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FOCUS, People…

by MyBaconPress

I see more and more people coming out to protest the failures of this regime, which are legion. That’s a good thing. MAGA may be happy, but Americans are pissed off! Increasingly, they’re showing up at protests to say so. Americans are ready to fight. We know who we want to fight and we know why we want to fight them. Our problem? We lack a central point to rally around.

Bernie Sanders and now AOC are starting to have an effect. People are coming out in droves to see them and hear them. The speeches are inspiring, too. But I’m not sure Bernie and AOC are successfully going to be the bright star people follow. While their speeches ARE good, they boil down to a litany of complaints and charges. No actions. They MAY help people vent fury but they’re not DOING anything to protect the Constitution.

At one of the rallies, I heard a woman in the crowd shout, “What are you going to DO about it?” To my ear, it was a challenge, not a taunt. It had an unspoken subtext: “Yeah, the speeches are nice and even inspiring, but they’re JUST speeches. We need action and you’re in Congress. What ACTIONS are you taking?” (Yes, the subtext was longer than the text…)

Bernie heard her. He looked over at her. Then he turned back to his speech and kept on a-talkin’. I’m a Bernie fan. I’m an AOC fan. They can describe a problem clearly and with passion. They can throw out vague affirmations. “Oh, we’re not going to let them do that!” Great. Now let’s hear the plan to stop them. “We’re going to give speeches!” Less great.

I do have to add, Bernie and AOC are bringing out thousands of people to these rallies. If nothing else, that will demonstrate for everybody how many of us are furious and ready to fight. It creates a sense of solidarity. It’s inspiring to the push-back. But it STILL needs to speak to specific actions or, I fear, the movement will fizzle, eventually.

We’ve seen people focus their fury on Swasitcar dealerships. I suspect that’s because it’s a visible, focal point. We can ALL find a Swasticar dealership and we can ALL stand outside. Even better, we can SEE results as sales drop and the stock crashes. It’s tangible action with tangible results. Right now, it’s the best Americans have got, attacking the dealerships. As a side benefit, it’s making people FEEL better as they take some kind of action. For a moment, they feel less paralyzed by events of the day.

Counting on individual action is better than nothing but it’s also next to nothing. The various splinter groups around the country are a step up but they lack focus. What we NEED is a George Washington – a trusted, central figure people can rally around. It should matter less which individual grievance one comes out to protest and more that we all agree the destruction our nation at the hands of greedy, evil “people” is unacceptable. In protecting the Constitution as an umbrella issue, you’re ALSO protecting your own, individual cause…

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This is weird. 47 spent a few days, there, ripping on Joe Biden for using autopen to sign some or all of the pardons he issued before leaving office. 47 insisted this was a BAD thing. He acknowledged that he uses autopen but only for “unimportant” things. The “unimportant” thing he cited was return letters to fans who have written him.

THEN, he made a big deal about signing the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. He invoked this particular war powers act, he said, in order to accomplish something he could easily have accomplished, legally, using other, already-on-the-books laws. Then he promised he was going to deport a bunch of Venezuelan gang members using the Act. Again, if his charges against the gang members were true, he didn’t NEED the Alien Enemies Act. But that’s what he did.

Now obviously, legal types pushed back against his invocation of the war time act and a judge agreed it had been misapplied. The judge issued a restraining order telling the administration NOT to deport the targeted group until the courts could hear the case. The regime ignored the order and sent the planes anyway.

The judge got angry and ordered the regime back to court to explain why they ignored his order. I feel like The First Felon and his crew expected to ride out the storm based on the idea that people would have to defend Venezuelan gang members. Who wants to do that? (Note: it SHOULD be every American, since the problem with what he did wasn’t the victims so much as the violation of the law.)

But… oh, rats! It turns out some of the “Venezuelan gang members,” um, weren’t. Right, they weren’t gang members. Right, some of them weren’t Venezuelan. The thing they seem to have in common is they were a) brown and, b) had a tattoo. I’m no lawyer, but I’m not familiar with any law that makes it illegal to be brown and have tattoos. Neither, I suspect, is the judge. This, as you can imagine, is going to seriously undermine any claims of “just taking out the garbage.”

So NOW 47 – you remember, he’s the guy who never uses autopen for “important” things – is out and about telling people that HE never signed the Executive Order invoking the Alien Enemies Act. He says he doesn’t KNOW when the EO was signed because he left that to other people. That sounds like autopen on an important document, to me, AND it’s a confession that maybe he didn’t know it was being signed at all, right? One of his loyal minions did that TO him, right?

Now, obviously, it’s just Donny being Donny and avoiding responsibility for anything he “strongly” does that “bigly” comes back to bite him in the ass – which happens to this guy a lot. He’s taking the position that, since he can’t know when the order was signed, he can’t be held in contempt for ignoring the judges order. I’ll bet that’s not right, though.

I HAVE noticed this: now that he’s relying on autopen as his alibi, he has shut his mouth about Biden using autopen and how “wrong” that was. At least for the moment. Fear not, that lie will be back. He really wants to take revenge against anybody who participated in prosecuting him over all of those crimes he (allegedly) committed. But for right now, he needs it to be okay for some unknown, low-level flunky to use autopen to sign his name to important papers without him knowing who or when.

He spoke with reporters and told them, “Number one, I don’t know when it was signed ’cause I didn’t sign it. Other people handled it. But Marco Rubio’s done a great job, and he wanted them out, and we go along with that.” That looks like throwing Rubio under the bus, but that’s a different piece.

MAGA will buy it, of course. Hell, they’ll buy practically anything – especially the cheap crap he has made in China and overcharges for, here. (“Wow, only $11,000 dollars for a $300 dollar guitar? What a deal!”) What I’m hoping even MAGA can’t accept is the White House explanation for the sudden (and, likely, temporary) change of stance. The White House position, and I’m not making this up, was that The Felon “was obviously referring to the original Alien Enemies Act that was signed back in 1798.” That’s what White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.

While 47 was actively trying to distance himself from the EO invoking the Alien Enemies Act, the White House was insisting that he was referring to the original signing of the original act? In 1798? He didn’t know WHEN that was signed or by whom? How about 1798 and John Adams? And we can be confident it WAS Adams. Autopen hadn’t been invented yet.

While the trumpster was pulling his “I know nothing. I see nothing!” shtick, the White House was swearing up and down and inside out that, “The recent Executive Order was personally signed by President Trump invoking the Alien Enemies Act that designated Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in order to apprehend and deport these heinous criminals.”

So there you go. He didn’t do what he did, he doesn’t know anything about all those things he’s an expert on, and he knows nothing about what his underlings are doing because he has his fingers so decidedly on the pulse of his regime, um, from the golf course. Clear as mud…

When Lies Aren’t Holding…

by MyBaconPress

I have to confess, I like what happened in Trump Tower the other day. Recently, a guy named Mahmoud Khalil got taken into custody, apparently for being alive. I mean, even the people who arrested him say there are no charges against him. He hasn’t committed a crime. He was arrested and is going to be deported because he opposed the American position on arming Israel in their attempts to eliminate the Palestinians, once and for all, and claim the land as their own. I opposed it, too. Are they going to deport me? (I mean, please?)

Authorities originally said they were revoking his student visa because of the protest. When his American citizen wife explained that he doesn’t HAVE a student visa but, instead, is a permanent resident with a Green Card, the authorities made a phone call, then came back and said, “Okay, we’re revoking his Green Card.” Then they took him into custody in New York and flew him to Louisiana, making it VERY difficult for his lawyer to communicate with him. The First Felon suggested (okay, lied) it was because of Khalil’s “Anti-Semitic” protest.

SO, demonstrators from a group called, ‘Jewish Voice for Peace’ staged a sit-in at Trump Tower wearing shirts that read, “Stop arming Israel,” and chanted “Bring Mahmoud home NOW!” See, anybody with a functioning frontal lobe knows that opposition to that war is opposition to the actions of a government, not “Jewish people.” 98 people were arrested.

I’ll tell you this: I can’t WAIT to hear the trumpster claim the Jewish demonstrators were Anti-Semitic…

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During his campaign, the trumpster said on multiple occasions he planned to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. Then he acted all impressed that it was written in 1798. That was one of the early hints that The Felon was getting input from the evil Heritage Foundation. I say so because there’s NO WAY a person as stup–, er, ‘intellectually incurious’ as 47 knew there was such a thing as the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

Someone briefed him, for sure. The mystery is how they got him to sit still and listen long enough to remember the name correctly. On the campaign trail, he was very impressed with himself and pleased that he finally got to sound smart around people. But whoever briefed him, didn’t tell him the whole thing.

Like, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is a wartime act. The only time it has ever been used was during the War of 1812, the First World War, and the Second World War. What do they have in common? That’s right, they’re ALL WARS! As messed up as everything is, the US is not currently at war. No matter, on Saturday the 16th, he signed an Executive Order invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. But then we’re right back to the madness. You see, he claimed he was invoking the act in order to deport some Venezuelan gang members.

What put the lie to his claim is the fact that the US already has laws to deport criminals. We don’t need to invoke old wartime powers. But if he got away with it for the Venezuelan gang members, he could then use it against others – like Mahmoud Khalil, perhaps? They really want to deport that guy for having principles. But when even Jews are coming to his defense, the effort to deport a legal resident has clearly run into problems. It immediately felt, to me, like The Felon was trying to do an end run around the law. “What? A convicted felon who despises laws? Say it ain’t so!”

Apparently, I wasn’t alone in that suspicion because the trumpster invoked and a Federal court revoked. Well, the court issued a temporary restraining order stopping him from using a wartime power during peacetime. US district Judge James Boasberg issued the order in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward.

This whole effort on the part of the trumpster is yet another example of acting on their own false rhetoric. Everybody knows we have problems at the border but is it an invasion? No. That’s just language the cons used to catastrophize the situation. But then, his pea-brain started to believe his b.s. rhetoric and now, suddenly, he sees an “invasion.” There are words for it, when people see things that aren’t there. ‘Paranoid’ comes to mind. ‘Delusional’ is a accurate. Dare I say, ‘deranged?’

So far, it hasn’t been any fun having a REAL morally bankrupt, psychologically deranged person in the White House. This guy isn’t all scare stories and made up failings of MAGA talking about Biden. He’s the REAL DEAL. He has no morality, he’s clearly deranged, and he’s, at best, intellectually incuri– oh, to heck with it, he’s stupid, and the whole world will pay the price…

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Okay, speaking of stupid, MAGA has long-since insisted that climate change isn’t real. Then, that it IS real, but natural, not at all man-made. Okay, affected by humans but no one knows how much. Now some of that non-existent, natural, okay, minimal climate change is pounding the Midwest plains and the south with what is described as a “monster storm.” People have died in bright red Kansas. People have died in bright red Mississippi. People have died in bright red Missouri. People have also died in bright red Arkansas.

Let’s connect two dots. We’ve been listening to Musk and the Felon whining about the role the Federal government plays in people’s lives and we’ve watched them take a chainsaw to the institutions. MAGA has been cheering because of all that fraud, waste, and abuse that has NOT been uncovered or even happening – including at FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. MAGA has been conditioned to believe FEMA doesn’t do anything of value, so MAGA has been very happy to see FEMA kneecapped. You can already see where I’m going with this, right?

Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, and Arkansas are all about to find out what it feels like to suffer a tremendous natural disaster, then not have any help coming. 47 pretended that’s what happened in South Carolina and he told that lie over and over, in an effort to smear Biden. But now it’s likely to be true. No help for the desperate in a time of need, or, at least, not enough help.

It’s been on my mind, of course, because I live in California. We have fires. They’re often very bad. I’ve been wondering what would happen the next time something took flame, causing increasing damage as a direct result of climate change, with no FEMA to help. It’s a problem California is going to have because so many MAGA have such corrupted morals they voted the Antichrist into office – or so the story goes.

True confession time: I’m sorry for the loss of life, but MAGA conditioning has completely stripped them of empathy. So completely, in fact, that MAGA has to actually experience something in order to understand the implications and ramifications. So, I’m glad the red states are getting what they voted for, first. Yes, climate change IS going to hit and hurt California but as it happens, it hits everywhere, all the time – including red states.

They’re all taker states, too, more heavily latched on to the public teat than California. They’re poor. They’re less likely to be able to muster the resources needed to help themselves, based on the reality that they’ve never been able to in the past. And now Uncle Sugar may not be there for them when they’re in need.

The entire world is going to suffer because MAGA chose to live in fantasy land. I consider it a good thing that they get to experience the reality of their choice before the rest of us have to. Now all they have to do is figure out a way to blame Biden for creating the storms in the first place…

Inmates Running the Asylum…

by MyBaconPress

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On The Death of Human Empathy…

by MyBaconPress

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Petty Prevarications…

by MyBaconPress

It doesn’t happen very often, but it turns out, there are only two ways this thing can be. Either MAGA knew what they were signing up for, or they didn’t. If they did, if they KNEW 47 was going to hand the government over to Musk to watch the richest man on the planet attack the weakest and most defenseless people, well, there’s going to be a special place in hell for them. THEY, at least, get what they deserve.

If they didn’t though, they should really step up and say so. We’ve seen a few brave souls doing that, stepping up to confess they got played. I would guess that’s a hard thing to do, especially in this current social climate where cons reduce everything to their ridiculous “culture war.” People don’t LIKE confessing they got conned. It’s hard to blame them. They feel stupid and they’re embarrassed. Some of them will admit it, at least to themselves, and change tack. They’re not likely to swing left, of course, but they’ll pull back from supporting the conman, as well.

But after arguing with people about voting for 47, then actually doing it, then seeing the results of that vote, some become even more dedicated to their position. It would not be the first time in history someone supported something spectacularly wrong and then stuck to it in a desperate but vain attempt to prove they were NOT wrong. That’s called false pride.

But make no mistake, there ARE people out there who are all in on this. They’ll make excuses. They’ll defend his actions. For whatever reasons, they’re going to enjoy the destruction…

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Well, shit’s on now. Musk is coming after your social security. It turns out, Musk is a moron, not a genius. He’s been lying about finding people receiving Social Security checks. The problem? The people in question, he says, are 150 years old. I suppose people are supposed to believe the Social Security Administration has been mailing checks to people who are 150 years old. I suspect even MAGA isn’t dumb enough to accept that.

As it happens, the COBOL program the Social Security Administration uses, fills in a date by default when the birth date isn’t entered. That date? May 20, 1875. That date was used by the programmers who wrote the program because that’s the date the International Bureau of Weights and Measures was created. It’s an homage.

Musk is using it as a lie. In fact, he just lies and lies and lies. Like 47, he makes things up on the fly. He has claimed billions in fraud. He hasn’t proven one cent. Do you know why? He’s lying! Even when he DID try to show where he found fraud, he lied. He overstated what he found, likely because he’s not an auditor and doesn’t understand what he’s looking at, and many of his claims are just smoke and mirrors. It happens SO often and has gotten SO bad, if Musk says he found a quarter on the sidewalk (which he would DEFINITELY pocket, being so needy) I would consider it a lie until he proved it. Going forward, I recommend you do the same. Musk is a liar and he’s lying all the time. MAGA may never figure it out, but the rest of us can see clearly.

Look, it makes sense that in an organization as large as the US government, there are going to be some errors. There is going to be some fraud, waste, and abuse. That’s why we had inspectors general. They caught things. Never forget, the woman Ronald Reagan immortalized as the greatest fraudster in history, the so-called “welfare queen,” received that “honor” by getting caught! People might get away with it for a while, sometimes. Then they get caught. Then they go to jail (or in one infamous case, become President of the United States.)

It looks like ELON is the fraud, his efforts are a total waste, and his actions are abuse. Technically, that means I’VE found more fraud, waste, and abuse than Muck – and it didn’t cost you a penny. You’re welcome…

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This will be fun. 47 recently claimed that Ukraine shouldn’t have started the war with Russia. Yes, that’s exactly backwards, but what do you expect from this “stable genius?” Every knowledgeable person on the planet knows that Putin attacked Ukraine. Russia started this war without cause, a violation of the Geneva Conventions. Surprisingly, some Republicans stood up to correct the record.

“To the extent that the White House said Ukraine started the war, I disagree. I think Vladimir Putin started the war.” – Louisiana Senator John Kennedy.
“I do not agree that President Zelensky is to blame in any way…this was a rogue invasion by Russia” – Maine Senator Susan Collins.
“When it comes to blame for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I blame Putin above all others” – South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham.
“It is quite clear who started that war. It was absolutely Russia, at Putin’s directive.” – Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski.

Those four have now committed the ultimate GOP sin; they’ve spoken factual truth. For now, for the moment, they sound smarter than 47. 47 doesn’t like people who are smarter than him – which is why he hates everybody. So, here’s the game: Let’s see how long it takes each of them to step up to a microphone somewhere and “clarify” their position to ‘Ukraine started the war.’ I mean, ‘Strong backbone’ is NOT a standard feature of Republicans, these days…

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I dunno. I think he’s being petty. A short time ago, ‘Time’ magazine featured a depiction on it’s cover that showed President Muck sitting behind the Resolute Desk. NOW, 47 has removed the Resolute Desk from the Oval Office. To be clear, this is not a completely unheard of move. Presidents can choose from something like six different desks. It’s just that the Resolute Desk has become sort of a tradition since being gifted to the White House. The First Felon says it’s only temporary as the Resolute Desk needs some work.

I know it’s a tiny little thing but I don’t believe him. The whole world has been watching Elon pulling on The Felons’ leash since taking over. 47 doesn’t seem to like it but he absolutely takes it. The word is, see, Elon can prove Elon’s efforts to steal the “election” at The Felon’s request, so Elon gets to call the shots. THAT means 47 has no voice in these matters and when ‘Time’ shows Elon behind the Resolute Desk, 47 can’t say anything. But he CAN remove the desk. Sure, it’s petty but when have you ever even HEARD of anyone as petty as Trump? If this is the only measure he’s got to “get even,” that’s what he’ll do.

Then again, maybe the Resolute Desk just needs some refurbishment…

No One Is Coming To Save Us…

by MyBaconPress

Karl Marx once wrote that religion is the opiate of the masses. That may have been true when he wrote it, but today? I’m pretty sure it’s social media. As happy as MAGA may be with the coup and destruction of the country they hated so much, Americans are angry and sad. But beyond saying so in social media – venting, if you will – we’re not doing much except sitting back and watching it happen.

There’s a possibility it’s shock. We’re all walking around in a stupor, of sorts. We simply can NOT believe what we’re seeing with out own two eyes and we’re waiting to wake up from the nightmare. I suspect there’s also an element of expecting someone else to step up and do… something. There’s THAT, too. Do… what?

I honestly believe we’re at a point where the people need to take to the streets. No one is coming to save us. If we don’t save ourselves, we ain’t gettin’ saved. The One Percent have started a full-on attack. I don’t care WHAT they say, their motivation is unmitigated greed. They want it ALL, and they want it NOW!

We can all see that the Republicans are “in on it.” It’s obvious. What seems to be LESS obvious is that the Dems are “in on it,” too. ALL of our politicians became bought-and-paid-for toadies of the wealthy after the Citizens United ruling. ALL of them. That explains why all we see from Democrats is some talking and posturing. Ooh, they’re getting ready to make their big move. Oh, they said some things. THAT’LL show ’em.

All the Dems are EVER going to do is talk. The press will cover things, kind of. Foreign press will cover them better but Americans don’t read. I suspect we’re all pinning our hopes to the courts. Maybe the courts can/will stop this. They HAVE stepped in on a few things and slowed them down, right?

Not really. In the first place, slowing things down isn’t enough. “Yes, your once-beloved country is falling into a brutal, fascist dictatorship, but now it’s going to take SIX months instead of three!” BFD. The One Percent planned this thing very well. They carried it out carefully, methodically. It took them a little over forty years but they control ALL of it. They corrupted one thing after another until there ARE no valid institutions left to step in.

There’s an expression, “Hope against hope.” It means to continue to hope for a thing, even though that thing is impossible, or nearly so. THAT – hope – is all the population has brought to the table so far. Yeah, we all know inspirational phrases, but inspirational phrases don’t stand up well to actual reality. The pen may be mightier than the sword, but the sword draws an awful lot of blood before the pen gets a chance to speak.

The Dems aren’t going to save us. The courts aren’t going to save us. I don’t think the military is going to save us, either. No law enforcement will step in. There is no brave soul in the bowels of the government that might use some obscure law. The Avengers aren’t coming.

God? Get real. There’s a famous saying scratched into the wall of a German jail, “If there is a God, he will have to beg for my forgiveness.” I know there’s a lot of talk about a super de duper being that watches over us and cares for the weak. I also know the Holocaust happened – and God watched. Just… watched. 60 – 80 MILLION people died in WWII. I guess God was having a nap. He seems to be asleep now, too. That guy is NEVER around when we need him. No, we have one, last shot at saving ourselves – and we’re not doing it.

All we have left is collective action by the masses. I’ve been watching for street protests. When? Where? Crickets. Oh, I’ve seen a couple of small gatherings of people, but it’s not enough to make the point. Instead, we’re just venting in social media. We complain that it’s wrong. It’s unfair. It’s criminal. Then we go about our day, happy we got THAT off our chests. Virtue signalling accomplished.

We have two steps left and ONLY two steps. Loud and long civil unrest. After that? Luigi Mangione. Failing that, all out war. I suspect we don’t take any action because our society has become so callous and brutal. We fear losing everything. But we’re losing everything anyway, so what have we got to lose?

Sadly, this, too, parallels the rise of the Nazis in WWII. The German population stood by then, too, and watched it happen, likely for the same reason. As it happens, they were too civilized to push back. In a few short years, they became the least civilized people on the planet. Now it seems to be the turn of the US. We’re too civilized. We’re too lazy. We don’t want to lose Netflix.

The richest man on the planet is literally taking food from poor baby’s mouths because he wants more – and we’re waiting, watching, hoping against hope. I learned a phrase when I was in the service: poop in one hand and wish in the other, see which one fills up first. Musk is doing the pooping and America is doing the wishing, and I can see, quite clearly, which one is filling up first. I’m starting to wonder who should be more ashamed, MAGA for bringing this to us, or the rest of us for our feckless response…

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Hey, if you DO want to try to get involved, you can go to this website, ‘Indivisible.org’. (This is the link. It might not be blue on your computer. For some reason, color doesn’t come through well on my site.) It’s called ‘Indivisible.’ It’s nationwide. They’re organizing. Find your group…

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As predicted MAGA does wear the mark of the beast on their foreheads. It’s bright red. It says, ‘Make America Great Again…’

It Started With Lies…

by MyBaconPress

This is not going to be an easy read and I apologize for that, but it’s important…

“The crematorium is a big building with a wide chimney and 15 ovens. Under a garden there are two enormous cellars. One is where people undress and the other is the death chamber. People enter it naked and once about 3,000 are inside it is locked and they are gassed. After six or seven minutes of suffering they die.”

“The gas canisters were always delivered in a German Red Cross vehicle with two SS men. They then dropped the gas through openings – and half an hour later our work began. We dragged the bodies of those innocent women and children to the lift, which took them to the ovens.”

Those words were written by a Greek Jew, Marcel Nadjari. He was a prisoner at Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. He was among about 2,200 members of the Sonderkommando – Jewish slaves of the SS who had to escort fellow Jews to the gas chambers. Then they had to collect gold fillings and women’s hair, burn the bodies, and throw the ashes into a nearby river. They did all of that at gunpoint, forced to comply.

“After deportation trains arrived at the killing centers, guards ordered the deportees to get out and form a line. The victims then went through a selection process. Men were separated from women and children. A Nazi, usually an SS physician, looked quickly at each person to decide if he or she was healthy and strong enough for forced labor. This SS officer then pointed to the left or the right; victims did not know that individuals were being selected to live or die. Babies and young children, pregnant women, the elderly, people with disabilities, and the sick had little chance of surviving this first selection.

Those who had been selected to die were forced into gas vans or gas chambers. In order to prevent panic, camp guards told the victims that they were going to take showers to rid themselves of lice. The guards instructed them to turn over all their valuables and to undress. Then they were driven naked into the “showers.” A guard closed and locked the doors. In some killing centers, carbon monoxide was piped into the chamber. In others, camp guards threw “Zyklon B” pellets down an air shaft. Zyklon B was a highly poisonous insecticide also used to kill rats and insects.

Usually within minutes after entering the gas chambers, everyone inside was dead from lack of oxygen. Under guard, prisoners were forced to haul the corpses to a nearby room, where they removed hair, gold teeth, and fillings. The bodies were burned in ovens in the crematoria or buried in mass graves.

Many people profited from the pillage of corpses. Camp guards stole some of the gold. The rest was melted down and deposited in an SS bank account. Private business firms bought and used the hair to make many products, including ship rope and mattresses.” – Holocaust Encyclopedia

My focus in this piece is not the victims. Today, I want to focus on the perpetrators. I want you to think about the people who committed these crimes. Not those forced to participate at the end of a gun, but the people holding the gun. How, I wonder, did an entire country devolve, morally, to a point where they could brutally murder thousands of people a day – every day?

These were once normal people. People with whom one would exchange greetings as they passed in the streets. They were bankers and builders, accountants, electricians, engineers. They were store clerks and store owners. They came from every walk of life. They went on picnics. They went to work. They went to church.

But in a very short period of time, those nice, normal people were brought to a morality so low, they could walk thousands of people into gas chambers and make jokes about the suffering all the while – or, at the very least, support those who did. Cruelty became normalized.

But how? It started with lies. At first, those people were just supporting the party, repeating the talking points. Yes, they were lying and they knew it, but they were conditioned to dismiss that “small” sin for the greater good – the glory of the party – so they did. Over time, the small, little trespasses and offenses became bigger and more aggressive. When their leader called for greater outrages, the people complied – for the party.

Hitler was named Chancellor of Germany in 1933. Krystalnacht, the night of the broken glass, was a pogrom against the Jews in 1938. Five short years, those same, “normal” people who might have doffed their hats in the street were attacking Jewish businesses and the people who owned them. The name of the event, Krystalnacht, refers to all of the glass in the streets after the rampage. The German government, at the time, looked on and took no action.

It was an open declaration of war against Jews. Eventually, the idea of holding a gun and shooting defenseless, innocent men, women, and children became normalized, necessary, even. By 1941, the so-called “Final Solution” was conceived and implemented. Much of the population of an entire nation went along. At first, people were murdered with bullets, man-to-man, woman, or child. But that became expensive and Nazi leadership wondered what kind of followers they were developing. What effect, they wondered, of all of that face-to-face, close-up killing?

I think about those people from time to time, the people who went along. What happened to them after the war? How did they go on? Even if they escaped prosecution for their crimes, how could they escape themselves? After what they did, knowingly, how did they look themselves in the mirror? How does one recover from murdering thousands of innocent people, every day of the week, every week of the year? How does one justify murdering millions for the sake of a talking point? Is it possible, did they ever stop seeing the faces of their victims?

I know that describing 1945 Auschwitz seems to have little relevance to today. It was, after all, the extreme of the Nazis. It represented a level of moral decay the world had not seen for decades. An entire nation, plunged into horror – on purpose, for the benefit of a few, small-minded, bitter and selfish men seemed impossible to repeat. It all started with casual lies, but was cultivated and nurtured until it grew into the worst ANY person could ever be, right? Maybe.

Something I’m sure of: if you had asked the German people to behave in that way in 1933, they would have been appalled at the suggestion. If you could have told them that by 1938, they would be actively attacking their neighbors and friends, their perceived opponents, in the streets, they would have guffawed and said you were an hyperbolic extremist. The idea of the Holocaust would have horrified them, back then, in the same way it horrifies civilized people today. But they didn’t STAY horrified. They were conditioned and led to it, inexorably.

Pointing out the dedication of MAGA to their own falsehoods, today, meets with the same derision, but it’s the same, entry-level moral defect that set the Germans on their horrifying path so many years ago. MAGA sees themselves as decent, honorable people. They’re only supporting the party. They KNOW they’re lying – and they know lying is a sin -but “it’s for the greater good.” Is it though?

A position that depends on lies for support, doesn’t deserve to be supported. MAGA talking points represent entry-level moral decay the world has not seen since the Nazis. An entire nation, plunging into horror – on purpose, for the benefit of a few, small-minded, bitter and selfish men. It all started with casual lies, but is being cultivated and nurtured until it grows into… what?

The last time huge swaths of a nation took to lying for political purposes, turning their backs on their own morality, there was no “greater good.” If I suggested to MAGA they could be easily led to commit similar atrocities today – up to and including killing people – they would guffaw and call me an hyperbolic extremist. They would – must – simply deny reality, especially since, in that reality, they already have.

Remember Covid-19? Human beings KNOW how to battle illness, even when we don’t yet know the details of the illness. You wash a lot. You “social distance.” You wear masks in an effort to protect people around you. But not MAGA. There were political points to be scored by refusing the masks. One’s popularity increased if they attended “Covid parties.”

Decent, still-civilized folks tried to explain to MAGA that they were putting people’s lives at risk with their frivolous attitudes. To MAGA, it was all a joke, a chance to deride “libtards.” They made fun of people wearing masks or later, who took the vaccine. They wore “neck gators” instead of proper masks, even after, or perhaps, because, it became known the neck gators actually spread the illness. People died by the thousands.

MAGA was conditioned to dismiss those victims and not think of them AS people. They reduced those human beings to their “comorbidities.” THAT let MAGA off the hook. In their minds, people weren’t dying because of MAGA unethical behavior. They were dying because they had comorbidities and, because they had comorbidities, they got what they deserved. It was their own fault for having asthma – or for being old.

“All we did was refuse masks,” said MAGA. “That’s not the same as physically attacking people.” That’s technically true, but it’s a rationality that exposes a moral decay deeper than mere lies, an easy disregard of human lives. It was a kind of passive killing; stubbornly refuse to do the ONLY thing available that might help – then watch people die. Standing by and watching people die is not the same as pulling a trigger. Blame the victims. Tease them for being victims. “We didn’t DO anything!”

But they did on January 6th, didn’t they? They actively attacked. They beat people with weapons, sprayed bear spray, crushed people in doors, broke glass and smashed fixtures. They killed people or so deeply traumatized them, they killed themselves. To this day, MAGA protects themselves, or tries to, with lies. I suspect some of them are ashamed of what they did, as evidenced by the fact that they deny their own actions. They downplay events, minimize conduct. But for many of them, they’re simply trying to deflect poor optics.

The deeper MAGA goes in defending themselves and/or their leader, the more loyal they’ll become to the movement. They have to. They know they’ve already committed some horrible crimes but they need to continue to see themselves as decent, honorable people. If they allow themselves to realize the transgressions they’ve already committed weren’t actually for the greater good, they would have to confess their complicity, their guilt.

Today’s piece is a warning. If you’re one of those waiting for MAGA to feel the effects of their choices and reject MAGA as a result, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. MAGA is not going to fall away no matter how bad things get. They can’t. They likely don’t realize it, but they’re already all in, fully committed. It would take only the tiniest of sparks to get the fire blazing.

Ironically, the relatively minor nightmares they’ve already committed have locked them in to future horrors. There’s already shame. If they didn’t do the things they’ve done for the right reasons, they’re guilty. So they’ll suffer any pain they need to suffer in order to stay, in their minds, on the right side of issues – “for the greater good.”

But if you’re MAGA, you’re already on the wrong side of the issues. If you don’t reconsider your loyalties and change paths, you WILL, one day, find yourself unable to look in the mirror. Lies and comforting stories can only get you so far. It doesn’t matter that you can pretend, to me, J6 was a peaceful love-fest. YOU KNOW what’s true! You can lie to me forever. You can NOT lie to yourself. Not for long, anyway.

The talking points were just the beginning. MAGA has already been conditioned to engage in violence, first passively, then, actively. Whatever else may be true, YOU will always know what YOU did. You’re living a life you’re going to want or need to hide from later. If you stay on this path, you will, sooner or later, participate in, perhaps celebrate, something far, far worse.

I’ll tell you this: the fix is simple – embrace truth. Stop with the “talking points.” The more dedicated you are to truth, the less likely you can be brought to atrocity. Don’t live a life you need to hide from. You can’t hide from yourself…

Dumb, Dumber, and Dumbest…

by MyBaconPress

It starts at ‘Stupid’ then looks for ‘Stupider.’ Sure, ‘The Gulf of America’ is stupid. And it’s wrong. Not just because the place is the Gulf of Mexico and has been for hundreds of years, but because ‘America’ is an inexact shorthand. But now I see that Republicans want to change the name of Greenland to – I swear, I didn’t make this up – ‘Red, White, and Blueland.’

It’s “clever,” see, because they changed one color reference to another – and the new one ALSO references the national flag of the United States. That’s some subtle genius, right there. SO subtle, in fact, the “genius” part just looks moronic…

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In response to US insanity and the attempt to take over Greenland and give it an embarrassingly stupid new name, Danes are signing a petition to buy California. For THEM, it’s satirical. They’re just trying to make a point. But, listen. I’m all in. C’mon, Denmark. You likely can’t save all of the US, but you CAN save California. Please?

I REALLY don’t WANT to live in the failed and corrupt United States of MAGA dreams. I preferred the rule of law. I preferred the Constitution…

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As of Wednesday, inflation is up 3%. The price of eggs is up 15%. So far, he’s done a LOT to make rich people richer. He hasn’t done squat to reduce the cost of living for work-a-day Americans.

On February 8th, he said this – and, no, I didn’t change a thing. This is exactly what he said. “I hear so much about the word ‘groceries.’ I used to use ‘groceries’ a lot on that trail. Uhh, a word that’s, like, sort of, an old fashioned word, ‘groceries.’ But ‘groceries’ is the word that’s the most accurate word and, uh, the price of groceries went through the roof. Bacon was… levels like nobody’s ever seen. Uh, you take a look at eggs today, I mean, the eggs are double, triple, quadr- they’re going through the roof.”

It’s a bit of a word salad but if I can make out his message, it seems that he knows groceries are very expensive. He’s reminding everyone he promised to lower the prices when he got elected. Of course, he’s ALSO accidentally reminding everyone that he hasn’t done that, at all. In fact, everything is going up again.

I’ll tell you this: he’s either an incompetent fool who simply has no idea about how to do the things he promised to do, or? He lied. There is no third possibility. He’s incompetent or dishonest. I think both. Promises made, promises ignored…

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I guess we’re going to call this “SwastiKarGate.” I wrote Thursday that I thought MAGA conditioning was going to be updated to get MAGA to buy Teslas in an effort to help the failing company. THEN, it came to my attention that 47 had arranged to buy $400 million dollars worth of the rolling crematoriums to put our soldiers in, so I posted a correction to the story. But THEN, I was informed that, no, it wasn’t 47 trying to funnel money to his boss’s company. It was BIDEN, all along. That’s the story a “state department spokesperson” told, anyway.

The story, as nearly as I can make it out, is that the armored electric vehicles were a line item in a State Department budget in December and that Tesla was the only company to respond to the request last May. (Yeah, before December. That is, apparently, before the line item. It’s weird that Tesla “responded” before the line item was put in place, right?)

I tried to verify that story but I couldn’t find anything about Biden even suggesting armored electric vehicles that was written before two days ago, when the story broke. Nothing. I would have guessed someone, somewhere would have written a story about it at the time. We know the Biden administration tried to squelch some news stories and some media complied, but Fox Not-News? ONAN? No, the right wing outlets, at least, would have written about it at the time – and they would have been outraged.

Even weirder, for some reason, 47’s maladministration scrubbed the website to remove references to Tesla and replaced them with “electric vehicles.” Apparently, 47 was concerned about the appearance of a conflict of interest. No word on WHY 47 – who blames BIDEN for everything – would suddenly move to protect Biden from the appearance of a conflict of interest, nor what that conflict might be, since Biden wasn’t the one handing the government over to the private citizen getting fat government contracts.

But do you know what? From one point of view, it doesn’t matter which administration tried to make this deal (but it really is the corrupt 47). Electric Vehicle technology is NOT up to the rigors of war. Not yet.
“Sgt. Tank Commander, why didn’t you respond to the surprise attack by our enemy at Fort Commandeer?”
“I tried to, sir. My tank was still on the charger…”

But, hey, if a Trump administration spokesperson says some words, well, a Trump administration spokesperson said some words. So, there…

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Okay, this HAS to be my favorite story of the week. During President Musk’s presser in the Oval Office – the one he brought his kid to and invited 47 to sit in on? The four-year-old reportedly said to The Felon, “You’re not the President and you need to go away.” How cute!

Do you know who DOESN’T have opinions on the legitimacy of Presidents? Four-year-olds. Oh, but ‘little pictures have big ears,’ right? It’s completely normal for four-year-olds to repeat things they hear around the house – even if those things are inappropriate to say out loud in other company. Famously, four-year-olds have terrible social filters. It’s WHY they’ll casually pick their noses in front of people.

So, if four-year-olds don’t have opinions on the legitimacy of Presidents, but THIS four-year-old says, out loud, that 47 isn’t the President and needs to go away, where did Elon’s four-year-old son hear that 47 isn’t the President?

And STILL, 47 doesn’t say anything. It’s completely clear, 47 is owned and operated by Musk. $290 million dollars. That comes out to about a buck and a half for Trump. The rest was to buy – and destroy – our government…

A Daily Decline – Into Madness…

by MyBaconPress

SO… we’ve come to the “attack judges” portion of our rapid slide into fascism. JD Vance said, “judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” completely ignoring the fact that the judges ARE allowed – required, in fact – to control the executive’s illegitimate abuse of power. And the places the judges have stepped in have ALL been abuses of executive power.

In order to support THIS lie, Vance added, “If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal.” That depends on whether the military operation was in keeping with the law or not. It MIGHT be illegal. It might be appropriate.

President Musk took to Brand X on Saturday and boosted a post from a user who wrote, “I don’t like the precedent it sets when you defy a judicial ruling, but I’m just wondering what other options are these judges leaving us?” That’s an EASY one. The Republicans could just obey the law. Simple.

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Pete Hegseth has brought back the Fort Bragg name. The original Fort Bragg was named after a confederate traitor who lost many battles for the confederacy. During a Democratic effort at political correctness, the name was changed to Fort Liberty. Americans think things should NOT be named after traitorous confederates. (MAGA disagrees.)

SO, one of the first actions of this maladministration was to slap the Fort Bragg name back on the post. Well, kind of. The original Fort Bragg was named after a confederate general, Braxton Bragg. That’s why it was changed in the first place. The NEW Fort Bragg is, apparently, named after a Pfc Roland L. Bragg, an American soldier of WWII who fought in the Battle of the Bulge and earned a Silver Star and a Purple Heart.

I have no heartburn with that. Sure, it’s a smoke and mirrors trick, putting back ‘Bragg’ by naming it after a different ‘Bragg.’ But it’s STILL a hat-tip to the idea that American military bases should NOT be named after traitors…

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I saw a SwastiKar the other day with one of those stickers, “I bought it before I knew what an asshole he is.” Then I see that sales of the SwastiKar are falling and the stock is dropping. I would never own one, knowing what I do about their tendency to burst into flame in crashes, burning the occupants alive. But if I DID have one, I’d be focused on unloading the thing at the first possible opportunity. (It wouldn’t be easy. Those things are stupid expensive and people who buy them are, likely, trapped in them, financially, for a while, too.)

As Muck has burst onto the scene, the sales of his cars have become, well, verboten. Or at least discouraged. Cons have been conditioned to hate electric vehicles (EVS). They’re told they should stick to fossils, so, mostly, they do. The left embraces EVS, but they aren’t interested in buying from a guy who throws Nazi salutes. NOW who is Tesla going to sell to?

I’m going to make a prediction, here, connecting those two dots. First, MAGA has been conditioned to believe that ALL electric vehicles are bad. Second, recently, sales of the SwastiKar have fallen off badly around the world. Not coincidentally, the stock price is falling, too. So here’s the prediction:

I believe that MAGA conditioning will be updated very soon to include the idea that Musk and Musk alone has solved the “environmental damage” of the EV, making it okay for MAGA to buy SwastiKars. Then MAGA will be “encouraged” to buy Teslas. If MAGA doesn’t start buying them, soon, nobody will be buying them.

Otherwise? What happens to companies when nobody buys their products? Tesla’s board ought to dump that anchor around their necks while they still have a chance. Musk is killing the brand…

UPDATE: Also, Thursday, 2/13. Wrong, already! I’m still trapped by all that time I lived in a decent, honest country, so I completely overlooked the possibility that the now corrupt US government would order several hundred armored SwastiTrucks. That, too, will bail out Tesla. It’s a good thing Elon and Donny are being so fucking transparent about the obvious conflicts of interest…

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Gulf of America. What a moron. Which one? There are three, North America, Central America, and South America. Calling the US “America” has always been wrong. Then again, maybe he meant to be inclusive. In order to get it right, at the very least, it should be the Gulf of the Americas. (I know, when has MAGA ever been concerned about getting things right?)

Google has updated their maps app so it reads ‘Gulf of America’ if you’re in the US. People have been suggesting ways to send feedback to the algorithm. I went through the steps and sent my feedback. THEN, I realized, there’s a better way.

Google has now made clear they will readily deliver false information if they have a reason to do so. THAT makes them an undependable source. Go through the steps to send feedback if you want to, but then? Stop using Google! Not just the maps, the whole thing. There ARE alternatives.

There are other search engines. I use DuckDuckGo. (Yes, that’s what it’s called. I didn’t name it.) Dump Chrome. I use Firefox. It works fine. In ANY browser, there’s a place where you can choose a default search engine. Find that place and put in one of the others. (They usually offer a list.) Don’t use Chrome, don’t use Google. If you want to ‘send a message,’ send it by impacting their money by NOT using their products where you have a choice. Your money is what gave them the power to destroy your nation. Take it away from them by not using their products…

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As a closing thought, after WWII, curious people went to Germans and asked them how such a thing could have happened in a country full of thinking people, in a functioning republic. The general answer was that people were waiting for a big moment, some grand abuse that made it clear they were sliding into fascism. No such moment ever came. It was all a slow drip, one smaller outrage after another, that culminated in what the world knows today as Nazi Germany.

We’re now living the SAME slow drip here in the United States. There will never be a big moment, so don’t wait for it. These slow drip abuses ARE the big moment…

January 20, 2025 – RIP USA…

by MyBaconPress

Well, here we are, the darkest day in United States history, January 20, 2025. With apologies to FDR, another date that will “live in infamy,” the day our Republic failed. By the time you read this, it’s possible the end has come already, the inauguration is over. It’s possible the vicious Executive Orders are ALREADY flying around, harming human beings everywhere. It’s more likely he’s going to bask in the glow of the moment and start his destruction tomorrow, though.

The Great Experiment has come to an end. Benjamin Franklin said we had a Republic – IF we could keep it. We couldn’t. We allowed large concentrations of wealth to bring us down. To be sure, you’ll still be able to look at a map and find a stretch of land identified as ‘The United States of America.’ But the land of our founders is over. The opportunity and equality they (kind of) sought is no more. The oligarchs have won and it looks like they intend to press their advantage to the fullest. That’s going to suck for the work-a-day Joe.

You’ll see what used to be the flag representing the United States flying at full height in defiance of history, respect, and decorum. The new paradigm. The Felon’s ego couldn’t handle the idea that the nation was showing respect to someone else on his “special day.” A classy guy would have left the flags in their proper place and mentioned why in his speech. Trump threw a tantrum.

I’m sure MAGA is happy, for the moment. They think they’ve finally gotten what they want. I think they’re in for a surprise. I think they’ve been useful tools of the oligarchs and the tools are no longer needed. The oligarchs have what they want. The One Percent gets to stand near him, meet with him, shake his hand. MAGA is left out in the cold.

I go back and forth on whether MAGA will ever figure out they’ve been duped. I can tell you that the resistance is going to be easier if MAGA does figure it out and we, the people (I mean, the masses) work together to stop this nightmare.

Perhaps it’s a good idea to take a look back and see how this all started. Be advised, this is generalized and simplified. This column isn’t long enough to go into detail on each element, and you don’t want to take that much time reading it. So… a synopsis…

It was the brainchild of Charles Koch but it took the acting chops of Ronald Reagan to introduce the idea of “Voodoo Economics” in 1980 with a straight face. It’s actually called ‘Supply-side economics,’ but since there’s no such thing, it really IS just Voodoo. Bush 41 coined the term when he was running against Reagan. When he became VP, he suddenly didn’t worry about Voodoo economics. But he was right the first time.

The next step was perpetrated by two guys. Newt Gingrich hired a guy named Frank Luntz to distort language in a way that made it easier to attack America with words. So, for example, the Inheritance Tax became the DEATH tax, see? Gingrich directed the GOP to use the NEW, inaccurate terms and NEVER the proper terms. New language gave them a weapon. It didn’t matter that the words were inaccurate. It mattered that they were scary. I don’t know if Luntz is rich or not, but when the guillotines come out, he deserves a place near the top of the list.

Now they had their fake idea in place – ‘trickle down’ – and they had a glossary of terms scary enough to manipulate uninformed minds. The next part was a weapon delivery system. So, they started buying up media outlets, mostly AM radio stations. They found Rush Limbaugh. Listen, Rush was an evil son-of-a-bitch. He deserves his place in hell. His lies did incalculable damage to the United States. But he was funny. People tuned him in because he made them laugh. They didn’t even realize he was poisoning their minds. But he was…

It got so bad for a while, one couldn’t turn on an AM radio station without hearing some talking head puke out some scary sounding nonsense intended to frighten or enrage. The problem was, they were really only using scary words to describe day-to-day events. They needed more. They needed to be able to frighten their listeners every day.

So, they started funding seats in colleges and setting up “Stink Tanks.” THEY called them “Think Tanks,” like the legitimate Brookings Institute, but they were designed and built to create plausible sounding mis- and dis-information. Now the stink tank could issue a made up talking point and AM radio would magnify it and put it on a loop. Brainwashing via repetition. But there was STILL a problem. There were rules limiting the penetration the vile messages could reach. They couldn’t, for example, own two radio stations in the same market or a radio station and a newspaper.

We had those rules for exactly the reason the oligarchs needed to get rid of them; they prevented a single message from permeating the body politic. It was a competition of ideas. The reason the oligarchs had to change it is, their ideas sucked. Most people still knew they were false. One side could easily and effectively push back against the other side.

Bill Clinton helped them out with that one when he signed the legislation eliminating the rules of ownership in 1996. Have you noticed the dates? This was sixteen years on and the One Percent just kept their eyes on the prize. Clinton also helped them launch ‘Fox Not-News.’ He had to give them a special waiver. (Bill Clinton is VERY rich now.) Thanks to Clinton, the oligarchs GOT their consolidation. It was mind-boggling. A big company would buy a group of stations, reducing competition, all while droning on about how competition is better. Well, yeah. It was. So they got rid of it…

Finally, they had the language to scare the crap out of people, the Stink Tanks to create false stories, and the delivery system to broadcast those fraudulent (and oh-so-scary) stories into the world. Now all they had to do was stick to their scary glossary and fine-tune the messages. They added new scares and outrages when something proved effective, quietly dropped others as they proved less effective.

Libertarians started infiltrating the Republican Party. They presented as Republicans but brought and highlighted the Libertarian message. They had to do it that way. People had become familiar with the Libertarian message and dismissed it as too extreme. Too many people didn’t recognize it as it slipped from Republican tongues, though.

The messages that made it through? Give the rich people all the money and they’ll do good things with it. (Still waiting.) Government is ALWAYS bad and ALWAYS fails. (False.) Private corporations, on the other hand, are ALWAYS good and ALWAYS the most efficient. (Extra false.) Poor people are the reason poor people have problems. (Nope.) Dark-skinned people are scary. (Not so much…) Taxes on rich people harm society and restrict innovation. (Exactly backwards.)

Later, they added the false patriotism and sprinkled in a bunch of nationalism. They refer to conservatives as “Americans” and non-conservatives as anything else, the scarier the better, implying that non-conservatives are not Americans. As predicted, they carried a cross and wrapped themselves in the flag. But the cross and the flag were props, nothing more. They were manipulations intended to deceive – and deceive they did.

MAGA doesn’t know ANY of this, of course. THEY think they’re a “grass roots” movement that sprang up organically – because that’s what MAGA media told them. People on the left were caught out by the extent to which the One Percent went to regain mastery of the American system. I continue to believe MAGA is going to be caught by surprise when they realize they no longer wield any power. They were useful idiots – and they’re no longer useful.

So here we are, January 20, 2025. Forty-four years since Reagan fired the first shot. But the oligarchs were patient, and their patience has paid off for them. At least, for now.

I find myself wondering if Americans still have that revolutionary spirit, or if we’re just going to acquiesce. Are we too worried about Tik-Tok to pay attention to the loss of our country, our freedoms? WILL we hit the streets in protest? I hope so. I can’t tell you how sorry I am it has come to this. It turns out, John F Kennedy was right all along. “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”