he’s sitting on a trove of liberating proof. I don’t believe him, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt until the trial comes and goes and none of it ever appears.) I don’t like Trump. I think he’s dangerous to America. But I DO love America, or at least, what she’s trying to be. That means if I’m sitting on a jury, I have to do the best I can to be objective. That would be my role. If I can do it, Judge Chutkin can do it. (I’d guess she can do it even in situations where I couldn’t, her being a professional, and all…)

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

I hated the Trump years. I hated listening to the MAGAs all bragging about Trump’s great accomplishment, none of which were actually happening. I hated listening to his constant whining, bragging, and threats to anyone who thought differently than he did. I hated his elevating bigotry to “acceptable,” public-display levels again. I hated watching the world withdraw from America, coming to the realization they had an unstable trading partner and undependable ally in Trump. Hell, they started keeping information from the US, fearful that Trump might pass it on to Putin.

I hated that the one time America – and the world – needed a true leader when Covid-19 hit, instead we got a blithering buffoon whose response to the threat was “pretend it isn’t real.” How many tens of thousands of people died as a direct result of his utter incompetence? I hated watching his minions attack the Capitol building because an election didn’t come out the way they wanted and that orange moron had convinced them that if he lost, it was rigged. Most of all, I hated that he seemed to be getting away with all of it.

The wheels of justice move slowly and I was – and am – concerned that they may move too slowly. Apparently, despite his crimes, despite his failures, despite his incompetence, despite his lying, despite his bigotry, despite his age, despite his outright and demonstrated stupidity, despite his love for despots and dictators, and despite his disrespect of the U.S. Constitution, he has a good chance of being President again.

This says FAR more about the MAGAs than it does about Trump. ANY moron can say, “Hey, can I be President?” The fault lies with the crowd that looks at the moron and says, “Great choice!” But it’s still a danger. As President of the United States he would have the power to protect himself from criminal prosecutions. EVERYONE knows that. So the race is on. Have the trials, get the verdicts. Define the sentence or don’t, depending on the verdict. It’s pretty clear: stop Trump or lose America. Period. Those are the choices.

I’ll tell you this: life very rarely offers such stark, this-or-that choices but we’re looking at one right now: stop Trump or lose America. I expect the prosecutors to prevail at every turn. (They have VERY good cases.) But the devil still takes care of his own. The ONLY thing I’ve ever seen Trump do effectively is slither out of responsibility for anything. He deserves an orange jumpsuit. I expect to see him in an orange jumpsuit. But just in case, I stand ready to cast a ballot for whomever emerges as the anti-Trump. (Biden.) I really hope it doesn’t get that far, though…

MAGA cons are, quite literally, trying to effect actual change in real life in response to delusional stances. That’s not going to work. (Keyword: “delusional.”) They seem to think that simply declaring their delusion makes it real. In the House, the cons have an entire committee looking into what they describe as “the weaponization of government.” To a MAGA con “weaponizing government” means prosecuting crimes using evidence, in this case, a staggering amount of well-documented evidence. They don’t really object to weaponizing government, though. Have you heard them talk? All they want is to gain enough power to use the government to attack their political opponents and, preferably, lock up said opponents for reasons to be determined later.

The MAGA’s also have a tendency to declare the way something works – and then expect that that is, indeed, the way that thing works. Freedumb Caucus member Jim Jordan is heading up the “weaponization of government” “investigating” committee. They’re doing all they can to harass the prosecutors and witnesses against Trump. You know, because they hate weaponization of government. So, Jordan, having randomly decided his power as a committee chair is unlimited and irrefutable, sends requests to Fani Willis, demanding papers and documentation and regular reports on her work. The biggest problem cons ALWAYS have is that they do NOT get to just decide how things work and this event is no exception. I imagine Jordan thought his was a pretty slick move.

Willis told him no. She’s just not going to play – and she doesn’t have to. She used professional level lawyer talk to refuse his “demand.” She pointed out that the pesky constitution doesn’t allow for Congress to interfere with state trials. She mentioned his request was rife with “inaccurate information and misleading statements” whose “obvious purpose is to obstruct a Georgia criminal proceeding” and pointed out he’s advancing “outrageous partisan misrepresentations.” I suspect that if he pushes too hard, she could charge him with obstructing a state procedure. Wouldn’t THAT be fun?

If Jim Jordan wants to find the culprit “weaponizing government,” he needs to look in the mirror. All of this, mind you, in defense of a guy, 45, who claims the law is on his side and he has all the evidence he needs to clear himself – he’s just waiting for that magical, “right moment” before he drops a ton of exculpatory evidence on the Dems. Silly me, this isn’t about ‘Dems,’ it’s about the law and I would have thought the right moment would have been before the charges were filed. Secretly, I suspect he doesn’t really have any evidence at all. Shocking, I know. I keep thinking, “If he has the law on his side, and he has all the evidence he needs to clear himself, why is he relying so heavily, instead, on a campaign of harassment, threats, and – to the limited extent the MAGA’s can – government weaponization?”

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

I hear the writer’s strike is coming to an end. They’ve agreed in principle on everything and are just working out the language of the contract. Unions. STILL doing good in the US. Their strike worked. The UPS driver’s strike worked. The railroad workers strike worked. (In a weird way, but it worked.) I’m guessing the UAW strike is going to work, as well. Why, it’s almost as if employers know they have NOTHING without workers despite whatever rhetoric they spew.

I’ve written, in these pages and several times, my support for unions. I lamented that big business managed to off-shore most of the union jobs. “Oh,” they said, “we’ll become a service economy.” They liked that idea because many of the service jobs were not well organized. The shift gave the C teams across America the power they needed to do whatever they wanted and they wanted to pocket all the money. Executive-to-worker pay differences soared. When the workers said, “Hey, where’s our share?” executives said, “Shut up! Pay cut! Get back to work!”

I listen to Bloomberg Radio for financial news. They’re pretty good but they lean right. They’re not partisan, exactly, but the rightward lean is apparent. For example, they don’t like unions. I heard one of their talking heads trying to convince listeners that the USA hasn’t seen a strike succeed in over 40 years. That happened, literally, days after the UPS strike had, indeed, succeeded. The other day, I heard one of them pointing out that the latest strategy in the UAW fight, targeting parts distributors, would hurt the common man, people who need parts and can’t get them. If the workers don’t make the parts, she lamented, the company can’t ship the parts. Hey, that’s true.

In fact, I’d say that’s the point. The company needs the workers more than the workers need the company. Capital, as the adage goes, is subsequent to, and dependent upon, labor. That means nobody makes money without workers. Hey, the labor force has something the executives need? When I need gas, I pay what they gouge because they have it and I need it. Go to the doctor. Pay whatever number they make up – and they DO make them up, often, because they have what I need and I need it. I pay more for the delivery of electricity than the actual production of that energy – because PG&E owns the lines and they can charge what they want because they have what I need. All of that is viewed as “Capitalism.” (Capitalism – “You’re trapped! Pay up!”) Organizing for the control of their “product” – the labor the Capitalists need – is a VERY Capitalist move.

I’ll tell you this: I’m looking forward to more unionization and more labor actions to get what the workers deserve. I don’t like the disruptions from union actions but I very much like the ability to get a fair share for the people who create the revenues in the first place…

According to the super capable, stable genius, if Biden (or maybe Obama or maybe even Hillary. He’s not sure who he last ran against.) gets elected again, he’ll probably get us into World War Two. Damn, again?!? That war sucked the first time through. I’m not sure I WANT a redux…

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

I served in the US Air Force and earned an Honorable Discharge. That makes me eligible for VA medical coverage but, truth be told, I chose not to pursue it for many, many years. I was not a combat veteran and, in my experience, it’s quite common for non-combat veterans to stand aside for combat veterans, who, likely, need the resources more.

I have a friend who served in the Navy, also non-combat. He wasn’t using the VA, either. The thing is, the older we get the more medical services we need and in our current, vicious, Capitalist-crap-hole of a country (“America! We’ll squeeze til you die, then we’ll squeeze a little more!”), people go where they can to get health care. So, when my friend had a serious health issue, he hooked up with the VA to help him out.

Apparently, he likes it. He and I have been friends for a long, long time. I trust him. When he told me about his great experience and suggested I should go with the VA, I re-considered my position and looked into it. He said he gets all of his medications for $5.00 a bottle. What a deal. He DID point out that, mostly, he has to go to San Francisco for treatment. He lives in northern California and takes a special VA bus, spends the night at the VA facility, gets his treatment, then takes the bus home.

My experience has not mirrored his.

When one joins the VA, one is assigned a doctor, so you get what you get. What I got was a woman who doesn’t seem to be too interested in being there and every time I’ve spoken with her, to date, she seems to think I’m trying to put something over on her. (I have no idea what that might be.) The first time I met her, it was a welcome meeting and she set up prescriptions from my other provider. She also told me I should maintain my other coverage. I started ordering meds from the VA. They mail them and it’s quite convenient – but they were NOT $5.00/bottle and, in keeping with the normal quality of her work, a couple weren’t even set up in the correct dosages so I got some from the VA and kept getting some from my private provider. (I tried to get her to correct the dosages. She refused.) Just before my last appointment, I tried to refill a couple of things and everything listed said ‘Expired.’ Weird. My appointment was literally days later so I thought I’d just mention it to her then.

When I did? She looked confused. She said, “We don’t provide your medications.” Now I was confused. I said, “You have been.” She said, no, she hadn’t seen that in the records. I pointed out that she set them up. I mentioned that I have meds issued by the VA, bottles with the VA logo on them. She stopped debating the point but made no effort to renew the prescriptions and I came away believing she has no intention of doing so. Also, it seemed to make her defensive.

I have a problem in my wrist. I get this bone spur that presses against the nerves. It hurts. After awhile, it hurts a LOT. It comes and goes and I know what it is and how to fix it. A shot of cortisone does the trick. My other choice is a tricky surgery. I told her about the pain, told her the history, and asked for the shot. Her response? “We don’t just hand out things because a patient asked us to.” Hey, no shit, huh? I knew she would want x-rays. I just ALSO knew what she would find and was trying to do an end-run around the surgery talk. It’s a waste of time. Surgery is not an option for me. This is America. I have to earn every day, or else, so the message goes, I deserve to die. You know, “…and reduce the ‘surplus’ population.”

She explained to me that if a shot of cortisone was warranted, I would have to go to San Francisco to get it. Are you kidding me? If traffic is good, it’s just under an hour to get to the city for me. (Traffic is rarely that good, any more.) It’s more like an hour and a half getting home. The shot takes about two minutes to administer. Two and a half hours of driving for a two-minute shot? How stupid is that?

I had done a lab panel before the most recent visit. Oops, they missed one of the tests. She explained that I would have to go back to the lab for the one they missed. No sweat. At the end of the appointment, she casually asked me if any “alcohol or recreational drugs are involved.” Okay, alcohol IS a “recreational drug” so the phrasing of that question was stupid. I “recreate” with a little wine most evenings. But, no, her phrasing of her question wasn’t stupid, it was tricky. She and I had not talked about it but when I got to the lab, they ALSO wanted a urine sample. I asked why. The lab tech explained it was a tox screening for drugs.

I don’t DO drug tests. I count them a violation of my constitutional rights, both the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. It’s an invasive search without probable cause and without a warrant, a fishing expedition, and it absolutely leads to self-incrimination. (Yes, my position on the topic HAS denied a few potential employers the benefits of my services.) Fortunately, she hadn’t mentioned her little ambush test and I wasn’t aware they would need that sample in the lab so I stopped by the bathroom on the way to the lab. When I saw the cup, I told the tech that wouldn’t be happening. When I learned what it was for, I was glad for the way things had worked out. But now? I have NO trust in my VA doctor.

She’s very unresponsive. She doesn’t seem to know what day it is, let alone which patient she’s with or what she has done for said patient. She’s very good at “no” and now I see her as sneaky and underhanded, as well. I walked out of the VA in the exactly same medical condition as when I walked in and with no provision in sight, my VA “doctor’s” advice ringing in my ears, “You should see a doctor about that…”

I can’t just switch to a different (hopefully better) doctor at the VA. There’s a process and it STARTS with asking the offending doctor to reassign me. That seems a little like asking Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from a case involving his bribing friends and/or his criminal wife. “NO!”

So, for me? The VA is basically a wash-out. I can get little tests and screenings, maybe. Care, though? Not so much. The only decent advice she ever gave me was to keep my private coverage. Of course, private insurance in this once-great nation is like a personal seat license (PSL). The PSL you pay for only allows you to pay even more for seats. Health care insurance in this country only gets you in the door, where you can then pay and pay and pay some more.

I’ll tell you this: I hope my VA experience is an anomaly. I hope vets who don’t have access to other avenues of health care, like I do, aren’t stuck in such an unresponsive, dare you-to-use system. I don’t know, maybe the phrase “Thank you for your service” is supposed to replace decent health care. I would be interested to hear if you use the VA and what your experience is, if you would be inclined to share…

Well, it looks like we’re on track to yet another Republican shut-down of our government. Lovely. When I write my opinion that I think a segment of the Republican party wants to simply destroy our nation, it’s things like this I’m thinking about. And, make no mistake. This is not a bi-partisan problem. This is pure Republican. Worse, it’s a handful of insane, far-wrong (they’re never right) Republicans who care about nothing so much as optics. But when the nation starts staggering under the weight, blame the Republicans. When American credit gets downgraded, yet again, because of yet another Republican shut-down, blame the Republicans. When you go into the voting booth, perhaps pregnant with your rapists baby, blame the Republicans.

Kevin McCarthy was nearly forced to perform obscene acts in public to get the job of Speaker of the House in the first place. Now he’s going to lose it because a small segment of his party doesn’t understand things. That’s just going to make things worse. The House is non-functioning with it’s weak, weak, pathetic, loser of a “leader.” How bad is it going to be with no leader at all?

Here’s one way you can know, and I mean be absolutely certain, that shutting down the government is a stupid and dangerous idea: 45 really, really wants them to do it. He wants it bad. He thinks it’s a great opportunity to try to de-fund his criminal trials. (Sounds like justice to me. Can’t prove your innocence in court? Attack the process. Perfect.)

Can you imagine hating your country so much you would rather destroy it than (Oh! Em! Gee!) compromise? Horror of horrors! But this small band of Republicans are doing exactly that. The entire country gets to suffer while they have their little temper tantrum. But what’s their end game? They’re not going to win. Even if they force concessions in the House, somehow, the Senate is going to kill whatever stupid, far-wrong idea they’re endorsing now. If they can’t get what they want, what are they holding out for? They’re going to hurt Americans across the land just to try to make some, stupid political point.

I’ll tell you this: we all know who’s doing these things, Republicans. When you go into a voting booth, a vote for Republicans is a vote against America. At this point? There can be no question.

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

Okay, so… at what point does “gifts from friends” become a criminal act? Let’s say you’re a Supreme Court Justice and your “friends” became your friends right around the time you became a Supreme Court Justice – and just happen to be millionaires and billionaires who likely have business before said court from time to time – and certainly have political goals. As we’ve all experienced, after being sought out and befriended by millionaires and billionaires, you begin to receive from those potential litigants some, uh, let’s call them “gifts.”

Yeah, that’s the ticket. Let’s say that. They’re “gifts.” Hundreds of thousands of dollars of gifts every year. Very generous friends. Oh, let’s add that, instead of reporting these… um… gifts, like he’s supposed to, he didn’t report them. At all. To anyone. (For clarity, that’s the opposite of what he was supposed to do.) There’s another word I know, ‘bribe.’ Maybe these two, independent points don’t stand together too well in this case. Who knows? But, to me? It doesn’t feel like Clarence Thomas has been receiving “gifts.” They seem more like “bribes” from the likes of Charles Koch, no less, and others, of course.

I’ll tell you this: I want Jack Smith to finish up with the dumbass, already, and turn his attention to the bribe taking Clarence Thomas.

This is only tangentially related, but… We ALL know that when the cons speak, every accusation is a confession. There is NOTHING they accuse the Democrats of doing – and they never have evidence – that the cons don’t get caught actually doing – always with evidence. Ask a con, they’ll tell you that George Soros is the root of all evil and the funder of all evil events, just because he likes doing things like that. They’re only pointing away from Charles Koch, the anti-American, corporate head who just hates, hates, hates paying taxes. (Wouldn’t want to contribute to the well being of the country that gave you so much, now, would we?) Of course they are… When they pretend ‘Soros,’ they mean ‘Koch…’

Apparently, Colorado has decided it should not just let Floriduh walk away with the “Stupidest State” award without any competition, this year so they’ve stepped up. Their entry? Lauren Boebert! It’s a solid move. Boebert can easily “out-stupid” DeSantis and she lies like a trump. Trying to claim she behaved the way she did because her date that night is a Democrat? Why, that’s a Masterstroke of Stupid…

Well played, Colorado. What have you got, Floriduh?

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

There was a time in history in which sports betting was accepted. It was everywhere and everyone engaged. Then in 1918, the odds-on favorite to win the World Series in baseball was the Chicago White Sox. Famously, 8 of the 9 players took bribes to throw the series. When the scandal became public, all 9 of the players were blackballed from professional baseball and not allowed to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame – ever. (“Shoeless” Joe Jackson didn’t take the bribe and didn’t throw the games but got punished along with everyone else because he knew what was happening and kept the information to himself.) Sports betting was banned. The leagues could see the opportunities for corruption of their games were just too many. If it was allowed at all, they knew the credibility of the games could never be fully assured.

Even at that, players and coaches were, occasionally, caught betting on games. Famously, Pete Rose, at the time the manager of the Cincinnati Reds, got caught betting on baseball games, though he swore he didn’t bet on Reds games. He, too, got banned for life.

But now? Sports betting is back. They’re all allowed to bet on games. Not a game they’re playing in, of course. Oh, and certainly NOT from the team’s clubhouse. Because, um, betting from the team’s clubhouse somehow suggests an improper bet? It CAN’T be because it might look like the teams are endorsing bets. The teams ARE endorsing bets. The NFL is even broadcasting itself as “partners” in some sports betting site. Lovely.

For YEARS, many people have suspected that the NFL can – and, perhaps, does – control the outcomes of games through officiating. Unexpected wins and losses can keep the league interesting and keep more eyes tuning in, week to week. And there’s already a cover story in place: “Hey, bad calls are part of the game.” And they are. So, a “bad call” that stops a drive or keeps one alive is just a bad bounce, right? Maybe. Maybe not. Who can say? What I CAN say, for sure, is a “bad call” that causes a game to end against the odds can be very lucrative to certain people when betting is involved.

This new, sports-partnered season is young and it’s difficult to quantify subjective things but I’ve been frustrated watching the games to note there are fewer replays than I’m used to. Replays were automatic and focused on the penalty when the flag is thrown. It still happens, just not as much. That may not even be true but I’ve spoken with others who have noted the same thing. We agree: it’s “weird.”

During the Rams/Niners game last Sunday, the head coach of the Rams – a very intelligent coach – kicked a field goal to end the game in a losing effort. He KNEW the field goal wouldn’t help his team. They were down by 10. What are 3 points going to do? It made no sense. Well, to the game, it made no sense. But in the context of betting? It might have changed the over/under or the beat the spread or any other number of betting outcomes. DID a professional coach risk player’s health just to add a few more points for betting reasons? Who can say? Why DOES a very good, very respected, very intelligent coach run a very stupid play that serves no useful function to the game?

The NFL is one of the greediest corporations in the world. They leave NO penny “unsqueezed.” They’ve even taken to splitting the screen in order to shove in more commercials. Now they’ve “partnered” with an online betting company. I have NO information that the NFL is cheating. But I have decades of history that prove that people will, given the chance.

Don’t get me wrong, here. I’m still watching the games until I know better. My ONLY point, here, is that you should NOT bet your hard-earned money on sports any more. You CAN’T know if the leagues have their “finger on the button,” as the saying goes. The leagues will always deny it. But we’ve already seen suspensions handed down for players violating the rules. The “credibility” of the game is already gone. More than anything, if you bet on sports, you’re really just burning money you clearly don’t want.

I’ll tell you this: it would be a FAR better move for you to just stick your bet into an envelope and send it to me. You clearly don’t want it anymore and I, at the very least, will take your money honestly…

Wow, have you noticed the meteoric rise in gas prices at the pump? Conservatives will tell you it’s because Biden cancelled a pipeline that wasn’t finished and cancelled 9,000 leases that weren’t being used, so, don’t listen to them. This price climb started, like, an hour after Saudi Arabia announced they were going to cut production. They hadn’t actually cut production, yet, and the price of a barrel was basically unchanged but the announcement gave the oil companies an excuse…and they pounced – like they always do. Let’s get into some tin-foil hat stuff, okay?

Joe Biden has been running around extolling the virtues of his “Bidenomics” program. People are still reporting the economy as bad, just not for them. I suspect this is mostly conservatives who think, because a Democrat is in the White House, they live in a Mad Max style, dystopian hell-scape of want and deprivation, so the economy must suck for someone, somewhere, even if they, personally, are doing okay. But the numbers on the economy bear out Biden, not “hell-scape.”

Republicans look like they’re about to nominate and run, eyes wide open, a known sexual predator, a grifter, a person who steals from a kids-with-cancer charity, a tax fraudster, and a traitor to the nation – all in one guy! (Apparently, that’s the best the Republicans have. That ought to tell you something about the Republicans…) That’s got to be a heavy lift for the Republicans. Leaving Joe Biden with a strong economy gives him even MORE of an advantage in the upcoming race.

I submit that corporations, in general, like Republicans better than Democrats. Republicans have a tendency to let corporations do whatever they want and not pay any taxes for the privilege so, why wouldn’t they? If Joe Biden gets to run crime-free (personally, not the country) in a strong economy, he should have a tremendous advantage over the other guy. Is it too much to suspect the oil companies are raising their pump prices specifically to harm the economy in an effort to undermine Biden?

Okay, tin-foil hats off, now. It was just a question…

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Lauren Boebert got kicked out of a play. The theater said they kicked her out because she was vaping, making noises, and taking photos using a flash, basically, disrupting other patrons. We all saw the early release of her latest film, ‘Getting Kicked Out.’ She manages a very professionally delivered flip of the middle finger to one of the security guards on her way out. She’s just classy like that. As it happens, the theater was offering a rather respectful analysis as to why she was asked to leave. Some of the key stuff expanding the story-line got left on the cutting room floor.

But last night, I had an opportunity to see the Director’s Cut. Oh-Em-Gee! The early release left out…(wait for it)…the sex scene! That’s not hyperbole. The security camera has Boebert and her date fondling each other while in the audience. She’s working his junk. He grabs her by the, no, not that, (checks notes) breast, yeah, that’s it, he grabs and fondles her right breast. By now, though, the theater has identified them as potential troublemakers and have trained the house security cameras on them, likely in case of any later legal challenges. So, we all got to watch.

I’m going to tell you the truth. I’m not sure I have that much to say in a negative way about two people who really seem to enjoy each other, sexually. (It does look like they’re having fun.) In a public theater? Probably a bit questionable. In a public theater packed to the rafters? Likely a little TMI for the crowd. In a public theater packed to the rafters, where children are likely present? NO decent person would. But in a public theater packed to the rafters, where children are likely present, AND one of the fondlers is a recognizable member of the Congress? That’s just straight-up bad judgement, that’s what that is.

I’ll tell you this: I’m not sure this latest, filmed, revelation is going to do much to quell the charges that she worked as a professional escort for some period of her life. She seemed quite comfortable with the public display of sexuality and, I guess, quite…skilled? Hey, at least she’s good at something…

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I wonder if the House Freedumb Caucus allows Kevin McCarthy to borrow his testicles for weekends. They certainly have absolute control over them during the week. They want – no, they NEED – to impeach Joe Biden. They (Matt Gaetz, specifically) threatened McCarthy’s Speakership if he didn’t comply. So, he announced the unilateral launch of an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden. The unilateral decision put him squarely at odds with a member of the House named…(checks notes) Kevin McCarthy who is on record saying an impeachment inquiry without a house vote has no validity. (He was right.)

People started ripping on McCarthy for starting an impeachment and THEN searching for charges. He very cleverly pointed out, he didn’t say “impeach.” HE said “inquiry,” leaving miles of backpedaling room. I suspect it was an attempted end-run around the crazies but it hasn’t worked out well for him. Now, the dumbest caucus is irritated with him again. He’s trying to walk a narrow line but how does one predict crazy?

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During a recent speech, 45 made clear he’s WAY ahead of Obama in the polls. (That’s what he said. Obama.) I guess he would be. Frighteningly, he also declared that if his opponent is elected, said opponent will lead us into World War II! Holy crap, again?!? I thought WWII ended in 1945!

I’ll tell you this: I haven’t seen NEARLY the “mental impairment” from Biden as I’ve seen from the trumpster. I’ll keep watching, though…

Principles? Naw, principles are problems. Just look at the cons. They abandoned principles, in general, years ago, preferring positions of the moment. But there have been a few issues I thought they really, honestly held. I even disagreed with them but they seemed steadfast. Cons are such a fickle crowd, it was a bit refreshing they had at least one thing they actually believed in. But no. That, too, was all smoke and mirrors. I’m referring to guns, here. Well, I guess I’m referring to Hunter Biden, here, because the gun is just an excuse to get him. But they DO have to turn their back on what they claim as a core belief: guns are awesome in all circumstances and everybody, everybody, everybody should have guns!

Hunter is under investigation. He is a drug addict. In his life, he’s done drug addict things. Drug addicts might be the only group in the country that makes dumber decisions than a MAGA con and Hunter is no exception. So, he skipped filing his income taxes for a couple of years and, one time, he bought a gun.

The taxes eventually got paid, along with penalties and interest, of course. They CAN still prosecute over the fact that he skipped out in the first place, but generally, the IRS doesn’t pursue those kinds of things if they have the cash. He owned the gun for eleven days, then his girlfriend got rid of it. But, when he filled out his “I wanna buy a gun” form? He checked a box that said he wasn’t a drug user. He lied on a Federal form. According to the MAGA cons, there can be no larger crime than lying on a federal form so they want Hunter jailed until Christ returns. No, longer.

Prosecutors tried to work out a deal. After all, a plea bargain is, generally, the way these things are addressed. MAGA cons screamed in outrage, because they hate “political” prosecutions! “You’re going to just treat Hunter Biden the way you do everybody else? NOOOOOO! THAT’S HUNTER BIDEN! HANG HIM HIGH!” So, now Hunter has been indicted. Now he goes to court. Now he confesses – again – about the taxes but shows the receipts and apologizes for checking a box he shouldn’t have and gets sentenced to, what, a diversionary program? That was the plea deal so the MAGA cons have cost the country a bunch of money they wouldn’t otherwise have spent. (That’s because they’re the party of fiscal responsibility…wait, what?)

Now I’m going to need to see someone go through ALL of those registration forms for anybody who checked that box and see if any of them show up in videos anywhere using guns and drugs at the same time. For the record, alcohol, for all of our blather to the contrary, is a drug. Time to prosecute…

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I’m a little irritated with the Dems, right now. Yes, the Dems. They COULD have passed a debt ceiling increase large enough to cover the coming two years of MAGA disruption when it became clear the House was going to the cons. They knew it was coming. Unless they’re completely mindless (and at their average age, that’s entirely possible) they KNEW the MAGAs were going to harm the country with a bunch of debt ceiling posturing. The Dems could have stopped it. They could have removed that particular weapon from the hands of the destroyers. But they didn’t. They passed the lowest number they could at the time, setting up these lovely little confrontations.

In a surprise to absolutely NO ONE, MAGA cons KEEP disrupting the process. They KEEP threatening to destroy the full faith and credit of the United States as a form of fiscal responsibility. (“Hey, we charged some things on our credit card but in order to prove we’re fiscally prudent, we’re not going to pay the bill!” Yeah, that works…) THEY seem to “think” they’re making some larger point about spending. It’s all for show but it’s not JUST a show. It does harm. Their past threats have already caused a downgrade in America’s credit rating. Thanks, Republicans.

You know the worst part? This country would not even be in this debt situation if the Republicans hadn’t started passing tax cuts for the wealthy. They don’t say it out loud (mostly) but the whole goal of the constant tax cuts for the rich was to financially choke the Federal Government to death. (I believe the actual quote was “drown it in a bathtub.”) They’re succeeding, too. You can see it everywhere.

These days, the United States of America is like a once-grand hotel. Opulent and a bit imposing when it was built, it now stands as a testament to days gone by. It still LOOKS like the once-grand Hotel USofA, but only if you drive past quickly enough and don’t look too closely. If you DO tarry, sit and look around, you can see the decay setting in everywhere. The curtains are tattered a bit, here and there. The carpet is a little ratty at the edges. The marble could use a good cleaning. The garbage cans aren’t emptied often enough. The paint is cracking and peeling, here and there. The uniforms of the staff are dated and worn. Once the resort of choice for travelers the world over, vacationers are looking for other places, these days, and Hotel USofA’s greatness is little more than a fading memory.

There simply is not enough money available to maintain Hotel USofA at the standard the world had come to expect. Oh, there’s plenty of money. It’s just that a choice has been made. A small group of greedy people will keep the money. Hotel USofA will slowly deteriorate, her decline proceeding slowly, but inexorably. All the while, people will shake their heads in sadness and occasionally comment on what a shame it is that the Hotel USofA is being handled so badly.

More than any other single factor, Republicans have done this to us and they’re going to KEEP doing it to us, if we let them, until the entire place simply collapses under the weight of the lack of upkeep. I’ll tell you this: I say it’s time we abandon stupid and destructive Republican policies and positions and get back to running a great place by taxing the people who are hoarding the money and putting it back into Hotel USofA, like we used to when she was built in the first place…

Sometimes, the weirdest things pop into my head. Oh, here’s one now. It’s not exactly a Constitutional crisis, really, but it’s serious and inquiring minds…well, you know.

IF, despite his treachery and treasonous behavior, 45 is somehow allowed to run in November of 2024, will the states list him on the ballot by his given name or his inmate number?

Joseph R. Biden (D)
Inmate 1875150 (R)
Giant Asteroid (I)

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It’s great to see House Republicans focusing on the big things, the important things. You know, like impeaching President Biden. Cons always seem to feel like everything has to be “same,” so they’re are trying to create a stink around Joe Biden (standard politics, really) by trying to give the appearance that Biden is as criminal in HIS behavior as their party leader, the 4 time indicted, sexual predator, tax evading, charity thieving, criminally conspiring Donald J. Trump. Good luck with that.

Now all they need is a charge. They can pretty freely choose anything they want since they’re making it up as they go along. I think the current front-runner “accusation” is that Biden may have spoken on a telephone with someone. Cons HATE that. Gonna get him, now! It will take some time to gin up the process, get going with “investigations,” make the case, send the whole mess to the Senate, where it can die the death it deserves.

On the bright side, it will use up massive amounts of the limited time the cons have left in power. If they spend all of their time trying to “get” Joe Biden for…oh, I don’t know, something…they don’t really have any extra time for any of their other, evil agenda. So go ahead. Impeach away.

In the meantime, I hope you’re paying close attention. There’s the hard-hitting impeachment. Republicans in Wisconsin are threatening to remove a recently elected state supreme court justice if she rules on cases they don’t want her to rule on. Republican Jim Jordan is trying to interfere with Fani Willis’ case in Georgia. (She told him no.) Republicans in the House have called to defund Jack Smith’s office. (He’s doing a VERY good job.)

A while back, in North Carolina, the GOP lost the Governor’s Office in a race so the Republican controlled state legislature stripped the Governor of most of his powers. Republicans in every red state are trying to gerrymander districts SO blatantly to their own advantage they can’t get any courts to accept their plans – but they keep trying. They’re changing the rules on voting. In short, these guys have come out, loud and proud, as anti-democratic and opposed to the ideals of the Republic.

I’ll tell you this: I know there’s nothing anybody can do about the MAGA cons but if ANYBODY else, liberal, conservative, or middle of the road, votes Republican, I’ll assume you hate America. There can be no doubt the GOP is trying, in every way it can and at every turn, to destroy our once-great nation. EVERY GOP vote helps them. Do NOT help the Republicans destroy the country. DO NOT vote Republican…

Ah, my first rent increase in the new house. Lovely. The letter said it was prompted by a review of prevailing rents in my area and, darn it, my rent was just too low. All I can see in my future is an upward spiral, a kind of a chase, just TRY and keep up. Once a year, every year, up goes the rent. Sooner or later, a letter will show up that pushes me beyond what I can do to keep up. What then?

Do you think I’ll ever see a letter in which “prevailing market rates went down” so my rent has been reduced $100.00? Here, let me help: NO EFFING WAY! Rents go down, mine will, at best, remain the same. More likely, just a smaller increase. And, really, more to the point, when is the last time you heard about rents going down in Santa Rosa, California? Not since 2014, for certain, I’d wager.

It’s not like I blame my landlord entirely. On the one hand, he’s just a cog in the brutal free market, doing the same thing most everyone else does these days: squeeze the market, grab every dime, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. But, on the other hand, I’m also keenly aware there’s no rule that requires a landlord to raise rents annually, no matter what. I’ve had several landlords through the years that seemed to reward the fact that I take good care of the homes I rent by NOT raising my rent year after year after year.

I got on Zillow and used one of the down and dirty calculators, how much house payment could I afford in my situation? It should be noted, it’s a generalized calculator that only takes into account basic financial situations but it’s still a solid indicator, if not a perfect predictor. Turns out, I’m ALREADY paying more in rent than the calculator says I’d be “comfortable” paying for my own house. That’s before the increase kicks in. Oh, that’s not an option, though. Just TRY to find a house priced at a point where that might be the payment amount. (Full disclosure, there ARE a few mobile homes I could get into but then I have the rent problem for the space and those landlords are actively more vicious than others.)

I listen closely whenever some politician or group announces some new plan to “address the housing crisis.” Money for this, money for that. Mostly, that money is a funnel from the government to rich people. They build a few tiny homes – at $300,000 dollars? EACH? HOW?!? Well, that’s $90,000 for the tiny and $210,000 to “grease the wheels.” Meanwhile, we’ll pass laws making it illegal to sleep on the sidewalk.

There IS a solution, though. One. Earlier, I mentioned 2014. That’s the year corporations started buying single family homes in earnest. In response to the Wall Street created “housing crisis” and economic crash brought to you by the derivatives market in 2008, the law changed in 2011, now allowing them to buy single family homes. They had been limited to apartment buildings and commercial ventures before that. They were a little slow to jump on the new opportunity but when they did, they did aggressively.

2014. Not quite ten years ago. Now, ONE pooled money investor owns enough single family homes to house the entire population of Iceland. Sure, the population of Iceland isn’t huge but that’s only ONE COMPANY. There are hundreds of them out there, now, each buying everything in sight. More and more, private buyers simply cannot compete. Those who do manage the feat, though, would be loathe to see the value of their new investment go down, so they’re not on board with any fixes. In fact, everybody in the sequence makes huge money on the artificially overpriced houses so there’s nobody in a position to do so who will ever even try to interrupt the process. After all, the only people who suffer is…well, every human being in our increasingly destabilized society – even the profiteers.

The solution is simple: return to the regulation that prevented pooled money investors from buying single family homes. That’s it. That, alone, would eventually fix the problem, assuming more building. But just building won’t do anything to correct the artificially inflated housing values so won’t start putting, say, first time buyers back into the market very quickly. It IS a solution, but it’s not the BEST solution. The BEST solution is to require the corporations that HAVE cornered the market in housing to divest, as well. That would help return pricing closer to actual value. Sure it would stabilize, likely SAVE, society but a few people might not make as much money. Heaven Forbid!

So there’s your answer, the ONE THING, I guaran-damn-tee you, would fix the problem but will never happen; require corporations to, at the very least, STOP consuming housing, especially in view of their unfair advantages. (Until 2014, you NEVER heard of offers over asking, no inspections, any condition, you choose your escrow length. How can a private buyer compete with that?)

In the meantime, this is a CHOICE, so S.T.F.U. about homeless people. Despite the rhetoric, they don’t want to be homeless, either. They didn’t create the problem. They have no power to correct the problem. They’re not going to dry up and blow away just because they lost their housing. They still need to eat. They still need to…um…eliminate waste. They still exist. They are, by and large and for the most part, victims of the unfettered greed of our once-great nation.

And can we PLEASE stop pretending that we might just build our way out of the problem? So long as the pooled money investors (rich people) can buy up any house that shows up on the market, how does building more help the victims? Sure, it helps the predators – they get more houses. But you build 1,000 houses and NOT ONE goes to a private buyer? How did you help solve the problem?

I’ll tell you this: There’s a bit of hyperbole in the above. I’m prone. But the numbers are merely exemplars to make the larger point and the point is sound – and the bit about one company being able to house all of Iceland is true and correct and, again, they’re only one company. So when you hear somebody claim they have a “solution” and their solution doesn’t involve stopping the pooled money investors? It’s not a “solution.” It’s window-dressing that will make a few rich people a little bit richer. We get a little, tiny bit closer to needing the guillotines every day…