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Standard Republican Play Number One: Lie!

by MyBaconPress

Boy, they sure celebrated when Roe was reversed, didn’t they? Cons, I mean. They were all over it. They still are. They just don’t want anybody to know it. Arizona was downright giddy that their civil war era law against abortion was going to take effect automatically after Roe was overturned. The only exception to that law was for the life of the mother. A string of recognizable Arizonans made the rounds, thrilled at what they get to do to women, now. And some of them are women!

Sensible people fought the law in court. While that played out, the GOP started losing election after election. There has been nothing ambiguous about Republican intentions. They want all abortions gone. Period. There has been enough talk about a national ban at the Federal level that I believe them. 100 percent. They may or may not throw a bone to ‘life-of-the-mother’ concerns and occasionally even to rape and incest but they don’t WANT to. Every sperm is sacred, you know. Even as they lose elections, the red states seem to be competing to see which state can get away with being the most cruel to women.

But that election thing. People keep rejecting the GOP because we know what they did, what they’re doing, and what they WANT to do. It turns out, most Americans prefer choice. And then the Arizona State Supreme Court upholds the 1860’s law and it comes into effect. Now we’ve all been reminded that the GOP took women’s right to choose away and the GOP wants to make the procedure even more difficult to get, no matter what. We’re ALSO watching them try to remove access to contraception.

When your actual and honest goal is a complete, nationwide ban on abortions for all women, any age, with no exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the mother, but people hate, hate, HATE that your actual and honest goal is a complete, nationwide ban on abortions for all women, any age, with no exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the mother, what do you do?

Standard Republican Play Number One: Lie! Don’t lie a little. Lie a LOT! Lie everywhere. Lie on television. Lie on radio. Lie in the newspapers. Lie on the internet. Act confused as to why people seem to think the GOP wants to ban abortions. Where EVER did they get THAT idea? Dismiss the truth as though people have simply misunderstood. Blatantly claim the exact opposite of the truth. Lie, lie, lie! And sure enough, right on cue, here they come.

Virtually all of the Arizona Republicans who were so giddy when Roe was overturned have come out, one after another, to announce that the decision from the Arizona Supreme Court cannot stand, WILL not stand. They are OUTRAGED they got what they wanted. Just ask them. Then, the Trumpery himself comes out with a video statement full of, well, it’s Donny.

It turns out, Donny has a “tell” when he’s lying. (A “tell” is an involuntary physical movement or mannerism that occurs when lying, like a tic.) I don’t know how I missed Donny’s tell for so long but I can’t miss it now. Have YOU spotted it? It’s pretty simple. You can ALWAYS tell when Donny’s lying because his lips are moving. Yeah, I know, that used to be an old joke. Sadly, 45 has turned it into a new truth.

Anyway, he puts out this video. After years of bragging everywhere he could, at every chance he got, that he is the one who eliminated Roe (which was true, I’ve got to confess), NOW he puts out a video that claims he’s an abortion moderate. All he ever wanted, he claims was for individual states to choose just how cruelly they treat their females. (I want to write “women” there but some of the “women” in question are still little girls. No matter for the GOP. Bitch got herself pregnant, bitch can pay the price.)

In his lying video, he claims that “all legal scholars, BOTH sides, wanted and, in fact, demanded” that Roe be overturned. That’s a lie. He said Democrats “support abortion up to and even beyond, the ninth month.” Beyond the ninth month? What a stupid lie. The GOP, in it’s efforts to trick people into thinking false things, has pushed this false narrative that suggests Dems get pregnant just so they can wait until the ninth month to abort the baby because what fun that will be! Anybody who believes that is a drooling moron. I mean, I don’t mean to be unkind but…hey, wait a minute. Does that mean we can still “abort” Donny?

He wasn’t just “misspeaking” though. He doubled down on it. He went into detail about how killing babies after they’ve been born is “execution,” which, it would be if anybody was doing that anywhere. But they’re not. Then he repeated that he just put abortion back where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, also not true. At this point, thinking people had plenty to take issue with in his lying statement. But then, he lied that he thinks it’s in the right place, now, and individual states should decide for themselves.

Ooh, that angered the right. HOW, they wanted to know, could he leave it to the individual states after all of their years of claiming it’s a state’s rights issue? Doesn’t he realize that not ALL women suffer if some women maintain control of their bodies? In their fury, they have confessed their heartfelt desire to gain the very national ban the GOP politicians are now trying so hard to downplay. (read: lying about.)

Then he gave away the game; we must win elections. Then he said a bunch of things intended to scare his already terrified base, just standard stuff from the Dumbass, then reaffirmed “we have to win.” Even MAGA has realized that this is a losing issue for the GOP. In classic con style, they don’t rethink their position. They just lie about it because they can’t do ANY of their cruel desires if they have no power. The GOP MUST win. And if they do? Women across the country will lose. Bigly…

Desperately Poor “Billionaire…”

by MyBaconPress

Russia, Russia, Russia! It became something of a battle cry for MAGA since 2016, when the Trump campaign was found to be communicating with Russians. Donny used his political power and a few obsequious toadies to cover that one up and he got away with it. Then he started ridiculing those who had considered he had an improper association with the Russians. But you know who keeps turning up in Donny’s life, saving his ass (or trying to), over and over again? Russians, Russians, Russians!

They were there for him in 2016. We know they were trying to smear Joe Biden with misinformation about bribes, which the GOP glomed onto and ran with – until their “informant” was arrested for lying to the FBI. They were STILL there for him in 2022, when his media company was just about to tank. Donny tried to merge his company with another in 2021 but regulators opened a securities investigation into the company and while they were working that out, Trump media took emergency loans to keep afloat, including from an entity called ES Family Trust. ES Family Trust opened an account with Paxum Bank, a small bank registered in Dominica, in the Caribbean. Mostly, Paxum Bank’s claim to fame is that they provide financial services to the porn industry.

So, what is ES Family Trust? It’s a trust operated like a shell company by a guy named Anton Postolnikov. You’ll never guess his national identity. Okay, trick question. He’s a hybrid, Russian-American. His trust is set up in St. Petersburg, Russia although it lists it’s address as a residential home in Hollywood, Florida – a home which was sold in December, 2023. He’s a co-owner of Paxum Bank and he’s currently the subject of a criminal investigation by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security into the Trump Media merger. Oh, and did I mention he has close ties to Vladimir Putin? C’mon, at least pretend to be shocked. Yeah, me neither…

So, if Postolnikov owns a bank, why set up a shell company to finance Donny? Because Paxum Bank isn’t licensed to make loans in the US and Donny needed the money fast. $8 million dollars worth, according to the Guardian. The loans were provided in the form of convertible promissory notes, meaning repayment would come in the form of Trump Media stock. The estimate is that ES Family Trust’s stake is somewhere between $20 million and $40 million dollars, which makes perfect sense in a company with no value, no income, and no assets.

From there? It gets murky. Downright shady, some might say. Classic Donny, I’d say. Murky deals with hard to follow financial flows, unclear ownership, and ties to people subject to various misdeeds and criminal investigations? Yep, that sounds like Donny all over…

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Speaking of Donny’s failing media company, people are talking about him taking the cash from his overvalued stock before it crashes entirely. He’s not supposed to be able to take any for six months but that’s an impediment that the board can remove – and Eric and Don, Jr are on the board. But here’s the thing; who’s going to buy it?

Consider; this stock is worthless. I mean, it has value right now because MAGA (and possibly foreign actors) pumped the value up early on. They started buying shares at a furious rate, turning the stock into what’s called a ‘meme stock.’ Think Gamestop. It became a trendy thing to buy, even though the company behind it had horrible financials. It’s one thing for people to claim faith in their dear leader when nothing is on the line. It’s another thing entirely when there’s actual money people are actually losing.

And if you got in late, oh, boy are you losing money. It got up to nearly $70 dollars a share. Then the frenzy cooled and people started looking at what they were buying – and they didn’t like what they saw. What’s to like? A company that lost $56 million dollars in a year on revenues of $4 million? So, today, as of this writing, the stock is down to $37.20/share, just over half of that amount. It won’t be too much longer until it reaches it’s proper value. Then it will likely be de-listed. So if you got in at $35/share because you love Donny, and you hold, no matter what, because you love Donny? You’re going to lose your money.

If I told you I had a company with extremely low revenues, deep debt, an unpopular, failing product, few advertisers, and steadily dropping usage, how much are you going to in invest? Right. And that’s exactly how much people should be investing in Trump Media. So who does Donny sell to in order to realize that cash windfall? MAGA can’t buy that much stock. Nobody who knows what their doing will buy any of that stock. That leaves people who don’t give a rat’s tail about the stock – they intend to buy the GOP presidential candidate for their own purposes.

When I was in the Air Force, it was illegal for people to be gay. Now, I’m not gay so it didn’t affect me. But I always thought the position was stupid for one, glaring reason: the only reason being gay was illegal was because it might set someone up for blackmail, creating a security risk. But the only reason anybody could blackmail a gay person in the military is because the military made it illegal to be gay. That’s called circular reasoning.

But I’ll tell you this: Donny being financially beholden to international criminals and strongmen and other unsavory characters really WILL set him up to be blackmailed and controlled. That’s NOT circular reasoning. Donny’s financial desperation (unexpected from a self-described “genius businessman billionaire”) has put him in a vulnerable position where he can be exploited by any number of bad actors. Is MAGA really going to try and put THAT into the White House? Sadly, yes. Hey, America, how about we don’t let them?

People Leave…

by MyBaconPress

If you live in California, you have, no doubt, noticed gas prices on the rise again. This happens here every year. Why? Greed. We’re never told that, of course. Each year, we’re offered an “explanation.” The explanation is reused, year after year. In part of it’s efforts to combat air pollution, California requires a special summer gasoline blend. It’s actually an EPA program but California embraced it right away. Every year, the refiners act as though the whole thing came as a surprise that caught them off guard. And why wouldn’t it? It’s only been happening since 1989. They’ve only had 35 years to plan for the switch and prepare for it.

There’s also “refinery maintenance.” Please note: local news commonly reports stories of refineries having threatening emergencies of various kinds due to “maintenance issues.” They’re clearly NOT maintaining the bits that need maintaining. I think what they’re maintaining is the highest prices at the pump they can get away with.

I just saw the story again, ‘Why gas prices in California “have gone ballistic.”‘ Go ahead. Guess why. Oh, refinery maintenance. And, at least this article mentioned the “normal penchant for speculative buying in the second quarter.” Oh, okay. THAT probably explains how gas prices can go up .23 cents in one week – while only going up .04 cents nationwide.

I’ve been listening to these same excuses for 35 years. They don’t hold up under scrutiny but with today’s corporate owned media, there won’t BE much scrutiny. Still, I wish they would at least try to come up with new excuses. Or better yet, they could just speak the truth. “Screw you! We can, so we do!”

It’s one of the very best reasons to leave gasoline powered vehicles behind and embrace electric cars…

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Campaign season. Again? Isn’t it always campaign season in the United States? Biden seems to be focusing on how well the economy is doing right now. MAGA thinks it’s all “fake.” Of course, they think the economy was buzzing along under Donny. They just don’t seem to understand numbers.

I know MAGA gives Donny a pass on destroying the economy. Mostly, that’s because he’s Donny and they give him a pass for everything – the advantage of being a cult leader. Biden took over a completely wrecked economy, also because of Covid-19, but MAGA disses Biden’s success at recovering the economy after Donny’s failures. In truth, though, anybody trying to be fair would have to acknowledge that Covid-19 did damage, so maybe MAGA overlooking the crash is at least partially warranted.

Of course, if we’re REALLY trying to be fair, one would ALSO have to acknowledge that it was Donny who dismantled the team America had in place for just such an eventuality in the first place. He had applied his mini MAGA mind and decided that the program was just more government “wasteful spending.” So he dismantled it. Then, Covid-19 hit, as if to demonstrate “dumb” in real time. Most of the world got the message. MAGA made excuses.

Of course, Donny doesn’t give two figs about the national economy. Mostly, he’s focused, these days, on his very own, personal “economy” – and how he can get more money from his rubes, er, supporters to prop it up a little while longer. He will, too. Cult members are a trip, aren’t they?

We’ve seen cult members commit murder for their glorious leader with Manson’s cult. More often, we see them commit suicide for their glorious leaders, like in Waco or the People’s Temple. With Heaven’s Gate, they killed themselves in an effort to hitch a ride on a comet. I hope they got there. Otherwise, they just look real, real stupid.

MOSTLY, these days, Cult 45 is good for money for Donny. They DID do some of that killing on J6 and they’re being primed to be ready to do more if needs be in the very near future but, for now, it’s mostly about money. From time to time, I find myself wondering how many MAGAS fall out over time.

There is a commonality around cults we don’t hear about as much. People leave. The more extreme the demands of the cult leader, the more questions are generated and people leave. This happens commonly once the leader announces God has told him he has to have sex with the underage girls of the “community.” But even then, FAR too many members just hand their daughters over.

You can find living, one-time People’s Temple members. Or Branch Davidian members. There are even living, one-time Heaven’s Gate members. They’re still living because they left the cult before the final implosions. That’s not an easy thing to do, leave a cult.

It’s no easier for Cult 45 but we all know it’s happening. People DO get the courage to leave and I’m hopeful more and more of them will follow suit in the coming months. Donny’s rants are getting crazier and crazier. His financial demands could bankrupt huge swaths of America and he’s working as hard as he can to dismantle the American system.

Even some MAGA will see (eventually) how bad that will be for them, personally, and fall away. When that happens, let’s not punish them for having been MAGA, okay? People get sucked into things they shouldn’t. It’s an emotional thing, not intellectual. If they can manage to pull themselves out, we should welcome them back to reality with open arms. I think that’s important to say because MAGA loses die-hard members every day.

So let’s not abandon all hope, shall we? As disappointed as we are that Donny isn’t going to face justice before the election, he still has to win the election and that’s not going to be automatic. In fact, I’d say the odds are getting longer every day. Ever since his successful trumpery in 2016, his shtick is wearing thin – boring, even – and his losses mount. And those losses are everywhere – elections, money, AND supporters. Given a chance, the law WILL eventually catch up to him.

It might even be fair to say he’s adding a new reason to vote against him in November. Like thinking Americans needed another reason to vote against him in November, right? His goal is to stall until the elections. If he wins the election, he misuses his powers as President to protect himself by removing those legal problems – and ends America. But if he loses the election? Well, all he did was stall until November. THEN, the trials proceed as they should. THEN he faces jail.

So I’ll tell you this: If YOU think Donny should, at a minimum, be tried for the crimes of which he stands accused, vote against him. That means voting Biden, like it or not…

I Thought Of A Buyer…

by MyBaconPress

Now that we know we have an ex-president for sale (damaged, as is) I have a tremendous concern over exactly who might end up buying him. I doubt it well be Putin. Clearly, Putin already has complete control over Donny so there’s no incentive. But it most likely won’t be anybody we would want controlling an active President, should the very worst occur. So that’s been on my mind. Then? Well, I figured out the best person to buy Donny: Chuck Schumer!

Okay, maybe $175 million is too big of a bite for a Senator. (Then again?) So how about the DNC? They could count it an investment. They end up controlling Biden as a Democrat AND Donny as a debtor. Their control over 45 only lasts until the case is over and the money surrendered (or returned, the less likely scenario). But Donny dances as he’s told to when he has no choice. We’ve SEEN it with Putin. Could you imagine him running a campaign and NOT being allowed to hurl mean, nasty, paranoid, terrified, little slurs and insults at anybody – because the DNC ordered him not to?

Do you think Donny would reject the lifeline because it came from Democrats? Don’t be ridiculous. That would require an ethical position and Donny’s lack of ethics is one of MAGA’S favorite features of the guy. C’mon, Dems. Buy Donny. You know you want to. Just do it. And then? FORCE him to behave like a human being…

Yeah, I know. But it would be fun…

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Coupla new frauds. Of course. They just never end with this guy. It seems Mr. Hankey, who tried to post Donny’s $175 million dollar bond, ALSO offered to post Donny’s original $464 million dollar bond. The thing is, if one has secured the money one needs to pay a bond, and then walks into court and says they don’t have the money? Why, that’s fraud on the court. It’s an ethics violation that could get his lawyers in trouble. This one won’t matter much. It’s too hard to prove exactly when the lawyers discovered that Hankey had offered to post Donny’s bond. Besides, it’s looking like Hankey can’t even cover the $175 million dollar bond, let alone $464 million. I’m just struck by the idea that even as he loses in court over fraud, he STILL engages in fraud. It’s easier to train a puppy! (Hey, has anyone tried a rolled up newspaper?)

Hankey’s company, Knight Specialty Insurance Company, has a net worth of $138 million dollars. If I remember my basic math, $138 million is LESS than the $175 million they’ve just promised to cover. If they haven’t fully collateralized the loan, that would wipe them out. Because Knight isn’t registered in New York, they have to prove they can cover the bond amount – and how they’ll cover it. They filed some of the paper needed but not all, so the bond was rejected. They quickly filed an amendment but it, too, falls short. They have 10 days from that day (April 4) to get this right or the bond will be “without effect.” The thing that gets me? Knight would STILL have to put the money up until Donny finds another bond. Knight could STILL lose the money – and it wouldn’t even help Donny.

Also, he’s trying to pump up his social media site. He claims it’s awesome, growing, and very popular. By any real measure, it’s none of the above. He’s hemorrhaging money. It already has comparatively low membership and many of those people are leaving the site. Those who stay are choir members, preaching to each other. (BOR-ing!) He’s hemorrhaging money. He’s locked up in legal battles with his co-founders. He’s hemorrhaging money. People who know stocks are betting against Donny’s company by short-selling the stock. They expect further losses. Oh, did I mention, he’s hemorrhaging money?

As much as MAGA might ask you to believe his company is great because it’s associated with Donny, it turns out, the only thing that matters to smart investors is the possibility of profit. Smart investors don’t see that at TMTG. They see leadership in-fighting and huge financial losses, with nothing suggesting a turn-around. In short, an unstable, non-viable organization destined for bankruptcy. You know, a Trump Company. You know who else thinks Trump is lying about ‘Truth Social’ in an effort to bump up the stock? The SEC. That’s the Securities and Exchange Commission.

It turns out, when one goes public, there are rules one must follow. The SEC has a rule barring “manipulative and deceptive devices” to pump up stocks. Lying about the success of the site is definitely ‘manipulative and deceptive.’ The SEC will be looking into this. It could cost the company even more money – the very last thing TMTG needs. MAGA is already out there, working three jobs to try to maintain the lifestyle Donny prefers. Maybe it’s time to mortgage the house, too. It’s looking like Donny is going to need more of their money soon. They should just cut to the chase, send him every last dime and move into the streets. He’s not going to be happy with anything less…

For Sale: Former President, as is…

by MyBaconPress

So now Netanyahu has attacked a non-profit charity trying to supply humanitarian aid to Gaza, killing seven of it’s members. I’ve heard Israel knew the timing of the delivery of the humanitarian aid. They knew the route the group was taking to and from the drop-off location. So how do they “accidentally” blow the thing up in an “unfortunate incident?”

Actions speak louder than words. I believe now more than ever before, Netanyahu has a goal: elimination of ALL Palestinians in Gaza – and he has provided NO path for escape, so “elimination” MUST mean something else, yes?

I’ll tell you this: I know Biden may not be able to stop Netanyahu. That guy has a single-minded, dedicated goal. But Biden can sure as hell stop providing the weapons Netanyahu is using to do his dirty work. I believe Netanyahu is DEEP into the world of war crimes, now, and because the US is providing many of his weapons, we’re complicit. I don’t WANT to be complicit in war crimes…

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Nor would I want to be complicit in any of Donny’s crimes, either. People around him go to jail. He keeps slithering away. But did you hear that the $175 million “discount” bond he posted got rejected? The judge said the filing lacked important details – including a current financial statement. That dude seems unable to tell the truth, even when it’s in his own interest. The bond was “returned for correction,” and that’s all it should be. It SHOULD be nothing, a “clerical error” kind of thing. But this is Donny the Trumpery, here.

He got his bond from a subprime lender in the first place, meaning he paid extra high fees (if he paid any at all to his sycophantic “lender”), and now they “fail” to supply the required financial information along with the filing? Okay, it should be made clear, it’s the bonding company that needs to include it’s financial statements, not Donny. It’s not enough to claim they have the $175 million. They have to show it.

Letitia James still has to cool her heels, though. She can’t start the collection proceedings right away. Donny gets a chance to re-file and, if he can, he will.

But, hey, now’s your chance! If YOU would like to own and operate Donald J. Trump, give him the $175 million dollars he needs now. Think of how cool it would be to order Trump to do something, and watch him hop to it, like Reek in Game of Thrones. He’d still spit his hateful rhetoric at the world, except you. He’d have to be nice to you, no matter what.

You could get your hands on strategic goals of the United States. You could order him to give you military secrets. You could get the nuclear codes. (You could probably get his nude photos of Ivanka, too, ’cause when you own him, he’ll let you do it. What choice does he have?) Oh, hey, wait a minute. Doesn’t that mean that some foreign person or power could get the SAME control the same way? Hey, is THAT why Donny never – EVER – has a negative word to say about Putin?

You know what? I think it might be a bad idea to put a person bound and beholding to others into the most powerful office on Earth. Especially if the “others” are from adversarial nations. I, for one, don’t WANT a President who answers, first and foremost, to Vladimir Putin…

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I saw this headline from Fox Not News: “Former teacher opens up after OnlyFans gig led to her resignation…'” It seems, to me, that girl “opened up” before her resignation. “Here, let me open up my top for you.” That’s what led to her resignation! She was put on administrative leave for “conduct unbecoming of a professional educator.” What?!? Professional educators don’t have sex? My FATHER was a professional educator! How did I get here? (Stow it. I look too much like him…)

To me, it says a LOT about teacher pay in Ohio, where this happened. She tried other side gigs first but they took too much time with not enough return. I know that teachers take a lot of guff about “not working” because of the summers thing. But during the school year? A decent teacher works their ass off. Between class time, homework corrections, and lesson plans, there’s a LOT going on – and they NEVER get the resources they need, so they dip into their own pockets – which, clearly, already don’t sustain them.

I get the conundrum. On the one hand, participating in adult fare offends the puritanical sensibilities of many Americans. On the other hand, it might be difficult for some of her students to separate her in-class activities from her after-hours activities. In a perfect world, of course, children are “protected” from seeing such dirty, dirty stuff. But we all know this world ain’t perfect. Kids have the advantage when it comes to technology. And, really, how smart does one have to be to click ‘yes’ to the question, ‘Are you 21?’ Well, that was easy…

I’ll tell you this: the answer, along with that woman’s breasts, seems to be right in our faces: pay the teachers a living wage. How about we DON’T force our teachers to publicly display their “ends meeting” in order to make ends meet? Of course, we’d likely have to tax rich people to cover it and we can’t have that so I guess we’d better get used to the ‘teacher by day, dominatrix by night’ paradigm. You can’t have it both ways.

Well, you can, but it costs extra…

It’s the Guilt, Stupid…

by MyBaconPress

I saw Mark Esper, one of 45’s many Secretaries of Defense, on Bill Maher this weekend. Esper has the advantage of having witnessed, first hand, Donny in action. He’s SEEN the man operate. Not to put too fine a point on it, Esper knows Trump better than any of the campaign attendees who sing Donny’s praises. Esper isn’t operating on how he imagines Donny does things. Esper doesn’t have delusional hopes about how Donny does things. Esper’s knowledge isn’t theoretical, nor is it driven by sycophancy. Also, it doesn’t come from slanted news outlets. Esper knows.

He described Trump the same way most of Donny’s one-time staffers describe Trump – as a clear and present danger to the United States of America. (Remember, this guy’s JOB was identifying clear and present dangers to America.) He maintains that America should not, CAN not, put Donny back in the White House. He stated flatly, he would not vote for Trump again. Lots of the people who worked most closely with Donny have said the same thing. They won’t vote for the guy again because of the threat he represents to America.

So, Maher asks the obvious followup question: then will you vote for Biden? Esper hems. Esper haws. He hesitates. As it happens, he’s not ready to go that far. He knows he’s not voting for Trump but he’s not sure who he will vote for. Maher seemed to find that answer just as frustrating as I do. He kind of blurted out that he needed Esper to explain that. Maher asked him, straight up, “What is it intelligent people don’t understand about binary?”

It’s a fair question. If you don’t cast a ballot for Biden, you’re helping Trump, whether you mean to be or not. It’s a one or it’s a zero. There are no other choices. Binary. Those of us who could not be convinced in 2016 can be excused for 2016. NOBODY knew, for sure, the danger Trump is. But EVERYBODY knows now. There’s ONE vote to stop Trump, and that’s to vote Biden. Period. Full stop.

Now, understand: I’m a life-long third party ready voter. I’ve always voted my conscience and that, sometimes, has meant voting outside the mainstream. I didn’t care. I didn’t see it as “throwing away my vote.” I saw it – see it – as making a commentary on the often less-than choices thrust upon me by the parties. Sure, perhaps just “tinkering around the edges,” but I thought the commentary important. I despise the binary choice I face. I think of it as a failure of the system. But if we don’t vote Biden in November, there won’t BE any edges to tinker around.

I’ve seen interviewers from lefty websites go to rallies for his competitors, like Nikki Haley, when she was relevant, RFK, Jr now. Over and over, the attendees say they won’t vote Trump because he’s too dangerous or too chaotic. When asked what they’d do if their alternative conservative isn’t the candidate, though, several of them say that in that case, they’d probably vote for Trump.

Obviously, I have to acknowledge the possibility that they just don’t want to say, out loud, in public, and certainly not on video, that they would vote for Biden. Maybe, they’ll get into the booth, hold their nose, and press the Biden button but tell everybody they voted some other way. That’s possible. And, listen, MAGA is SO rabid, these days, it’s hard to blame them. Who the hell wants a barrage of invective dumped on them?

But sooner or later, the people who stand against Donny need to get to the point where they can state flatly that they oppose Donny. Cult 45 isn’t going to go away easily. It’s going to take a strong stance by people who know if it’s going to happen at all…

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Oh, you want an example? Donny has a new target in his latest criminal case: Judge Merchan’s daughter. No, she’s not a child. Neither is she in any way, shape, or form related to the charges Donny faces. She’s just the offspring of the judge. A “civilian.” I’m not in a position to know, for sure, but it’s my understanding that even the mafia won’t attack family. They’re understood “non-combatants.”

But not for Donny. He knows he can’t win his case on the merits. Hell, everybody knows that. So he’s trying to intimidate the judge by threatening his family. I can hear MAGA now, “What threat did he make?” All they have to do is pretend that they don’t understand Donny has an intention when he points out innocent bystanders and attacks.

There’s a word for a person who attacks like that: coward. Donald J. Trump is a coward. At least when he was attacking Engoron’s law clerk, she was related to the case, however distantly. Now it’s the daughter of the judge. It’s a straight up attempt at intimidation. But did you catch the other bit, there? What do these two women in Donny’s crosshairs have in common? What, oh, what could it be? Wait a minute. I think I see it. Ah, there it is. They’re women. Donny attacks women.

I’m not sure it was obvious before. When he attacked Letitia James and Fani Willis, well, they were/are the prosecutors going after him. Judge Engoron’s law clerk was helping Judge Engoron keep facts straight in Donny’s civil case. At least she was directly related to the events taking place. But Judge Merchan’s daughter’s only relationship to this case is her relationship to her father.

I think Donny should stop with all the threats and intimidation and all the stomping and stalling. You know what he SHOULD do? He should strut right into that courtroom and show all the lovely evidence he claims he has that proves his innocence. I guess he’s waiting for the right moment. Or something. Why, it’s almost as if he can’t prove his innocence at all.

The easiest solution for him would be to just win his cases. He claims he can. So do it! He doesn’t need to attack anyone. He doesn’t need to grandstand. He doesn’t need to lie about his situation. All he needs to do is provide the evidence the proves his innocence. Easy. IF you have the evidence. But if you CAN’T prove your innocence? Well, then, I guess you have to stall – and attack women – and call your cases “witch hunts.” Oh, AND fleece your supporters into poverty.

I’ll tell you this: Actions speak louder than words. Donny’s actions indicate guilt, not persecution…

Thoughts On The Day…

by MyBaconPress

I just saw a headline, “Election of Donald Trump Could Put World’s Climate Goals at Risk.” Gee, ya think? That head was too long. Here, let me fix if for them: “Election of Donald Trump Could Put World At Risk.” See? Better…

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I was raised in a pretty religious household. Each Sunday, we were dragged off to church where we attended Sunday School and we were administered spoonfuls of the most digestible bits of theology. We got, ‘Jesus Loves the Little Children.’ For some reason, they didn’t tell us about the guy who had his lover chopped into pieces and spread around his kingdom – for doing exactly what he told her to do. They didn’t even mention the time, no, two times, daughters get their daddies drunk and then sex him up – in three-ways, no less. Even Pornhub won’t give you ‘Daddy and his two daughters’ videos, thank the gods. For that, you need the Bible.

We DID know that God had led the Jews out of bondage and into the “promised land.” They just left out the part where God ALSO told the Jews that the land was theirs – and all they had to do was kill every man, woman, and child already living there. That was God, kicking off the ultimate cage match. Oh, what a prankster! God’s cage match that is still playing out today. In fact, it looks like Netanyahu is determined to win, once and for all.

As a sidebar: More and more, I think Biden is obligated by treaty to supply arms to Israel. He just sent more weapons. He’s ALSO supplying humanitarian aid to Palestine. Helping Gazans survive an apparent genocide attempt is a good thing. Supplying the weapons of that attempted genocide? Not so much. I suspect this is going to be huge in the upcoming election if he can’t figure something out. But that’s not what I’m writing about right now.

We got the bit about Jesus rising from the dead, too, of course. It’s the whole basis of Christianity, the resurrection of Jesus. Now, I knew all about zombies, but this seemed…different. There are NO Biblical mentions of Jesus craving brains that I know of. There are precious few examples of Christians using their brains at all, in fact. Well, except to steal. “We’ll put in a good word with Jesus for you. Better leave twenty bucks.” Just like Jesus would have wanted, right?

Speaking of which, have you bought one of the CheetoJesus’ Bibles? I don’t know when he jumped on board with those. Apparently, Lee Greenwood has been selling them for awhile. I hear (but haven’t verified) that the most commonly mentioned feature in the reviews of these Bibles on the website is “sticky.” That’s just weird. Donny just got on board recently. He gets a cut but the Bible hawking isn’t going to solve his money problems. (His website is, apparently.)

Anyway, Jesus dies, lays around for three days, then gets back up. Well, according to the story. I’ve always been bothered that the only “witnesses” had financial interests in keeping the Jesus story alive, even if he wasn’t anymore. But that’s just me. He tells everyone that he’ll be back, ascends into the sky, and nobody has seen or heard from him since.

Now, to be clear, there are many, many people who will TELL you they just saw him. “Ooh, you JUST missed him. He was right here. Better leave twenty bucks.” Apparently, Jesus is really good at helping you find your keys or get a better grade on a test but not so much on ending poverty or wars.

But we don’t call this day, ‘Zombie Day.’ We call it ‘Easter.’ It DOES have a nicer ring to it, yes? No church would miss that. Churches are, after all is said and done, marketing outlets. They KNOW how to sell – and sell they do. I doubt they would have gone with ‘Zombie Day,’ even if they had known what a Zombie was. Negative connotations, you know…

When Christianity was trying to spread it’s message, one of the tricks they used was to overlay “Christian” holidays on top of other, existing holidays. So, for Easter, we get a risen-from-the-dead Zombie alongside a sentient bunny who, for reasons of his own, dyes eggs and hides them – so that we can be assured of God’s love. Don’t ask. Eat your chocolate. Oh, and, you’d better leave twenty bucks.

Tomorrow is ‘April Fool’s Day.’ That seems appropriate to me, somehow. But today? Today is Easter. Enjoy your chocolate and jelly beans. Don’t eat too many eggs. Head off to church and sing a few hymns to Jesus. Oh, and you’d better leave twenty bucks…

Happy Easter! However you celebrate, I hope you enjoy the day! After the way I worded my message, I can see how one might not believe the sentiment. I do. Just because *I* don’t buy it doesn’t mean YOU can’t buy it… So, really, Happy Easter!

Objectives…

by MyBaconPress

Okay, I don’t know if this qualifies as a correction, per se. I think it’s more like an update. Word I’m hearing now is that it’s most likely the Appellate court in the NY fraud civil trial, the one that lowered Donny’s bond amount, thinks the lower court made mistakes in valuations. I wrote Thursday, “It was just math.” That’s still true, but you’ve got to do your math correctly. If you don’t carry the one (or whatever) when you’re supposed to, you’re going to get the wrong answer.

The thinking is, the court probably used assessed values to arrive at it’s number, not resell value, which is usually higher – but, I would add, more subjective. THAT thinking, in turn, means that, on appeal, the higher court will lower the amount of the disgorgement, in addition to having lowered the amount of the bond. The two will again align, just at the lower number.

The thing is, there’s this problem with that I’ll call “The Problem of the Toos” but only just this once and then never again because that’s kinda dumb. The appellate court says using the old appraisals was inaccurate because appraisals were too old, but clearly, using the resell values is FAR too subjective. True, appraised values don’t keep up with resell values. But if the appellate court tries to go with resell value, they’re opening up a can of worms that can play out forevermore.

I think Engoron was right to use the objective number, but I can understand how that same, objective number is outdated. So, the solution presents itself, doesn’t it? The court should order an immediate reappraisal of all trump properties, and then use THAT number. I like that solution for two reasons: one, it’s the most fair and, two it’s a double-edged sword for both sides.

On the one hand, the court would have a current, objective number to work with, but Donny would get a break on the crimes he committed at the earliest date of the frauds in question. (Because the appraised value goes up, the extent of his earliest frauds goes down.) On Donny’s side, he gets that break (and so pays a lower fine than he otherwise might), but now has to pay taxes on the new values going forward.

It’s a win/win or a lose/lose, depending upon how one looks at it. But it solves the problem in an objective way and removes all the subjective valuation possibilities. I don’t know what they’ll do, but I hope they do that…

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I find myself amazed at what happened in Baltimore. A ship hits a bridge and the bridge falls down? It’s going to cause havoc for awhile. Some 8,000 workers are out of work until the port opens again. (That’s millions out of the local economy.) Trucks pulling hazardous materials were required to use THAT bridge to move their cargo. Now what? It’s an economic disaster. It’s also amazing only six people lost their lives. That bridge is a major thoroughfare. It COULD have had hundreds, maybe thousands of people on it. A disaster – that could have been far worse.

Of course, MAGA media did it’s level best to MAKE it worse – by adding the stink of conspiracy theories. MAGA spends it’s days – and nights – searching, desperately for someone to blame and/or fear. No incident is too small but this one? This is a big one. It needed big lies. Lying Alex Jones suggested it was a cyber attack on the ship. “WW3 has already started!”

Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo suggested it was somehow related to the chaos on the southern border. Other’s tried to blame the crash on Obama. Some said they saw explosions. All fake. All fictions. Oh, of course, there was also the inevitable, ‘medical emergency caused by a Covid-19 vaccination.’ YEARS later, and MAGA STILL doesn’t understand science. Okay, so, none of the above.

The ship lost power for reasons still being investigated. Then, it drifted. It turns out, water has currents and those currents can move a ship, especially since it was already under way. Who knew? (Okay, everybody but MAGA.) I DO have one question: why weren’t the supports for that bridge better protected for such an event? I mean, that’s an important lifeline in Baltimore. I know, some things are inconceivable but it was somebody’s job to conceive of something like that. It’s not like it was ever absolutely impossible.

But that’s hindsight, and not a conspiracy. I’ll bet the new bridge has better protection. First, though, they’ve got to get that channel open, thereby opening the port again. Then they have to clear the rest of the debris. That’s going to take a long time before they can even start thinking about rebuilding, which will also take a long time.

I’ll tell you this: This thing is going to fade from the national news pretty quickly but in Baltimore, they’re going to be struggling with this for years to come…

Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied…

by MyBaconPress

I was fully in the ‘Trump-is-going-to-jail’ camp. I debated it with people. I wrote as much in these pages. I don’t think so as much anymore. Not only do I NOT think Donny is going to jail, anymore, I’ll be amazed if he ever even sees any of his criminal trials start. My mistake? I had faith in the American criminal justice system. I mean, I knew it wasn’t perfect, but, overall, I feel like it does a pretty good job, or did, anyway. But now? Whatever happens with that guy, someone swoops in and saves him.

In the New York civil fraud trial he lost, the judge didn’t just pull a number out of thin air. Because of the statute of limitations, that trial only covered a small portion of the time Donny’s trumpery has gone on . During that time, the judge was able to determine that Donny had stolen something like $355 million dollars through his schemes and manipulations. He added in the interest and – voila! – he had a number. It was just math.

New York law says that if you want to appeal a finding, you have to post a bond equal to the amount you owe. Donny claimed, in court, he didn’t have the money – while simultaneously claiming, in social media, he DID have the money. (He’s lying to someone.) A three judge panel on the appeals court said Donny could just post a smaller amount and it would be okay. To be clear, he still owes the full amount should the appeal fail, but he only has to post 38% of the total amount owed because of…reasons. (Think ‘Special Treatment.’)

Yet again, Donny beats the system. Do you know what happens to a normal (meaning “not rich”) person who can’t pay his fine? They have their assets seized. No one simply reduces the amount you owe. The fine is the fine and if you can’t pay in cash, you can “pay” in other ways. I’m tempted to repeat, the devil takes care of his own. Sadly, this is less metaphysical. Rich people take care of their own – even when “their own” is Donny.

If Donny’s good at anything, it’s undermining people’s faith in institutions. I’m feeling that way right now. I’ve lost faith in America’s legal system. Oh, they set a date for the New York criminal fraud trial? April 15? Whoopee. Do you know what that means to me? It means some other judge better step in by April 14 and save his snowflake ass – and someone will. I don’t know who and I don’t know how. I know it shouldn’t be. But they will.

Set a trial date, BFD. Donny is facing four criminal trials. One of them is overseen by a full-blown MAGA and she resists setting a trial date at all. Between the other three, April 15 is something like the sixth trial date he has faced, but never faces. At this point, I’ll believe Donny faces justice when he actually meets justice – and not one second sooner.

I’ll tell you this: A system of law enforcement that doesn’t apply equally to everyone is NOT a system of justice. It’s a system of oppression…

Now I’m going to pull this thread a little bit and connect a couple of dots, thereby mixing my metaphors. (Please prepare your tin-foil hats.) Getting to the election is important to Donny. He’s not going to win. Not honestly, anyway. But… when is the last time you heard of Donny doing ANYTHING honestly? It doesn’t matter either way, though, because MAGA has a plan to simply install Donny, win or lose, so all he has to do is get to the election.

So, why do I think Donny will lose in November? He lost by 7 million votes in 2020. Since then, which voting group do you see that he might have picked up? I see several he has likely lost. Women, for example. No, not EVERY woman, obviously, don’t be obnoxious. But the GOP ought to see Marilyn Lands’ victory in Alabama as a harbinger. She ran a pro-choice, pro-IVF campaign and won – by 25 points – in Alabama. Apparently, women don’t LIKE being reduced to incubators. They KNOW that was the GOP. They KNOW that hasn’t stopped or even slowed. In fact, the GOP is ramping up efforts to make absolutely certain women suffer even more. Women are voting accordingly.

Latinos? Really? Why, because the border is a mess? Do you remember what Donny did at the border? They separated families. Not just while the families were being processed. Permanently. And they did such a poor job of keeping track, they were unable to reunite children with parents. The Biden administration has managed to reunite some 700 of those families but they STILL have nearly 1,000 to go! Did you forget? I’ll bet the Latino community hasn’t forgotten. Sure, the border is a mess and Biden hasn’t fixed it, but the Dumbass was hardly better and actively destroyed families in order to “discourage” immigration.

Who else? What I see is conservatives snuggling up to alternatives. They tried Haley. Now they’re looking at RFK, Jr. I suspect there are many cons out there who, if asked, will tell you Donny’s their boy but when they actually step into the booth, will vote the straight Republican ticket – and just…skip the ‘President’ box. So I can see several places where he’s lost support but I don’t see that he’s gained support, anywhere. You can’t judge by the primaries. The GOP primaries have been corrupted and controlled by MAGA but MAGA isn’t enough to carry him through a general election. Crazy, stupid, and incompetent was great for the primaries. It won’t be so great later.

Thus, the MAGA plan. (“If you can’t win, cheat!”) The thing about the MAGA plan is that, except for the initial big lie – “abnormalities with the election”- every step would be “legal.” Absolutely wrong and unethical in every conceivable way, but technically, legal. The current breakdown in the House? Dems have 213 seats. The GOP has 218. That’s a five seat spread. There are currently four vacancies, all to be decided by pending special elections.

In what I hope is a helpful move by the GOP, they’ve decided that all donations will be diverted to defending their Presidential candidate through all of his criminal trials. THAT means that none of the down ticket candidates can expect help from the national party, and many of the local parties are in disarray, leaving Dems a money advantage. Still, some of the vacancies are in bright red districts so they may not need help. Worst case? One of the vacancies goes Democrat, three go GOP.

That would leave a seven person advantage for the GOP in the House, and that’s enough to pull off their evil deeds. Get this: if that happens, it would mean the ONLY path the United States of America has toward NOT failing, is if there are at least seven Republican congressmen with integrity who love America more than their party or dear leader. SEVEN Republican Congressmen with integrity? Better get out the torches and pitchforks. I think we’re going to need them…

Burning and Crashing, Crashing and Burning…

by MyBaconPress

So, Putin runs for “re-election” saying he’s the guy to count on for security. He “wins.” Not a month later, four armed men start shooting up a concert. Then, in the chaos, as the crowd flees in panic, the shooters reportedly set the building on fire. There’s a possibility it wasn’t them intentionally. But they’re still responsible. All of this happened IN Moscow. 137 dead. More than 180 injured. The four men who did it have been arrested. They showed up in court, already beaten. One had to be brought in from intensive care. I presume, no matter HOW long they’re sentenced to serve, they’ll “serve” only a short time. Then, they’ll die. Maybe, “out walking.”

The shooters say they’re Islamic State. The Islamic State has claimed both the shooters AND responsibility for the attack. (On non-combatant civilians, it should be noted.) Putin? He goes on state TV (Foxacova Newsinski?) and blames… Ukraine! Well, kind of. There was a heavy implication that the shooters were escaping to Ukraine using a prepared escape route, leaving open the possibility that it was a Ukrainian attack without actually blaming Kyiv for orchestrating the attack. For their part, Kyiv has denied any knowledge of, and all responsibility for, the attack.

The attack was carried out by a group of people associated with a known terrorist group called Isis-k. (Now with more vitamins?) They’ve been critical of Putin and his policies for years. They think he does things to harm Islam. Peculiar, isn’t it, that they DON’T think killing a bunch of civilians – who don’t have any more control over policy than the shooters to – doesn’t harm Islam in any way? It might just be me, but I think killing innocents “in the name of Islam” gives Muhammad something of a black eye.

In a completely unrelated side note: how come all these tough guys with guns always attack unarmed, unprepared civilians and never – and I do mean never – attack the actual people who set the policies they’re mad about? No, I’m not calling for political assassinations but, really, if you’re pissed off at the government for something, don’t attack civilians. Attack the government you’re pissed off at. If you’re angry with Putin and really need to kill someone over it, kill Putin. Yeah, it’s going to be harder than killing a bunch of concert-goers. But it will be FAR more direct in expressing your outrage.

I don’t think we’ll ever know much more than that. Officially, the Kremlin will work to protect Putin, making sure he continues to look like the strong, resolute leader he isn’t. Russia will continue, I believe, to pretend it has something to do with Ukraine so they can try to create some support for Putin’s war. But I don’t think much trustworthy news will be forthcoming…

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Hey, Boing’s, no Boeing’s CEO, Dave Calhoun, is “stepping down.” That’s usually corporate speak for “fired,” but he’s not leaving until the end of the year so, maybe. Calhoun came into the job in 2020, after Boeing’s 737 Max airplanes started falling out of the sky. Technically, I guess he DID improve things. Now, only pieces of 737’s are falling out of the sky.

In fairness, this is 21st century, “free-market” Capitalism America. It wasn’t Calhoun’s job to keep the planes (and all of it’s pieces) in the air. His job was to shore up the stock price, which he did, by making lots of noise about keeping the planes in the air. Then, when plane parts and the stock price started falling, Calhoun had to go. Hey, don’t let the door hit you, Dave. No, not in the ass. The one that just fell from one of your planes…

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Speaking of crashing and burning, Donny has a SPAC set to go public sometime this week. A SPAC is a ‘Special Purpose Acquisition Company.’ It doesn’t DO anything of it’s own. It just buys some private company someplace, and then takes it public. A SPAC does it faster than an IPO because it doesn’t have the same oversight. It’s not a perfect statement, but it’s safe to say that if you have a company that can’t meet the stringent requirements of an IPO, use a SPAC. They’re often instruments of, well, trumpery. (Ergo, Trump.)

The company going public is Donny’s social media company. The company will be called ‘Digital World’ and it’s stock symbol is going to be ‘DJT.’ MAGA is running up the stock price. Think Gamestop. Remember when Gamestop’s share price suddenly shot through the roof? The financial fundamentals of Gamestop couldn’t support such pricing but people liked Gamestop and tried to help. The thing is, early investors “trying to help” started running up the stock price and, pretty soon, people who shouldn’t be in the market at all were buying and the whole thing became a feeding frenzy – with nothing real to feed on.

IF you get in early on such a run and then get the hell out, you can make some money. It’s the later investors who are going to take it in the shorts. But these are MAGA people investing, not in some company, but in their glorious dear leader. They’re already in and they won’t get out. That would be disloyal to Donny. There are a LOT of red flags, but these guys only see red hats. Soon? They’re likely to be seeing only red ink.

First, it’s a Trump company. I don’t know a single Trump company Donny has started that has succeeded. In truth, I think he uses them as fleecing vehicles. He never even intends to run a going concern. He just wants the short-term income. His last public offering (also trading as ‘DJT’) was his casino. The casino found itself in worse and worse financial condition and all the while Donny was raking in millions in “compensation.” That’s his standard model.

He starts a company, pays himself a substantial wage for his “services” (privatizing all the revenues), then bankrupts the company and starts another somewhere. It’s harmful to whatever industry it is, it’s harmful to the community it happens in, it’s harmful to investors. But Donny makes money so, I guess it’s just business?

Truth Social had revenues in the first nine months of 2023 of $3.4 million dollars. Yeah, that’s a lot. But not as much as it spent, so they lost $10.6 million. It is keeping itself afloat by taking out loans. In total, since it started, Trump Media is $49 million dollars in the hole, after only nine months of operation! Spending more than it is bringing in AND getting deeper and deeper into debt? Yeah, that sounds exactly like a trump company. HE takes his cash up front. The investors have to wait for theirs. So far, ALL of his investors in ALL of his companies are still waiting to see a penny of return.

It’s not going to be any better for any of his investors in this venture, either. I don’t know if Donny really knows HOW to run a going concern. He has never even tried. It’s yet another part of the MAGA mania sweeping large parts of the country that fascinates me. I wonder how long MAGA can keep this guy living the lifestyle of a wanna-be Billionaire. Should this stock crash and burn, as expected, MAGA is going to have a LOT less money to give…