Month: March 2025

Inmates Running the Asylum…

by MyBaconPress

Elon presenting to the world as an insane person is only one reason Tesla sales are crashing and the stock is down. Tesla’s early success in the car market wasn’t because of Elon, either. Tesla benefited, early on, by being first. They offered an electric vehicle with a perception of quality and safety that had good range and speed.

As they’ve penetrated the market, though, certain realities about Tesla’s safety have been exposed. They keep being recalled. The ‘Autopilot’ feature of the car is, at best, erratic. (Hey, just like their CEO!) In crashes, they tend to burst into flames. Fortunately, they increasingly have “unbreakable” glass windows (actually just very difficult to break) so WHEN your Tesla crashes and burns, literally, with you inside? You might survive the crash, but not the fire.

Meanwhile, all of the other car makers have come up with decent alternatives that DON’T burst into flame every chance they get and many of them are far more affordable. That is to say, there are better options out there now, or, at least, competitive options. As those options became available, it was inevitable Tesla sales would drop. They aren’t the only game in town anymore.

But it really has not helped that the richest man in the world started scolding work-a-day Joes for taking too much. “Oh, you want your Social Security? I don’t need Social Security so you shouldn’t either!”

Muck and the trumpster held a publicity stunt at the White House in an effort to shore up Tesla sales. 47 pretended he bought one. He said he was going to write a check for the $80,000 dollar car. Neither of the grifters mentioned, in the moment, that Musk was planning to put $100 million dollars into The Felon’s pocke–, er, PAC. Yeah, the PAC, that’s the ticket.

Now, as Elon actively attacks the American people, the American people are pushing back by protesting outside Tesla dealerships. It really makes perfect sense. Elon is closely associated with the Tesla, even though he had nothing to do with their development or design. Tesla is quickly becoming a symbol of evil and it provides people with a very visual place to protest.

Donny says he wants to make protesting outside Tesla dealerships a crime. He wants to call it “domestic terrorism.” Look for that to happen in a once-great nation near you, soon. I remember when the United States enjoyed a thing commonly referred to as the First Amendment. Remember that? It allowed people to say things other people might not like. It allowed people to protest, so long as it was peaceful. That was pretty great.

The MAGA alternative to the First Amendment, along with the Tesla and Tesla’s CEO, sucks. I wonder how long Tesla’s board is going to stand behind Elon and his insanity. Do you think they’re going to wait until their brand is completely unrecoverable?

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Sometimes, stupid just can’t hide. A competent AP reporter asked KKKaroline Leavitt if she had ever paid a tariff. She went directly to faux outrage, “I think it’s insulting that you’re trying to test my knowledge of economics,” before moving on – quickly – to another question. (She commonly reminds me of a line from ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail,’ “Run away!”)

It wasn’t really a “test” though, was it? It was more of a demonstration. If you really think foreign companies pay the tariffs, you have no idea what you’re talking about and anybody, everybody, who DOES understand will know in a heartbeat that you DON’T know – and it doesn’t matter HOW big of an asshole you act. You’re still wrong.

The most frustrating part about this particular gaslight is that cons will be the first to tell you that adding a tax to a product will only be passed along by the seller. We all know it. Even MAGA knows it. But suddenly, THIS tax doesn’t work that way, apparently, because it has a different name? Really, sometimes, stupid just can’t hide…

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Recently, a young child died of Measles in Texas. I’m sure the child’s parents are very proud of themselves. Sure, they killed their kid – but he didn’t have Autism!

I suppose we have to set aside the FACT – you know, like they didn’t – that he wouldn’t have contracted Autism from the vaccines, anyway, since that was just a made-up story. It stems from a morally defective, British former doctor. He isn’t a doctor anymore because his “study” was crap work. He fudged his data. He was applying for a vaccine patent of his own and thought that if he discredited the one in use at the time, he’d be better off. His lie has killed countless numbers – including that child in Texas.

The dude must be MAGA because he’s still out there telling his lie – and doubling down on a lie is the MAGA way. He has apparently impressed what’s left of RFK, Jr’s brain, which doesn’t seem all that hard to do. He impresses a LOT of weak minds. I suspect he feels good whenever an unvaccinated child dies of some easily preventable disease because he convinced yet another rube. But people die. I think he should be in prison.

Science isn’t perfect. There, I said it AND, I mean it. But it’s better than not-science. It’s sure as shootin’ better than “doing your own research.” What the hell do YOU know? Do you have a lab or even a lab coat? Testing equipment? Can you do a double-blind study on a large enough, representative sample? Can you even describe a double-blind study? Or did you just cruise the internet until you found the story that supported what your husband’s cousin mentioned she heard from her friend down at the mall?

If you don’t get your kids vaccinated because you’re afraid they might get Autism from the shot, leaving your child vulnerable to readily preventable diseases that can very easily kill or permanently disable them? You’re a moron…

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I don’t know. It was a tough call. Do Democrats sign on with Republicans and help them pass their Continuing Resolution (CR), or do they stand their ground and let the government shut down in an effort to get a less vicious budget? If the CR passes, the autocrats get a shot in the arm as the CR codifies some of the things “Team Evil” want to do. If the CR fails, the government shuts down and leaves a huge opening for Team Evil to do their thing with less opposition, but makes clear the damage comes from one group and one group only – the One Percent compliant Republicans.

It seems to me the outcome was the same either way. Team Evil gets to do what it wants via the budget or Team Evil gets to do what it wants via the closure. Since that’s the case, I think it would have made more sense to vote against the CR. The short version is, either way, Team Evil gets to do what it wants, so the Democrats should do the right thing and stand with the American people. Most did.

Chuck Schumer (NY), John Fetterman (PA), Dick Durbin (IL), Catherine Cortez-Masto (NV), Gary Peters (MI), Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), Brian Schatz (HI), Maggie Hassan (NH), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), and Angus King (MA), an independent who caucuses with Democrats, all joined Team Evil in giving Elon and The Felon a free hand. But, really, it was a tough call, either way. It’s difficult to know what the right choice might have been – except…

47 said of Schumer’s vote, “I think he did the right thing.” Okay, so now I know the answer. If Evil Donny is happy about the choice you made, you definitely made the wrong choice. The outcome totally reinforces my perception that the Democrats are the Washington Generals of this political charade. The Washington Generals are the team whose job it is to lose to the Harlem Globetrotters, but both teams are paid by the same people…

What Evil Looks Like…

by MyBaconPress

Some people think that evil looks like the devil, a red-hued guy with horns and a spiked tail. I don’t, though. I think evil looks like the richest man in the world telling work-a-day Joes that they’re taking too much…

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Listen, it isn’t going to take any time at all for all of MAGA to believe that this volatile economy is Joe Biden’s fault. The economy was humming along when Biden was President. It was SO good, the First Felon was taking credit for it. “It’s good because I’m coming into office.” In truth, it was good because Biden knew what he was doing.

Then 47 GOT into office and started his mindless “trade wars” (code talk for “stock market manipulation”) – and the economy is tanking. But that, TOO is Joe Biden’s fault. I mean, obviously. Oh, it’s STILL Biden’s economy, which, remember, was doing so well before 47 stole the office. Yes, their stories ARE stupid, but MAGA conditioning keeps them befuddled and they’ll never see it.

It’s often true that economic effects last beyond one person’s term. Bush 43 left Obama a crashed economy that saw Obama struggling for the first couple of years. Obama left then-45 a booming economy that kept humming along until then-45’s mismanagement allowed a pandemic to run wild. That dragged down Biden’s early years as the trumpster’s inflation ballooned, but Biden got it under control. The economy was humming along again when now-47 stole his way back. He should have, COULD have kept it humming along – but the trumpster wanted tariffs.

It stopped being Biden’s economy the second 47 started signing Executive Orders that affected the economy – that is, day one. He affected the economy faster than any other modern sitting President. Sadly, he damaged the economy faster than any other modern sitting President.

All of this is happening because Trump is an old man and thinks old thoughts. Tariffs might have been a solid economic tool at one point in history. Hell, in some cases, they can still be solid tools. But he’s using a cannon to kill a mosquito. Mostly, the world just bypasses tariffs by turning in other directions, these days. All 47 is accomplishing is having other countries take American products off their shelves.

I’ll tell you this: that doesn’t sound so “great” to me…

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The cowardly, snowflake Republicans have decided to stop holding town halls because pissed off people keep showing up to demand action from their “representatives,” who aren’t going to do anything because they actually represent the One Percent. And to protect their cowardly selves from looking like cowardly snowflakes, they’re pretending the angry people are paid protestors funded by (obviously) George Soros.

In point of fact, George Soros doesn’t NEED to fun angry citizens. Most Americans are plenty pissed off about what’s happening and don’t need any prompting from anybody. Their anger is real, not bought and paid for – and THAT is why they’ll stop holding those meetings. They can’t afford to let people see how many of us are super pissed off about what’s happening. Solidarity is our best weapon, now…

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“But the Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers, and Elon’s ‘baby,’ in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for.” The trumpster wrote that.

He’s not altogether wrong. There IS coordination among the protestors. That’s kind of how protesting works. It COULD be called “collusion.” But illegal? Sorry, chump. It’s not illegal to NOT buy a product (except health insurance, apparently). If Americans want to boycott Tesla in response to Tesla’s CEO attacking them, that’s an honest choice. Let MAGA buy the Teslas. They LOVE electric cars, right? Well, they will, soon. Well, Teslas, anyway. (Their conditioning is so… malleable…)

I first predicted on February 13 of this year that MAGA conditioning would be modified to encourage them to buy Teslas in an effort to prop up Musk’s company. March 12 saw The Felon turning the White House into a car sales lot for a short time. He held a press conference to hawk the cars like a used car salesmen. He even got a script from Elon! He promoted the event on his social media site where he wrote, “In any event, I’m going to buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk, a truly great American.”

Listen, knowing the dumbest man on the planet “bought” an overpriced car from the richest man on the planet is not a strong endorsement of the Swasticar. But suddenly, MAGA everywhere will be fond of Teslas. If the First Felon “buys” one, then it’s okay for THEM to buy one. Hell, it may become requisite. Someone should tell them it was JUST a promotional event. I seriously doubt 47 will actually write a check for $80,000 for a woke car he doesn’t even get to drive. But now MAGA has to carry the company? Can they do that? Many MAGA have lost huge amounts of money to The Felon’s various schemes and scams. Can they afford a Tesla, too? Those rolling crematoriums are VERY expensive…

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Meanwhile, the stock market is crashing like it’s 1929. Credit where credit is due, ‘Fox Not-News’ reporter Peter Doocy asked during the Elon/Felon event – out loud and in public – if it was a good idea to be hawking luxury cars outside the White House while the working class was watching their 401ks shrivel.

That’s TWICE Peter Doocy has confronted the maladministration with honest questions. The first time was when Doocy questioned the legitimacy of attacking Zelenskyy for not wearing a suit in the Oval when Muck never wears a suit in the Oval. At the time, Spokesliar Leavitt ducked the question with a very not-subtle dodge, “He wore one last night.” Sure, he wasn’t in the Oval but in fairness, it was all she had.

Wait, a third time? Doocy ALSO challenged the White House spokesliar by asking if anyone in the White House was “shorting” the stock market during all of this chaos. Did you know it’s possible to bet against the stock market? Or, rather, it’s possible to bet the market is going to go down. Very simply, you buy what are called “Put Options.” They’re like a long-odds bet so they pay off “bigly.”

Famously, okay, infamously, some unknown person bought Put Options on American airlines and United airlines just before those planes were used on 9/11. After the planes hit the buildings the stocks crashed, too, and the Put Options paid off handsomely. Sadly, the purchaser never got to collect because doing so clearly indicated foreknowledge of the event. (Official word is, we “never knew” who bought those options…)

Anyway, if you’re an evil schemer and you’re in a position to manipulate the market, you buy some Put Options, announce your tariffs, watch the market decline, collect your money on the options, buy stocks at bargain basement prices you just manipulated into being, then “pause” your tariffs and watch your stock price grow as the market “recovers.”

That might give you some idea of how bizarre Bizarro America is, I have to give props to a ‘Fox Not News’ reporter for doing the job ALL reporters should be doing – but aren’t. Good work, Peter Doocy. Keep it up…

Undependable and Untrustworthy…

by MyBaconPress

The thing is, see, it won’t matter. 47 is now out saying he hates “to predict things” like a recession this year. He’s conditioning his acolytes with their new talking point. They’ll start in, first insisting, aggressively, that there will NOT be a recession this year. THEN, when the recession begins, they’ll take their next totally unpredictable move, they’ll blame Joe Biden. Either way, it won’t matter to them. They’ll believe.

Bear in mind, Biden had nothing to do with it. Biden left The Felon with one of the strongest economies in the world. 47 has already done serious harm and he’s only been in office, what, a month and a half? But MAGA is impervious to facts and, like Ron White says, you can’t fix stupid.

Anyway, according to the Guardian, 47 added, “There is a period of transition, because what we’re doing is very big. We’re bringing wealth back to America. That’s a big thing. And there are always periods of, it takes a little time. It takes a little time, but I think it should be great for us.” When asked whether he thought his tariffs on US imports would fuel inflation, he said: “You may get it. In the meantime, guess what? Interest rates are down.”

Remember, he promised on the campaign trail he was going to bring prices down. He said he had a plan and that it was going to be “so easy.” Now he’s telling everyone that he – okay, I’m trying to be generous, here – hasn’t achieved his campaign promise to bring prices down and he doesn’t expect to. In his “mind,” it’s good enough news that interest rates are down. So when you’re asked pay $25.00 for 18 eggs, fear not. You can finance them at a competitive rate…

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I never fully trust high-profile people who switch political sides AFTER being caught up in some scandal. Simultaneously, they have had front row seats to the inside workings of whatever camp they got kicked out of. David Brock spent years writing hit pieces for the right before being kicked out of that club, ostensibly for writing a balanced piece about Hillary.

In his Mea Culpa book, ‘Blinded By the Right,’ Brock confessed to creating the line, “a little bit nutty, a little bit slutty,” about Anita Hill, the person accusing Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment during his SCOTUS hearing. He attacked a book that accused Thomas of being a “habitual user of pornography” and insisted the authors had no evidence. Then, again in ‘Blinded By the Right’ he wrote, “When I wrote those words, I knew they were false. I put a lie in print.”

The left embraced him and extolled his “brave honesty.” I never trusted the guy. It’s just too convenient that he decided to switch sides only AFTER being exiled from his previous position. He founded a group called “Media Matters for America,” which he later left for “undisclosed reasons.”

Brock was happy to write whatever the right wanted, so long as the checks cleared. Then, when the checks stopped coming, he had a sudden change of heart and started cashing Democratic checks, instead. His loyalty seems, first and foremost, to himself and he just writes what his benefactors want to hear, true or not.

I feel pretty much the same way about current darling to the left, the turncoat Michael Cohen, the trumpster’s one-time “fixer.” He didn’t just wake up one day and decide to do the right thing. He got arrested and convicted for his actions working with The Felon and when 47 threw him under the bus – as he almost always does – Cohen had a sudden “come to Jesus” moment. He, too, strikes me as an opportunist, taking the money from where ever it’s coming from.

BUT… it’s also true that he really was an insider. It’s true that he really does know The Felon and the way he thinks. Cohen expects the trumpster to come after Medicaid (in process) and Social Security (started). Cohen wrote an essay on Substack in which he opined that 47’s “base might be rabid, but even the most die-hard MAGA voter has a breaking point. And when grandma’s Social Security check disappears, when their Medicaid is yanked away, when the reality of Musk’s economic war on the poor sets in; who do you think they’re going to blame?”

“You screw over 72.5 million people, and you pay the price,” Cohen continued, referring to the number of Americans on Medicaid. “Unfortunately, they will suffer. But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel…Musk’s economic jihad against working Americans will be the thing that sinks Trump’s presidency and the Republican party. And for once, the chaos will actually work in the favor of the American people.”

No, I don’t trust Michael Cohen, but I want SO BADLY for him to be correct about this…

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The right is in full attack mode against Amy Coney-Barrett for her part in upholding the Constitution. She sided with the three left-leaning justices in favor of the idea that contracted work completed should be compensated according to the contractual agreement. Now the right is just bashing hell out of her.

They say she’s evil. They say she’s “rattled.” They call her a DEI hire. All of this because she did the right thing. And do you know what? If YOU were the contractor who did the work, YOU would want to be paid, too. You wouldn’t want to hear that your money is suddenly “frozen” because some mental mite made an illegal choice.

But the thing that REALLY gets me? Chief Kangaroo John Roberts ALSO sided with the majority and the Constitution. That’s HOW they got to the 5-4 decision they eventually handed down. I haven’t heard word one about Roberts. All of the vitriol seems to be pointed at Coney-Barrett. I wonder why that might be?

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When Steve effing Doocy challenges something a Republican administration does, you KNOW the GOP has gone way awry. Doocy asked why Zelenskyy was challenged (by MTG’s paid-shill boyfriend) for not wearing a suit, but Musk never wears one in the Oval and no one says anything.

The Felon’s Spokesliar, KKKaroline Leavitt, said of Musk, “He wore one tonight,” referring to the joint-party rally speech The Felon gave. That was her only line, her dodge. “He wore one tonight.” Do you think SHE thinks she handled that one smoothly? Do you think SHE thinks she nailed it? Her line was stupid and everybody knows it. Well, everybody but MAGA and that’s really who it was for…

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Right now, the entire world is looking away from the US the way Americans look away from homeless people. “It’s a shame,” we think to ourselves, “but what can be done?” We move on with our lives, hoping for the best. That’s how the world is viewing the US since the rise of MAGA. “What a shame.” They look different directions. The world will spin without US hegemony. As it happens, the US needs the world, more than the world needs the US. Who knew? Well, everybody but MAGA, that’s who knew…

On The Death of Human Empathy…

by MyBaconPress

There was a woman named Hannah Arendt. She was a German born political scientist and philosopher. She was also Jewish. She lived during – and was forced to flee from – the Nazi persecution of the 1930’s and 40’s. She had the same front-row-seat-view of the decline of a once-respectable, once-proud civilization the Americans are suffering these days.

This is from Britannica; “Arendt viewed the growth of totalitarianism as the outcome of the disintegration of the traditional nation-state. She argued that totalitarian regimes, through their pursuit of raw political power and their neglect of material or utilitarian considerations, had revolutionized the social structure and made contemporary politics nearly impossible to predict.”

It sure feels as though we’re living in an age where contemporary politics are nearly impossible to predict, doesn’t it? It’s all part of the effort to create a totalitarian regime here, in the US, and a key part to all of THAT is the slow perversion of morality, a kind of moral stupidity that prides itself on being impervious to facts. And the key to THAT decline is found in the elimination or suppression of empathy.

‘Empathy’ is a noun. It means, “The ability to identify with or understand another’s situation or feelings.” In short, it’s the ability to effectively put oneself into another’s shoes. I suspect those who eventually became MAGA started with a distinct lack of empathy in the first place. It traces to a smaller-than-average Amygdala, a small, almond-shaped structure in the brain. Researchers have discovered, for example, that psychopathic serial killers have a small Amygdala that connects poorly with the frontal lobe. They literally can not imagine how their victims feel.

Obviously, I don’t mean to suggest that all of MAGA are serial killers. It takes more than JUST a small Amygdala to make a psychopath, but a small Amygdala is requisite to reduced empathy and the entire right-wing propaganda machine was built to eliminate any vestiges of empathy that might remain. Sadly, that propaganda has been VERY effective.

I seriously doubt I COULD become MAGA, today. I mean, even if I wanted to, which I don’t. I seriously doubt my ability to simply dismantle my morality so completely and all of a sudden. I mean, even MAGA didn’t do that. It took YEARS to make them the hard-hearted, and even hateful group they are today.

It literally started with word games. “Hey, let’s call the Inheritance Tax the ‘Death Tax!’ From there, they moved to lying, though they didn’t KNOW they were lying. They thought they were just playing the political game. The stories they told were for the greater good, right? Slowly, very slowly, they’ve been led, step by step, deeper down a rabbit hole of misinformation.

They became consumed by some VERY slick, VERY professional looking propaganda. Slowly, carefully, their fears became their guiding star. Whatever bigotry they harbored was enabled and enhanced and ultimately, approved. It didn’t happen quickly. It couldn’t have. But slowly, over time – 40 plus years, in fact – they’ve had whatever empathy they may once have enjoyed stolen from them.

The success of the would-be totalitarians is VERY dangerous to the United States and to the world, in general. The US has been the most powerful nation on Earth for 80 years. Now, we’re a huge toddler with a loaded gun. No, make that millions of loaded guns. And nukes. And all of it backed by “true believers,” unable to put themselves into the shoes of others.

It took a World War and some 60 million dead to stop the totalitarian regime Arendt was forced to flee, the Nazis, and nobody back then had the kind of weapons we have today. The policy called Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) used to be a warning in name. Now it seems to be a reality the world is hurtling toward with a rather insane abandon. Arendt had something to say about that. “The death of human empathy,” she wrote, “is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.”

For me, the most ironic part of the decline of empathy in our society is that the single largest group of people to lose sight of that aspect of the human condition are the people who call themselves Christians. They never even suspect that their callous attitudes about others run contrary to the most basic teaching of their ostensible leader. I mean Jesus, not Donny. They’re in lockstep with Donny.

Somewhere along the way, I sort of dropped the Ten Commandments as guiding rules. For one thing, there are really only five: don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, and don’t covet. The others are just some form of “You have to like me best” from their “jealous God.”

More importantly, those that DO speak to morality can all be summed up in ONE teaching of Jesus. “So then, in everything treat others the same way you want them to treat you, for this is [the essence of] the Law and the [writings of the] Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12, the Amplified Bible)

Treat them the way you want them to treat you. Now there’s a concept. If you don’t want to be lied to, don’t lie. If you don’t want to be stolen from, don’t steal. See? Simple. If you don’t want to be ripped from your home and packed off in the middle of the night, maybe don’t support that behavior. It’s a nice little rule and it doesn’t even require empathy. One can be as selfish as anything and it still applies. You know what you don’t want someone else to do to you. Don’t do it to them. Easy.

The loss of empathy in a person does NOT preclude sympathy in that person, and that may be a key. While they can’t successfully put themselves into someone else’s shoes, they still understand distress when they, or someone they care about, experiences some consequence or effect. Honestly, I expect they will experience a whole new set of consequences and/or effects in the very near future. What I don’t know is if they’ll ever make the connection between their suffering and who is doing the actual infliction of that suffering.

Their media tells them the perpetrator is… well, whomever they can point to that isn’t the actual perpetrator. More to the point, they WANT to believe they’re on the side of righteousness. Who doesn’t? But their desire to NOT be the bad guy in this process may well prevent them from ever understanding or acknowledging their role as useful tools to the overthrow.

Those of us who never succumbed to the MAGA misinformation are all (foolishly, I fear) waiting for a cowboy on a white horse or a knight in shining armor to come in and rescue us. I don’t see any on the horizon. This is actually happening, whether we like it or not.

I don’t agree with everything Arendt has written or said, but I think she hit the nail on the head with her warning, “The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.”

I can see how easily we, the people, might fall into barbarism from where we are. Many already have. So it’s important for those of us still capable of empathy to hang on to it. Cling to it. Hold it close. The temptation will be there to disregard first the feelings of MAGA, then the person as a whole. It might seem the only way to cope, cut them off.

But YOUR empathy has to be the example. As a bonus, you MAY find that your empathy helps you cope with their LACK of empathy. Talk with them, but not about abstract concepts or people they don’t know. Share your experiences, how things affect YOU. Those are things they can relate to.

Empathy didn’t die of natural causes in this once-great nation. It was murdered. Slowly, steadily. Fortunately, not for everyone. We may be destined to barbarism. But maybe, just maybe, we can change the course. Set the example. Maybe OUR empathy will inspire a resurrection of empathy in someone else, one moment at a time, in one person at a time where it has been snuffed out. Empathy isn’t extinct so long as it exists in even one person, and it only takes a spark to get a fire going…

Highlighting the Gaslighting…

by MyBaconPress

I just want to pile on for a second. 47 actually said “and the days of rule by unelected bureaucrats is over.” He said it with Elon Musk, the shadow President sitting right there, in the room. The GOP pretended not to notice but everyone else in the world laughed at the moronic buffoon. If you’re going to claim the days of rule by unelected bureaucrats is over, you might want to make sure the unelected bureaucrat you’ve got ruling over the government can’t be panned to by the cameras, highlighting your gaslighting…

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Well, well, whaddaya know? It turns out, 47s tariffs aren’t so much just a stupid economic move. I mean, they ARE an incredibly stupid economic move, or, would be, if they were real. But it’s looking more and more like they’re just insider trading. Make no mistake, everybody still has to take them seriously. That’s why they’re so effective. People have no choice but to respond, just in case he really means it this time. But they may never be imposed. All of the tough talk and claims of concern are just gaslighting.

Have you noticed? He threatens tariffs. Because they’re such a stupid economic move, the stock market declines, usually by a LOT. Then he suspends the tariffs and the stock market comes back. MEANWHILE, he and his insider cronies have had a tremendous buying opportunity. Buy low, sell high. And he can do it over and over and over again.

He’s manipulating the market to his own advantage. Insider trading. Um, how else can I put this? Oh, yeah, MORE crime! What a guy. Yes, the back and forth of it IS doing serious harm to the economy but HE is making huge piles of money – and he doesn’t CARE if you suffer while he does so. In fact, I suspect he kind of likes that.

This is, essentially, the same dishonorable tactic he uses when he bankrupts businesses. Sometimes, I get tired all over listening to people say he’s a terrible businessman because he has bankrupted so many businesses. He has, too. But they were never “failures,” in any traditional sense. He KNOWS those businesses are going under even as he sets them up. He talks them up, brags about how great they’re going to be. But it’s all gaslighting.

He puts himself in a position to profit, personally, from the business while it exists and milks the thing dry. He can also borrow against the business – or he could, until US banks caught on to his scheme and stopped lending to him. That’s when he allegedly became a Russian agent. The Russians still provided him money so he’s literally in their (that is, Putin’s) pocket. Yes, setting up businesses one KNOWS will fail destabilizes local economies and harms all of the people associated with the business – except him. HE makes huge piles of money from each grift and he doesn’t CARE if you suffer while he does so.

If he was even half as competent as a President as he is as a thieving grifter, he might not be the totally useless waste of flesh he is…

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I’m beginning to feel a little embarrassed by my fellow Americans. People keep watching 47 take some new, destructive action and they ask, out loud, “Doesn’t he understand?” Yes. He does. It’s the whole point.

For decades, the GOP had been pushing the false idea that governments don’t work. This claim, too, is gaslighting. The biggest problem they’ve had the whole time is that governments DO work. There was only one option, right? Sabotage the government. So, that’s what they did.

Every tax cut for the rich starves the government of resources it needs to do it’s job. That’s not a surprise, nor is it a secret. It’s the plan. All these firings? The criminal maladministration isn’t finding ANY fraud, waste, nor abuse. They’re just firing people. THAT will have the effect of rendering government less effective. THEN, they’re going to hammer on the idea that governments can’t work, point to the struggling agencies, the agencies they sabotaged for the purpose, and say, “See?”

It’s a two-prong gain for the greedy. One, they get to run an openly criminal authoritarian regime (have you noticed?) and two, they’ll get to privatize everything. For clarity, “privatize” is corporate-speak for “steal even more.” To the best of my knowledge there isn’t a single sector, not ONE, where the US has privatized operations and the operation because cheaper NOR more efficient. Instead, it becomes more expensive and LESS effective – but some greed-head gets to shave off some money and stick it in his pockets.

This is the pinnacle of the so-called “unfettered free market.” You can buy anything you can afford – even citizenship. Sadly, most of us won’t be able to “afford” anything. For the masses, life becomes a daily, desperate struggle for survival. A very small group of people own everything. There’s a small middle class that lives to serve that hyper wealthy group. Then there’s everybody else.

It’s weird I have to go to this level of detail, but think about it. If you’re not in the hyper-wealthy crowd and you don’t get into the tiny, wealthy-serving middle class, where does that leave YOU?

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

Hey, take a quick lesson from Elon. Joe Six-pack is constantly told that CEOs get paid so much because they’re so completely and totally vital to the operation of whichever organization they front. I have long-since doubted that, most especially when one gets to larger and larger organizations. I say, the bigger the corporation, the less important the CEO. And claims to the contrary? By now, surely you’ve picked up on my theme.
“Yeah, yeah… gaslighting. And don’t call me ‘Shirley.'” (Sorry…)

Oh, you doubt me? Elon has been living around the White House. He’s the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, the Boring Company, and the Brand X web site. He’s nowhere near them. He’s ignoring them, even as sales and stock prices are plummeting, users are fleeing, his rockets are exploding, and his Starlink satellites fall from the sky, damaging the Ozone layer.

Quick question: How important is the CEO if he never has to even show his face around the company? So… why are they paid so effing much, again?

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

If it ain’t Clarence “Pay Me” Thomas, it’s Samuel “Gimme, gimme” Alito. In this case, it’s Alito. The Roberts Supremely Kangaroo Court recently made a ruling that – you might want to sit down for this – their ruling was in keeping with the Constitution! I didn’t know they were CAPABLE OF that, let alone that they might. Basically, they ruled that the money being illegally held by 47’s criminal enterprise had to be released to pay contractors for work already completed.

9-0 decision, right? I mean, it’s a no-brainer. The Constitution clearly gives CONGRESS the power of the purse in what’s left of our government. The House looks over spending, the Senate looks over the spending, they come to an agreement and authorize the money. 535 people look at it and make the decision – all in keeping with the Constitution. But, no. Somehow, four of the “justices” pretend to think Donny has the power to just… keep the money if he wants to.

“Does a single district court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction have the unchecked power to compel the Government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever) 2 billion taxpayer dollars?” “Gimme, gimme” Alito wrote in his dissent. “The answer to that question should be an emphatic “No.” But a majority of this court apparently thinks otherwise. I am stunned.”

You’re not “stunned,” Sam. You’re corrupt. That’s different. Oh, AND? (Say it with me) You’re gaslighting! The “single district court judge” didn’t authorize the money, Congress did. The single district court judge just ruled that contracts must be honored. The work was completed, the money should be paid. Alito HATES that. (If you’re a contractor and Alito wants to hire you to do work, take note. He doesn’t believe in paying what he owes any more than Donny does. Get the money up front. ALL of it…)

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

I guess you won’t be any more surprised than I was – that is, not at all – to learn that the so-called “reporter,” Brian Glenn, who attacked Zelensky for not wearing a suit in the Oval – completely ignoring Muck’s sartorial choices – is actually a paid shill for 47. Technically, I think this one is more ‘hypocrisy’ than gaslighting. We’ll call it ‘gaslighting adjacent.’

He has even confessed as much, though he tried to pretend that the payments were to cover the cost of cameras and such. He pointed to a row of them and said, “Who pays for them?” In a proper journalistic environment, the interviewing company pays for them, not the person being interviewed. But he needed an “explanation” and that’s the best he could come up with. Hey, he’s MTG’s boyfriend, too. How could he be much more than a Medulla Oblingata and very little else and continue to hang around such a mental disappointment?

So AP didn’t get to come in to the Oval for that “meeting” with Zelenskyy. Neither did Reuters. But 47 DID allow a Russian TASS agent AND a paid shill. I thought he had promised to “drain the swamp,” not create new swamp monsters. Hey, you don’t suppose he was gaslighting, do you? When would he never do that?

It’s Only Thursday…

by MyBaconPress

I’ll tell you what’s weird. I received… no, that’s not right. My ESTATE received a notice from the VA expressing their condolences on my passing. “Wait,” I wondered, “am I dead?” I don’t actually FEEL dead, you know? Well, no, nobody knows what it “feels” like to be dead except dead people and I’m not one. (Unless this is a ‘Sixth Sense’ kind of deal and I just don’t KNOW I’m dead.)

Possible spoiler alert: if I AM dead, then I can tell you that when you’re dead, you’ll feel just like you did when you were alive. Sadly, that means all the same parts that hurt right now will continue to hurt. That’s not better. But how cool is it that I can still type on my computer? Or can I? Can you read this?

I received my “bummer for you” notice from the VA on a Saturday. They weren’t around on the weekend so I had to wait until Monday morning to contact them. It seems they were willing to accept me talking to them on the telephone – ostensibly live – as evidence I’m not dead yet, which I appreciate. I’m assured the whole mess will be straightened out soon, but in at least one official computer, I spent a couple of days “dead.” Now I’m alive again. Resurrected, in a manner of speaking.

What do you know? Jesus ISN’T the only one to pull off that trick! You’all might want to be impressed NOW and avoid the rush…

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

Okay, back to the swamp. Sorry. I thought to myself, “Why would I watch? He’s going to lie – just, make things up out of whole cloth – and claim great successes he has yet to accomplish and never will.” I should have trusted my instincts. But I tuned in for a bit. Guess what? He lied. He just made things up out of whole cloth. He claimed great success but has actually only produced damage and suffering. In fairness, his goal is damage and suffering so, I guess, technically, that IS “success.” It’s just not the kind of “success” any decent human being would aspire to, right?

I DID get to see Rep. Al Green escorted out for speaking the truth. He addressed the dumbass lie that The Felon has a “mandate.” That’s a sin in Washington DC these days, speaking the truth. I’m sure the right is all aflutter about Green doing it during the speech. They’ll conveniently forget the way that behavior became “acceptable” during the Obama administration when GOPrick Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted “You lie!” during Obama’s State of the Union. MTG then copied the behavior during a Biden address. NOW it’s an outrage?

One of 47’s falsehoods was about “trans” mice. He claimed someone was using millions of dollars to switch the sexes of mice. The problem? The word he saw was “transgenic,” not “transsexual.” Transgenic means the mice are genetically modified to accept human illnesses for research purposes. Now, I’ll tell you the truth, I didn’t know “transgenic,” either. But I guarantee you, I would have at least looked it up before I stood up in front of the world and made an utter fool of myself berating the misuse of money to change mouse sexes. I’d bet a DOLLAR there’s a dictionary in the White House. (I might lose that. Donny might have determined that dictionaries are a liberal plot and demanded their removal…)

President Musk and sub-president trump HAVE initiated their assault on Social Security. For clarity, that’s not just “liberal” Social Security. Are you a bright red MAGA, proudly wearing the mark of the beast on your forehead, supporting Trump in all things at all times, showing up at rallies, buying busloads of cheap, foreign-made crap The Felon hawks at every opportunity? Yeah, he’s coming for YOUR Social Security, too.

He DID say, twice that I heard, that Elon Musk is in charge of the illegal DOGE. I’m guessing the lawyers jumped all over that since it directly contradicts a court filing the government made. I THINK lying to courts is still a bad thing and now, with 47’s help, the court KNOWS the maladministration lied…

And have you HEARD his “idea” about the ‘Gold Card?’ Yeah, that will be for SALE! “Oh, you want to come to the United States and be a citizen? Here fill out this paperwork. Get yourself a lawyer because it’s a fuckin’ labyrinth of confusion and potential missteps that will cost you time and money and can easily derail success. Set aside the next couple of years of your life because you’ll need to be going back and forth from the embassy to answer questions, or provide more detail. No, it isn’t easy coming to America but it’s important that we screen every applicant to minutest detail to ensure only decent people get in…”

“OR, you could just pay Donald Trump $5 million dollars for a ‘Gold Card’ and walk right in. Oh, a Gold Card? Yeah, that’s a Green Card PLUS! YOU get immediate, unscreened access to the United States, PLUS Trump gets $5 million of your dollars. It’s a win-win.” And what could go wrong?

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

For today, many Republicans are publicly disavowing The First Felon’s ridiculous claim that Ukraine invaded Russia. I expect they’ll be brought to heel soon, but for now, they’re accidentally expressing truth. The latest I’ve seen is H.R. McMaster. You remember McMaster. He was 47’s National Security Advisor during Trump’s first failed efforts in the White House. He knows Donny personally and better than you do.

McMaster did an interview with ’60 Minutes’ where he said, “Vladimir Putin couldn’t be happier, because what he sees is all of the pressure on Zelensky, all of the pressure on Ukraine and no pressure on him.” McMaster noted that Putin is a “master manipulator” with a deep understanding of how to work Trump to Russia’s advantage.

“He appeals to President Trump’s sense of aggrievement,” McMaster said. “And he’s been very successful at it because he’s a master manipulator and one of the best liars in the world.” (Editors note: I think Trump sees Putin as a role model.)

47 handled it with his usual aplomb and posted this to his failing social media platform late Sunday, “H.R. MCMASTER IS A WEAK AND TOTALLY INEFFECTIVE LOSER!” I don’t know. It seems like projection, to me, but it’s also stupid. If he’s an “INEFFECTIVE LOSER,” does that mean he’s ineffective at being a loser? Does that mean he’s a winner? If he wants lessons at being an effective loser, he should talk to the Democrats. Those idiots lose everything!

Then he added a separate post: “We should spend less time worrying about Putin, and more time worrying about migrant rape gangs, drug lords, murderers, and people from mental institutions entering our Country—So that we don’t end up like Europe!”

There he goes again, protecting Putin and working hard to distract the morally defective MAGA faithful by talking about all the scary, scary things they spend their days, nights, weekends, and vacations being terrified about, but never, ever see with their own eyes and in real life. Rape gangs. What a buffoon.

Donald J. Trump has humbled and humiliated the United States of America on the world stage. He’s an embarrassment and he has reduced the nation to a laughing stock. “…so we don’t end up like Europe!” I would MUCH rather end up like 2025 Europe than the 1939 Germany he’s working so hard to make us.

I’ll tell you this: I think the very FIRST person President Musk should send to Mars is Trump and Musk should go with him to make sure he gets there safely. Oh, no return trip? Bummer…

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

I strongly suspect that 47’s “path to peace” for Ukraine is for Ukraine to surrender the land Russia has stolen – and probably whatever other land Putin wants. I suspect that is the real reason that conversation became so testy the other day. I mean, obviously, it was an ambush, but it would have helped to have Zelenskyy in a state of mind to defend Ukraine’s situation and discussing the possibility of just giving away the store to Putin in private before the press came in would be just the ticket.

Now Donny (by which I mean Putin) has suspended arms deliveries from the US to Ukraine. According to Reuters, the Kremlin says suspending military aid is the best hope for peace in Ukraine. So there you go. The First Felon has violated a treaty in which the US promised to defend Ukraine and turned his back on people fighting to defend themselves from an illegal invasion AND made Putin giddy by weakening Putin’s opponent.

Look, I know nobody is going to do anything about it, but how does that NOT make Trump a traitor, offering aid and comfort to an adversary? I have LONG since understood Trump is a Russian asset, handled personally by Putin. I’m not exactly surprised whenever 47 does things intended to help Russia. But I AM disappointed every time…

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

Did you know that The Felon took all the boxes retrieved from the FBI Mar-a-Lardo search back to Mar-a-Lardo? It makes it so much easier for his Russian friends to come in an get copies…

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

Wow, two of the corrupt kangaroos joined the rational few to order The Felon to pay the money already spent by USAID contractors. 47, in his normal style, intended to just stiff them. In a 5-4 ruling, the Way High Court said he has to pay. John Roberts and Amy Coney-Barrett did the right thing. Bought and paid for Clarence “give me more” Thomas, Samuel “I’m gettin’ mine” Alito, Neil “Luv my stolen seat” Gorsuch, and Brett “I like beer” Kavanaugh continue to suck.

I’ll tell you this: It always surprises me when this horribly corrupt court does the right thing for some reason…

It’s The Morality, Stupid…

by MyBaconPress

I hear a LOT, these days, from lefties who are suggesting strategies for the next election. Oh, we could do this or we should do that. Uh-huh. So far, 47 has been a wrecking ball of lawbreaking. Evidence suggests he took the White House through cheating in the first place and since getting there, he has pretty much ignored the law in general. He does what he wants to do, legal or not, AND empowers toadies to do the same. So, um…

What in this HELL makes you think that come “election” time, he’s suddenly going to gain some great respect for the Constitution and stand down and accept the outcome of any election, whether he likes it or not?

My whole life, ‘voting’ has been the “solution” to whatever political problem ailed us. Don’t like the guy? Vote him out. Much of my life, that worked. I’m not sanguine that it’s going to work anymore. I suspect we’re going to start seeing Republican “wins” by, like, 94% all of a sudden, especially The Felon in his NEXT “election.”
“No, he can’t run again.”
“Haven’t you been paying attention?”
“No, the Constitution says…”
“The Constitution specifically says he can’t even hold office THIS time, yet there he is. What does HE care what the Constitution says?”
“Well the Supreme Court said…”
“The Supreme Court ruled the exact opposite of what the Fourteenth Amendment actually reads. They ruled by preference, not the law. When it gets to them, they’ll just pretend they read that a person can only serve two terms at a time, or some such.”
“But that doesn’t make sense.”
“Neither did their ruling on the Fourteenth Amendment. Or Citizen’s United, for that matter. The current SCOTUS IS the ‘Deep State,’ these days…”
“Well, crap!”

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

Around the turn of the century, Measles was declared eradicated. Then the moral-defect crowd decided, for political reasons, that vaccines are bad. Now? Kids are dying. Excellent work.

Have you noticed that when The First Felon in infesting the White House, the United States also becomes embroiled in some medical emergency? It’s almost as if he brings the pestilence. The LAST time, it was worldwide. THIS time it seems contained to the US, which seems appropriate, but the end result for Americans is the same: we’re screwed because we don’t have a competent leader when we need one.

LAST time it was “drink bleach and get a black light into the body.” And THAT was when he was surrounded by competent doctors with competent medical opinions. NOW all he has is RFK, Jr. – the very picture of medical incompetence.

Okay, that was fun to write but in fairness, RFK, Jr sent vaccines to address the problem in Texas. (And, of course, it’s Texas.) Weird, but that’s what happened. I’m guessing there’s a pending rebuke for actually turning to actual science to solve a science problem. That’s generally a no-no in MAGA land…

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

I use a source called ‘Ground News’ to track the amount of coverage a given story is getting in the press. It’s not perfect. It doesn’t cover opinions as much as journalism for example. Since most of MAGA media consists of “opinion” – the euphemism they use for “false stories” – I can’t be sure of the extent they’re hearing about the recent White House ambush on Zelenskyy.

But as far as journalism, there’s not much happening. The right is mostly not covering the outburst. The left has been focused. Journalists on the right have taken a somewhat ho-hum attitude. That’s because it’s yet another betrayal by Trump. I’ll tell you this: I ALWAYS expect the worst from him and he never lets me down. And yet, every time he behaves exactly the way I expect him to behave, I STILL feel disappointed. I keep hoping (against hope) that maybe, just this ONE time, he’ll demonstrate some basic, human decency. Intellectually, I KNOW he won’t. He can’t. And yet, I hope. I guess that makes it more of a wish.

WHY is it a betrayal? Because the US is obligated by treaty, along with other NATO nations, to defend Ukraine against Russian aggression, specifically. You see, when the USSR collapsed, Ukraine was left with a huge stockpile of nuclear weapons. In fact, at the time, they held the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world.

Do you think Putin would have invaded Ukraine had they kept those weapons? I doubt it seriously. But they didn’t keep them. In fairness, when Ukraine was released from USSR control, those weapons represented a huge cost I doubt they were ready to shoulder but there are options. They might well have found a way. But they didn’t need to. Under the Budapest Accords, Ukraine chose to eliminate their nuclear stockpile in exchange for security guarantees. They received their guarantees. They kept their part of the bargain. Now 47 can’t bring himself to honor the promise if Zelenskyy doesn’t a) pay him and b) grovel appropriately.

Now, obviously, Trump doesn’t understand what a real tough guy looks like, but Zelenskyy IS one. He’s not going to grovel and he’s certainly not going to say “nice things” about the invader. The First Felon is out of his depth, here. He should just let grown ups handle things and shut his pie-hole.

Just as an aside, according to Reuters, ‘Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said there were “whispers from the White House that they may try to end all U.S. support for Ukraine… I am sick to my stomach as the administration appears to be walking away from our allies and embracing Putin, a threat to democracy and U.S. values around the world.”‘

Today she describes herself as “sick to her stomach.” Tomorrow she’ll vote with the majority anyway. Honor seems to be yesterdays news, along with decency, honesty, and empathy. This is just the latest example of MAGA moral decline. They’re cheering the aggressor and deriding the victims…

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

I’m glad to know I’m not the only one concerned about the MAGA moral decline and it offers me hope to know there are still sane Republicans in this country. David Brooks is one such and he DOES NOT like what’s going on. After 47 ambushed Zelenskyy in the White House in an apparent attempt to get some good footage for the Kremlin, Brooks said this: “Donald Trump believes in one thing. He believes that might makes right. And, in that, he agrees with Vladimir Putin that they are birds of a feather. And he and Vladimir Putin together are trying to create a world that’s safe for gangsters, where ruthless people can thrive. And we saw the product of that effort today in the Oval Office.”

“And I have — I first started thinking, is it — am I feeling grief? Am I feeling shock, like I’m in a hallucination? But I just think shame, moral shame. It’s a moral injury to see the country you love behave in this way.”

At this point, deeply loyalist MAGA are probably lost to their fate but there are still moral Republicans and they need to keep speaking up. Our once-great nation is lost but decent Americans NEED the world to see that we’re not all bad…

Keep Shouting…

by MyBaconPress

Well, wow! THAT was something, wasn’t it? Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came to the US in an effort to gain security guarantees in exchange for access to Ukraine’s rare earths. I haven’t seen much of JD Vance since the “election” but he was there this time. His role seemed to be in reminding Zelenskyy that 47 doesn’t do ANYTHING unless he gets a verbal handjob talking about how great he is, so Zelenskyy had better bow low in supplication. “You CAN’T say ‘Thank you’ enough…”

THEN Vance accused Zelenskyy of not negotiating with Putin. Zelenskyy corrected that false information. Of course, this is the ‘fact-free maladministration’ and facts are viewed as something of a mortal sin in the White House these days. So, obviously, Vance and Putin’s Puppet just had to push back – against facts. Something of a shouting match ensued.

At one point, The First Felon started trying to pressure Zelenskyy to say “something nice” about Putin. Zelenskyy refused. I get that. Imagine someone coming into your house and murdering your entire family. Everyone knows who did it. An arrest is made quickly and when the killer gets to court, the judge says he’ll hand down the sentence only AFTER you say “something nice” about the killer. THAT is the situation Zelenskyy is in, and 47 wants Zelenskyy to say something NICE about Putin?!? Frankly, I think Zelenskyy showed great restraint in that room. Oh, but as always with this crowd, the plot thickens.

It turns out, there was secretly a member of Russian State TV, TASS, embedded with the hand-picked press pool in the room that day. Reuters wasn’t allowed in. AP wasn’t allowed in. But TASS got in. When I heard THAT part, I understood The First Felon’s focus on getting Zelenskyy to say something nice about Putin. My guess? That was Trump’s assignment. “Make him to say something nice about me on camera,” Putin ordered, “We take from there.”

If there was something nice to say about Putin, and Zelenskyy HAD said it, the Russians would have put that crap on a loop and put it out into the world in a matter of minutes. It would have been a tremendous propaganda coup for Russia. But Trump failed. (I wonder if he still gets paid…) Zelenskyy MAY have been too smart for Trump’s clumsy efforts but, mostly, I just don’t think there IS anything nice to say about Putin so Zelenskyy was just being honest.

When the White House was asked how a Russian state TV “reporter” got into the room, the answer was – get this – he wasn’t supposed to be there. Remember, this was a hand-picked press pool, but this guy just wandered in? They pointed out that after Trump failed to secure the required footage, the TASS “reporter” was escorted out. (No, they didn’t quite phrase it that way. That’s just what happened…)

Wait, can we roll that back a little bit? Did you say someone just…wandered into the Oval Office? In the White House? Can people DO that, just wander in to the Oval Office? It’s very curious how a TASS “reporter” managed it – and only long enough to witness 47 trying to get Zelenskyy to say “something nice” about Putin. Very curious, indeed.

I’m sure, by now, MAGA thinks 47 was in awesome form, pretending to be a tough guy, and that Zelenskyy got what he deserved, but, really, MAGA is the least dependable source on the planet these days. They know nothing. Much of the rest of the world understood exactly what happened: Trump made a fool of himself. Again. Yet another blunder from the Blunderer-in-Chief.

Also, this marks not one, but TWO more failures on The First Felon’s part. One, he failed to cajole Zelenskyy into giving Putin the footage he wanted and, two, he failed to resolve that war. Technically, he had ALREADY failed on that one, having promised peace within 48 hours of being elected. But NOW he hasn’t even settled the issue 48 hours after a meeting on the topic. Nope, make it three failures.

He ALSO failed to secure the deal to gain access to Ukraine’s rare earths. Fail, fail, fail. It turns out, diplomacy and negotiation involves more than just shouting “Make a deal!” at someone. And, by the way, has anybody heard the details of the “deal” he wants Zelenskyy to make? Based on Trump’s previous fealty to Putin, I’d guess that Trump “recommends” that Zelenskyy just give Putin what he wants and call it even.

I’ll tell you this: I’m starting to believe that Trump may not be the master of the deal that he pretends to be, outside of criminal activity, I mean…

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

You’re looking for money. You need it and you need a LOT. Why are you rooting around in the couch cushions for loose change and ignoring the huge jar of cash sitting on the counter? In my mind, that’s the equivalent of what Musk’s criminal DOGE group is doing. They intend to find savings in order to partially pay for the tax cuts they want. THAT, they insist, means eliminating people from jobs that need to be done. But so long as they can SAY those jobs don’t need to be done, they’re good, right? Setting aside, of course, that people can SAY anything. It’s still the same as seeking loose change in the cushions.

Meanwhile, there are billions of dollars being handed over to huge corporations that are in very good shape and don’t need any help at all. How is THAT not fraud, waste, and abuse? In America, corporations are the true welfare queens. Corporate welfare is about twice what the US pays in social welfare. But rich people benefit from corporate welfare, so the rich people are coming after social welfare.

Oh, it should be added that social welfare almost always creates value. People get their money back. That makes it an investment. Corporate welfare, on the other hand, doesn’t really benefit anybody since the corporations that receive it don’t need it. As it happens, when you give something to someone who doesn’t need it, he just throws it on the pile. It doesn’t help anyone. So, of course the rich people are coming after social welfare.

Republicans are working day and night to throw millions of people out of their jobs and their health insurance but Elon will still get his subsidies. We don’t even know how much Elon takes, for sure, because some of his welfare comes through the Pentagon. And NOW, his criminal position allows him to secure even more of your money. How could THAT be a conflict of interest, MAGA wonders.

If the criminal DOGE was interested in saving money, they’d look at corporate welfare. Since they’re not looking at corporate welfare, they must have some OTHER goal in mind. Every day we’re moving closer to needing those guillotines. Then? We’ll need an economic system that works well for everyone, not just rich people…

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

The First Felon is ramping up his blame machine. The economy is about to experience a huge downturn. It’s the direct result of the current incompetence in the White House but, since 47 is pathologically incapable of taking responsibility for the things he does, he’s marching people out to blame, um…(checks notes) – Biden. Wait, Biden? Oh, of course he is.

Then again, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Biden DID set him up. Biden left ALL of the economic indicators in favorable positions as he shuffled out the door. Inflation was down, gas was more affordable, unemployment was down. Consumer confidence was rising. The stock market just kept hitting new record highs. Things were looking good. But to hear Trump tell it, hidden in the weeds in there, somewhere, Biden left an economic bomb.

The really amazing part is, not ONLY did Biden leave a bomb set to go off, he managed to set it to go off only AFTER 47 started making his own moves. If I understand correctly, had The Felon simply not made any changes, the bomb would never have gone off. But that’s not the end of it. SOMEHOW, Biden tricked 47 into firing people by the tens of thousands AND initiate an incredibly stupid, totally unnecessary trade war against, well, against the whole world.

That means that Biden set a bomb so detailed, SO intricate, Donny couldn’t even describe it, let alone diffuse it. AND… he performed this feat of amazement even though he was trapped in the throes of debilitating senility. That, right there, is a master class in the senile genius of incompetent accomplishment.

Well, it’s either that or 47 is lying AGAIN in an effort to deflect blame for his own failures…

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

MAGA Mike the Johnson is lying, too. By now, you’ve likely seen the videos of Congress critters holding town halls in which the crowd is openly hostile and shouting at their representative to do something. That’s gotta suck for the representative, but I suppose it’s the price one pays when one aligns themselves with evil. They’re not going to do anything to stop this, but they have to take the shouting from furious people.

MAGA Mike says the people shouting are paid protestors. Well, unless someone asks for proof. THEN, he admits he doesn’t know if they’re paid but instead pivots to “they’re Democrats,” ignoring the fact that they are also constituents. He says they come early and fill the seats. He calls it an “old trick.” THAT part, I believe. He would know the strategy. It certainly explains videos of cons shouting down their Democratic representatives, right?

The thing is, the cons were shouting because they didn’t know the truth about what the left was doing. The left is shouting because we DO know the truth about what the right is doing. That is to say, we’re shouting for the right reasons. So, keep shouting…