Author: MyBaconPress

On Economies…

by MyBaconPress

From time to time, I engage in mental exercises. They can be…involved. That’s the kind of thing that caused me to revise the US Constitution. I have the advantage of hindsight working for me so I can look at what happened and where it may have missed. Then one just “fixes” the errors. Pretty straightforward, but not as simple as it sounds.

I did the same thing, once with national economies. I looked around at what had come before. What worked? What didn’t? I started building from there. I rejected communism pretty quickly. It doesn’t work. It has never worked, anywhere on Earth, any time in history. Capitalism IS the better answer but so-called “free market” Capitalism is self-consuming. In the long term, it won’t work, either. So I started tinkering.

One of the immediate problems with our current system is that we allow corporations to own what are known as the commons, the things we all need to function on a day-to-day basis. So, obviously, that has to change. The commons belong to the people, not to a corporation. For clarity, corporations would NOT be barred from competing. There would just always be a not-for-profit option available.

I realized during my little exercise that the idea that government has no role in the economy is simply wrong. As it happens there are (or should be) three parties to every transaction, not two. One is the producer/seller, two is the consumer, and three is the referee. That’s the government’s role, the referee.

The referee makes and enforces the rules. That happens in the form of regulation and enforcement. We should expect business to use every legal means at their disposal to make profits. That’s why companies exist, profits. But they really will do ANY legal thing they can. Some will do worse. That makes it the responsibility of the society in which the companies function to set the parameters of what a company can and cannot do. “The people” speak through their government, or they should. After that, it’s between the seller and consumer but one MUST have a referee, free to make impartial rulings. (That’s why Citizens United has to go.)

Virtually every legitimate piece of evidence on the topic makes clear that high taxes on high incomes benefits the entire society – even the person paying the high rates. High tax rates on high incomes causes a person (or company) to do that which they always promise low taxes might someday encourage them to do.

Oh, yeah. My system also included a strong social safety net. We live in a world that should be able to help people when they’re down. We have the resources. People fall into hard times for all kinds of reasons. When they can’t get help, they often turn to crime, so a strong social safety net creates an overall safer society. There are other benefits, of course, but this is just an overview.

And – voila! – I had it. A well-regulated, Capitalist economy in which the commons are provided by the state, paid for by high taxes on high incomes. Now all I needed was a name for my new economic system. That’s when I realized it wasn’t “new” at all. I had, basically, invented FDR’s New Deal. But I didn’t want to use that name. My ideas went further than the New Deal. So, I came up with something I liked: Social Capitalism.

THAT was when I learned that, again, I hadn’t come up with something new. I had independently arrived at the system currently known as Democratic Socialism. That system is currently being practiced in several countries around the world. EVERY SINGLE NATION that uses Democratic Socialism rates the general population happier and more successful, when surveyed, than the people of the United States. Every single one.

Even the United States did better while using the elements of Democratic Socialism that FDR could slip past Congress. The so-called “golden era” of the US is the years between 1945 and 1980. I grew up during that time. I remember the country that was – and it was better. No, this isn’t “you kids get off my lawn.” People did better. One person could provide for their family with one job. People could go to the doctor. Doors weren’t falling off of planes mid-flight. Really, it was better.

Conservatives in Congress have been working to dismantle the New Deal since FDR implemented it. In 1980, they managed to install a President sensitive to their desires, Ronald Reagan. It’s been a steady, downhill decline ever since. Rich people and corporations are doing GREAT! Everyone else? Not so much. And the struggle gets harder and harder every day.

Besides, just TRY to get a con to understand Democratic Socialism. Their brains freeze up the instant they hear the name. They think it’s some kind of paean to the Democratic party because it has the word in the name and the other word? My gods, the cons are SO conditioned to fear even the word ‘Socialism,’ it causes paroxysms. (They freak out.)

It’s important to remind people, from time to time, that there ARE economic models out there that work FAR better than the crap we’re being handed here in the United States of America. I really DO think so-called “free market” Capitalism cannot succeed. It will consume itself. We can see it happening all around us today. I suspect that, in the future, we’re going to need better ideas. So, there you go…

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I just want to remind everyone that Donald Trump has confessed that he lost the 2020 election and he knows it. THREE times in August he admitted it. Trump is lying about the “Stolen election.” He’ll be lying about THIS stolen election, too.

I HAVE noticed that, since writing that, not ONE of my MAGA friends has made any effort to pretend he really believed. That causes me to suspect that THEY know they’re lying, too. They’re just willing to destroy the country to get “their guy” into power. “Americans” in name only…

Savvy Stuff…

by MyBaconPress

Okay, this is a bit confusing. The House Republicans have a stopgap spending measure proposal that includes a poison pill that makes it a non-starter in the Senate. They know it. They just don’t care, BUT…

The House Republicans are ALSO quite aware that if there’s a government shutdown right before the election because they want some stupid provision that has nothing to do with spending, they’ll lose the election. Quite the conundrum, yes? It’s almost like they should drop their poison pill and just pass the spending measure.

So, of course, they’re refusing to drop their poison pill and it will stay in for now. That is some savvy politics, cons. Real savvy…

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I guess we’re supposed to be fooled. I guess we’re supposed to be fools. Putin said he was supporting Harris for President. No, really. He said it out loud. It’s true, he had a bit of a wry smile on his evil face when he said it, but he said it.

I suspect that statement is intended to throw everyone off as to Putin’s election interference on behalf of Trump, not Harris. It’s yet another of those ‘actions speak louder than words’ things. If he says he supports Harris but works tirelessly to elect Trump, who does he really support?

Putin can’t control Harris the way he controls Trump. Putin doesn’t get the same access to American intelligence with Harris that he gets with Trump. Putin doesn’t dictate to a White House run by Harris the way he does to Trump. Putin can’t count on blind acceptance of his actions with Harris like he can with Trump. Why would Putin prefer Harris to Trump?

I’ll tell you this: you can call me a cynic, but I suspect Putin might be lying…

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US Steel wants to sell it’s holdings to Nippon Steel. One of the last American steel companies wants to disappear and become part of a Japanese steel company. This is a $14 Billion dollar merger. The Biden administration is concerned about the sale, fearing it creates a national security issue. What if we end up at war with Japan? Where do we get steel? The response? War with Japan? One of our closest allies? How is THAT going to happen?

I’m going to suggest that just because the route to such an event might be difficult to see doesn’t mean it can’t happen. I’m thinking about the time the US talked Ukraine into giving up all of it’s Soviet-era nukes, promising military support, assured that Russia would never invade Ukraine with the US backing Ukraine. Apparently, THAT was “difficult to see” as well.

But Japan IS a foreign country with their own concerns and goals. And remember, Trump named effing CANADA a foreign threat so he could slap a tariff on them. Might he antagonize Japan the same way, causing them to retaliate?

Oddly, perhaps, military security is one of MY primary complaints about off-shoring so many American jobs. One of the primary reasons we (the US) were in a position to respond in WWII is because we had so many factories that were able to be converted quickly into war production. Now most of those factories are gone – along with that ‘military readiness’ agility.

In an effort to scare people into supporting the sale, US Steel is saying if they sale doesn’t go through, they’ll have to close some mills. They might even move their headquarters out of Pittsburgh. But, but…if the sale DOES go through, the headquarters is definitely moving out of Pittsburgh, right? The Union is concerned Nippon Steel wants to close some types of steel mills anyway, so what, exactly, is the threat? If the sale doesn’t go through, we close some mills and move the headquarters, whereas if the sale DOES go through, we close some mills and move the headquarters? Oh, is THAT the differe- wait, what? Say, why can Nippon Steel invest in the mills and US Steel can’t? Could that be because the CEO of US Steel is currently making nearly $17 million/year in compensation?

Apparently US Steel ain’t what it used to be. It was founded in 1901 and became the first company to hit the Billion dollar valuation mark. Steel from US Steel built America. But there have been decades of mismanagement after, taking US Steel from the flagship steel company to one of the smaller players by comparison. Maybe the sale wouldn’t have much noticeable impact on the availability of steel in America. Perhaps it’s just the idea of US Steel being owned by a non-US company.

It will be interesting to see how the cons react to all of this. On the one hand, Trump is always screaming about bringing American jobs back, so sending some away seems like something the cons would dislike, BUT…

If the cons oppose the deal, they’re essentially agreeing with Joe Biden. Can’t have that. I suspect when someone asks Trump about it, he’ll give a response along the lines of, “Steel is steel, but have you SEEN how unfair life is to poor, wonderful me? EVERYTHING you love is about to suffer, burn, and DIE!, DIE!, DIE! and only I can save you because I’m so effing wonderful and the very best of the best and – Oh, Biden, I call him Sleepy Joe, isn’t that funny? I call him Sleepy Joe and I’m beating him by a mile. I’m winning in ways he never imagined. I’m just so wonderfully perfect, things are already getting better – in anticipation of my coming back. I don’t even see him on the campaign trail anymore, can you imagine that? He’s not even trying, I’m beating him so badly. Just like we beat Obama before because he can’t… he didn’t… but they’re laughing at you, the whole world is laughing at you. Joe Biden has made America a laughing stock and the entire UN did NOT laugh at me right in my face, they didn’t. That’s fake news. I like to say, ‘ake-Fay ews-Nay.’ (That’s a foreign language because I’m so smart. I had an uncle at MIT.) It’s SO unfair, SO unfair, what they’re doing, so I’m going to lock them all up. They’re using “lawfare” against me and that’s a terrible thing so I’m going to use lawfare against them because THAT will be perfectly okay. So unfair. I’ll save you. Only I can save you. Monsters and Boogie men and brown people, isn’t that scary? Aren’t you scared? I’ll throw everyone out and everyone else in jail. I’ll get them all. They’ll go to jail. They will. And then I…”
“Hey, will you shut that thing off, please?”
“He seems just a bit more unhinged every day, doesn’t he?”

HE Admitted It – Out Loud…

by MyBaconPress

OMG, you trusted the guy. When he said the 2020 election was “stolen,” you took his word for it. Sixty lawsuits were filed. ALL SIXTY were thrown out of court for lack of evidence, because what Rudy, et al, we trying to present doesn’t qualify as evidence. There was no evidence but still, you believed. You believed because he needed you to believe. You took him at his word. Hell, you fought for him. Some of your friends even went to jail for him – because he said the election was stolen. He insisted he had won and the outcome had been rigged.

People tried to tell you. They only wanted to help but they were met with disdain. DO NOT contradict my precious, you said. If he said the election was stolen, the election was stolen, you said. Trump said it, you believe it, that settles it, right? So…how do you feel now?

According to right-leaning ‘USA Today,’ Trump has quietly admitted that he did NOT win in 2020 and he has always known he didn’t win in 2020. He said it out loud. Specifically, during an interview with podcaster Lex Fridman on August 4, he said, “He beat us by a whisker. It was a terrible thing…” Not only that, he said it on August 8 at a Moms For Liberty meeting and August 23 at the southern border. Three times in August, he has confessed that he lost the 2020 election.

Three times is not a misstatement. It’s a confession. Remember, my source on this is the right-leaning ‘USA Today’ so MAGA can just fan the claim that it’s some kind of liberal smear. More, Nick Fuentes, a far right “white nationalist” – a current euphemism for bigot – had some questions and I think they’re questions every MAGA should be asking.

“So, why did we do Stop the Steal?” Fuentes wanted to know. “Why did anyone go to Jan. 6? Why did anyone go to jail? It would have been good to know that before 1,600 people got charged,” Fuentes said on his podcast, referring to the criminal charges for those who invaded and ransacked the Capitol. “It would’ve been good to know that before (I) had all my money frozen, put on a no-fly list, banned from everything, lost all my bank and payment processing.” He went on to call it a “tremendous betrayal” and “callus indifference to the sacrifices that his supporters made on his behalf.”

It very definitely was that, a tremendous betrayal and absolutely callus indifference. It shouldn’t be a surprise. He told you to your faces, he doesn’t care about you, he just needs your vote. You laughed, as though he was joking. He wasn’t joking. He really doesn’t care about anything but himself. He didn’t have the slightest concern about what his lies did to you. He only cared about what his lies might do FOR him.

Now Fuentes is promising sustained opposition to Trump. Funny that. If you let your friends go to jail, and then let them know you lied about WHY they went to jail, they tend to get pissed off at you. So…

Dear MAGA,
Trump, himself, said he lost the 2020 election. He admitted it at least three times in August alone. That’s not a “smear” from the left. It’s not a talking point. Trump said it, out loud, at least three times! The 2020 election was fair. It was NOT stolen. Trump lost it, fair and square. MAGA King Donald J. Trump said so. Right leaning USA Today reported it. Right wing, bigoted nutball Nick Fuentes is furious about it. All of them, right leaning sources.

I have no interest in gloating. I’ve said all along, MAGA is deceived. I would happily welcome you back to the realm of decent humanity. I would like to know the scales have fallen from your eyes but I don’t want, need, or wish to punish you for believing. It’s not your fault you put your faith in a conman who lied to you. That’s what con men do. But now HE has told you you were conned. HE has confessed the deception with his own mouth – at least three times.

I “get” that you won’t believe me. But will you believe one of your own in Nick Fuentes? Will you believe a right-leaning source in ‘USA Today?’ Will you believe Trump himself?

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In a completely unrelated…no, I mean totally related event, a one-time doctor from Massachusetts is on her way to jail – because she believed Trump when he lied about the election. She’s got to server nine months in prison and then nine more in home confinement. She says she’s very sorry she punched that cop during that oh-so-peaceful “unauthorized tour.”

She got sentenced AFTER Trump started confessing he had lied about losing the election. She participated in the assault because of the lie. Now she’s going to prison. How does SHE feel today? I don’t mean to be unkind, but if he is STILL her “Precious,” after she gets sent to prison because he lied to her, she kind of gets what she deserves…

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MAGA DID try to keep his media group at the top. They did. When TMTG (Trump Media & Technology Group) hit the stock market, people who have NO business dallying in the stock market started buying the stock. The price shot through the roof, despite the complete lack of anything to justify the price. It was just a buying spree that ran up the price based on the idea that they loved Trump. But those things don’t last. After a while, investors look at fundamentals and when the numbers aren’t right, the stock price adjusts, or, in Trump’s case, crashes.

At one point, TMTG was trading at $79.38/share. The same stock closed Wednesday slightly below $17/share. Think about being the sucker, um, guy who bought that stock at, say, $78/share, definitely thinking he was making a shrewd investment. He’s down around $68/share and he’ll never get that back.

Trump is DEFINITELY not a shrewd businessman. He’s not even competent. It’s almost as if he lied about his business skills. Oh yeah, did you hear that he lied about losing the 2020 election, too? Turns out, he knew it all along…he said so himself!

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Hey, Boeing managed to bring it’s Starliner “maybe spaceship” back to Earth safely! If only it could have brought back the astronauts it took to the ISS. I feel like Boeing has taken the cost cutting just a little too far…

Trying…

by MyBaconPress

Well, I’m glad to see some mainstream media finally shining a light on Trump’s intentions. The Guardian on Tuesday had a story called, ‘Trump and allies plant seeds for ‘chaos and discord’ if he loses, experts warn.’ It’s all about how the right is ALREADY whining about how unfair the election is going to be if Trump doesn’t win. In short, they’re already setting up their January coup. Note to MAGA: the fact that your guy loses doesn’t mean the election was rigged. Your guy sucks…

Do you think Trump knows he shouldn’t sit home on Labor Day and not campaign at some union hall or the like? Of course he knows. He’s just not bothering anymore. Now that the polls have swung in Kamala’s direction, he knows his last chance is the January coup, in which he’s simply installed by the House of Representatives after the election is fraudulently declared invalid due to unprovable errors and actions.

That’s why he’s not making efforts to pick up new voters any more. For one thing, he knows he can’t. For the other, he really needs to focus on keeping current MAGA confused and in a frenzy so when he says, “Lie!” they will. So HIS campaign stops are, increasingly, in areas he’s already expected to do well in.

At this point, virtually the ONLY way I can think of to stop them from doing this is if enough Republicans who still love America resign their seats in the House with immediate effect, but do so only when there’s not enough time to be replaced by other, more “loyal” MAGA. Such a move would give control of the House to Democrats and remove Mike Johnson as Speaker, eliminating the threat.

There may be some other route Americans can take to protect America but I don’t know what it might be and, try as I might, I haven’t heard a peep from officials about what they might do to stop it. You see, technically, the way their plan is drawn up, everything they do will be consistent with the Constitution and law. The only problem with it will be that it’s all based on a lie. The election will be fine. In fact, since they’ve been whining and crying about how unfair the election was in 2020, I suspect this will be the most scrutinized election in American history. But that won’t stop MAGA from lying. NOTHING stops MAGA from lying…

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I’m glad Unions are back in the conversation. They proved themselves to be important components of a healthy economy. Unions found themselves under serious attack back in the 1980’s. Reagan busting the Air Traffic Controllers Union set the stage for how to bust unions in general and companies have been attacking ever since, to the obvious detriment of the workers and society as a whole.

It will be tough, restoring Unions, to be sure. The One Percent don’t like unions because unions have bargaining power. FAR too many Americans have been convinced that unions are somehow bad for them and they should oppose them. It’s true, these are the same people who think Climate Change is fake and Trump is awesome, but there are a LOT of them and wrongheadedness in large numbers is difficult to overcome.

But at least the conversation is back. At last it seems like people are starting to know, again, things we knew before…

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Well, the NFL season is kicking off. Tonight, I mean. I’m looking forward to it. You’ll probably read about it here. For instance, the Kansas City Chiefs have won the last two Stupor Bowls. If they win it again this year, it’s called a “three-peat.” It’s a term I believe that was originally coined by Roger Craig of the San Francisco Forty-Niners when THAT team was playing to win a possible third straight. Spoiler alert: the Niners never got their chance. Ironically, Craig fumbled the football on the Niners last play and the NY Giants beat them with a field goal in the NFC Championship game.

I mention it because I’m not looking forward to a full season of “Ooh, can they do it?” It MUST be a through-line the networks will follow, though. Those guys have to talk for hours each week about football. Sure the game is complex but it still comes down to “get the most points.” So, they look for story lines they can carry through the season, and a Chiefs three-peat is definitely on that list. We’ll hear about it every time the Chiefs are on television – in between gratuitous shots of Taylor Swift – and we’ll hear about it during other games, too.

There’s a risk that every time I turn on a game this year, I’ll be reminded that the Chiefs beat the Forty-Niners in the last Stupid Bowel. Yeah, I remember. Thanks…

Reprehensible…

by MyBaconPress

The cons just keep scratching and clawing for something, anything, to attack Kamala with. Right now, they’re pretending that doing a joint interview with her VP pick is an unusual thing to do and that she needed him there because a woman always needs a big, strong man to protect her, right?

Okay, so…wrong. As it happens, EVERY presidential candidate has at least one interview with the VP pick sitting next to them. Trump did it with Pence, four years before challenging his acolytes to hang Pence. Hey, did Captain Bonespurs need Pence there to be the “big strong man” protecting him?

These guys keep trying to attack Kamala as doing things THEY do THEMSELVES! I guess they know what passes as reprehensible. They just pretend it’s not them, it’s their opponent.

But it’s them…

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By now, we all know Trump went into Arlington and disrespected the military members buried there and broke the law by filming a campaign ad in areas where one is not allowed to film. Now, you know Trump’s team didn’t know or care about right or wrong, legal or illegal. He was trying to look like he gives two figs about the military after denigrating Medal of Honor recipients. (He doesn’t.) His team decided a trip to Arlington would fit the bill perfectly. Reportedly, there was a bit of a scuffle as they pushed past a cemetery worker trying to stop them from breaking the law.

Now that they’ve GOT their illegally filmed commercial, they’re denying they filmed a commercial AND insisting the scuffle never happened, but “the employee started it.” Hmm, “the employee started it” sure sounds like the scuffle happened, doesn’t it? My favorite is when weird old JD Vance went to a rally and said, “You guys in the media, you’re acting like Donald Trump filmed a TV commercial at a gravesite…” Well, yeah, but only because Donald Trump filmed a TV commercial at a gravesite. Do you know what makes those weasel words? “TV commercial.” So far, as far as I know, it has only been a social media commercial. They haven’t played it on TV. (Yet.)

By the way, yes, I know there are MAGA who will defend his actions. There are MAGA who will pretend it never happened, even though the video is out there. There are MAGA who will pretend it was all hunky-dory even though it was illegal. There are always MAGA happy to stand up and spew whatever story needs to be “confirmed.” But MAGA is NOT a good, dependable source on anything. Part of being in Cult 45 is being willing to lie about anything at any time.

But the basic facts of the disgrace remain: Trump illegally filmed a campaign ad in a restricted area of Arlington National Cemetery and his team pushed a cemetery employee out of the way to do it…

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The Donald J Trump, ‘Roberts Supremely Kangaroo Court’ is doing what they can for Trump but, apparently, it’s not enough. It turns out, Trump’s nearly perfect immunity doesn’t extend to acts NOT considered official business of the President – like interfering with elections. So, he has been re-indicted on those charges, cleaned up a bit for the illegal things he did with the DOJ the Kangaroos said was actually a-okay. Of course, he’s spinning out over it.

So, he goes on Fox Not-News and spews, “Whoever heard, you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election, where you have every right to do it…” That sounds like a confession, to me. But not JUST to me. LOTS of people are hearing a confession in his statement. Every right to do it. So, I guess Trump and MAGA would be happy if, say, Biden interfered in the election? Biden is the current, sitting President. Why wouldn’t HE have the “right” to interfere in an election, too?

Trump just kind of says anything he needs to say in the moment, without ever thinking about how that might impact anything else. So, he “defends” himself to MAGA on Fox Not-News, without considering he is probably implicating himself in court. That’s not smart. It’s not even rational.

Trump and the Little Trumpsters are already setting up the “stolen election” lie. They’ve started pretending pretty much everything that can go wrong, WILL go wrong and it’s all because of Biden. Unless Trump wins, of course. Then they’ll have to stop the stories and insist there’s never been a more honest election. Why, it’s almost as if Trump and MAGA lie about everything, all the time.

But I’ll tell you this: I don’t think Trump is going to win. I think he’s going to lose, so I think we’ll hear the whining. When you DO hear that, remind MAGA that, according to them, the President has “every right” to interfere with elections. Then, carefully observe their “fair and balanced” reactions. If nothing else, it will be fun watching them defend Trump/decry Biden for the exact same thing. It’s no wonder they’re losing their minds…

Evolution (D) and Self-Pity (R)…

by MyBaconPress

We’ve all experienced the phenomenon of politicians saying things during campaigns that end up not happening. Sure, sometimes, they were just lying outright on the campaign trail, like Trump. But sometimes, I believe, they actually are describing things they would like to get done only to get into office and find out they can’t for some reason. Maybe there’s an existing, conflicting law. Maybe some group suffers if someone does that (hypothetical) thing. They didn’t lie, exactly. They were speaking “aspirationally.” It just doesn’t, perhaps can’t, happen.

Kamala is out there defending the fact that some of her positions have evolved over time. For clarity, I think that’s a sign of solid thinking and a strong mind. As it happens, I believe actually smart people are never afraid to admit mistakes or re-think a position. Actually smart people are actually NOT threatened by mistakes. (NOW is an excellent time to think about Trump. Have you ever, and I mean EVER, heard him admit an error? No, neither have I. That’s a sure sign of a small mind.)

So, Kamala once opposed fracking completely. Now she’s a less fierce opponent. Sure, that could be a campaign position. It could also be that, as VP, she learned more on the topic and updated her position.

Maybe it’s something as simple as this: She knows that we either get off of fossil fuels, ending the need for fracking and eliminating the process by attrition, or we keep dragging our feet in the name of the great god Profit – rendering the planet unfit to maintain human life, wipe ourselves out, and end fracking that way…

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On Thursday, Trump tried telling people that he would force insurance companies to pay the full cost of IVF and that a six-week abortion ban was too short. He thought there should be more time. On Friday, he told Fox Not-News that he was going to support Floriduh’s pending six week abortion ban.

Quick question: aren’t the cons the group that think the government shouldn’t help anybody but rich people at any time? Aren’t they the group always trying to eliminate programs that help people? Why would he suddenly support instituting a huge, very expensive program he would almost certainly have to tax rich people more to pay for? Answer? He wouldn’t. He’s just talking, pandering for votes he’s not going to get.

He was oh-so-proud to have installed the “Justices” necessary to eliminate the protection of Roe v Wade. He bragged about it as often as he could. THEN, the GOP started losing election after election because, as it happens, the VAST majority of Americans prefer to have the choice available – even conservatives. So THEN, he backs off, now insisting that, no, he wasn’t trying to eliminate abortions. (Where would you ever get THAT idea?!?) He just wanted it to be a state’s rights issue. He even tried to pretend everybody wanted it to be a state’s rights issue. (Most people were not, are not, that stupid.)

These are not solid efforts on his part. One cannot go on television one day and say one thing and then go on television the next day and say the exact opposite without people noticing. I suppose it’s as close as we’re going to get from him as far as moving toward the middle, though. The best he ever does is to occasionally mumble out some things that might please still-rational conservatives (if such an animal still exists), but then he immediately retreats to “keep MAGA happy” mode and refutes whatever he said to the moderates…

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And in the spirit of “keep MAGA happy,” the ‘Poor-Me ex-President’ keeps campaigning to people already in his camp. He doesn’t seem to be doing anything to pick up new voters. In fact, he’s blatantly disrespecting different groups he should be courting. He can’t help but explain, over and over, that he thinks military members are gullible fools for serving. He can’t hide the fact that he thinks women are good for nothing but sex and should probably be punished for engaging.

The thing is, MAGA loves this guy 100%. They’re so deranged in their faith in him (or should it be ‘Him?’) they would do anything, say anything, suffer anything, just to make him happy. Of all the people on the planet he does NOT need to court, MAGA is the group. Yet, that’s where he’s putting his efforts, shoring up his base.

It scares me. I suspect he knows he can’t pick up any more voters. MAGA is all in but everyone else, and I mean everyone, is not interested. He’s going to lose THIS election, too. (Do you realize that, even in 2016, he lost the popular vote? People just don’t like the guy. He’s too extreme, too weird.) But that leaves him only his January coup option. In order to make that work, he’s going to need mobs. MAGA needs to create (and pretend) confusion in order to make the coup work. In order to work, Trump needs MAGA loyalty more than he needs more votes. So that’s where he’s putting his energy…

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Meanwhile, RFK, Jr is trying to remove his name from ballots for which he qualified before stepping down from the race. He doesn’t want to be a spoiler for Trump like Haley was even after she stepped down. People voted for her anyway, because her name still appeared on ballots and they really, really did NOT want Trump.

North Carolina has refused to remove his name citing the fact that 1.7 million ballots have already been printed around the state. I think that’s a good reason. It’s expensive, printing ballots. Going back and reprinting 1.7 million ballots, just to help Trump? Why? I say, “just to help Trump” because Kennedy is only removing his name where the election is expected to be close. Removing his name is Kennedy’s way of helping Trump but that’s not the election board’s problem or mandate.

Still, the vote went 3 Democrats vote to leave the ballots as is, 2 Republicans voted to help Trump. The partisan split gives the cons something else to “poor me” the world with…

Controlled with a Cluck…

by MyBaconPress

Predictable and easily manipulated Trump was waffling about whether he was going to debate Harris on ABC, following the rules established earlier with Biden. He didn’t really want to. He felt good debating Joe but worries about Kamala. It’s hard to blame him, there. So he started dropping hints that maybe he wouldn’t do it or maybe they should change the rules.

The Harris campaign put out an ad showing Trump complaining about debating Harris – with chicken clucking sounds in the background throughout. That was all it took, calling him a chicken. Now he’s all in. He’s still attacking ABC, mind you. When the hell is he ever happy with anything? But he’s on for the debate. Easily manipulated. Predictable.

Just think of what an adversarial foreign leader could do to a spineless mini-mind like his…

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Despite the rhetoric (okay, lies) from the Trump campaign, it looks like business is worried about Trump taking over in January. I know MAGA pretends everything was hunky-dory when Trump was in charge. They just ignore the…you know, last two years of his maladministration. They’ll ask you, to your face, are you better off today than you were four years ago? Hell yes, I’m better off.

Reuters is reporting that US Miners and battery recyclers are “rushing to close government loans worth billions of dollars before January out of concern that former President Donald Trump would, if reelected, block funding needed to boost American output of critical minerals for the energy transition.”

The miners and recyclers need the loans to keep expanding operations to get the minerals and bits needed to help move America (and the world) off of fossil fuels and into the 21st century while keeping America at the economic forefront of the future. Those industries, anyway, are concerned that Trump will block the funding, since he doesn’t like the future or progress or human life on Earth, I guess.

Trump has promised to “end the electric vehicle mandate” and the vile Project 2025 document recommends shuttering the department that makes those loans, the US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO). NOBODY believes Trump when he claims he has nothing to do with Project 2025. Nobody.

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Well, he’s sure working to get the women’s vote, isn’t he? His team got into a scuffle with a worker at Arlington National Cemetery, where he went to disrespect the law and some of our fallen soldiers. The worker happens to be a woman. So, they just pushed her out of the way. Literally. She filed a police report but she’s not going to press charges, as of this writing. Do you know why? MAGA attacked! She began receiving threats, so she’s standing down. MAGA can’t defend his actions. They can only bring a mob to stop you from mentioning them. J6, remember?

Oh, AND he “attacked” Kamala by attacking ALL women. I’m sure that helped. He posted a picture of Kamala and Hillary together with a caption that suggested Kamala had risen to power through sexual favors. How is that NOT an attack on all women? How does that NOT suggest that if any woman is successful, she could ONLY have achieved her success through sexual favors?

You don’t hear that one about men any too often, do you? Oh, he slept his way to the top. No, it’s not relevant to a man’s success. If he is successful, it’s because he was smart and worked hard. (In truth, it’s usually because he is exploitative and watched other people work hard.) Whatever sex he may or may not have had never enters into it. It shouldn’t with women, either. But if this guy will dismiss women’s success so easily when he’s trying to impress them, think of what he’ll do to them when he gets back into power permanently…

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Well, the cons tried to hit Kamala over her interview. They really, really wanted to. But she didn’t give them anything to work with. The most Donald could say about it was “Boring.” Why, no, she didn’t turn everything into hyperbolic over-statements of absolute destruction or absolute perfection or absolute failure or absolute success. No broad, over-the-top claims that only SHE can solve problems. No terrifying tales of impending doom should someone else end up in charge (except to the Constitution, of course). She just made rational comments on topics of concern.

A Swing And A Miss…

by MyBaconPress

Okay, now they’re getting it together. The cons have finally found some footing to start an attack. They’ve found a few misstatements and perhaps embellishments in Walz’ CV. They’re trying to brand him a liar. I mean, you can’t make that up, right? What do we know about the cons, above all? They don’t care about lying. It’s what they DO. The object of their misplaced affection is the most prolific liar in the history of lying. In fact, Trump lies so often, I’d say it’s notable when he utters a truth of any kind.

Hey, at least it’s something. It’s a very tiny, nothing-burger something but it’s something. The things they’re jumping on seem somewhat…nit-picky. Photos of two different dogs, both called ‘Scout?’ Oh, the humanity! Oh, and…no. One is Scout, the other is not. Walz was an assistant coach and not a head coach? Hey, man, people still call assistants “Coach.”

Did he overstate the rank he held on the day he retired? Maybe. He was promoted to the rank. There was apparently some coursework to do he didn’t finish, because he retired. I’d need to see what his DD-214 says. (A DD-214 is the form you get when you process out. It summarizes your service.) But take note, the guy attacking Walz’ military record, Chris LaCivita, one of Trump’s top aides, a veteran Republican operative, and just an all-around puke of a human being, spearheaded the Swift Boat campaign against John Kerry. In short, LaCivita is already an established liar.

Their position seems to be Walz is a liar and that’s totally unacceptable because only WE get to lie. Yeah, that will hold up…

One more thing. A group sprang up – of course it did – called ‘Never Walz.’ They failed to secure the website. So now, if you go to NeverWalz.com, you see a post that says ‘Trump is a convicted felon. Let’s vote for adults.’ Then you get automatically re-directed to Harris’ site…

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Hey, speaking of lying, Trump keeps trying to distance himself from this vicious ‘Project 2025’ junk. But one of the lead authors, Stephen Moore, made quite clear in an interview last March that he was in close contact with Trump while they were writing the thing. Then he said something that gave me a chill.

Moore says he asked Trump how long it would take him to “revive the economy.” Trump said, “Give me six months and we’ll be back to where we were.” So is Trump promising that six months after he’s installed, we’ll all be out of work again in a flat-lined economy, locked in our houses, with millions of Americans dying all around us? My that IS a tempting campaign promise…

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Superseding indictment? Jack Smith is very good at what he does, isn’t he? I mean, I’m not sure he can win, in view of the corruption in our court system but he really is giving himself every chance.

The Donald J Trump Roberts Supremely Kangaroo Court made a ruling that the President enjoys near-perfect immunity for any and all core and official duties. The idea was to protect one “President,” Trump, from facing the consequences of his actions. All of his criminal trials were put on hold while the prosecutors looked over the indictments to root out any “official conduct” that might be protected under the corrupt court’s corrupt decision.

But Jack Smith? He didn’t just look the old indictment over and cross out the lines that don’t work anymore. He secretly empaneled an entire second Grand Jury, presented a new case, free of the things the court is trying to protect Trump over, and got a second indictment to take the place of the first. It’s essentially, an entirely new case with the focus being on personal actions Trump took as a candidate and stressing the idea that the President of the United States has no official role in the certification process.

In short? They can still prosecute this guy for the crimes he committed on January 6th. The indictment isn’t as far-reaching but it still stands as a threat to Trump. (Actually meaning Trump is MORE desperate and dangerous regarding the MAGA plot for a coup, sadly. Donny has to win – or he goes to jail.) You will not be surprised to hear, he reacted badly to the superseding indictment.

He babbled out some bunk on his web site. It must be challenging, getting all of those assertions, claims, insults, and lies into single, VERY long sentences. He babbled and rambled and rambled and babbled, calling the indictment “election interference,” yet another of those situations where MAGA thinks THEY can interfere with elections, that’s just fine. But if somebody else tried it? Well, that would be bad.

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Trump recently decided to denigrate the military by saying the Presidential Medal of Freedom is “better” than the Congressional Medal of Honor because so many of the people who receive the Medal of honor are shot to pieces or dead. He really said that. Many military members, active and otherwise, didn’t like that. So, he needed a photo op to try to pretend he doesn’t think people who serve are suckers. Of course, he has said that, too, because he does think they’re suckers. “Why,” he wonders, “didn’t they pay a doctor to pretend they had bone spurs, too?”

So, Trump decided to turn Arlington National Cemetery into a campaign prop. He was “invited” by thirteen families of service members killed at a suicide bombing at Kabul Airport in Afghanistan. The deceased are buried in an area of Arlington called ‘Section 60.’ Trump shows up with an entourage and wants to film himself laying a wreath for the fallen.

When it became clear that Trump intended a photo op in violation of Federal law, a person at the cemetery tried to stop the team. The report is, Trump’s team “verbally abused and then pushed aside” the Arlington official. Trump’s team got their pictures. To hell with the fallen, right? That seems to be his attitude all the time. Now we’re supposed to know Trump respects the military because he disrespected a cemetery and a Marine trying to protect the cemetery from politics.

Cemetery officials released a statement on the subject. It said, “Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign,” and “Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants. We can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed.”

Trump’s effort to “fix” things with the military turned into a campaign problem and includes a report filed with police. And, I’d bet he STILL thinks military members are suckers. I cannot understand how a person who served or is currently serving could EVER vote for this “man.” What is it, Stockholm Syndrome?

Love Struck…

by MyBaconPress

Have you ever had a friend who fell for the wrong person? Perhaps you have some information about the new paramour your friend can’t – or more likely, won’t – see. You do tell your friend about your concerns. When you’re young, there’s an urgency that makes you want to convince your friend, right away. Usually, that ends up costing you the friendship. So, as you age, you learn NOT to keep hammering on it. You tell your friend, they reject your input because they just KNOW the new object of their affection is perfect, and you shut up and wait it out.

Eventually, of course, your friend sees the error of their ways. One hopes that happens before there’s too big of a commitment but sooner or later, the truth shines. The scales fall from their eyes. There was a time your friend would have dumped you for saying unkind things about their lover, now they say the harshest things without batting an eye. NOT being perfect was the ultimate betrayal. Your friend feels like (and, let’s face it, was) a self-deluded, blind fool. We all know somebody. I hope it wasn’t you. (Full disclosure? It has been me. Drat!)

That’s how I expect MAGA to be after Trump, disillusioned and a bit embarrassed to have been so taken in by such an obvious shyster. I suspect THEY will be madder at Donald, and hate him more, than anything the left could gin up. They’ll finally understand how they were used. They’ll finally see that he never really cared about them at all. It was all about him. They’ll think of all the money they gave him and the time and the absolute, blind loyalty. And for what? For a con.

Let’s hope the scales fall from their eyes before it’s too late…

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When Trump thought he was going to debate Biden, he was all over it. Who could blame him? After that first debate, I would have been all over it, too. But then Biden stepped down and Kamala took the reins. Initially, Trump agreed he would do the debate on ABC that had been planned for Biden anyway. But now? Not so much.

He’s using as his excuse the fact that ABC sometimes says truthful (read: unkind) things about him. I guess I get it. A person whose entire life is a fabrication that must be maintained at all costs is in great peril going into an environment where truth might be a factor…

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According to ‘Business Insider,’ Trump aides are having a difficult time keeping him focused on the campaign. He seems to prefer playing golf and sulking. He doesn’t like that Kamala is getting more – and better – press than he is. His people keep trying to get him to deliver a coherent message at a rally – just one. He can’t.

Some of Kamala’s media coverage suggest that he is less hardworking than she is. He doesn’t like that depiction of himself. So, he goes golfing, which, of course, kind of supports the narrative. That’s how he spent over a year of his maladministration, too. Golfing.

In an effort to keep their boy on task, the aides have packed his schedule full of events. They’re also STILL trying to get him to talk about something more substantial than name-calling and whining about how unfair life has been to the self-described “billionaire.” They think he can’t win with the “poor me” strategy. He seems to disagree, since that’s all he ever talks about. Oh, poor him.

I hope he keeps doing what he’s doing. I suspect that, every day, the scales fall from a few pairs of eyes. Whether or not they’ll admit it, more cons are turning away from Trump. I just read an opinion piece in the USA Today written by a con who couldn’t vote for Harris (she’s a commie, you know) but couldn’t vote Trump, either. So the writer is sitting this one out. Even THAT is okay with me. A vote withheld for either candidate is, de facto, a vote FOR the other candidate…

Shifting Realities…

by MyBaconPress

Hey, if you’re one of those “people” who thought it would be a good idea to attack Guy Walz for being proud of his father? May you reap as you sow. Most writers include the information that Guy is, apparently, autistic. Does that matter? Can’t a son be proud of his father? Oh, AND, we’re supposed to have an agreement: no kids. Gus is seventeen. Off-limits.

I’m SURE I heard that kids are off-limits when people wanted to make fun of Barron for being weird. If I remember correctly, kids were off-limits when the Bushes were in the White House and George’s daughters were…um…misbehaving. I don’t think they were even under 18 then. They were just “off-limits.”

The same rule never seems to apply to the right, though. THEY think they can attack anybody at any time, so they do. But they shouldn’t. Kids should be off-limits, but under ANY conditions, trying to put someone down for being proud of their father seems like a rather stupid attack. Nice work, MAGA. I’m guessing if you had something stronger, you’d use it…

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I think he’s scared. Maybe scarred. Trump went down to the border. (He was looking for a soul to steal.) He stood next to border wall steel and bitched and whined about the world being mean to him. Then, a reporter asked him a question and he only wanted to get the hell out of there. He didn’t even answer the question. He just said they weren’t safe and he had to go. He DID tell her to go, too.

Some dude had threatened to kill Trump and was still on the loose. I don’t blame Trump for being concerned. People really do hate the guy and someone has already tried to kill him, once. Someone else trying to kill him is totally believable. In this case, though, they’ve captured the nutball so Trump will be fine. He claimed to be unaware of the threat but he was very focused on getting out of there as quickly as possible.

Maybe he’s finally coming to understand the risks to the kind of fire he’s stoking and finally starting to understand that anybody might be a target when nutballs start shooting. It’s a good thing that Federal “judge” in Kansas has ruled that banning machine guns was probably unconstitutional. THAT will make Trump – and everybody else – much safer…

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Well, the two astronauts who went to the space station for a few days (about 8) finally get to come home – in a few months (about 8)! Boeing got them there, though just barely. Boeing can’t get them home. They have to hitch a ride with someone else and the next available slot is in February!

They went up just to test Boeing’s Starliner. How would you mark it down, success or failure? The crew got there, they just can’t get home. At least none of the doors fell off en route. The astronauts will come home on Boeing’s competition, a SpaceX craft. The Starliner will come home “uncrewed.” They can’t risk putting people aboard. Boeing’s reputation (and production) just ain’t what it used to be. It’s almost as if corporations can’t be trusted to properly self-regulate…

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Trump’s tune on choice seems to be changing a bit. He claimed the Dobbs “decision” was behind us and nobody was focused on abortion, anymore, but he seems to know better as he tries tacking to the left on the topic. “Sure, I put three aggressively anti-abortion judges on the Supremely Kangaroo Court but I never thought they’d try to end abortion. That should be up to the states.”

He says he doesn’t support a national ban but a huge number of his fans do. If a national abortion ban bill shows up on his desk, would he sign it? That’s a bit of a different question, right? He may not push it, but would he support it?

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Trump said during his chat with Musk that if he didn’t win, he and Musk should retreat to Caracas, Venezuela because it would be “safer” to be in Venezuela than the US. (This at a time when Venezuela is burning over an attempted stolen election.)

How could the US send Trump anywhere? He has already made it clear: even HE thinks it’s a bad thing for one country to export it’s criminals and rapers to other countries. I’m pretty sure, by definition, he has to stay here…