Author: MyBaconPress

Not Going Well…

by MyBaconPress

The B.U.S. – that’s ‘Bizarro United States’ – government is sending letters to American citizens telling them to “self-deport.” I get it. The idea is to run, rough-shod, over everything. Sending out mass letters to, what, a given zip code, seems a little… sloppy. It seems as though the regime isn’t really trying to get it right. They’re just trying to scare everybody. I don’t mean to minimize that. They’re doing a FINE job, scaring everybody.

Dr Lisa Anderson is an American citizen. According to a photo I’ve seen, she appears white. Yet she received a letter from immigration telling her to “self-deport” immediately. She currently lives in Connecticut but she was born in Pennsylvania. Does she “self-deport” to Pennsylvania? Will that satisfy the demands of immigration? The letter she received said, “If you are an alien, being in the United States is a privilege — not a right.” That may be true but I’m starting to feel like if you’re an American citizen, being trapped in the United States is a punishment, not a privilege.

The regime’s entire approach is based in lies. I believe this to be true because they WILL NOT present their evidence in court. EVER! I have lived my entire life KNOWING that a person who will not present their evidence is lying. It’s kind of “entry level” stuff, you know?

Attacking the immigrant community is simply a set-up. The Don of Destruction is laying the groundwork to kidnap Americans and make them disappear, too. Right now, MAGA thinks it’s a great thing, deporting brown people. MAGA will happily pretend those brown people are all criminals because that lie gives them the justification they need in order to be cruel to brown people.

MAYBE a case could be made that B.U.S. was “only” deporting undocumented people – until BUS started deporting legal residents. They’re STILL brown, though, so MAGA still thinks it’s great. I don’t think it will be too much longer, though, until B.U.S. “deports” an American citizen to a foreign prison based on assertions, not actual charges or convictions. I expect he’ll be a bad guy, or portrayed as one, anyway, but it’s coming, and soon…

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I saw a meme from ‘The Onion’ that read, “Sadly,” Felon 47 “was found alive and well this morning at Mar-a-Lago.” The sub-head read, “There’s always a chance for tomorrow’s obituaries.” This is a fast-growing sentiment here in this once-great nation. “Why doesn’t he just die, already?”

I think if he would do the world that service, MAGA would start to fall apart pretty quickly. I know he’s surrounded by a team of like-minded, anti-American authoritarians so it seems like MAGA would just carry on as normal. The thing is, 47 has some kind of weird charisma I don’t see from anyone else around him. I know, it seems wrong to apply that word, charisma, to The Drumpfster. We associate charisma, generally, with people we respect, and he clearly is NOT a good person. Hitler had the same charisma.

You see, “charisma” only refers to a person who arouses fervent popular devotion and enthusiasm. It could be – it was – JFK or Dr King. But it might also be Jim Jones or Charles Manson. And 47 certainly arouses MAGA. Sure, the rest of the world recognizes a clown when they see one but MAGA (and, apparently, Bill Maher) are easily fooled and Oh! Em! GEE! do they love that guy. I’m not sure there’s anyone who can replicate what the Don of Destruction is able to pull off.

Then again, when Caesar destroyed the Roman republic, he didn’t live long enough to take full advantage of it. But because of the actions he had taken, and with all the pieces in place, Caesar’s adopted son, Augustus, just stepped in and formalized the empire. The republic never returned. The thing is, Augustus was competent. Which of The Felon’s children could step up and take over? It takes a combination of charisma and skill. Donny has the charisma, evil though it may be. The Heritage Foundation brings the skill but the implementation still requires an audacity of trumpery. Those in The Drumpfster’s circle, generally speaking, have neither or, at least, have never displayed either.

The only way we’ll know, for sure, of course, is if he dies. I mean, to be clear, this is just a thought experiment, a kind of a guess. But I really would like the opportunity to find out what happens to MAGA when Donny dies and that’s an experiment I would like to see start sooner rather than later. Do you think he’ll accommodate?

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Donny promised on the campaign trail that he would end the Russia/Ukraine war quickly, on Day One. No, even sooner. He promised it was going to be so easy, he’d get it done even before the inauguration. He failed. Like, completely. It’s simple. He promised he would end the war, he hasn’t – CAN’T – end the war. That’s a complete failure, I don’t care HOW loyal you are. He failed.

On the campaign trail, he promised he would just get the principles on the phone and say, “Look, you son-of-a-bitch…” The gullible cons lapped that up with a spoon and cheered loudly. But it turns out, in REAL negotiations, the people on the other side of the table will wait for the rest of that sentence – and 47 had NO IDEA how to finish that sentence.

“Look, you son-of-a-bitch…”
“You were saying?”
“Um… stop this… or else!”
“Da. Or else… what?”
“Waaaaaah!”

He likes talking like a tough guy but in reality he ONLY ever punches down, at people with far less power than him. That’s NEVER tough. It’s cowardly. When he’s confronted by people who also enjoy a little power, 47 often LOOKS as stupid as he acts. In the latest example, he’s now saying that if they don’t stop fighting, he’s going to pull the ultimate trumpery: he’ll call them names and turn his back. Ooh, that’ll show ’em.

The Cowardly Liar is way, way, WAY out of his depth. It’s just sad. Bigly sad…

Viewpoint Diversity…

by MyBaconPress

There’s a story in ‘The Independent’ that says that Felon 47 has spent $155 BILLION MORE than Biden had at the same point in his term. This, after firing thousands of workers and cutting off funding for agency after agency in his obviously failing effort to spend less government money. The spending was apparently discovered by the Wall Street Journal. So, where is all the money going to?

Muck and his illegal DOGE claim to have “saved” $150 billion. So far, most of Musk’s “success” has been based in lying. He makes things up, then calls them “savings.” But the spending is real. If 47 is not funding government operations, and sure as shootin’ isn’t paying employees, where has the money gone? Golf? Zooming around a race track? Into his pockets? Inquiring minds want to know…

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I’ve spent time thinking about this and I’ve decided that Bill Maher got played. He went to dinner at the White House. He said he found Der Leader much more amenable in person that he appears in public. It struck me as being akin to taking a tour of a city in some (other) authoritarian country, but being shown only the pretty stuff with all of the lesser stuff bypassed.

China hosted a summer Olympics in Beijing, one of the more polluted cities in the world. In fairness, they had been working the problem since 2008, trying to clean up the air. But just before the beginning of the event, they ordered all of the factories closed for a week and seeded the clouds in order to knock down some of the pollution with rain so the city would appear more pristine than it is, day-to-day, for the residents. It was a carefully curated event.

That’s what I think Maher walked in to, a carefully curated event Felon 47 hoped would translate to a positive review for Maher’s audience. It worked, too. Maher hasn’t demonstrated such gullibility in the past. Doing so now suggests he may have contracted MAGA. He’s clearly in early stages at this point, but the infection advances at a steady rate. I guess it’s no wonder he’s becoming more and more popular on the right. Meanwhile, he’s becoming less and less popular with me…

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Dear MAGA, I know you’re not being told everything there is to know on various subjects, deportation being a big one, so I thought I would help. No, NOT every person deported is a “violent criminal.” We know of several who are not criminals at all. They got swept up in raids based on tattoos. In particular, this man, Kilmar Ábrego García, is NOT in MS-13. Here’s a very important note: even your beloved has admitted in a court filing that deporting him was an error. The lawyers filed that in a sworn motion.

The INSTANT you support stripping due process from him, you’re supporting stripping due process for yourselves. You don’t expect to be deported over some difficult-to-define excuse, that is, despite your tattoos, but once stripping away due process becomes acceptable for one thing, it will be acceptable for ALL things. You can’t celebrate that THAT guy didn’t get his due process, then decry the idea when YOU don’t get due process. It just doesn’t work that way…

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“Viewpoint diversity.” That’s a euphemism the regime is using these days. It means, “think like us.” That is, be wrong about everything. It’s VERY Big Brother. It’s a version of DEI, it’s just the con version: ‘Demand Exclusion and Ignorance.’

I saw a snippet of the letter the regime sent to Harvard University as reprinted in ‘Esquire Magazine.’ That phrase, ‘viewpoint diversity,’ appears in the paragraph that orders Harvard to establish an ideological litmus test to ensure viewpoint diversity and ends with the sentence, “Harvard must abolish all criteria, preferences, and practices, whether mandatory or optional, throughout its admissions and hiring practices, that function as ideological litmus tests.”

That’s some pretty fancy talk from a con. It means, “We don’t want you using the ideological litmus test we pretend you already have and insist that you use OUR ideological litmus test, instead.” Cons have long been conditioned to believe that if they think it, some school somewhere should teach it. Flat Earth? Sure. Laying on of hands, rather than going to the doctor? Why not? Moon landing faked? You bet’cha. Man made climate change? Absofuckinglutely NOT! That’s woke!

In short, it comes down to “teach wrong or get punished.” One of the scary parts? This is likely the same letter Columbia University received and has agreed to. This means Columbia has agreed to ‘viewpoint diversity’ which, in con terms, means absolutely, positively NO diversity of viewpoints is allowed. The con way is the ONLY way. Sticking closely to the conservative ideology means one comes out of Columbia University dumber than when one enters.

It’s essentially a threatening letter. “Nice school ya got, here. Be a shame if something were to happen to it, like, say, losing Federal contracts. And all you gotta do is teach wrongheaded nonsense to your students to keep it from happening.”

I’m glad Harvard said no. I’ve never been particularly impressed by a Harvard degree based on their history of “legacy admissions” and the “Gentleman’s C.” A ‘legacy admission’ means you get in if a parent got in, whether you’re qualified or not. A “Gentleman’s C” is the letter grade one is given if a student doesn’t or can’t do the work but daddy CAN build a new wing on the science building. But Harvard is definitely doing the right thing, here and I applaud their stance.

Felon 47 doesn’t, though. Now he’s threatening their non-profit status. He says they’re not acting in the public interest. If they refuse to tailor their curriculum to regime demands, they MUST be engaging in politics and, therefore, should lose their tax exempt status. No word, yet, on pulling tax exempt status from the churches that march their congregations directly to the ballot box…

The Seeds of Destruction…

by MyBaconPress

I still say it’s terrorism. The new program of deporting people to maximum security prisons with no charges, no trials, and certainly no convictions has, at it’s heart, a goal of terrorizing people into not coming into the United States along with terrorizing non-citizens who are here – legally or otherwise – to leave.

The United States government used to prosecute terrorists. Now? They’ve become terrorists. In my opinion, Bizarro America isn’t going well, at all…

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In their latest excuse for why they won’t bring home the legal resident they wrongly deported to a maximum security prison in El Salvador without charge, trial, or conviction, the regime said the corrupt Roberts Kangaroo court only ordered them to “facilitate” the man’s return, not “effectuate.”

Oh, what frolicking fun, playing semantic games. It’s too bad there are actual human beings having their entire lives turned upside down and destroyed while all of this joyful merriment is going on. Remember, kids, if you support elimination of due process for others today, you’re supporting elimination of due process for YOU tomorrow.

I think it’s bad attitude stuff. I’m told we’re not supposed to call them Nazis because they haven’t murdered millions yet. (Hey, it takes a little time to work up to that kind of stuff.) Instead, I would like to suggest ‘Snotzies.’ It feels like it captures the moment AND the attitude…

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Every time a President, or in this case Felon 47, goes on a trip, short or long, it cost money. Lots and lots of money. When he goes golfing, as he does most weekends, it costs millions of dollars. Every time. When he wanted to take a lap at a raceway, millions. When he wanted to go to the Stupid Bowel. Millions. He went to a UFC event the other night. Millions more. I wonder if that’s what MAGA had in mind when 47 talked about all of that “saving” he was going to do for the American people.

As of March 30 of this year, it is estimated he spend over $26 million taxpayer dollars. Golfing. And we KNOW the number has gone up substantially since he spent the entirety of his economic crash cheating on golf courses. I suppose if I was MAGA – and thank the gods, I’m not – I would excuse his extravagance at my expense by pretending that ‘Presidentin’ is hard and he needs rest. I would read his absence in the face of disaster as a calm face, not worried about the disaster he was creating.

Granted, I ALSO wouldn’t acknowledge it was a disaster of his own creation and maybe that it wasn’t even a disaster. Sometimes, I think it must be tiring, being MAGA and constantly having to engage in mental gymnastics to keep all of the excuses in the air and working at the same time. I mean, it must be exhausting.

But I’m not MAGA, so I think he’s just malingering. I think he’s playing WAY too much golf. I think he’s wasting WAY too much taxpayer money – especially since he’s pretending he wants to cut costs on everything, everywhere. As this thing moves forward, though, it looks like he wants to cut costs on everything that doesn’t benefit him, directly. He just really understands the need for expenses related to his pleasures, so those are okay.

Speaking of which, if I could get a little help from MAGA, I’d appreciate it. Would you please point me to the moment or moments on the campaign trail where he told you flatly that in order to save the economy, he had to crash it and let it burn? All I can find is him promising, over and over, he had a plan to fix the economy “on day one.” All I can find is him promising it was going to be easy.

I DID hear Musk saying people were going to suffer, so I know that’s out there. I’m also aware that 47 confessed things weren’t going to be easy AFTER the “election” but before being sworn in, but by then, MAGA had cast their votes for lower prices. They just didn’t GET lower prices.

So, if you could show me, please, when he told you, on the campaign trail, that everything was going to be more expensive, you’re going to lose your Social Security, AND that your 401k was going to lose thousands of dollars, well, that would be great. I mean, he keeps saying he’s doing what voters voted for. It feels, to me, like he promised “up” and his supporters voted for “up,” but all he has delivered is “down.” Maybe it’s just me…

I Prefer the First Amendment…

by MyBaconPress

It really bugs me that the media in this once-great nation seems to be having success equating objections to the actions of the Israeli government with antisemitism. The two are light-years apart. I have no problems with Jewish people nor Judaism, in general. I have tremendous heartburn with the actions of the Israeli government. I oppose genocide, not Judaism.

I suppose now is the time to add that I don’t support Hamas, either. When one gets down to brass tacks, I think BOTH sides are wrong in this one. Hamas was just plain stupid to launch rockets into Israel, counter-productively killing civilians who, likely, have no more control over their government than I do over mine. That does not give Israel the right to wipe Gaza off the map and claim the land for themselves.

I watched the April 11 episode of ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’ and there was much talk about the “crimes” of Mahmoud Khalil that make it “okay” to deport him, despite the fact that he has a Green Card and is here legally. ‘Crimes’ was probably a poor choice of words. NOBODY has charged any crimes, not even the criminal regime. He participated in protests against the Israeli government in their actions in Gaza. That’s it. But his opponents have accused him of saying things they don’t like and insist that should be enough. So much for the First Amendment, I guess.

Many of the claims Maher spewed centered around unsupported assertions in filings from the government – THIS criminal regime – explaining why they can deport Khalil despite his Green Card. ‘He harassed Jews on campus.’ No evidence. ‘He supports Hamas.’ No evidence. ‘He lied on his Green Card application.’ No evidence. The whole thing is built on false equivalencies. Supporting Palestinians is NOT the same as supporting Hamas. Objecting to the actions of Israel is NOT the same as being antisemitic.

Despite Maher’s obvious shift to the right in recent years, I’ve enjoyed his show for a long time and I pay attention to the things he says. So, when he leveled those charges, I sought to verify them. I couldn’t. I read the government’s filing (it was only two pages) but find their credibility lacking – especially in view of the fact that even the regime didn’t detail any of their “charges.” He acted as liaison between the protestors and the school and handed out leaflets. Reading “Stop killing innocent Palestinians” as “I love Hamas” takes some real mental gymnastics.

What I DID find was various Jewish groups supporting Khalil. They were quite clear. They DO NOT like what he said, but they defend his right to say those things. If, they add, he had done something, taken some action against Jews, they would feel differently, but, according to them, he hasn’t done any of that. He just engaged in objectionable speech and that’s what the First Amendment is about. They object to the claim that his actions were antisemitic based on the idea that frivolous claims of antisemitism undermine actual instances of antisemitism.

So now we have the criminal regime (mostly not Jewish) and Bill Maher (half Jewish by birth) out there objecting to “antisemitism” even the Jewish community isn’t citing or claiming and Mahmoud Khalil’s life being destroyed in the process – because he thinks killing innocent people is a BAD thing and stands up – peacefully, mind you – for what he believes. I remember when the US liked having those kinds of people around. Now all of that is being turned into “thought crimes.” Isn’t that from ‘1984?’

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One of the tricks MAGA media is using to keep MAGA on their side is constantly repeating MAGA conditioning that EVERY person deported to a maximum security prison without trial on those illegal flights to El Salvador was a very bad guy. If, instead, you get your information from any centrist or credible source, you know that’s not true. A prominent case in point in this moment is the case of Kilmar Abrego García. It looks, to me, like the regime is heading to a final showdown with the courts over his illegal deportation.

The short version is, there was no legal basis to deport Abrego García. A Federal judge has ordered his return. The regime has failed to comply. At first, they said they couldn’t get Abrego García back. Since the US is paying El Salvador millions of dollars to take and keep the never-charged prisoners, it seems likely they could get the guy back if they wanted to. Worse, if these clowns are deporting people, without charge or trial, to foreign countries to be held in prison and have no method in place to retrieve any one of them for any reason, they’re insanely irresponsible and absolutely out of control.

Oh, and, quick question, why isn’t DOGE looking at THAT waste of American tax dollars? Not the deportations, per se. Those are going to cost some money. But paying foreign prisons millions of dollars to hold these non-criminal prisoners is ADDING cost needlessly. It’s the epitome of fraud, waste, and abuse. Claiming these people were all violent criminals is the fraud. Paying to put them in foreign prisons instead of just dropping them off at some airport in a different country is the waste. Throwing people in prison without charges or trial is very definitely abuse.

So, the judge in the case, US district judge Paula Xinis, ordered the anti-constitutional regime to report his status and any steps that may have been taken, so far, to comply with the court’s order to bring him back. A guy named Michael G Kozak, who identified himself in a “response” filing as a “Senior Bureau Official” in the state department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, confirmed to the court that Abrego García in still in the infamous prison, alive and “secure,” not necessarily “well.”

The filing Kozak made said, “It is my understanding based on official reporting from our Embassy in San Salvador that Abrego García is currently being held in the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador. He is alive and secure in that facility. He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador.“

I added the emphasis on that last line because it’s an outright lie. In reality, he is detained pursuant to a paid request of the Bizarro United States of America. It’s important to understand, Abrego García has no criminal record, either here nor in El Salvador. He fled El Salvador as a teenager because the gangs down there threatened to kill him if he didn’t join. How horrifically ironic is it that the regime used “gang member” as their excuse to deport him?

But more importantly, that last line, “He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador,” is the basis the regime plans to use to refuse to bring him home. That’s my prediction. The argument they seem to be teeing up is that he’s a citizen of El Salvador being held according to the authority of El Salvador, so how could the US ever expect to bring him home? I mean, it would interfere with the sovereign rights of a foreign nation and everyone KNOWS the US never, ever interferes with the sovereign rights of foreign nations, right?

Even the corrupt Supremely Kangaroo Court has upheld the judge’s order to facilitate the man’s return to the country. Right now, the regime is saying, “We can’t” but I suspect that, soon and very soon, their answer will change to a far simpler, “No.”

I’ll tell you this: that will be the day the US court system essentially collapses. That will be the day the criminal regime presses the fact that the courts in the United States have no enforcement authority without the cooperation of the Administrative branch. The regime’s “No” will actually be, “No. What are you going to do about it?”

Fluffers and Facts…

by MyBaconPress

Apparently, Felon 47 felt SO defeated at having to back down from his tariffs, he had to call a fluffer meeting with his staff. He sat them at a giant table and made them take turns telling him how wonderful he is, how awesome, what an amazing human being, the business genius of business geniuses and how super-de-duper honored they are to bask in his glorious presence. The public groveling is humiliating – or should be – and whenever I see it, I feel embarrassed for the lickspittles who gladly engage so they, too, can feel important.

Wednesday, he backed down from his oh-so-stupid tariffs and the market shot up nearly 3,000 points in a clear message that big business didn’t WANT him messing with the markets by initiating a trade war. He tried to take credit for it as the biggest single-day gain in history. He does NOT, however, take ANY responsibility for his crash that set the whole thing up. “Down bad. Not trump fault. Up good. trump genius.”

But then people got wind of the fact that he hadn’t been completely clear in his retreat. He didn’t completely pause the tariffs. He left his 10% across the board tariffs and not only left the insane tariffs in place on China, he increased them. “Ladies and gentlemen, please stand clear of the door. Going DOWN!” Like, 1,000 points.

Meanwhile, MTG went on a buying spree. She was snapping up stocks at an amazing rate. Those were bargain basement deals, you know, and she wasn’t going to miss out. Never mind that it’s clearly insider trading. There’s a new rule in the US: it ain’t illegal if nobody enforces the law.

Felon 47 is manipulating the market. Congress has the power to stop the crimes through impeachment. Congress won’t do it, seemingly because Congress is profiting and crooked, too. No law enforcement is exactly equal to no laws.

Well, it’s not NO enforcement. Dems are calling for investigations into market manipulation, meaning there ARE people in Congress interested in doing the right thing. Just not enough of them to get the right thing done…

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There’s a practice I know of called “inoculation.” I mean politically, not medically, though the meaning is similar. In political inoculation, one accuses his opponent of doing something SO loudly, SO long, and SO obviously untrue, people get tired of hearing about it, just sick of it. THEN, the person making the false claim does exactly the thing they accused their opponent of doing. When someone says, “Hey, he just –,” everyone groans. “Oh, gods, don’t start THAT again!”

When 47 was 45, he did such a terrible, horrible, bad job, the people who were still alive came out in record numbers to vote against him. (That was Biden’s biggest mistake, thinking people had voted FOR him and never realizing they were actually voting AGAINST the Drumpfster.) Donny started right in with the ‘Stop the Steal’ crap. He even got his loyal acolytes to attack the Capitol in a show of “outrage” that the election had been “stolen.”

Bear in mind, he never, EVER presented even the tiniest modicum of any legitimate evidence supporting his case, but he never EVER shut up about it. People just got sick and tired of hearing about it. Now there’s increasing evidence that well-placed supporters of the Drumpfster used a variety of methods to manipulate the outcome of the 2024 “election.” But when one tries to mention that to someone, the common reaction is, “Oh, gods, don’t start THAT again!” Just like it’s supposed to be.

We know about the illegally purged voter roles. We know about fires in collection boxes in heavily Democratic districts. We know about the bomb threats at heavily Democratic polling places. Now we’re seeing statistical analyses indicating vote manipulation as well. To be clear, NONE of this is offered as definitive “proof.” It doesn’t stand as proof. These analyses are best described as indicators and should trigger an actual investigation.

Think of it this way, a cop walks into a room and sees a body laying in the corner with no head. The head is found in a box on the table in the next room. Near the body is a note that reads, “I wasn’t murdered. I killed myself because I’m so depressed.” You could chalk that up to suicide. After all, there’s a note. But the question of exactly how one commits “suicide” by cutting off one’s own head, putting in a box on a table, then moving their own body to the next room should prompt questions. There should be an investigation.

Do you want to see for yourself? I don’t much like links because they break over time, but here you go: This one is called ‘Nathan 2024 Election Overview [Election Truth Alliance].‘ It’s a 17 minute video providing an overview of statistical findings.
This one is an abstract by the same group covering a more focused study in Nevada. It’s called, ‘Analysis of 2024 Election Results in Clark County Indicates Manipulation.‘

The reality is, the US doesn’t “fix” it’s elections, even if we DO know they weren’t “right.” I know that nothing will be done about it. Mostly, I’m marveling at the long-term vision of whomever it was who hated America SO much they thought they should decimate it by replacing our Constitutional Republic with…this. The plan was evil, no doubt. But it was solid, and it worked. Think of the detail. They KNEW to inoculate the populace by having Donny flap his jaw so much for four years, we all just got sick of it. A four year setup indicates something more formal than just mere coincidence, wouldn’t you say?

But THIS time, there’s a difference. The left isn’t attacking the Capitol based on a story they heard from a friend’s friend’s acquaintance’s mother as seen on MAGA media “opinion” outlets. These are readily demonstrable events, that actually took place and were reported by legitimate news outlets at the time, followed by statistical analyses showing some incredible results. For example, did you know that the likelihood of 47 winning ALL of the swing states the way he did is comparable to him winning the Mega Millions lottery seven times in a row?

Here’s what’s worse. As usual, he effing TOLD us. He said that Elon, “knows those computers better than anybody, all those computers, those vote counting computers, and we ended up winning Pennsylvania, like, in a landslide.”

The reason this is important is not that it will change who occupies the White House. It won’t. But the analyses ALSO indicated unexpected behavior for certain, select Senate races. If they’re manipulating Senate races, too, the electorate can NEVER correct this “error,” even though we desperately need to…

Evolution Of A Grift…

by MyBaconPress

Is Frankenstein beginning to fear the Creature? As of Tuesday morning, a group backed by Libertarians Leonard Leo and Charles Koch is suing The Felon over his tariffs. According to the book ‘Dark Money’ by Jane Mayer, much of the mess we suffer in Bizarro America, today, is the brainchild of Charles Koch.

Koch and a handful of his like-minded greed-heads spent decades distorting information, distorting intellects, and distorting morals. To me, it seems… inevitable that after embracing fraudulent information, dumbing down a third of our society, and promoting the very worst impulses of humanity, we would have ended up with something like the Drumpfster.

Apparently, it never crossed their minds that putting a creature like that into power might somehow come back to bite them in the backside. Now their investments are up, no down, no up, wait, down, no, up again, holy crap, WAY down, down, and down even further. They’re a little…concerned.

For perspective, they’re just irritated. But they’re rich. This whole mess THEY created won’t wipe them out like it will the work-a-day class. Still, it’s nice to see that they don’t like it, either. I’m not sure how it feels to note that if we’re to be saved from this insanity, it will be by the very people who created the mess in the first place…

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I wonder if MAGA remembers. He didn’t say, “eventually, things are going to be great” on the campaign trail. He said he would fix the problems on day one and it would be “easy.” I’m not putting words into his mouth, HE said it – over and over again.

Once in office, though, he hasn’t fixed anything. Pretty much EVERYTHING is worse. NOW he’s saying it’s going to be a rough ride and we’ll just have to hang on for dear life. What happened to “easy?” If I’m being as generous as I possibly can, perhaps he underestimated the depth of the problems. If I’m being honest, I’d say he was lying through his teeth from the start…

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Every once in a while, one sees an article talking about what corporations are actually doing with all that beautiful lucre they keep through the tax cuts for the rich. These days, what they do, invariably, is stock buybacks. They’re not reinvesting to keep prices down, nor are they raising worker wages. They buy back their own stock, reducing the amount of stock available. That, in turn, raises the price of the stock. Oh, AND they have the insider advantage of knowing WHEN the buybacks are going to happen.

In short, it’s insider trading on stock manipulation. It used to be illegal. That changed in 1982. The change was part of Ronald Reagan’s initiation of his assault on reality – “Supply Side Economics.” Ever since, corporate focus, when it comes to money, has been stock buybacks. Companies like the buybacks because the bosses get richer even if business slows. You don’t have to innovate or invest at all! No, just buy your own stock back and bump the price that way.

It’s not the executives who get hurt. In the end, it’s the investors and workers who suffer the losses. The practice should be stopped. After the revolution, let’s reinstate the rules that prevented companies from buybacks without careful SEC scrutiny. It turns out, SOME of those regulations we “deregulated” served an important purpose. Who knew?

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I know he lies about it, by the day, by the hour, by the minute, but Felon 47’s tariffs are a $6 trillion dollar tax on Americans. On Wednesday morning, I read an op-ed in ‘The Hill’ called ‘Trump just handed Democrats the golden ticket. Tariffs have unified the American electorate.’ It was written by a person named Jos Joseph. The piece suggested that the Democrats should HAMMER the message, every day, every hour, and every minute, that the tariffs are a $6 trillion dollar tax on Americans. Clearly, I agree.

Sure, MAGA will ignore the message at first. Fox Not-News will spring into action, ignoring the story by showing cute puppies, instead. Only later will they acknowledge the story by pretending it’s just insanity on the part of the insane left. But do you know what? People will still go shopping. I continue to believe, actions speak louder than words.

MAGA will listen, dutifully, when they’re told the tariffs punish the foreigners. They will. But then, they’ll get up and go grocery shopping. (Sorry, I don’t mean to use such outdated and arcane language as “groceries.”) Sooner or later, even MAGA will realize that the tariffs are a $6 trillion dollar sales tax, added by the Drumpfster so he and his very wealthy buddies can have a big, beautiful tax cut they don’t need.

There’s nothing right, honest, or honorable about causing some people to suffer on a daily basis so some other people can have more than they’ll ever need or use. I hope the Dems can make a message of it. These days, they mostly just make a mess of things.

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

“Only the weak will fail!” Someone recently posted that to social media. Who was that? Oh, yeah, that was the First Felon, shortly before he blinked, and called for a 90-day “pause” on his tariffs seven days after declaring his “Liberation Day.” This whole piece was dominated by the damage Felon 47’s tariffs were doing. I’ve mentioned the normal supporters who are turning on him – even going so far as to sue him.

Elon Musk has been working him, too. Hard, if reports are to be believed. The rolling crematoriums have been suffering from the association with the Muskrat. The LAST thing in the world he needed was tariffs making it even harder to move his crappy products. Always remember, Musk bought the 2024 “election” for 47. Musk OWNS 47. At first, Donny tried to stick to his guns. I’d guess the last private conversation saw Musk threatening to let the world know EXACTLY how Felon 47 “won.”

So the Drumpfster backed down Wednesday morning. Sure, he said he had accomplished his goal. He ALWAYS says the exact opposite of the truth. He pretended ALL of the other countries – apparently, including the penguins – were “kissing his ass.” (His words, and…yechh!) The market recovered something like 3,000 points. SO… another crisis of his own idiotic making has been averted. For now. There’s no telling what moronic move he’ll make next.

I mean, he’s either a complete fool with no idea of what he’s doing – a position which can be easily defended – OR he’s the biggest market manipulator (read: “thief”) in the history of the country, engaging in insider trading over and over and over again – another easily defended position. Is he a moron or a thief? At this point, there really ARE only two options, although, I suppose he COULD be both…

Abusing “Medicine…”

by MyBaconPress

I found it quite heartening that so many people fell out for Saturday’s rallies, both around the country and around the world. There aren’t enough, yet. Full disclosure, I didn’t make it out to the local rally. I had a previous obligation I couldn’t escape. I presume there are others who found themselves in the same boat.

Let’s keep having them. The people, like me, who couldn’t make THIS one, will come out for the next one. Numbers matter. The number of dollars you’ve lost from your 401k matter. The number of people who come out to protest the insanity matter. We may not ALL make EVERY gathering but we need to keep having them and showing up. We need to whip up some support.

Meanwhile, I saw at least one report of a counter-rally in support of Felon 47. It was a pretty paltry affair. They were enthusiastic, though, all twelve of them. Compare that to the hundreds and thousands who came out in protest, I’m not sure team “pro poverty” is going to gain much traction…

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

Hey, a second family in Texas has “protected” their child to death, this one an eight year old girl. I’m sure they’re very happy. After all, she didn’t have autism when she died of this totally preventable illness, Measles. Of course, she would NOT have contracted autism from the vaccine, anyway, since there is NO relationship between vaccines and autism. But, apparently, that part wasn’t important to the parents.

I might, actually, support forced sterilization for parents like that. I hope they don’t have any other children. If they do, the kids should be removed from the home and placed with some people who care about the health of the child. Oh, and this is important, with people who are NOT stupid.

I’ll tell you this: We’ve all known for a long time, stupidity hurts. I hope it’s not much longer until we realize stupidity can also kill…

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

“Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.” That’s what Felon 47 said in response to a question about the crashing stock market?!? He DID throw in a possibly-supposed-to-be-comforting bit, but it didn’t help much. He said, “What’s going to happen with the market? I can’t tell you.” See? That’s not very comforting. Then he added, “But I can tell you, our country has gotten a lot stronger, and eventually, it’ll be a country like no other.”

The DOW dropped another 1,000 points on futures overnight. That means MORE record setting declines for Trump coming today. We ALL agree, we’re being forced to “take medicine.” We just DON’T agree there was ever any need. The economy had issues, but it was strong under Biden. Always remember and never forget, the economy was SO strong under Biden, Felon 47 constantly took credit for it. It was only a STORY that the economy was weak under Biden, just like it’s only a story that the “country has gotten a lot stronger.”

I mean, how? Exactly? Higher unemployment? Recession? Worldwide condemnation and exclusion? Crashing consumer confidence? Higher prices across the board? The weakening, crashing dollar? The intentional destruction of the social safety net? A confused, terrorized nation? Self-isolation, leaving China to step into the void and enjoy all of that goodwill the US once enjoyed? Yet another crippling tax cut for the wealthy?

I’m sure that throughout this whole debacle, the Drumpfster has his finger on the pulse of the nation, checking, moment by moment, to ensure the safety and health of the patient so he can quickly and decisively respond in whatever… What? What the hell do you mean, ‘He played golf?’ What, like, the whole time? Jeez, talk about fiddling while Rome burns… He isn’t even paying attention? Right, that’s right. HE has plenty of money. HE gets a soft landing, no matter what. Hell, it’s no WONDER HE’S not worried.

ELON is, though. Worried about the tariffs, I mean. Well, the tariffs on Europe, anyway. His crashing and burning company that builds crash-and-burn cars is suffering a LOT because of his malfeasance. The LAST thing he needs is to make it MORE difficult to sell cars in Europe.

So, Elon publicly ripped Peter Navarro, one of the morons behind this whole mess. No, Muck didn’t rip the Drumpfster, the person who actually DID this. He ripped Navarro. Navarro supports tariffs. This is from ‘The Daily Beast:’ ‘“Tariffs are the most common sense route to balancing our trade deficit and thereby stimulating economic growth, and strengthening the U.S. dollar,” Navarro told ‘Semafor’ during an interview from jail last year, where he served a four-month sentence over refusing to cooperate with a Jan 6. investigation.’ During a jailhouse interview. Felon 47 really has surrounded himself with the not-best and not-brightest, hasn’t he?

Navarro dismissed Musk’s comments as self-serving which, surely, they are. The rift has gone public. Cracks in the facade. It’s a moment I’ve been waiting for, the moment when their self-interests clash with each other’s self-interests.

I have to say, this DOES feel, very much, like 47 is reinforcing my already held suspicion that he IS the actual Antichrist. It just… feels like he’s punishing the whole world – the US in particular – for trying to punish him for his crimes. I suspect that, privately, MAGA is starting to realize they aren’t receiving any special protections or considerations, either.

Yeah, they DID help him escape justice. For their reward, he’s burning the whole effing thing down with everyone inside, MAGA included…

Complete Ruin…

by MyBaconPress

Okay, here’s a thing you can do that you may find comforting. Felon 47 likes to make up people. He uses a phrase, “a lot of people are saying…” We never know WHO, because he’s just making it up to make MAGA feel like they’re with a group. So do yourself a favor. Insert the word “imaginary” between “a lot of” and “people”. “A lot of (imaginary) people are saying…” See? It’s much more accurate – and it feels better…

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

Felon 47 is out there telling people he thinks he can run for a third term. Last Sunday, The Drumpfster was asked on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ if there were plans for him to stay on in a third term as president. “Well, there are plans,” he said. “There are – not plans. There are methods – there are methods which you could do it, as you know.” Actually, no. I DON’T know. The Constitution of the United States of America is pretty specific, “No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice.”

As usual, he accidentally told the truth. “There are plans – not plans.” Do you know what? I’m guessing plans. Really, if you didn’t expect him to refuse to leave office at the end of this term, YOU are the fool. Right now he thinks he can talk everyone into it, but when he can’t, he’ll just invoke his “plans.”

“A lot of people want me to do it,” Donny pretended. Yeah, you and your demons. (A lot of imaginary people want me to do it!” See? Better!) A lot MORE people – real people – DON’T want you to do it – or even try. The vast majority of Americans just want you to go away…

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

“Only the weak will fail.” That was a post from The Drumpfster trying to buck up work-a-day MAGA as they watch their financial futures melt away. I mean, of course they’re faithful. Obviously, they’re loyal. But as they add up the extra years they get to work, now, while he “resets” the government, they’re likely – quietly, of course – getting a tad nervous. So he offers up some moronic platitude and they loyally bend over, “Thank you, sir! May I have another?”

Here’s the thing. First Felon 47 has plenty of money. MAGA knows this is true – he got it from them. Now, his addle-minded tariffs are taking a toll on MAGA’S retirement funds. They’re nervous, but they’ll let him. If he wants it, he can have it, as far as they’re concerned. They’ll eat dirt or something. It’s true, he’s hurting everyone, not just work-a-day MAGA. But at a certain point, it becomes a different kind of “hurt.”

For instance, according to ‘Business Insider,’ just since the day he “liberated” Americans from all of that pesky money, (Thursday) Elon Musk has lost $11 billion dollars. That’s a lot. But he’s STILL worth $322 billion dollars so I suspect he’s going to be okay. Felon 47’s recession isn’t going to affect him.
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, has lost $15.9 billion but he’s still worth $201 billion. Felon 47’s recession isn’t going to affect him.
Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, has lost $17.9 billion, but he’s still worth $189 billion. Felon 47’s recession isn’t going to affect him.
Warren Buffet, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, “only” lost $2.57 billion but he’s still got $165 billion to fall back on should times get hard. Felon 47’s recession isn’t going to affect him.
Bernard Arnault is the chairman and CEO of LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods conglomerate. He lost $6.22 Billion but still has $163 billion to work with. Felon 47’s recession isn’t going to affect him.
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, “only” lost $291 million. Not bad. I guess he’ll be fine with only $162 billion left over. Felon 47’s recession isn’t going to affect him.
Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle, lost $8.1 billion but he’ll manage with the $160 billion he has left. Felon 47’s recession isn’t going to affect him.
Larry Page, co-founder of Google, lost $4.79 billion. He’ll tighten his belt, though, and rely on the remaining $138 billion he has lying around. Felon 47’s recession isn’t going to affect him.
Steve Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft, lost $2.85 billion. Now he only has $131 billion. Felon 47’s recession isn’t going to affect him.
Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, lost $4.46 billion from his $130 billion net worth. Felon 47’s recession isn’t going to affect him.

Collectively, that’s a lot of money they’ve lost. Collectively, they STILL have a lot MORE money. They, likely, won’t even MISS the billions they’ve lost, accidentally making the case for taxing the rich to make them pay their fair share. I mean, when you don’t even miss it when it goes, why not? Anyway, I guess I can understand how the billionaires are managing to weather the financial storm Felon 47 has conjured.

How about you? How much have YOU lost? How much do you have in your other pocket, to fall back on, just in case? Maybe it’s true. Maybe you just have to “ride out the crash” until he reaches his glorious (mythical?) “other side.” That’s how the billionaires are handling it. Absorbing the loss.

But, I’ll tell you this: if you don’t happen to have billions of dollars to fall back on, or even hundreds of millions (you deadbeat), your ride to the other side might well involve complete ruin…

An Age’s Most Uncertain Hour…

by MyBaconPress

“…And I dreamed I was dying…
I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
and looking back down at me, smiled reassuringly.
And I dreamed I was flying…

And high up above my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty sailing away to sea.
And I dreamed I was flying…

Well we come on a ship they call ‘The Mayflower.’
We come on a ship that sailed the moon.
We come in an age’s most uncertain hour,
And sing an American tune.
Oh, but it’s alright. It’s alright, it’s alright.
You can’t be forever blessed.
Still tomorrow’s gonna be another working day
and I’m trying to get some rest.
That’s all I’m trying, to get some rest.”
(- Paul Simon, American Tune, 1973)

That’s an earworm I’ve been living with since shortly after January. I have no idea as to what might have set it in motion…

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

First Felon 47 fired General Tim Haugh, Director of the US National Security Agency (NSA). Oh, he also headed US Cyber Command, which coordinates the Pentagon’s cybersecurity operations. Do you know why he was fired? Laura Loomer, a social media personality suggested it because he was good at his job and loyal to national security, MORE loyal to national security than to Donny. In this mess, loyalty is everything, qualifications don’t matter, as evidenced by his TV team and social media advisors. 47 also fired Haugh’s civilian deputy at the NSA, Wendy Noble. She was qualified, too. Had to go.

Now we’ll have someone in the role who is loyal to the Drumpfster and no one else. Good at the job? Who cares? He’s loyal to 47. I’m sure it will be someone of the same caliber as the crack team of “Jeniouses” that invited a reporter into their classified chat and didn’t even know it. Quality work there, guys…

Did you see the part about Haugh being in charge of Cyber Security? Most intelligent people believe our next war will be fought via computer. You’d think you’d want someone in the job who can at least turn the thing on. Not Donny, no way. Loyalty, nothing else…

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

Our National Embarrassment has issued executive orders blocking security clearances and canceling federal contracts with law firms who have worked with his perceived enemies. These are big, powerful law firms. They’re just chock full of smart lawyers ready to fight. You just KNOW these guys are going to… wait… what?

Bent the knee, eh? Willkie, Farr, & Gallagher, where Kamala Harris’ husband is a partner, has agreed to provide $100 million dollars in free legal services. They’re the third “major” law firm to buckle, after Paul Weiss and Skadden Arps. Well, that’s not entirely right. Donny hasn’t issued an Executive Order against Willkie, yet. They just stepped up and volunteered to bend the knee. (My, that DOES sound like most Democrats, these days, doesn’t it?)

It’s likely I don’t understand the ins and outs of this thing but I’ll tell you this: if I was a client of any one of those firms, I’d start looking for different representation immediately. I mean, if they won’t even fight for themselves, how much are they going to fight for me? I’m just sayin’…

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

I AM pleased to note that Elon couldn’t buy the election in Wisconsin. He spent a LOT. He lost anyway. The election was for a State Supreme Court Judge. We don’t normally DO parties for a State Supreme Court Judge, but we all knew, for this one, based on who was backing whom. It was a big deal. Muck even went so far as to say the election was a fight to determine “the future of America and Western Civilization.”

Wisconsin is about to consider redistricting maps for the state. Wisconsin has been gerrymandered in favor of the GOP for quite some time, now, and those being cheated against are getting sick of it. Had the Republican-favored candidate won, women in Wisconsin would lose their right to choose and the gerrymandering would have continued into the foreseeable future. Since the Dem won, women will likely retain their rights (until the Feds step in) and the redistricting map will move forward.

It eliminates two “safe” GOP seats in the House of Representatives. They’re “safe” because they’re gerrymandered. It’s peculiar, the more success Americans have eliminating gerrymandering, the less power the GOP has in Congress. Why, it’s almost as if, given a fair chance, Americans REJECT the GOP agenda. Their margin is getting smaller and smaller. It really was a big deal…

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

Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it. Biden left an economic mess. THAT’S why bad things like this are happening now, and not when Biden was actually in office. In fact, if I remember correctly, the economy was SO strong, Felon 47 was actively taking credit for it – even though Biden was in charge.

“THIS IS THE TRUMP STOCK MARKET BECAUSE MY POLLS AGAINST BIDEN ARE SO GOOD THAT INVESTORS ARE PROJECTING THAT I WILL WIN, AND THAT WILL DRIVE THE MARKET UP.” He posted that on his Untruth Social on January 29, 2024.

“…our Stock Market is rising only because Polls are strongly indicating that we will WIN the Presidential Election of 2024” Also, Untruth Social, March 12, 2024.

“There are many people that are saying that the only reason the Stock Market is high is because I am leading in all of the Polls,” Yet again, his fingers roaring on Untruth Social, May 15, 2024.

Of course, he also posted some blame. In early August, 2024, the stock market dropped a little. That happens. It was a blip. But Felon 47 was there, “STOCK MARKETS CRASHING. I TOLD YOU SO!!! …ALL CAUSED BY INEPT U.S. LEADERSHIP!” August 4, 2024.

Now Donny’s in charge and Donny has made some very 19th century moves. Have you checked your 401k, yet? Are you looking at the Stock Market or closing your eyes, plugging your ears, and shouting “La, la, la?” Donny imposed his insane tariffs on Thursday, April 3 – infamously imposing tariffs on penguins – those damned unfair birds! The market reacted exactly as one would have expected and certainly predicted. It plunged by almost 1,700 points. (That’s $2.4 TRILLION dollars he wiped out – in ONE DAY!)

It was set to open even worse, 1,500 more points in overnight futures sell-offs. But that was just the opener. By the end of the second day, the market had shed 2,100 more points. $6.4 TRILLION dollars in value, wiped off the boards – in TWO DAYS! For those of you keeping score at home, that’s a total of $11.1 Trillion dollars wiped off the boards since 47 was inaugurated.

What was it the Drumpfster wrote? Oh, yeah, “STOCK MARKETS CRASHING. …ALL CAUSED BY INEPT U.S. LEADERSHIP!” I guess if I’m being fair, I have to give him credit for that one. Inept US leadership IS crashing the market. The only part he missed was which President was the most inept. (The world agrees, though: it’s Trump – by a wide margin…)

Believe it or not, MAGA isn’t worried. MAGA has been conditioned to believe these are short-term pains. Yes, they’ve been told, it’s going to hurt at first, but then things are going to bloom in a way you’ve never imagined. THAT, at least is a kind of truth. MAGA isn’t capable of imagining anything other than glory for their “Dear Misleader” so they really would NEVER imagine the market doing what every decent economist in the world knows it’s going to do.

Having conditioned them to accept the crash as “a plan,” he has only to keep moving the goal posts by telling them the blooms are coming soon. The pain? Oh, they’ll feel that, daily, but they expect blooms in the near future. Any time, now. Just around the corner. No, not quite yet, but it’s coming. Hang in there. Be strong. He said it, so MAGA STILL expects their flowers to bloom.

You know, the way your flowers “bloom” after you pour ‘Round Up’ on them. Sure, they wilt at first but then they… I mean, they… well, they’re supposed to… Hey, what’s up with these flowers?

Let’s start blaming Joe Biden now, and avoid the rush…

A Terrorist State?

by MyBaconPress

Well, at least he was being even-handed. Felon 47 actually imposed his “Liberation Day” tariffs. He hit everywhere. EVERYWHERE! Including a couple of islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands. He’s HAD it with them giving us the business when it comes to trade. Unless it’s about Fentanyl. I’m not sure anymore. He’s not either, because of the Adderall. Still, he’s not going to STAND for it one day longer. He named those two islands specifically. Called ’em out, you might say. Every single person who lives there can see that the US isn’t playing around anymore!

And IF anybody actually lived there, they’d probably be upset at the destabilization of the trade relationship. But since nobody does – live there, I mean – the locals (Penguins) probably didn’t notice. To be perfectly clear: he imposed tariffs on penguins! Sometimes, I get genuinely concerned this guy doesn’t know what he’s doing…

Oh, it’s not just me, either. The Drumpfster’s mind-boggling boggled mind is destabilizing the dollar. The dollar is, well, was, the world reserve currency. In simplest terms, that means EVERYONE wanted/needed dollars because the dollar was so dependable, so strong, so… safe. Well, not with Donny driving, it isn’t.

The headline in the Guardian this morning read, “US dollar ‘at risk of confidence crisis’ as Trump tariffs rattle global markets.” Other countries are abandoning the dollar altogether, now. Increasingly, they’re turning toward the Yuan. That’s Chinese money. Donny’s hat is wrong. He’s making China great again. He’s pushing AMERICA into a depression. (I know I’M depressed…)

Mostly, I just believe he really doesn’t understand. I suspect he honestly thinks this will work. Someone told him there would be “market adjustments” so he doesn’t CARE about the crashing economy or your 401k. He thinks it will just be short-term pain. Respected economists think we’re on our way to a wheelbarrow full of money to buy a loaf of bread.

On the other hand, he IS an evil son-of-a-bitch. One cannot discount that. He and his evil buddies might well have a profit scheme dreamed up that involves the ultimate “bust out,” the United States of America. He and his buddies end up with trillions in Yuan (NO, he’s not buying dollars. Those things are useless. What are you, crazy?) and the vast majority of Americans will be left with nothing…

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

The right seems to have found a new bogeyman to expose and expunge: empathy. Empathy is a noun. It means, ‘The ability to identify with or understand another’s situation or feelings.’ I guess there’s a concern that some MAGA might start to wonder what it FEELS LIKE to be whisked off of the street, held without charge, put on a plane, and flown to a maximum security prison without EVER being charged, let alone convicted, to “serve your time.” How MUCH time? No one can say. There IS no crime, so there IS no statute. Technically, you’ve been “disappeared.”

I kind of couldn’t believe it when I first heard about it. I mean, who thought they needed THAT? I see a ‘lack of empathy’ as entry level stuff for MAGA, a basic requirement. Yet, they’re starting to talk publicly about how empathy is weakness. Elon Musk went on the Joe Rogan show and said, “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.” All right, so Musk is a greed-blinded moron whom one would NEVER mistake for a decent or moral human being. Oh, AND, he has autism. It’s EASY to believe he can’t quite grasp the concept of empathy. I doubt he could do to people what he’s doing to people if he could. But among the leaders of that anti-empathy movement? “Christian” Nationalists.

The quotes around ‘Christian’ are about me not accepting them AS Christians.
“Hey! Who are YOU to judge my relationship with Jesus?”
“I’m a guy who can read your storybook and understand what it says, then watch your behavior and compare the two. When they don’t align, I draw conclusions, like it or not. When everything you do, say, think, and feel is the exact opposite of the teachings of Jesus, you just don’t qualify as Christian, no matter WHAT you call yourself. Maybe start with John 13:15…”

For those of us not so familiar with John 13:15, it says, “For I gave you an example, so that you also would do just as I did for you.” (That’s Jesus-talk for “I showed you how to behave. Do that.” They don’t, and I “discern.”) But maybe it’s just me, right? Maybe I misunderstood the message. No, I don’t think so. Here are some other examples from the “Christian” Nationalists:

JOSH MCPHERSON from the podcast ‘Family Talk’: “Empathy almost needs to be struck from the Christian vocabulary.”

ALLIE BETH STUCKEY from the podcast ‘Thinking In Public’: “Really, I think empathy as hoisted up as the highest virtue, or even a virtue at all – I think that really gets us into a really big mess.”

JOE RIGNEY, discussing his book, ‘The Sin Of Empathy,’: “Most people have a hard time imagining how empathy could ever be harmful. And therefore, if I’m the devil, where am I going to hide some of my most destructive tactics?”

Purging empathy, any possibility of empathy, is crucial to the next steps in the coup. They’re about to get outright cruel, as though they haven’t been evil enough already…
“Oh, Mark, you’re always so hyperbolic!”

In Better America, one could NOT just put someone on a plane and send them to prison in a foreign country. Just for emphasis: ‘SEND THEM TO PRISON’ in a foreign country! By definition, then, we haven’t been Better America since at least 2001, when the US started jailing people in Guantanamo Bay based on the idea that, while being tortured, someone had mentioned a name just like theirs. Nothing else, just that.

Now we’ve sent a planeload of people to a prison in El Salvador. No, I DIDN’T write about how they lost their court cases – because they didn’t GET court cases. THIS time, it isn’t ‘named under torture’ that got them tossed (permanently?) into prison. THIS time, it was the “crime” of having a tattoo on brown skin. Ooh, scary…

Human beings were summarily declared guilty and sent to a prison. The US paid that prison $6 million dollars to keep them. No trial. Just a payment. Prison. No, not just a prison. One of the most notoriously brutal prisons in the world. What was their crime? Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
“Uh-huh! They were members of a bad gang.”
“Oh, yeah? Prove it.”
“Well, we can’t…”
“Oh? And why is that?”
“It turns out, some of them weren’t really in that gang. But they were still in gangs!”
“Same answer: prove it.”
“No…”

The LAST time the cruelest incompetents misled the country, they kidnapped people’s children as a way to discourage them from coming to the US. We, the people – they did this in OUR name – never DID reunite some of those children with their families. We just… stole them. ‘Come to America, lose your children’, was the threat.

Now it’s ‘Come to America, end up in a brutal, El Salvadoran prison – for nothing.’
“Sneaking into this country illegally is a crime.”
“Yeah, a misdemeanor. Not usually maximum security prison stuff.”

They call it “Shock and Awe.” The idea is to use the threat of violence to coerce a civilian population in pursuit of an ideological goal. Hey, wait a minute. I’ve heard that before. Where have I– Oh, I remember! That’s the actual definition of ‘Terrorism,’ using violence or the threat of violence to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or government in pursuit of political or ideological goals.

Thanks, MAGA. Donny’s only been in charge for just over two months, and already, the United States of America is, officially, a terrorist state! And you’re… cheering? I guess MAGA media doesn’t have to put TOO much effort into that “purge empathy” movement after all, eh?