politics

Hey, Maybe We Can…

by MyBaconPress

No, it’s too late. Since the SKCOTUS ruled that the President is really a king, I’ve seen some ideas about what to do. AOC has suggested impeaching some of the Kangaroos. A House Democrat, Joe Morelle, has promised to introduce a Constitutional Amendment to reverse the way-high court’s ruling. I read a very good editorial urging all Americans to get out and vote, the idea being that if we all band together we can save our nation at the ballot box.

Impeaching the Kangaroos will take too long and will NOT have the cooperation of our corrupt House. That’s the same impediment to any Constitutional Amendment. Sadly, getting out the vote isn’t going to get ‘er done, either. Dems could, should, win the election. Cons have a plan to steal it, anyway.

People I’ve spoken to about their plan can’t or won’t accept it as a possibility, let alone the reality. When I first heard of it, I wasn’t sure I bought it, either. But consider; think of every vile thing the cons have done in the furtherance of their goals, the lies and obfuscations, the incompetents installed, the bribes happily and gratefully taken, the corruptions of the rule of law. Think of every time you’ve been shocked by some new, egregious effort it took you a day or two to even wrap your arms around. NONE of those things have been opposed successfully.

This once-great nation was a smoking wreckage even before the Kangaroos put the final nail in her coffin on July 1, 2024. The Kangaroos horrifying Citizens United ruling made the country a pay-to-play nation, basically Fascism, the merging of corporate and government power. Their recent, “Hell, YES, we can take bribes!” ruling in Snyder vs United States made the country less trustworthy than we might ever have imagined.

Now, in that light, tell me what it is you think will cause the cons to stop, right as they sit on the precipice of total, appalling “success.” Win or lose in November, they have a plan to simply install Donald Trump into the Oval – and it’s all in keeping with the tattered remains of our beloved Constitution. All they have to do is tell one more big lie. Think about that. The tool they’re going to use to finally destroy the Constitution, once and for all, is the Constitution.

Their big lie? The election was SO fraught with irregularities and problems, we simply cannot trust the results. That’s it. Nothing else. They just have to tell it and stick to it. Hell, they’ve already started that one and they’ll KEEP pounding that drum until the votes are counted. The ONLY thing that will stop them is if the votes fall Trump’s way as a matter of course, a very real possibility since the Dems won’t change horses. If that happens – Trump wins – suddenly it will be the fairest election in the history of elections. But in the MAGA “mind,” it’s only “fair” if their guy wins.

Sure, Dems will pretend to fight back. They’ll file lawsuits, ultimately decided by the corrupt Kangaroos, so, good luck with that. They may try to pass laws, obstructed by the corrupt House – and any that DO pass will be “reviewed” by the Kangaroos. Consider this: the Kangaroos have already MADE Biden king. He has the same protections as Trump would have. Biden, too, could order Seal Team 6 to take out a threatening political rival with total immunity in order to save the nation. Biden could stop this thing with a word. But he won’t.

He’s already said he’s going to stick to the rules we know and depend on decorum and propriety. Hell, the cons don’t even know what ‘decorum’ and ‘propriety’ mean and if they looked them up, they’d just laugh. The Dems are forever fighting according to Marquis of Queensbury rules and the cons are in a kickboxing cage match – and using knives. So, even after the obvious cheating of the House, the Dems will dutifully attend the inauguration and hand over the keys to the White House on January 21st, 2025.

And that will be that.

Virtually the ONLY thing left that might stop Trump, realistically, is his death. Note to those who care, no, I’m not calling for his death. Besides, who the hell listens to me? I’m simply making the point that Trump is an old guy in terrible shape. Old guys in terrible shape commonly die, okay? I’m no threat. But the fact remains, however it might come about, Trump’s passing is the only way to stop this freight train, so I wouldn’t count on that, either.

If you can think of some other way to save the country, I’d love to hear it…

Immunity Day…

by MyBaconPress

Okay, so today is Immunity Day. Does Donald Trump have perfect immunity to do anything he wants while President? No, of course not, and that’s NOT what the Kangaroos are going to rule on. But, remember, these Kangaroos are weasels. (What? How is that possible?) The decision they’re going to hand down is that, yes, the President DOES enjoy great latitude in his official functions. In fact, the President IS immune from prosecution for much of his official role.

The only part the Kangaroos are going to have to weasel, is the part where “officiating” an election, especially from the White House, must be an official role of the President (it’s not), so Trump IS immune for his actions in trying to overturn the election. In a VERY partisan, 6-3 vote, they’ll simply pretend to agree with his claim of “testing the election integrity.”

Yes, it will be a severe bastardization of the law every American should be outraged about. But MAGA will celebrate because it will save their guy and they don’t understand that the corruption will continue and spread. More importantly, though, it will let Trump off the hook for his attempts to steal the election without setting a precedent that allows, say, Biden to simply order Seal Team 6 to strike Mar-a-Lardo, while Trump is at home.

The sane sector of this once-great nation will have to walk around with J6 and “I just need you to find me 11,780 votes because that’s one more than we have” in their heads while the Trump defense team of RATKG&B allows Trump to walk because that was some kind of “official function.”

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I hear Biden met with his family to ask if he should stay in the race and, what do you know? They apparently think he should. Look, I don’t think any Biden voters (or, more accurately, anti-Trump voters) are going to see Biden’s age and vote Trump. Nobody is going to flip. But too many people are going to be off-put by Biden’s age and aged performance at the debate and will simply stay home. This, at a time Biden (and more importantly, the survival of this once-great nation) will need every vote he can possibly get.

Outside of the MAGA “mind,” (I mean in reality) Biden has done a pretty good job as President. The only real rap cons can lay on him is his age and they’ve been hammering on that for years, now. So when Biden comes out and mostly confirms their charges by his performance, he puts the metaphorical noose around his own neck – along with ours.

Yes, Biden has a proven record of success but the “old” thing is a weight he can’t escape. Replacing him with someone else would be a problem because the Dems would be starting from scratch with an unproven candidate. But the candidate for the right, Donald Trump IS “proven.” He’s a proven, convicted Felon. He’s an proven, adjudicated sexual assaulter. He’s a known, proven thief and con man. He’s a proven liar. He lies like it’s his sacred obligation to lie. He is an proven embarrassment to the country. (See below.) Hell, he’s an embarrassment to humanity.

I’ll tell you this: There shouldn’t even BE a race, here. Can it possibly be true the Dems can’t field anybody who could compare well against the personification of the Seven Deadly Sins? More than anything, THAT is a sad and sorrowful commentary on America…

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I hear Trump saying we’re a laughing stock to the world because of Biden. I just want to remind everybody, it was TRUMP the entire world laughed at – right in his stupid face! Remember that? At the UN? Trump made a cockamamie, trump-like statement (“My administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country”) and the entire general assembly burst into laughter. Click here to see it for yourselves.

Once again (and it NEVER ends) a conservative accusation that is, in fact, a confession. The United States was laughing stock under Trump, not Biden, and if Trump gets back there, we will be again…

Inexplicable…

by MyBaconPress

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Trump Was Bad, Too…

by MyBaconPress

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7 of 9…

by MyBaconPress

I’m saying it’s clearly beyond their capability. Still, I admire the way they keep showing up and trying. Picking a Speaker, I mean. The Republicans STILL can’t get ‘er done. They literally have ONE JOB! It’s too much for them. They tried single candidates in the very bigoted Steve Scalise, who describes himself as David Duke (One time Grand Wizard of the KKK) “without the baggage.” Then they sent up Jim Jordan, the sexual abuse-ignoring MAGA who seems to have been one of the key congressional figures helping DJT with his coup. Both those “winners” lost. Jordan should find himself facing charges, sooner or later, for his support of J6.

Now the cons are going to try a group thing. They’re putting up nine names, most of whom participated to one degree or another in the coup attempt. These aren’t the people who offered direct, traitorous support, though, like Jordan, MTG, or Josh Hawley from the Senate. They weren’t out in front, waving banners or offering fist salutes. The treason from these guys was more subtle. See if you can spot the commonality among this group:

Tom Emmer – DJT doesn’t like him because he didn’t offer enough support, so that’s a plus. He DID vote to certify the 2020 election but he ALSO signed an Amicus Brief to the Robert’s Supremely Kangaroo Court urging the court to throw out electoral votes from key swing states.
Mike Johnson – He was one of the organizers – described as “the most important architect”- of the Amicus Brief to the Robert’s Supremely Kangaroo Court urging the court to throw out electoral votes from key swing states.
Kevin Hern – He voted against certifying the 2020 election and signed the Amicus Brief to the Robert’s Supremely Kangaroo Court urging the court to throw out electoral votes from key swing states.
Byron Donalds – He wasn’t in the House during the election but he DID show a misleading, edited screenshot of a supposed text exchange between Hunter Biden and James Biden, Joe’s brother, in support of impeaching Joe for…reasons. He would be the first black House Speaker in history.
Austin Scott – He’s been pretty vocal about how stupid the cons look, not being able to choose a Speaker, so he’s not always wrong but, while he ultimately voted to certify the 2020 election, he first signed the Amicus Brief to the Robert’s Supremely Kangaroo Court urging the court to throw out electoral votes from key swing states.
Jack Bergman – He voted against certifying the 2020 election and signed the Amicus Brief to the Robert’s Supremely Kangaroo Court urging the court to throw out electoral votes from key swing states.
Pete Sessions – Probably the most “normal” candidate. He was out of Congress in 2020 because his home district had replaced him at the polls (with a Democrat) so he moved to a new district and ran again. (Better than getting an actual job, I guess.) He voted 97.5% of the time with DJT’s positions on things…
Gary Palmer – He voted against certifying the 2020 election and signed the Amicus Brief to the Robert’s Supremely Kangaroo Court urging the court to throw out electoral votes from key swing states.
Dan Meuser – He voted against certifying the 2020 election and signed the Amicus Brief to the Robert’s Supremely Kangaroo Court urging the court to throw out electoral votes from key swing states.

Did you catch it? Sure, there are other facts about each of these men but there’s only one of concern to me: 7 of 9 (where have I heard that before?) signed the Amicus Brief to the Robert’s Supremely Kangaroo Court urging the court to throw out electoral votes from key swing states. The two who didn’t weren’t in Congress at the time so they didn’t get the chance but they still pretty much support MAGA over America. Is that REALLY the best the Republican Party has to offer?

The Speaker of the House is second in line, after the Vice-President, to become President of the United States, should that position become vacant for some reason. I really don’t want anyone in any position of authority who doesn’t believe in democracy or our Republic. (Actions speak louder than words.) Certainly, never again in the Oval Office.

Don Bacon (still) and David Valadao seem like still-sane people who should get the job. But the crazy 8 won’t let anybody but a MAGA have the job. I don’t think this is clever brinkmanship. I think this is toddler-with-a-gun dangerous. The only question is: can the brats be disarmed quickly, before any more damage is done? (Watch for a pending downgrade in the credit rating of the United States – again and, once again, at the hands of the Republicans.)

I’ll tell you this: I’ve been writing, sort of tongue-in-cheek, that some Republicans need to cross the aisle and vote with the Democrats. The Dems have a candidate they like, a guy who can very much do the job, a guy who isn’t crazy with ideology, Hakeem Jeffries. 212 votes to the good. All they need is 5 Republicans to cross the aisle to elect a Speaker. It might prove to be an individual act of political suicide to do so, but risking one’s political life in an effort to save our country would absolutely reflect well on said Congressmen in history until the end of time…

A Two-Step Side-Step…

by MyBaconPress

Well, he continues to surprise. His desperation is becoming palpable. I just wrote – yesterday! – about how he looked rather…subdued after Indictment #3. But he’s like a wounded animal. His natural instinct is to lash out at anyone, everyone who won’t let him do whatever he wants. I suspect he’s beginning to feel the heat of the investigations, indictments, upcoming trials, pending convictions, and jail time. None of his time-tested tricks seem to be working, this time. So? Threats.

Wait, threats against a Federal Prosecutor? I thought he was supposed to be smart; the guy playing chess while everyone else plays checkers. This doesn’t seem to be that. He wrote on his stupid, failing social media site, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” Oh, clever boy.

I won’t be surprised when MAGA world tries to pretend he meant that if you go after him, he’ll bring you lemonade. (These are not deep thinkers.) But any rational person, I think, would see the threat he intends. He doesn’t even try to hide it during his rallies, either. He’s pretty openly saying he’ll use the DOJ in exactly the way he accuses the DOJ of acting today. It will, in his hands, become a weapon of Presidential resentment…

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I don’t know how stupid a person has to be to think 45 is simply facing down a “free speech” issue but I think we’re all about to find out. That seems to be the defense he’s going after, “free speech.” It’s a weird defense, considering nobody is prosecuting him over speech. He’s being prosecuted for his actions. That’s different…

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Apparently, 45 was introduced to the judge, Tanya Chutkan, as “President Trump.” She then referred to him, correctly, only as “Mr. Trump.” Apparently, that irked him. He’s probably not going to like his reception in prison, either…

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The other day, I was challenged in social media about why Nancy Pelosi didn’t accept the National Guard support Trump had authorized. The question is fair enough. Kind of. There were something like 360 National Guard troops deployed in DC that day but they were unarmed, certainly NOT issued riot gear, and told not to interact with rioters except to defend themselves. Their role was to free up Metro police elsewhere so the Metro police could go to the Capitol.

When people in the Capitol DID start requesting National Guard help because the situation clearly overwhelmed the local cops, the requests went unanswered. Trump never did call out the Guard that day. In the end, the request to deploy to the Capitol came from Mike Pence. So why wasn’t there more security at the Capitol at the beginning of the day? It DOES seem a legitimate question. But it’s not. It’s a side-step. I can explain.

Apparently, there WAS some discussion about the need for greater security at the Capitol that day. The idea was shelved by Congressional leadership (yes, that would include Pelosi.) There was apparently a concern about “optics.” But as I looked into this, I was struck by a second, and I think a better, question: why did there NEED to be better protection at the Capitol that day in the first place? That is, why would the Americans inside the Capitol have any reason to fear the Americans outside the Capitol?

Maybe Pelosi made the mistake of thinking American citizens wouldn’t attack the US Capitol over a routine, likely mundane procedural event. Even after the attack started and the Congress critters had been shuffled off to their secure hidey-hole, Pelosi can be seen on video asking “Can you believe this?” I know I couldn’t.

The peaceful transfer of power in this once-great nation has been happening since 1797 when Washington peacefully handed the keys to John Adams. A perfect, uninterrupted string has followed – until Trump. The peaceful transfer of power had become so routine, I’m afraid we became complacent. Screaming, crying, rending of clothes, whining, sobbing, insisting it was stolen? All of that is perfectly acceptable. Obnoxious, but acceptable. Lawsuits and legal challenges? Absolutely. After EVERY election, there are some people left unhappy. But in America, we don’t use violence when we don’t get our way in an election. Was it really so foolish to actually believe that Americans would NEVER attack America?

But these aren’t Americans any more. They’re MAGAs.

MAGAs are radicalized and irrational. MAGAs are loyal to Trump, the Second Amendment, and the Republican Party, in that order, end of list. Do you see ‘America’ or ‘The US Constitution’ anywhere? No, me neither. And, truthfully, they’re only so-so on the Republican Party. After one strips away all of the distractions and issue-mongering, MAGAs want to destroy the American government. That’s not hyperbole. They prefer a different model, a confederacy, which, as a consequence of it’s structure, MUST dissolve into individual little countries before long. (Fun fact: America was originally founded as a confederacy! It lasted ten years. The Constitutional Republic Americans know and love today (and the one the MAGAs now want to destroy) was the solution that rescued the country when the confederacy began to fail. Had the MAGAs paid attention in school, they would know this…)

At this point, I can see them feigning shocked outrage. “How DARE you say I’M not an American!” Yeah. I’m neither impressed nor convinced. January 6th was just one day, one attack. But you guys attack this nation at every turn – every chance you get. If there’s nothing real to attack, you make crap up, call it the country, and attack away. When something real DOES threaten America? You rush to defend…the threat. Putin. The gun bloodbath. Kim Jung Un. Trump and January 6th. Whatever it is, if it’s harmful to America, you’ll find a MAGA out there defending it.

Humping the flag doesn’t prove you’re more American. You should know that the flag is nothing but a symbol – and you should know what it symbolizes. And you’all hate all of it. Go ahead, name one thing MAGAs love about the structure of America that isn’t window dressing.

I’ll tell you this: When you think it through, I suspect the answer to the question the MAGAs ask is as I suggested. Nancy Pelosi didn’t beef up security outside the Capitol on January 6th, 2021 because she could not believe she might actually be attacked by Americans at the United States Capitol. And now we all know. She wasn’t attacked by Americans. She was attacked by MAGAs…

To The Victors…

by MyBaconPress

Well…it’s time. We (some of us) fought the good fight. We really tried. We did everything we could. But in the end, all of our efforts were for naught. We’ve lost and it’s time to acknowledge the fact, congratulate the winners, and move on to the next set of issues. So…congratulations climate change deniers! You’ve won. You were successful in blocking and stalling any climate action that might have arrested the effects of the changing climate er, I mean, interfered with profits for some oil companies and now…well, there’s nothing anybody can do to stop what’s coming. Nice.

That’s the sportsmanlike response. I have to admit, I’m a little bitter about your victory. It’s not that I’m a poor loser. But the “prize” for your “victory,” in this case, is a planet increasingly unable to support human life. I feel like you made a poor choice and I have to suffer the consequences – right along with you. That sucks. It’s made all the worse for the certain knowledge that you used deceitful and underhanded tactics to achieve your “victory.” I suppose that was your only choice. You didn’t have any legitimate science behind you and you didn’t have any legitimate evidence. All you had was lies and obfuscations – but you made the most of them. And, really, you didn’t have to “win” the debate. You had only to not lose. It didn’t matter how often or how completely your claims were debunked. As long as you could keep talking, the “debate” raged. And you just kept blathering. (Technically, baffling with bullshit…)


Have you ever heard of the Drake Equation? It’s a mathematical formula that attempts to define the number of alien races in our galaxy that developed to a point where they could send signals into space. That doesn’t mean intentionally send signals into space. For example, we reached that point when we started broadcasting radio and television signals. They sometimes slip out of our atmosphere and travel off to unknown places. Since EVERY aspect of the Drake Equation is a variable one just…supplies, the numbers can hardly be called “solid.” One can make the thing work and show one civilization or 500,000 – or whatever other number makes you happy. BUT…

If there are 500,000 civilizations out there capable of sending signals into space – on purpose or otherwise – why can’t we ever hear anything? We ARE listening. There’s an entire program out there, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) that spends a great deal of time looking for signals. It’s been YEARS – decades, even. So far, ONE – exactly ONE “WOW” moment. It’s called the “Wow” moment because the scientist who discovered the pattern wrote “Wow” next to it. But the one moment never repeated and no one knows for SURE it was an organized signal. It could have been just space noise.

There was this physicist named Enrico Fermi who heard about Drake’s Equation and responded with, “Well, where is everybody?” It’s kind of a fun question. If 500,000 civilizations have developed that might have sent signals into space surely some of them developed long before humanity even crawled out of the sea. Even if they’re not coming this way for what we could only hope was a visit, they should STILL be sending signals – assuming they survived long enough to send signals on purpose. We do. We sent space probes with detailed information about finding Earth and what humans look like. We send signals into space to communicate with our space probes and stations. As I’ve already mentioned, episodes of ‘I Love Lucy’ and ‘The Honeymooners’ are well on their way to Alpha Centauri or where ever.

Do you know a common component of many of humanity’s wars? Something new. Maybe it’s a tactic. Maybe it’s technology but it’s commonly something new. The Mongol hoards used horseback speed to overwhelm their opponents. The Greeks perfected a formation called a phalanx. The Romans took over the world when they added their Gladius sword (it could thrust AND slice!) to the phalanx formation. The Nazis used the Blitzkrieg or “lightening war” – speed in the form of planes from the sky and soldiers and tanks racing across the countryside. The Europeans had rifles while the First Nations had only bow-and-arrows. Come to think of it, Africans had no technological equivalent to European weapons technology, either. There’s a physicist named Michio Kaku. He says we shouldn’t be sending signals into space because anybody who can receive them AND come to Earth would have the technological advantage and be free to do with us as they please. “To Serve Man,” anyone? I agree with him in principal but I think that ship actually sailed LONG before any of us had a chance to ponder the question. At this point, they’d just follow Lucy back to her point of origin…

Anyway, Fermi’s question, “Where is everyone?” is often answered with the supposition that civilizations DO develop to a certain point and then, basically, find some way to destroy themselves. It’s all theoretical, of course, except now we have some…immediate evidence. There’s no telling how many humans are going to die as a result of runaway climate change but the answer is a “non-zero number.” It’s already a “non-zero number.” Sure, the fires and the floods will kill but so will food shortages, forced migrations, violent clashes, and riots. Oh, and don’t forget the illnesses that will rear their ugly…um…spiky proteins as weather conditions become more favorable for them. There’s every possibility the Earth will just shake off humanity like a dog shakes off water.

Thanks to the efforts of the climate change deniers, it’s looking more and more like humanity is about to render itself nothing more than a cautionary tale to future developing civilizations. If you ask me, it was a stupid choice, destruction of the species in exchange for a dollar. Very stupid. But the question is settled now. We know what killed us; stupidity…

Killing and Dying…

by MyBaconPress

Generally speaking, I hold that in order for a transaction to be honestly Capitalist, both parties must have a legitimate ability to say no.  CLEARLY, this is not the case with health care.  So, I support universal health care.  Specifically, Bernie’s proposal for Medicare for all.  Why re-invent the wheel, right?

Okay, so this right-wing activist “judge,” Reed O’Connor, rules in his “court” that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional.  (As it happens, he’s a shill for right-wing causes and heavily involved with the Federalist Society…)  In my opinion, that’s bad.  But I was never a fan of the ACA.  I know it was originally proffered by the far-right Heritage Foundation as an alternative to universal health care back when Bill asked Hillary to pretend to look into it in the 1990’s.  (Not surprisingly, she failed…)

The ACA became known, popularly, as ‘Obamacare.’  Most people benefit from it.  Conservatives hate Obamacare, though they LOVE the Affordable Care Act.  (Why, yes.  You CAN use that as a gauge regarding their level of understanding of…things…)  This activist judge’s ruling will, of course, cause pain to huge swaths of our country.  As with all things conservative, the vast majority of people will suffer.  Many will die.

But I suspect that by striking down the ACA, this Texican “judge” has inadvertently opened the door to Medicare for all.  Sooner or later, the United States is going to have to join the rest of civilized humanity and provide universal health care as a right, not another obligation to pay…

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The National Shame has named Mick Mulvaney to be his next Chief of Staff.  Apparently, Mulvaney is expected to continue in his current role as Director of the Office of Management and Budget as well.

That’s a good insight into how hard these people are working, isn’t it?  Mulvaney can do TWO jobs, each of which normally consume inordinate amounts of time?  My guess is Mulvaney will be COSINO (Chief of Staff In Name Only).  Look for Kushner to do the job until his court dates start piling up and, after his conviction, perhaps Ivanka will take over – you know, until HER conviction…

“Drain the swamp,” indeed.  It sure seems to me that Trump is trying his best to out-do Reagan when it comes to number of administration members who end up in prison.  True, he’s on a pretty solid run at this point but Reagan had eight years to send his 138 people to prison.  I don’t think Trump is going to have the time needed to make it a true competition…

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Donald J. Trump is now killing children at the border.  Well, he’s not doing it personally.  He’s a coward.  He would NEVER do it personally.  But his racist policies are getting the job done for him.

US and international law allows for people to seek asylum.  The Orange Foolius declaring them “illegals” and refusing their requests is, itself, a crime.  Now someone – a child named Jakelin Caal – has died as a direct result.  Can we add involuntary manslaughter to his list of crimes?

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I think the NFL is going to end up paying Colin Kaepernick a HUGE amount of money when they finally have to settle his lawsuit and it’s just arrogant stupidity that’s causing it.  ALL THEY HAD TO DO was sign him to some team – any team.  But when Alex Smith and then his backup went down in Washington, the professional football team there signed two career “also-ran” Quarterbacks.  There can be no question the NFL is colluding against Kaepernick in retaliation for Kaep’s stance on police brutality…

I’ll tell you this: the NFL employs a LOT of people of color.  One would think they would at least put on a show of support for a protest opposing the wanton murders of people of color…

Passing and Impeachment…

by MyBaconPress

I guess one can’t write about politics without mentioning the passing of George H. W. Bush, aka Bush 41 so…

One down, one to go…

The truth is, I suspect Bush 41 was the last President of the United States from the old order.  Reagan began the coup but 41 failed to follow through.  Reagan initiated the government-strangling tax cuts for the wealthy.  41 used the policy to get elected but when he saw the damage that was already starting, he raised taxes again.  BAM!  One term President.

But Clinton returned to the plan, finalizing the destruction of independent media, and each “President” since has moved forward with the Oligarch-supporting arrangement.  (Republicans do it nakedly, aggressively.  Democrats have to pretend to “lose the fight” but the result is always the same: comfort the comfortable, afflict the afflicted…)

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SO…Paul Manafort is playing both sides of the fence, is he?  It will be interesting to see if the so-called “President” (or, in this case, Trump) will try to give him a pardon.  If he does, it will certainly set up a Constitutional crisis.  See, Article II, Section 2, subsection 1 of the Constitution of the United States grants the President the power of pardons “…except in Cases of Impeachment.”

I suppose those trying to defend this train-wreck of a human being will argue that since Trump hasn’t been impeached he still has full authority to grant pardons to anyone.  Sure, that would be stupid but that doesn’t mean his apologists won’t argue the point, like, forever.  The reason it’s a stupid argument is that it takes time to build a case for impeachment.  If the President (or in this case, Trump) can just pardon people for participating in impeachable crimes as they occur, it would become literally impossible to impeach any President (or even Trump).  Cons would only acknowledge this, though, if the President in question had a ‘D’ after his name…

BUT…if Manafort is being prosecuted for crimes like money laundering and other white collar crimes that have nothing to do with the President (or in this case, Trump), then Trump should, by rights, have the authority to pardon Manafort.

Also, what if it’s an impeachable offense but nobody it planning an impeachment?  I suppose the newly Democratic House can draft Articles of Impeachment even knowing the Senate won’t ever follow through.  That could stop Trump from pardoning his cronies willy-nilly.

Does the United States have a President or a dictator?  The whole world waits with bated breath…

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I’ve noticed a fairly new trend: Democratic party members are starting to inhabit faith-based politics in a way previously seen only in conservative circles.  The Dems have been selling a story about what happened in the 2016 “election” and insisting that everybody agree with the tale.  Progressives, who prefer facts and therefore reject the party line, are written off as “purists.”  If you want to be a mainstream Democrat today, you’ve GOT to subscribe to the ‘Russia-did-it’ story.

I’ve even seen loyalist Democrats in social media gleefully declaring “Fuck the WWC!”  (‘WWC’ is ‘White Working Class.’  In context, they actually mean non-college educated white working class because of their beliefs about who voted for Hillary and who didn’t.  It’s part of the faith message and helps them protect themselves from the reality that many (most?) of those with degrees qualify as ‘white working class’ as well.)  The message they seem to be trying to convince themselves of is that college-educated, party-loyal Dems no longer need the support of independent Progressives.

I’ll tell you this: I suspect they’re trying to press the message because they’re planning on running Hillary again.  I guess time will tell how well that works out for them…

Shortcut To Power…

by MyBaconPress

I have a lot of respect for Willie Brown.  Agree with him or not, if you’re an honest individual, you have to admit, the man has a brilliant mind for politics.  That makes it nice for me that I’ve mostly agreed with him.  Please take note, as I have, that I haven’t written any bits about Mr. Brown when I agree with him.  So…guess what?  I saw an article in this morning’s SF Chronicle written by Willie Brown called, ‘Berniecrats try to shortcut their way to power‘…

He’s decrying the idea that Democratic Socialists are running on the Democratic ticket.  It’s a short piece but it could have been shorter.  This paragraph sums up the whole thing nicely: “Democratic socialists are not Democrats. They run under the Democratic banner, but they have contempt for traditional Democrats. They just don’t have nerve to run as a third party.”

Coupla things…

It probably doesn’t need to be pointed out to Mr. Brown that it wasn’t an original idea of the Democratic Socialists to infiltrate one of the two major parties of our so-called “two-party system.”  The Libertarians did it to the Republicans and have driven them to the extreme, even nut-ball right.  I don’t have “contempt” for traditional Democrats.  But I am rooting for the Democratic Socialists to have great success running as Democrats, thereby pushing the Democratic party back to being a progressive party rather than the center-right “safety” spot they occupy today.

The way I see it, this phenomenon is occurring specifically because – as Mr. Brown certainly knows – it’s very difficult to set up a viable third party these days.  There was a time in history when Teddy Roosevelt got angry with the Republicans and set up a new, third party and ran in all 50 states that year (1912). The Progressive Party (aka, The Bull Moose Party) even carried six states.  But then the “two parties” started introducing and passing “ballot access” laws making it more and more difficult for competing parties to obtain nationwide access.

The Green Party first appeared on a ballot in Alaska in 1990.  As of 2008, the Green Party was able to appear on ballots in 31 states and the District of Columbia.  18 years.  63% of state ballots (+DC).  As of September, 2016 they had achieved 45 states.  88%, 26 years.  The question of whether or not they have the nerve to run as a third party never enters into it.  They don’t have the ability to run as a third party.  Willie Brown’s extensive political expertise absolutely precludes any possibility he doesn’t understand that reality.

Mr. Brown is, as I’ve already indicated, politically brilliant but he’s also – and, apparently, more importantly – a loyal Democrat.  It has ever been thus so it’s not really news.  But the Democrats put themselves in a tough spot when they sold the nomination up front  and they’ve been peddling alternative realities ever since in the vain hope that something, anything might stick.  I think they should just leave it alone.  People have made their determinations about what happened in 2016 and they’re not likely to change.

I’ll tell you this: I find it difficult to believe the Democrats would run ANY risk of reigniting the Dem Wars of 2016.  Particularly one as savvy as Willie Brown…