Month: June 2024

Inexplicable…

by MyBaconPress

Bill Maher’s show, ‘Real Time’ is broadcast on Friday nights. I usually don’t watch until Saturday sometime. That was true again this week. He had Tulsi Gabbard on as a guest. It was the second time in a week I watched cons come out and lie (no surprise there) with absolutely NO pushback. The first was the debate, itself. Trump just stood there and lied. Nobody fact-checked him at the time.

With one exception, that includes Biden, which was one of Biden’s problems. The one exception? Trump said there was no inflation under him. Biden pointed out that was because the entire economy had flat-lined and there is no inflation where there is, essentially, no functioning economy. But other than that, Trump just lied and Biden just couldn’t hit those easy pitches at all, let alone out of the park.

But, then, on ‘Real Time,’ Maher let Gabbard get away with it, as well. She spewed the lies. Maher, mostly, sat there and let her. Very little pushback, very little correction of the record. I’m curious why Democrats aren’t calling out MAGA lies. It’s not that hard. The lies are obvious and have been debunked completely. When MAGA tries to repeat them to me, I respond with, you know, facts. MAGA doesn’t like facts, but I still think they’re important. Apparently, that’s quaint, these days.

The Dems are going to foist Biden on us, like it or not. The very LEAST they could do is try to look like they’re putting up a fight. When you just sit there and let the liars lie, you’re NOT putting up a fight of any kind. In a very real sense, you’re enabling the liars. Hell, you might as well be Fox Not-News!

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But not every false statement is provably false. Some are more… opinion oriented. For example, in the debate, Trump pointed out (correctly) that Putin took land under Obama and Putin has taken land under Biden but never even tried when Trump was in the Oval. That makes perfect sense to me. I believe (but can’t prove) Putin went to a LOT of trouble to get his mole into the White House and he wasn’t going to do ANYTHING to mess with that coup. In my opinion, Trump had FAR more value to Putin in other ways, like complete access to American intelligence. What, you think Trump stole all of those classified documents because he likes paper?

I also suspect Trump is playing word games when he insists he didn’t have sex with a porn star. I mean, he had sex with her but if he doesn’t count her a “star,” then he didn’t have sex with a porn star. Yeah, weasel words but that kind of parsing is right up Trump’s alley. I DO, however, feel obligated to point something out. Trump didn’t have sex with Daniels while Melania was pregnant. He was having sex with Karen McDougal while Melania was pregnant. (That would be the whole time. It was an ongoing affair.) He had sex with Daniels AFTER Barron was born…

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I don’t really expect tired old Sleepy Joe to just step down quickly. There’s a process to this. Acceptance can be hard to achieve. Meanwhile, people are doing what they can to try and prop him up. Some call the debate “just a bad performance,” a one-off. Some point out how hard it would be to get someone to replace Biden.

They have a point. Replacing Biden at this point would be difficult. But NOT replacing Biden is suicide. So which do you want, difficult or suicide? Some lovely choice there, eh? Bill Maher once referred to Biden as Ruth Bader Biden. It’s a reference to Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s decision to stay on the court rather than step down just because she was old and dying of cancer. That selfish, short-sighted decision set the stage for the end of Roe (and, apparently, the United States as a whole) and now Biden is making the same, selfish, short-sighted decision…

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Recently, in an effort to show everyone just how awesomely Christian the state is, Louisiana required every classroom in the state to post Jewish Law on the walls, for some reason. Not to be outdone, in an effort to show everyone just how awesomely Christian that state is, Oklahoma is going to require teachers to teach the Bible in their classrooms.

Do you think they’ll focus on that story about the time the daughters get their father drunk so they can have sex with him? You know, for the benefit of the children. No? Maybe it will include the OTHER time the daughters got their fathers drunk and had sex with him. Yeah, that IS an uplifting book of purity, isn’t it? No? How about the story where a man orders his slave to perform a task, which she does, and afterwards, he has her put to death and her body cut into pieces and spread to the four corners of his kingdom, do you think they’ll cover that one?

I guess it doesn’t matter. It’s all a show. A kind of competition. How Christian can WE appear? Here’s how dumb I am: when I think about Christianity, I like to look to Jesus and the words he taught. I don’t much care about some televangelist’s interpretation (that somehow always puts money into the televangelist’s pockets). So, since this is Sunday, let’s just take a look at what Jesus thought of these ostentatious displays of pseudo-Christianity.

Please open your Bibles to Matthew 6:5. 5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

That’s the New International Version. I still like the King James, which includes the line “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” Jesus really thought one’s Christian works should be handled privately…

Dear Wonder Christians,
You REALLY should be embarrassed that I’m an Atheist and I know – and live – your favorite story book FAR better than you… (Apparently, I’m still working on the ego thing…)

Trump Was Bad, Too…

by MyBaconPress

There was an aspect of the debate I didn’t put focus on too much. It seemed like damage control from the Dems when I heard it, but it’s true. Donald Trump comported himself well, for a while. But he lied. I mean, he ONLY lied. And the longer the debate went on, the more he started getting agitated and showing more, well, Trump. I’m sure MAGA loved it.

It’s hard to blame them. Had Biden won, I would have been happy, too. Trump played the tough guy and he lied about everything. He had the best lies, the biggest lies, the easiest lies. It’s all hyperbole, all the time with him. Everything he did was the biggest, the best ever, the “super-de-duperist.” (You can imagine what “duperist” is doing to my spellcheck.) Meanwhile, Biden was the worst, the least, and the failed. Every word of that, especially in hyperbole, is exactly backwards.

Trump’s presidency was a train wreck. He inherited an economy humming along from the Obama administration. His tariffs started damaging that economy very quickly. He severely damaged American Soy farmers, like, the entire group, with his tariffs. People who once bought from American farmers just started buying elsewhere and the American farmers were reduced to receiving government checks to stay afloat.

There’s no telling where the damage would have ended except his dismantling of the pandemic response team – another moronic move – left the country vulnerable just as Covid-19 was rearing it’s ugly head. Every President faces challenges. I don’t blame Trump for the existence of Covid-19 in the first place. I can’t see him wearing a white lab coat and splicing genes. But he bears FULL responsibility for the miserable handling of the pandemic. Over a million Americans died – more than the American Civil War – and the economy basically flat-lined.

Trump said during the debate that when he left office, there was no inflation, a near-truth but a misrepresentation nonetheless. Biden had a great line for him. Of course there was no inflation. The economy Biden inherited was on it’s back. Trump’s actual record is one of failure and destruction and damage to Americans.

MAGA would challenge all of that, by the way. They’ve been told something different by their media and they believe what they’re told. To hear them tell it, the US was a dystopian hellscape under Obama. Then, on January 21, 2017, the US suddenly and magically became a utopian paradise with everybody happy, the economy buzzing along, success at every turn. Quite simply, life was perfect in every way for every person. Then, sadly, on January 21, 2021, right back to the hellscape. It’s stupid, but they believe it.

The Biden I wish had been present for the debate, instead showed up in North Carolina the next day at a rally where he knocked it out of the park. The Dems, as predicted, are going with their guy, absolutely gutting any enthusiasm anyone might have for getting out there and voting. They have excused the poor debate performance and continue to insist Biden is the guy. The thing about that poor debate performance is that Biden really DID seem to be having “old man” problems. At BEST, one can suggest that he does okay most of the time but occasionally gets stuck in senior moments.

But Trump is Trump is Trump. Trump cares about Trump. Period. Based on things I’ve heard, Trump absolutely despises his base but he tells them he loves them (“I love the poorly educated!”) and that’s what they want to hear. Well, that and easy answers. That seems to be a key element in the MAGA “mind,” easy answers. And Trump gives them that in spades.

As far as MAGA is concerned, there ARE no complex problems. Everything can be fixed to their liking easily. They just need the right tough-talking blowhard in there to do it. A guy so sure of himself, he’ll fix the problems without even thinking about the problems. Of course, one rarely fixes complex problems with easy answers but Trump tells them he can do it and they want to believe he can do it so they continue to support him, even after he proved he CAN’T do it. (MAGA just ignores that part…)

That’s an advantage for Trump. He knows he never has to actually DO anything. He needs to be returned to the Oval to avoid prosecution for his crimes, so he tells MAGA anything they want to hear. The lies are lies MAGA likes so they believe him. But his goal is only to get elected, not to serve America. Once in office, MAGA will be yesterday’s news and Trump will be free to serve himself.

Despite all the blather, blather, whining and blather we hear from Trump at his rallies, he HAS laid out policy positions and by every credible account, he is going to be a disaster for the US like nothing we’ve ever seen before, not even from his previous vile and failed maladministration. Trump plans to out-Trump Trump. If he gets the chance, everyone not rich suffers. Everyone. EVEN MAGA.

I’m not particularly surprised by the extremes of the right anymore but I’m quite disappointed by the Dems and their detachment from reality in their loyalty to such an old, possibly senile candidate. The ONE LINE I hear from everyone I talk to on the subject is, “Is this REALLY the best America has to offer?” But listen, we KNOW a president can be effective with dementia. We’ve already seen that movie in Ronald Reagan. If the worst that can be said (truthfully) about Biden is that he MAY be in decline, I’m STILL going with him. Because the BEST that can be said about Trump is that he will destroy this once-great nation, once and for all.

Donald J. Trump is a direct threat to the United States of America and the agenda these guys have in place promises to be cruel and destructive to the vast majority of Americans. Yes, even MAGA. (Possibly, especially MAGA, when one considers the niche they occupy.) The Dems could do better, should do better. But the MAGAGOP could NOT do any worse.

So my advice for Americans? Don’t compare Biden to some perfect candidate. Compare Biden to the alternative. Even if it’s true Biden has senior moments, he has things going quite well, considering what he inherited from the failures of the previous guy. He’s been working to make life better for all Americans. The alternative? All HE can think of is revenge and destruction and he’s excited about the possibility of being able to carry it out…

Oh, Crap!

by MyBaconPress

Hmm, Biden should have had a Mountain Dew. I watched. I’d say Biden answered more questions. Trump ducked a LOT of them. Biden answered factually. Something many overlooked was that Trump didn’t NEED to “prepare.” He just stood up there and lied, lied, lied. That’s easy. Biden demonstrated a far better, stronger grasp of issues that honestly affect the American people. Again, Trump bobbed and weaved and avoided as many questions as possible. How ELSE could I characterize the debate other than Trump won?

Wait, what? Yeah, that’s right. Trump won. Trump’s bar was to a) show up and b) not act like a petulant child. He did those two things. Biden had to show the same vim and vigor he showed during the State of the Union. THIS, he decidedly did NOT do. Biden looked and sounded old. Biden couldn’t pull his thoughts together quickly enough. He seemed barely able to draw breath sometimes. Biden absolutely did NOT convince the electorate that he will survive a second term.

Biden’s performance was so bad, there was no talk of, “Oh, well, we’ll get them in the next debate.” The conversation went straight to “Uh-oh. Who else is available?” My own personal opinion is that it would have to be either Gavin Newsom (56) or Gretchen Whitmer (52). There are a couple of other possible options but those two already have national name recognition so one less hurdle to have to clear.

The main problem? The DNC. We KNOW they do not pivot, even when they obviously must. We know this from when they insisted on fielding the wrong candidate in 2016 and got Trump as the result. Based on past performance, I suspect they’ll insist on fielding the wrong candidate – that would be Biden – in 2024, as well.

“Biden won the primaries,” they’ll say. True, but that’s only because the DNC discouraged any other candidates. They chose Biden early. It made sense. He IS the sitting President. But it doesn’t make sense now. Biden won’t win this thing. Even those of us who understand the need to vote ‘Biden to block’ aren’t convinced and, sadly, Americans – as a group – are a shallow and stupid people. We vote on which candidate is tallest. (Gavin is 6’3″!) We cast ballots for those who “look the part.” We’ve had a couple of terrible but good-looking Presidents as a result. Biden’s optics are… not good.

Biden shouldn’t leave it to the DNC. He should step aside as the candidate and endorse whomever replaces him. That would be one of the hardest things a candidate could do. BUT… it would be “Washingtonian” of him, stepping aside for the good of the nation. Despite the MAGA media lies, Biden has had a good, successful presidency. He could trust that history will reflect as much. But I’m not sure he has the right stuff to do that. I think his ego will misdirect him.

I know this is a bit “sky is falling” but Biden seemed to highlight his biggest challenge, rather than downplay the thing. He was already suffering under the weight of the perception of his age and he only made that weight heavier. That heavy weight is going to drag Biden, the Democrats, and all of America down with it. If the Dems stay the course with Biden and Trump doesn’t die, Trump will be the 47th, and likely last, President of the United States…

Dying of Stupidity…

by MyBaconPress

Those of us not in the cult often shake our heads in wonderment at how easily the Deceived are manipulated. First, Biden is a doddering old fool, overwhelmed by senility. But then, he gives a great State of the Union address, clearly in command of his faculties in ways the Deceived had been convinced not possible.

So? Oh, he must have been “jacked up” on something. Some performance enhancing drug that put him back to right just long enough to get through that speech. Then, right back to the doddering old fool story. The Deceived just go with the flow. Biden is mentally infirm, sure, but he’s also the mastermind of the greatest criminal frame job in history – but mostly the infirm thing.

So, going into tonight’s debate, MAGA is all set to believe Trump is going to wipe the floor with poor, mentally confused Joe Biden. Except Trump knows that Biden is likely to eat Trump’s lunch in this debate. So, he and his lapdog media start lowering expectations. First, Trump tries to pretend he’ll lose the debate on purpose but even MAGA wasn’t dumb enough to go along with that idea, so it was pretty quickly scrapped.

They moved into “Biden will be jacked up again” mode. They even topped it off with complementary things about Biden’s experience and skill as a debater. Now MAGA media has the Deceived convinced there’s some drug out there that reverses senility just long enough to make a public appearance. This miracle drug nobody has ever heard of anywhere on Earth just… sets a person to right, eliminating all effects of aging.

But, nobody has told the Deceived what that drug might be. So MAGA started guessing. Their best guess to date – at least from MY point of view – is (drum roll, please) Mountain Dew! No, I’m not kidding. That’s one of the guesses. It’s a stunning development. Mountain Dew cures senility, but, apparently, only for a couple of hours. Of course, disgraced and demoted “Dr.” Ronnie Johnson (whose name is ‘Jackson,’ but Trump is always right so I guess he’s legally changing his name) can’t claim Mountain Dew temporarily cures senility so he’s suggesting some drug or elixir out there. No, he has NOT named it.

Quick question for the Deceived: if there’s a drug out there that reverses senility and demented Joe takes it, what’s the problem? It’s like controlling blood pressure with pills. The high blood pressure doesn’t go away, it’s just managed. Why wouldn’t old Joe just take his magic pills all the time, thereby eliminating the effects of his dementia and remaining the effective President he’s been since taking office?

Also, name the drug. Tell me what it is. There are millions of people around the world, struggling with dementia who would LOVE a pill or elixir that “fixed” them – even for a short time. Stop pretending it’s a magic pill and name it. Hydroxychloroquine, anyone?

I’ll tell you this: I honestly can not believe that this once-great nation is going to win a Darwin Award for dying of stupidity…

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Truthfully, I thought he’d drop out by now, citing some b.s. excuse. But then I read that his team is encouraging him to show up and act like an adult. It would be…unexpected. As of this writing, it looks as though Trump has NOT backed out of the debate. I’m planning to watch but in a morbid curiosity kind of way.

I doubt Trump is capable of acting like an adult for a couple of hours so I’m curious what kind of shenanigans he’ll get up to. The rules rather limit the kinds of interruptions and distractions he likes to create, short of leaving his podium and going to Biden’s mic or just standing in his spot shouting like a madman.

Even if he tries to act like a grown-up, Trump is FAR too easily baited into bad behavior. I hope the first question from the moderators is, “Who won the 2020 election?” Simple question with a clear, simple answer. But it would break any pretense Trump had that he might be able to behave. His mind would spin and his mouth would fly and that would be that.

There’s still an entire day for him to slither out of it. We’ll see…

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Well, that was clever. The SKCOTUS is under fire over all of those bribes they keep taking and taking and taking. They REALLY don’t like having to explain their corrupt selves so… they’ve legalized bribery! They handed down a 6-3 ruling on Wednesday (Snyder vs the United States) that says that, so long as the “gift” is given AFTER the preferred act, it’s more of a “thank-you” than a bribe, so it’s okay. That’s called “a distinction without a difference.” It seems to me this entire, corrupt court should have recused themselves, all of them seeming to have accepted various “gifts” at various times…

This ruling, along with their egregious Citizens United opinion, make the United States a pay-to-play system. If you can’t pay, you can’t play. And, unless you can send the Kangaroos to Fiji on an annual basis, you can’t pay. The conservatives are turning (have turned?) this country into a for-the-wealthy paradise that just happens to suck for everyone else. I wonder what their “thank you gift” is going to be?

I’ll tell you this: I wish the cons had paid better attention in history class…

Insupportable…

by MyBaconPress

So, not for nothing, but I’ve noticed that every time some natural disaster or other bad thing happens to a city with a reputation for tolerance, the pseudo-Christians slither out of the woodwork to claim the disaster was “God’s wrath” for their sins.

But there’s this town called Ayetoro in Nigeria. It was founded specifically to be a “Christian community.” It’s being consumed by the ocean as climate change advances. I haven’t heard even ONE pseudo-Christian “leader” insist it might be God’s wrath. But I’ve noticed God isn’t doing anything to protect them, either. It looks, to me, more like science is going to science and denying science doesn’t change that one iota.

The numbers in the weather reports aren’t looking any better, either. It’s already hot this summer. Yeah, I know, keyword: summer. But this is shaping up to be one of the hottest summers on record and then? I hear experts (because I still listen to experts) saying to get used to it. Future summers promise to be even hotter.

Hey, we had our chance to intervene. We COULD have taken steps to avert the disaster. We still could, although at this point the effort would have to be huge and painful – and when have humans ever signed up for that voluntarily? But conservatives would have to confess to being wrong (or lying) about science and, more importantly to the power people, it would have been bad for business.

Humanity has done this more than once, make a harmful decision in deference to some greedy power. In the 5th century, after the fall of Rome, the church took over as the primary source of power and, in an effort to maintain that power, plunged the western world into a knowledge vacuum that came to be known as ‘The Dark Ages,’ a term currently being downplayed.

The church held absolute sway for something like 700 years. It was good for the church – they got fabulously wealthy – but very bad for humanity. We just…stalled. For 700 years! Now we’ve done something similar, this time for political and financial reasons. Denying climate change was very good for business, but very bad for humanity.

Evil people doing evil things with the help of the ignorant and stupid? It seems to be the human way. I suspect it’s going to cost us dearly…

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In what will certainly be recognized as no surprise at all, both Hamas and Israel have rejected the peace plan the US put forth. Hamas said no because giving up the hostages leaves them vulnerable to Israeli aggression, so they refused unless a permanent cease fire was in place. Israel said no because if they cease their fire, they can’t very well drive all the Palestinians into the ocean, now, can they? So, the fight continues.

Wait, did I say continues? No, I mean “expands.” Israel and Hezbollah are squaring off, too. Apparently, Palestinians in the West Bank aren’t comfortable just watching Israel wipe out all of the Palestinians in Gaza. Go figure.

At this point, I’m pretty sure Israel and the Palestinians are going to fight to their own destruction regardless of what anyone else does. If you want to see how it plays out, just watch the episode of Star Trek, the Original Series called, ‘Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.’ I just wish Israel wasn’t using American weapons to do it…

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I’ve seen the video. I don’t think Biden “froze up” during the LA event hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and attended by Barack Obama. It looked, to me, like Biden was doing what politicians do, standing there for a moment so photographers could get a clear photo. We’ve all seen it, two politicians shaking hands and standing still and smiling for the cameras for a moment or two. It looks weird, but there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for it and everybody understands what is going on.

But I’ll tell you the truth, I think Biden made it easy for the right to mischaracterize his actions (0r lack thereof) in that moment.

Both sides are trying to show that the other guy is unfit. Biden is old. He LOOKS old. He acts old. But he’s still competent. Trump is ALSO old. HE looks old, too, though not quite as old as Biden. Trump really does lose control of his speech from time to time and the dude rambles. But let’s call it a tie on “old, with the occasional senior moment” and move on to the next categories.

On the economy? Trump crashed the economy with his fecklessness. Biden brought the recovery. That’s a clear Biden win. NEITHER Trump nor Biden have any good answers for the border. I’m calling that one a tie, though it was brought about that way by Republican obstruction. Biden is being hurt in 2024 by the Israeli/Palestinian conflict that started in 1948 while Trump has the luxury of sitting on the sidelines sniping. That’s a Trump win, even though he didn’t have to do anything for it but run his mouth.

Biden wants to preside over a constitutional government that tries to bring the best to everyone. Trump wants a dictatorship that serves himself first and other wealthy people second, all at the expense of the masses. Biden clearly wins that one. Trump has more convictions that Biden. LOTS more.

Trump has lost in civil courts AND criminal courts. Trump is currently on his bicycle, trying to stay out of any MORE criminal courts because he KNOWS he’ll be convicted, even if MAGA doesn’t. I think “most criminal convictions” works against a person, though MAGA thinks it’s his badge of honor.

On balance, Biden has been a better, if not perfect, President. But Biden is clearly, far and away, the better MAN. He has better morals, better understanding of the issues, and better ability to work with the world to solve problems. Trump is just…a problem all by himself.

Here’s the test: One doesn’t have to lie about Biden to present him as competent and decent. MAGA cannot tell the truth about Trump, even to themselves. Here’s the rule: Any position that depends on lies for support doesn’t deserve to be supported…

Cheap…and Fake…

by MyBaconPress

Cheap Fakes…they’re the talk of the town, right now. It seems the right is carefully editing video of Biden in ways intended to make him look like a doddering old fool. They’re not AI generated, so they’re not ‘Deep Fakes.’ They’re just actual video, edited in a way that takes away context and leaves Biden appearing clueless.

For example, in one video, Biden wanders over to the edge of a stage and seems to just stand there. Oh, the old guy! But he was really trying to talk to a guy who parachuted into the event as a part of it. Edit out the parachutist, leave Biden, he looks like he’s staring into space. Clever.

Of course, this is MAGAGOP’s response to all the video out there of Trump just…locking up or forgetting names and rambling incoherently for minutes at a time. The difference? Nobody on our side has to carefully edit anything. Trump glitches. Video catches it. The left highlights it. Nobody on our side is “faking” anything…

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I hear that Trump’s PAC, ‘Pay My Legal Bills, Rubes,’ no, wait… that’s not it. It’s really called, ‘Save America.’ (He means, ‘Save ME!’) I may have whiffed on the name but that IS what he uses that particular Political Action Committee for, to pay his legal bills. Anyway, it’s running out of money.

The estimate is that he (I mean MAGA) spends $5 million a month in legal bills and his lifestyle…and Melania’s hair. But he has less than $4 million left in his PAC. Since he doesn’t use his own money for anything, MAGA will simply have to give more and the RNC will have to pony up and shift some money his way. They will, too. They already have a plan in place to skim $5000 off the top of large donations and shift it to the legal fund.

All of that will cut into his campaign funds, which might explain why he’s holding rallies outdoors in searing heat. Cheaper venues. MAGA IS sending more money but it looks like it’s becoming a question of trying to keep up with his profligate spending of their money…

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I recently mentioned that Trump is claiming Biden will be amped up on drugs for the debate. Remember, every conservative accusation is a confession. It was the Trump White House that was awash in drugs. We know it. We have the paperwork that shows the pharmacy there was constantly filling orders for unknown people and setting up drug packages for overseas trips and other little “get ’em the drugs” things.

So, of course Trump accuses Biden of using drugs. It’s how he confesses…

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Louisiana is moving forward with it’s plan to put the 10 Commandments into every classroom. I hope their intent is to demonstrate hypocrisy, because they’re demonstrating hypocrisy in a spotlight and in full view of everyone. Thou shalt not kill, lie, steal, or commit adultery? To the best of my knowledge, Trump has broken all but one. I have no information that he has ever killed anyone.

But the entire GOP is one big lie, these days, stealing money from donors who believe the stories, and their poster boy seems to love adultery, considering he commits it every chance he gets.

Still no word on why the so-called “Christian” community so fervently embraces the Jewish law and not the Grace of Jesus in the Beatitudes. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Why would they reject ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the Earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the Sons of God?’

Wait a minute. I think I see the problem. THOSE morals – the ones Jesus advocated – teach people to treat others with respect and dignity. MAGA likes the punishing rules better…

Ducking Out…

by MyBaconPress

Well, Steve Bannon still seems set to begin his four month prison sentence on July 1. He didn’t want to. He tried to suggest to the court that he is somehow special because he lies for the cons. The court didn’t buy it and said, “No, start your sentence.” Bannon wants to take his case to the Supremely Kangaroo Court and ask them for a mulligan. NOW he wants to appeal THIS call to the same court. (I’ll bet. I don’t know if those guys are in the bag for ALL high level, criminal cons or only for Trump but it’s still the best bet he’s got…)

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The Kangaroos took a recess. Their session ends in, like, eight days. They STILL haven’t issued some of their most important – and likely most egregious – decisions. Does a President have perfect and total immunity? No, but who knows what this embarrassing court will do?

The corporate media seemed surprised. “Why, oh why, won’t they issue those rulings that are so important?” That’s easy. NOT issuing them helps their client, Trump. They’ll wait as long as they can, then issue the decisions late, as they skulk out the back door to go collect their bribes, er, “gifts.”

It’s yet another heartbreak for those of us who actually DO still love this country, seeing how corrupt the conservatives have made the institutions of a once-great nation…

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Now Donald Sutherland has passed? Say it ain’t so. Aged 88 years. He gave us a LOT of great movies. I’m a fan of his work. I know people have to go but I often wish they hadn’t, you know? Donald Sutherland, like Willie Mays only a few days earlier, was in THAT group, for me…

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Is he already running for the door? Trump is telling supporters he’s going to lose the upcoming (June 27) debate. He tried suggesting he’d do that on purpose to make some kind of point but even MAGA wasn’t dumb enough to buy that. So, now, it’s all pretending Biden will be amped by drugs, all the time.

The reality is that Biden is sharper, smarter, and better prepared than Trump and would win because the debate is about reality and not preferred MAGA distortions. But I submit that Trump is setting the stage for a chicken-out. First, he primes the deceived into believing that he can’t win because Biden will be aided by drugs, then he backs out because, he’ll claim, the whole thing is unfair and rigged.

I’ll tell you this: Trump is just a loser who can’t win if he can’t distort. MAGA doesn’t know it, wouldn’t believe it if they saw it with their own eyes, but Trump does. So, he’ll make claims. But it will just be cowardice…

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Well, it took THIS long for their stolen election lie to come back to bite them. The lie is that the 2020 election was “stolen.” It wasn’t. But the mouths have been wagging ever since. Oh, what an evil thing the Dems did to the cons. It’s a stupid lie, easily proven false unless one refuses to look at the mountain of evidence to the contrary. But “look” MAGA does not and so the lie persists.

Now it’s persistence is spreading like a cancer. There’s a politician from Virginia, Bob Good, who is a far right MAGA level con. He totally supported the “stolen election” lie. He’s running to retain his House seat. Oh, he ALSO endorsed Ron DeSantis in the Presidential primary. THAT, of course, is an unforgivable sin, so Trump endorsed Good’s opponent, John McGuire. Currently, McGuire is winning by a very small margin.

So, guess what? NOW Good is claiming HIS election was stolen! NOW it’s an evil thing the CONS do to cons. From his point of view, it couldn’t possibly be that he’s just losing. Something must be “rigged.”

This is one of the main flaws of the far-right ideology, ‘nobody counts but me.’ It doesn’t take long until they form a circular firing squad and start shooting. Good’s claim undermines Trump’s claim, which never had any credibility anyway. Every day, the “party of personal responsibility” moves further and further away from personal responsibility…

Oh, Those Lefty Rascals…

by MyBaconPress

Trump in a nutshell: When he was behind closed doors, with fellow cons, in a space he trusted, he said he thought Milwaukee was a “horrible city.” Then Wisconsin heard about the comment and responded accordingly. SO, Trump goes to a rally in neighboring Racine (and NOT Milwaukee) and claims he LOVES Milwaukee. His truth comes out behind closed doors. His lie comes out at the Racine rally. Don’t be fooled, Wisconsin. Trump thinks Milwaukee is a horrible city.

NOW he’s claiming the left did it, force him to say Milwaukee is a horrible city. Did we do that? Wow. I’m VERY impressed. I’ve got to tell you, “the left” must be pretty clever, the way we keep getting him to stick his foot into his own mouth and commit crimes. I don’t know how we’re doing that, he never goes into detail on that bit, but if we’re THAT good, if we have THAT level of control over him, his mouth, and his actions, and we apparently always have, what chance does he stand?

Think about it. Somehow, “the left” got him to have a year long affair with a ‘Playboy’ model and casual sex with a porn star instead of his wife a decade before he even entered politics! How’s THAT for a set up? THEN, “the left” got him to pay the ladies off to keep them quiet ten years later and somehow, “the left” tricked this gullible fool into cooking his own company’s books to cover the whole thing up. But that last bit was easy since “the left” had tricked him into cooking his own company’s books for decades.

Even though the “left” doesn’t go to his rallies, we manage to get him to stumble over words, lock up in the middle of sentences, and forget the names of people he interacts with on a regular basis – all while bragging about “acing” a cognitive test. (“Oh, he can STILL recognize an elephant? That’s my guy!”) AND we KEEP messing with the teleprompters he swears he never uses. How do we DO that?

But here’s the weird bit. How come “the left” couldn’t force him to do anything good? I mean, if we can force him to embezzle, lie, steal, molest, and forget names and places, why couldn’t we get him to, say, do some ‘Presidenting’ instead of playing golf for four years? Or, for that matter, why not just get him to drop out of the race entirely? Why couldn’t we get him to come up with some sensible gun control? Why didn’t we use that power to get better judges on our courts or some positive action on climate change? Why didn’t the left trick him into doing something – anything – positive for the majority of the American people rather than the wreckage he left behind?

But, no. Apparently, “the left” can only get him to bad things, like stealing all those government documents and share them with foreigners. Years earlier, “the left” convinced him to steal from a charity that supposedly fought children’s cancer. It was “the left” who forced him to steal from contractors and open and bankrupt business after business. It simply does not matter what bit of chicanery, theft, groping, or raping Trump gets caught doing all by himself, it’s somehow always “the left” that made him do it.

I mean, come on, that’s pretty masterful handling. We’ve managed to do it with NO visible mechanism or means of control. Even more impressive, “the left” got him to do all of these things for decades before he even entered politics, in apparent anticipation that, sooner or later, he would enter politics.

I’ll tell you this: If “the left” has that kind of micro-managed control over anybody and everybody who might be in or someday enter politics, who could possibly fight back? I mean, it’s a wonder Trump isn’t in jail right now, when “the left” wields that kind of power…

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I’m STILL waiting for an answer to this one. Trump is running around insisting he will pardon the J6 insurgents if he gets back into the Oval. So, why didn’t Trump pardon the J6 insurgents before he left office in 2021? He had from J7 to J20 to get it done, but didn’t. Why not? Is it possible he let them sit in jail for four years just so he could use them as a political talking point in an election?

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I guess it had to happen sometime, but it’s still sad to hear of the passing of the Say Hey Kid, Willie Mays. He was a great baseball player and, from all accounts, a great man…

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I keep hearing that black voters under age 50 are turning towards Trump and away from Biden in this upcoming election. Do you think that’s true? I mean, look, I know Biden has had some challenges in his administration but I don’t know that he has done anything in particular to harm the black community and I KNOW Trump is a racist.

Do you really think the black community is going to come out in large numbers for the guy in the pointed white hood? I’m not sure I’m buying…

Project 2025…

by MyBaconPress

A quick hit before I get to the point: when Trump started getting names wrong, like that time he repeatedly insisted Nikki Haley should have done more to protect the Capitol – even though she wasn’t there, wasn’t part of Congress, and had no role in protecting the Capitol – he told Cult 45 that he was doing it on purpose. It was supposed to be some kind of commentary. NOW he has done the same thing with his own doctor, repeatedly calling Ronnie Jackson ‘Ronnie Johnson.’ And he did it while trying to praise the guy.

No animosity, no blame, no harsh feelings between them, so no “clever message” tucked in there. Just an old man suffering increasing dementia who can’t keep straight the names of people he interacts with on a regular basis. So I think it’s important to look at the power MAGA wants to hand this senile, old, failing and dangerous man…

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Project 2025. Have you heard of this scary and diabolical plan? It’s the evil Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for a second Trump term. It’s designed to expand the powers of the Presidency while dismantling layers of government. It recommends purging the Federal ranks of many appointed roles and stacking agencies with loyalists. According to Jared Huffman (D-Ca), it would “take a wrecking ball” to America’s democratic norms and institutions.

Project 2025 “would lay waste to democratic institutions, checks on executive power, individual rights and freedoms, and church-state separation in order to impose a far-right agenda,” Huffman said. According to Schedule F of Project 2025, the cons plan to strip tens of thousands of Federal workers of employment protections. They want to replace employees based on loyalty to Trump, not experience or competence.

Now seems a good time to remind people who may have forgotten. (Like someone could forget.) Remember what happened when Trump dismantled the Pandemic Response Team because he thought, in classic con fashion, it was a frivolous and unnecessary cost? Covid-19 caught us off guard and unprepared and over a million Americans died. MAGA simply dismissed that death count because the victims were “only” old people and people with so-called ‘comorbidities.’ (Never mind that they were also people with families and loved ones that Trump essentially killed with his fecklessness.) What will MAGA myopia unleash on us next?

We already know what they plan to do to women’s reproductive rights and we KNOW how they feel about the LGBT community. They want to disrupt the concept of separation of church and state and impose pseudo-Christian values, embedding pseudo-Christian privilege into our government and public policies. They LOVE screaming about Christianity and imposing their wrongheaded vision of Christianity on everyone (except themselves, of course). (I think THEY need to follow their vision before demanding that I do.)

From the Guardian: ‘Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said: “Project 2025 is one of the most profound threats the American people face today. From attacking reproductive rights and workplace safety laws, to allowing more discrimination, pollution and price gouging, the far-right interests behind Project 2025 are preparing to go to incredible lengths to implement a dangerous and deeply unpopular agenda.”’

Huffman and some of his fellows have put together a group they call the “Stop Project 2025 task force.” They’re trying to get in front of this and raise awareness in an effort to head it off. The first part is to raise awareness – that is, convince people that this is real and it’s coming. The second part is to have a plan to try to fight back if the cons DO get back into power.

But the forces of Fascism are feeling their oats right now. They know the stars have aligned in their favor for the moment. They’ve packed the courts and they have loyalists in key positions. They know that far too many Americans can’t even wrap their arms around the possibility of such a thing and can be – will be – blindsided by fast-moving developments. They KNOW this is their best shot and they’re not throwing it away. Dark money contributors have already donated $21.5 million dollars in an effort to bring Project 2025 about.

I know people who will dismiss the threat, citing the fact that nothing like this has ever happened before. There’s a presumption that there are guard rails on our Democracy that protect her and keep things like that from happening. But the plan is to eliminate any and all guardrails and then do whatever they want to do. Remember, January 6th, 2021 had “never happened before” either – and then it did.

I’ll tell you this: I wish MAGA really loved America the way they claim to love America…

Questions, Conflicts, and Cons…

by MyBaconPress

Okay, so some failed human being goes to a splash pad in Detroit and…opens fire. An eight year old boy was shot in the head and is in critical condition. Eight other people were shot, too. They’re in stable condition. THEN, the idiot shooter goes home and kills himself. A LOT of these random crazies end up killing themselves in the end. My question? Why not just do the second part and leave everyone else out of it?

Perhaps he was just celebrating the Kangaroos return to stupidity when they restored bump stocks to the nation. A bump stock is an add-on device that allows a semi-automatic gun to fire at rates similar to a machine gun. For the most part, it’s illegal to own fully automatic machine guns in America. There are some exceptions, of course. But the gun world’s work-around was bump stocks. Bump stocks are the key to how that idiot in Las Vegas was able to murder so many people in such a short time.

Oh, yeah, bump stocks were banned by the Trump maladministration. (He got one right. He deserves that credit, though, he’s now denying he did it…) No matter. The Kangaroos overturned the ban and now bump stocks are back. The ethically challenged moron Clarence Thomas, of course, insisted that bump stocks don’t turn semi-automatic weapons into fully automatic weapons. No, they don’t. But they allow a semi-automatic weapon to fire at nearly the same rate, so the difference is negligible…

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One of the things I note about MAGA is that they lack empathy. As a group, to be sure, but I mean individually. I consider it a defining characteristic. One definition of empathy is: “The ability to identify with or understand another’s situation or feelings.” This, MAGA can not do. The only way MAGA can understand anything, even have a chance of understanding, is if they experience that thing themselves and even then, there’s no guarantee.

Steve Scalise (R, La) is a rabid gun nut. He got shot by a random shooter at a softball practice. He nearly died. He’s STILL a rabid gun nut. He’s also still in good with MAGA. Compare that to Gabby Giffords. She was also a strong gun supporter, though maybe not a “rabid” gun nut. Then she got shot. Now she’s more wary of allowing just anybody to have a gun or to carry one anywhere and everywhere. She learned. Scalise couldn’t.

The reason I mention this is that there’s a tendency for me to momentarily wish upon them the things they deny others. Does that happen to you? When I heard Thomas’s claim about bump stocks, I momentarily wished he could be on the receiving end of someone with a bump stock. When that young woman insisted she’s going to destroy a woman’s right to control her own body, I momentarily wished her pregnant by her rapist.

I really don’t like that. It shames and embarrasses me that such thoughts might even BE in my head. I don’t mean them. They just show up, unbidden. Then I have to slap them down and reproach myself for even considering it. I don’t WANT to be like MAGA. I suppose (hope?) it’s a natural, animal response. But I KNOW it’s not decent nor civilized. I think it comes from a place of, “Well, if it’s the only way they’re going to learn…” But it isn’t the “only” way. It can’t be. How DOES one teach a person who doesn’t WANT to learn?

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Everybody on the left is worried that the cons are ushering in Fascism because we, on the left, know what Fascism is. Everybody on the right is worried that the LEFT is ushering in Fascism because cons DON’T know what Fascism is. I think both sides are wrong. I’ve seen all kinds of lists about what MUST be on display to be Fascism but I never agree with them. They seem a distraction from the simplest, most correct definition, the one I take from the so-called “Father of Fascism,” Benito Mussolini.

Mussolini kept it simple. Fascism, he said, was the merger between government and corporate power. He didn’t say anything about the “add-ons,” things like authoritarianism. Those came later. But IF one sticks with Mussolini’s definition, it seems the United States has been a Fascist nation since 2010, when the SKCOTUS made their dreadful, infamous Citizens United vs the FEC ruling. That’s the one that allowed (required?) rich people to buy politicians through unlimited campaign contributions.

Consider: we all know that politicians these days are owned and operated by corporations and rich people. If the politicians want to keep their phony-baloney jobs, they have to stay ‘hat in hand’ with the money people. The average Joe, sending $20, or $50, or even $100 to some candidate isn’t the person the candidate will look to after winning. They’ll look to the rich guy or corporation that sent them $20,000, or $200,000 in bundled cash, or the people who pay the tab on expensive gifts and other bribes.

But that system absolutely reflects the “merger between government and corporate power.” The wealthy buy the politicians, the politicians do as they’re told by the wealthy – and the wealthy only want politicians to do what’s best for the wealthy! Voila! Fascism. It happened quietly. Most people didn’t even seem to notice. Many haven’t noticed yet.

But I’ll tell you this: it happened. Fascism came to America in 2010. It WAS wrapped in the flag and carrying a Bible, too. But make no mistake, it came because wealthy people bought it and morons supported it. Now we’re all suffering from it…