No column last week. My bad. I got involved with a wedding and it became rather…all-consuming. By the time the dust settled, I had missed my own deadline by nearly a week. The pay remains the same, though, so…no worries…

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It seems to me that putz Putin has gone full-on Dumbass. Now, the truth is, I’ve never been able to decide if Donnie is evil and stupid or evil and a wily schemer, or both. Evil, of course, is a given. But Putin is using trumpery in his Ukrainian invasion to full effect. Okay, so, to no effect. Nobody, except perhaps some Russians, believe anything Putin is saying. Really, in order for the Russians to even have a chance to believe it, Putin had to block every dissenting voice he could. And STILL, too many Russians know the truth. Some of the talking heads on Fox “News” seem to believe it, too, but it’s equally likely they’re just parroting whatever position-du-jour Fox is pushing in the moment.

Still, these days, when Putin speaks, it’s the words of the Orange Moron that come out. Oh, they HAD to invade Ukraine…uh…well…uh…to root out the Nazi’s. Yeah, THAT’S the ticket! The NAZI’S! The only thing I’ve ever heard about Nazi’s in Ukraine is when TrumPutin started whining he had no choice but to invade because Ukraine’s Jewish President was a Nazi! Yeah, right. He told the Russian people that Russia had no choice but to “defend itself” from Ukraine. He told his people that Ukraine wanted to end the Russian state. Of course, there’s not evidence of any of this but evidence is not important to fraudsters. In fact, they rely on the absence of evidence to continue whatever evil scheme they’ve initiated.

Now TrumPutin is telling the world that what they’re seeing with their own eyes from Bucha isn’t what they’re seeing at all. Pure trumpery…

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A little while back, Texas passed a law, SB 8, that allows private citizens to sue anybody who helps somebody get an abortion. No government employees, just private citizens. Texas thinks of it as a “work-around” to the “problem” of women having a choice regarding control over their own bodies. (I note they did NOT require the emitter of the sacred sperm to begin child support payments after 8 weeks.) I don’t like the law. Texas feels like they can’t officially enforce abortion bans, so they tried to empower private citizens to the job for them, whether said private citizen can show damages from the actions or not. It essentially creates a bounty of $10,000 per abortion. Lovely. It’s a trick I suspect they learned from the Federal government when 43 wanted to spy on all Americans. They realized it was illegal for the government to do it so they got private cell phone service providers to do it FOR them and just turn the information over. Cons, always on about infringements of their rights, didn’t seem to care about THAT particular infringement.

When I first heard about it, I immediately wondered if some other, smarter, state might use the same stupid tactic to enforce laws THEY can’t enforce but want action on. Take, for example, guns. One wants better regulation of guns but can’t achieve it because cons pretend it violates the Constitution? Hey, just ignore the part of the Second Amendment that reads: “A well-REGULATED militia…” (emphasis mine) and empower private citizens! Let THEM violate the Constitution for you! Why, it’s not a government action at all. It’s simply a civil action used to enforce legal preferences.

Enter California. They’ve done it, or, rather, they’re threatening to doing it. The California legislature is using the same tactic to address the problem of “ghost” guns and parts – guns with no serial numbers. If you know someone participating in the movement or ownership of such parts/guns, you can sue them for up to $10,000 per gun. I kind of love it. Not so much because of it’s issue but because it highlights the absurdity of allowing private citizens to violate the constitution on behalf of the government while pretending it’s not the government at all.

Now red and blue states can empower their citizens to violate the Constitution in a wide variety of ways! See a black person trying to vote? Sue them! There’s a church down the street with a message you don’t like? Sue them! A transgender human needs to pee? Sue them! Someone wants to associate with a group you disapprove of? Screw that, sue them! I think a clever politician could find a way to allow private citizens to violate the Constitution on behalf of the government on just about the entire Bill of Rights – which will, of course, effectively eliminate the Bill of Rights. Genius, right? An effing “work-around” for the Bill of Rights.

In truth, I don’t like either law and I think they should both be struck down but, nowadays, we live in a very stupid, very corrupt country and I’m not holding out hope. (I hope I don’t get sued for expressing my opinion, here…)

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I like that unions seem to be making a comeback. It seems that even conservatives have figured out, despite their conditioning to the contrary, that labor is a commodity and can be managed – like all the other commodities. It’s funny, so many people believed for so long that unions were only bad and that people should just trust their employers to do the right thing. But the right-wing disinformation machine can convince cons of just about anything – right up until they experience it themselves. THEN they see the detail. THEN they understand how they’ve been misled.

What I believe – and have always believed – is that employers will do ANYTHING to reduce the “burdens” they suffer from the employees, that is, the very people who do the work that make the owners SO incredibly rich. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a (brief) look at history. In history, “employers” used to bring workers down to the Caribbean islands and work them in the sugar cane fields until they died! Then, they’d just replace them with new “employees.” Yes, these were slave owners and slaves. But the very concept of slavery proves beyond question that some people will DO anything, can justify ANYTHING, in the name of profit. Jeff Bezos takes turns being the richest man in the world. HE, personally, doesn’t do anything to “earn” ANY of that money. He just keeps it – because he’s in a position to do so.

Amazon cheated in the unionization attempt in Birmingham, Alabama. They cheated so badly, in fact, the courts threw out the final vote and ordered a re-vote. Amazon had less success in New York where a recent union vote went for the union. Amazon is trying to fight the outcome. ANYTHING but treat the people who bring Bezos SO much like human beings. In the article I read in the Guardian, ‘Amazon fights to overturn union’s historic win at New York warehouse,’ there was this little tidbit: “In a filing last week, the company disclosed it spent about $4.2m last year on labor consultants.” $4.2 MILLION dollars trying to keep from having to do the right thing. Hey, the South went to war to try to prevent losing their free labor pool. Some people will do anything. Labor organization is the only tool workers have.

For years, corporate media convinced it’s consumers that all the “good” jobs – the manufacturing jobs, they claimed – had gone overseas, which was true. But these weren’t the “good” jobs because they were manufacturing jobs. They were good jobs because they were union jobs. Greedy, self-serving employers were forced to do the right thing, like it or not. Of course, they’re SO greedy, they just moved their operations overseas where they could take advantage of an even LESS powerful population and reported back to the American people they’d just have to get by on service jobs – with no unions. Ever since, our “service economy” has become poorer and poorer and more and more desperate while the Kleptocrats just keep taking more and more and more. The American people are going to have to organize and rise up and I’m glad there may be a way to fight back without widespread bloodshed…

I don’t know why people are only calling for Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from cases involving the 2020 election, which Donnie the Dumbass lost in spectacular fashion. He should step down. Period. His wife, Ginnie, gave the world the reason. She’s a bat-shit crazy con who insists the Dumbass won the election, despite having no proof to support her claim. (Lindell’s pages of 1’s and 0’s notwithstanding.) That’s not really the problem, though. One is allowed to have a crazy – or maybe just stupid – partner. It should be noted that Ginnie is a dyed-in-the-wool believer in the Q-Anonsense. Is Clarence?

TWICE, since trumpery’s big lie began, Clarence has ruled in favor of her. No, I know. Officially, he’s not ruling for his crazy-ass wife. He’s ruling on some “contested” point of law. It just happens that his opinions don’t support law, but DO support protecting his wife. Coincidence, see? In February of 2021, shortly after the CheetoJesus attempted a coup on January 6th, Pennsylvania Republicans file a suit – I think it was called Pennsylvanian Snowflakes Sad About the Outcome vs the United States but you should check that. Anyway, Pennsylvanian snowflake Republicans tried to whine about the outcome of the 2020 election all the way to the “Supreme” Court. The case being frivolous, the High Court rejected the suit. Thomas dissented, even as he included in his dissent the reality that the election had been “free from strong evidence of systemic fraud.” So, why would Thomas support a suit he KNOWS has no merit? I think he was writing a plea to his wife…

THEN, in January, 2022, the Orange Moron tried to block the release of a trove of documents from when he polluted the Oval Office to the January 6th commission. Hard to blame him, really. They just keep revealing one incriminating detail after another. That suit went to the “Supreme” Court, too. The whole court agreed the Dumbass couldn’t make the case he was trying to make. Well, everyone but Thomas. Thomas dissented, with no stated rationale for his vote. It seems, now, his “rationale” was that the documents were going to implicate his wife in the coup attempt – as they have done. She was at the January 6th rally, though she maintains she left before the riots. Likely true, since she had to get to the command post to help support the freaking thing. Fortunately, she wrote much of her criminal, traitorous behavior down. Apparently, she’ll be taking the Fifth before the January 6th commission soon.

For his part, Clarence got some unnamed “sudden infection” as the information became public and has been unavailable for comment…

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Biden’s rhetoric about Putin is ratcheting up. In a recent speech, Biden said of Putin, “This man cannot be allowed to remain in power.” The White House, of course, followed up with “clarifications.” No, we’re not calling for the destruction of the Russian government. What the President “meant,” apparently, is that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors. Oh, okay.

Personally, I think Putin should be removed from power completely. But I don’t think calls for the Russian people to remove him will find any traction. It’s hard for day-to-day citizens to rise up against their leadership, no matter how bad – or how corrupt – that “leadership” is. Most rational, thinking Americans know, for example, that Dumbass trumpery was grifting from the moment he took power in the Oval Office and not only did they NOT rise up, they won’t put the criminal in jail. Hell, he might even run for President again. In the same way the Dumbass counts on important support from the “poorly educated” – whom he loves – Putin has a small but powerful cadre of supporters at his back, too.

In the meantime, Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine continues unabated. He has kind of shown the world that the Russian bear is more of a Russian bear cub – unless they use significantly damaging weapons like chemicals or nukes. The Russian troops don’t want to be where they are and seem to be surrendering military equipment to the Ukrainians as quickly as they can. Putin apparently issued a statement saying he never really intended to take ALL of Ukraine. He only wants the Donbas, an eastern Ukrainian region. It would be like if Putin invaded California, saying he “just” want control of Florida and Georgia. I think most Presidents would say no. The Dumbass would likely consider the request. Okay, on second thought, America would be MUCH better off without Florida or Georgia so, any takers?

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I kind of love the idea that the Dumbass is suing Hillary Clinton over the investigation into his Russian connections. I’ll bet. Trumpery thinks Clinton and others “colluded” to create the idea that his campaign was in league with Russia – based on nothing more than his team’s collusion with Russia! The nerve! Remember, there have already been a number of convictions.

Trumpery is a first-class moron. (Finally! First class at something…) Hillary is smarter than the CheetoJesus in her sleep. But Donnie the Dumbass just keeps going, doesn’t he? I STILL say, Satan takes care of his own…

I just wanted to take a moment to say that I think the current GOP-generated trumpery about Ketanji Brown-Jackson’s qualifications to sit on the “Supreme” Court should be seen by every thinking American as a good sign. I mean, look, everyone knows the Republicans were going to find the Democratic nominee unacceptable for some reason. Everyone knows the Republicans hated the Democratic nominee – whomever it might eventually turn out to be – from the very moment they heard the Democratic president got to name a nominee. It’s not outrage. It’s theater – and I’ve seen this play so many times, it’s boring and not at all impressive.

So (yawn) the Republicans are pretending the good judge has been lenient with certain cases involving the defendant possessing – not producing – child porn. The lies suggest she’s pretty much okay with child porn and generally allows perpetrators to walk as often as possible. Those, of course, are the sound-bite statements – made with no rebuttal allowed and actually intended for campaign ads in their home states down the road. Honest media responded to the fraud nearly immediately by pointing out that Judge Brown-Jackson’s sentencing record in these cases is perfectly in keeping with practices all along the Federal bench. They pointed out that even judges appointed by the Dumbass make very similar sentences.

And they couldn’t even stick to just the fraudulent charges. They just HAD to misrepresent her actual record over and over and over again. In short? It’s a smear, not a “concern.” Today she gets to offer rebuttals to their bullshit. So, listen, if that’s the best the GOP can come up with to try and defame her? Good.

Welcome to the “Supreme” Court Judge Brown-Jackson…

Okay so, a couple of years ago a laptop became the focus of much chatter in the conservative bubble. According to a dude who knew a guy, his friend had discovered an abandoned laptop ostensibly that belonged to Hunter Biden. The contents of the laptop were copied and made into a transcript that was passed around. As it happens, the laptop, itself, was passed around, too, before finding it’s way to the Justice Department. As a group, the left – myself included – was pretty much unimpressed. A dude who knew a guy? A laptop handled by nearly every prominent GOP enemy of Joe Biden?

As it happens, though, this particular story in the conservative bubble turned out to have some legs. The laptop DID belong to Hunter Biden and the Justice Department may have found evidence of crimes, mostly him trying to make money off of the coincidence of being Joe Biden’s son. No word on the chain of custody issues but I’m guessing we’ll hear FAR more about it during any legal processes that may arise. For clarity, they may NOT arise, either. Justice has confirmed the laptop did belong to Hunter and has some concerning emails on it but has NOT said flatly Hunter committed crimes. The issues on the laptop are currently under investigation.

Still, it’s enough for the cons. The cons see the problem of ne’er-do-well Hunter as proof that Joe shouldn’t be President. They just refuse to grasp that most people didn’t vote for Joe because they thought Joe was the right man for the job. People voted for Joe because he wasn’t Donnie the Dumbass. Period. But, oh, they GOT Hunter, didn’t they? Some of my con friends have taken the attitude that they “got” me, too, because I remain unwilling to accept stories based on flimsy assertions and because I wrote in this space in October of 2020 that I wasn’t buying the story. (MyBaconPress acknowledges and regrets the error.) It’s a difference that can be highlighted between thinking Americans and conservatives. Thinking Americans will consider the new evidence and re-think their positions, updating accordingly. For instance, I didn’t buy the laptop story based on the assertions I had heard at the time. Now that confirmation has come from more credible sources, my current position is that if the evidence supports the charges, Hunter should pay the price. Simple, straight-forward, and honest.

For their part, once they’ve been given a position-du-jour, cons cannot, will not, are absolutely forbidden from changing their prescribed viewpoint on that topic at any and all costs. They don’t even notice when they’re arguing against their own stated positions, like, the very next day. Also, they’re amazingly adept at narrowing their focus to the point where they see crimes and nepotism in their political enemies but never notice similar (or worse) behavior from the pampered offspring of their political heroes.

What? Hunter Biden may have taken a job he wasn’t qualified for, that he only got because of who his daddy is? LOCK HIM UP! What ABOUT Eric, Don Jr, and Ivanka? They get what they get because of their obvious skills and qualifications. Sure. Obvious. Really, I wish the cons were able to widen their view and realize, that’s just the way life works for the useless offspring of the very wealthy. If they didn’t have their entire lives handed to them for nothing, they wouldn’t have anything at all.

The actual fight, here, is NOT left vs right. It’s the Haves vs the Have-nots, and the Haves are keeping the Have-nots squabbling over crumbs while they steal all of the cookies. In the meantime, though, I’ll let the cons have their day squawking over Hunter’s laptop. They don’t get many opportunities. A story from the conservative bubble that turns out to have legs is a VERY rare thing…

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In this once-great nation, these days, it seems like we’ve intentionally chosen to take a path in which, if we do ANYTHING at all, we do it wrong. I can’t explain this phenomenon. It can’t be an accident. If it’s your thing to make bad decisions while trying to make good decisions, you’ll occasionally make a good decision. So to be so consistently wrong on every front, at every turn suggests to me somebody somewhere is TRYING to make the worst possible choices at all times. Sadly, whoever that mysterious someone is, seems to be having tremendous success.

Take Daylight Saving Time. Daylight Saving Time is just a scam so energy companies can squeeze a little more money from the Have-nots when the weather starts changing. It serves no other purpose, despite whatever stories one might hear. People REALLY don’t like the time changes. They’re very disruptive to daily life. Evidence shows the time changes result in small but noticeable increases in car accidents, acute health problems and mental health challenges. So, Congress, in it’s infinite fealty to wealth has decided to stop with the time changes. Great. THEN they say they want to keep us on Daylight Saving Time all year round. D’oh!

It’s a typical Capitalist hellhole decision. It builds the money-gouging into the system once and for all. But think about the deepest part of winter. It will STAY dark longer into the already dark mornings. Think about the kids – YOUR kids and grand-kids – who will have to make their way to school in the dark. This is not just theoretical, either. In 1974, America switched to Daylight Saving year round. The change lasted less than a year and was revoked after several early morning traffic accidents involving children. Yes, changing the clocks sucks so we should…kill more of our children. Good. Great call. Oh, by the way, science says (sorry to mention science, cons) it’s bad for humans. It conflicts with our natural circadian rhythms. The correct move is to kill the time changes by switching to Standard Time, once and for all. Let individual Americans decide how they’ll spend their time on summer days.

But these days? You give Americans the chance to do the wrong thing, they WILL DO the wrong thing. Every time…

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Recently, it struck me that Cult 45 was created – and is maintained – using the exact same tricks and techniques that have been used by extremist conservative “Christian” cults throughout time: a narrow focus on their preferred leader, a narrow focus on their preferred “realities,” self-imposed isolation combined with dogged determination to avoid and disregard any and all information that conflicts with said preferred leader, and absolute, blind obedience to same.

The followers will die – and kill – for their beloved leader. They readily give up all of their possessions. They readily offer up their young daughters for the sexual pleasures of the Chosen One. There are no bridges too far or lines they won’t cross. Hell, they can be conditioned to attack their own country, threaten to kill their own leaders, defend a nation’s adversaries.

They’re the same techniques used by David Koresh and his ‘Branch Davidians.’ They’re the same techniques used by Jim Jones and his ‘People’s Temple.’ They’re the same techniques used by Bonnie Nettles and Marshall Applewhite in their ‘Heaven’s Gate’ cult. They’re the same techniques used by Charles Manson and his ‘Family.’ Pop quiz: which of those ended well?

The conservative media and the ‘Trumpsters’ are operating on a much larger scale using the same tips and tricks as Adolph Hitler and his Nazi’s to “scale up” their ethical collapse. I fear the end will be just as bloody as those forerunner groups and, for the life of me, I can’t figure a way to stop it before the bloodshed…

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I’m old enough to remember when conservatives thought the very worst thing any human being could do to any OTHER human being was to participate in a protest that somehow blocked traffic. OMG, how they screamed at the inconvenience! They even started trying to pass laws allowing motorists to simply kill or maim the protestors, using their cars as weapons. After all, those people (wink, wink) were “only” protesting centuries of abuse and maltreatment – supported by volumes of evidence SO undeniable, the only way it can be contained is if no one ever even gets to know about it. (It’s a curious form of the ‘personal responsibility’ claptrap they’re always on about.)

But the whiny truckers blocking traffic on the border between Canada and the US? Heroes, all…just ask the cons. Each and every one of those protestors? Why, simply standing up for freedumb. Of course. How DARE they be asked to engage in a bit of social responsibility? The nerve! There was an AstroTurf followup protest staged in the US. A bunch of the whiny little bitches drove around Washington DC to what was reported as a FLOCK of “birdies” – the finger kind, not the winged kind – aimed at the babies. Apparently, some of the snowflakes got their “feels” bruised. Me? I’m laughing. Forrest Gump’s mom was right: stupid is as stupid does. Nobody does stupid better than a con…

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Every time I see Joe Biden’s mug stuck to some gas pump with the “I did this” slogan next to him, I know one thing: the person who stuck the sticker has no clue. About anything, really, but, in this case, the reference is to how the world oil market works – or doesn’t, as the case may be.

It’s just so easy to work a con into a frothing frenzy of outraged stupidity…

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Apparently, the world won’t confront Putin directly because he has nukes. I get it, but I also think it’s kind of dumb. He’s always going to have nukes. Does that mean he always gets his way? He just gets to pick a country, any country, and invade because he STILL has nukes?

“Oh, no,” they say, “but direct confrontation might lead to World War III.” It might not, too. Putin has kind of demonstrated that, aside from his nukes, his army doesn’t seem to be all that together. Do you think old ‘Murdering Vlad’ realizes that if he nukes one of his neighbors, he’s nuking Russians, too? Like it or not, nuclear fallout doesn’t respect boundaries or borders. It kind of reminds me of the scene in ‘Blazing Saddles’ when Cleavon Little holds a gun to his own head and threatens to pull the trigger if anyone moves – and everyone else drops their weapons!

I have to acknowledge, there is always the possibility that he’s been holding back but that seems stupid, too. If he wanted to take the major cities using a Blitzkrieg kind of strategy, it would have made sense to send in overwhelming force. Putin didn’t do that. So, he seems to be counting heavily on the fact that he HAS nukes, even though he can’t actually USE his nukes. (BTW, the world’s timidity in attacking countries with nukes explains perfectly why Iran is so focused on getting them. But that’s another essay.)

To be clear, I’m not pro-war. I think, like most Americans, we’re all effing tired of fighting after George’s Stupid Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But it wouldn’t be a US response, it would be NATO, not some pretend “coalition.” Besides, the response wouldn’t be about invading a country for no reason other than greed. (In fact, that seems to be what Putin did.) This is about a madman who has come to believe that he can’t be stopped. This feels more like Germany in 1938. The Nazis claimed Austria and Czechoslovakia. Hitler got away with that because the world let him, agreeing that, well, yes, they HAD been Germany, once, so, it was probably okay. (Sound familiar?) Those were fiat takeovers backed by the threat of military force. Then they invaded Poland.

Putin got away with his fiat takeover of Crimea in much the same way. Then he tried the “used to be ours” crap on Ukraine. That’s still his justification. The world seems to be accepting that clearly fraudulent argument in fear of the nukes. (I’m sure the people of the First Nations are wondering if “used to be ours” might work on the North American continent – if, perhaps, world governments would turn up their bellies and just…give it back.)

I don’t know if I’m right. But it feels like we’re not avoiding war by allowing the Russian Strongman to run roughshod over his neighbors. It feels like we’re just making worse the inevitable war of the future…

That putz Putin seems to be trying to take a page out of the Dumbass playbook: simply state your preferred reality and then insist everyone around you embrace that new, false reality. Above all, stick to your story no matter how stupid and no matter how easily debunked. On Saturday (March 5), he gave a speech in which he claimed that the sanctions being imposed on him for his illegal invasion of Ukraine are “akin to an act of war.” I see it differently but even if it were true it would be FAR less so than invading one of your neighbors, wouldn’t you say? He also claimed that Ukrainians defending themselves run the risk of putting the Ukrainian state in peril. “The current leadership needs to understand that if they continue doing what they are doing, they risk the future of Ukrainian statehood,” Putin said. “If that happens they will have to be blamed for that.” Not him and his war of aggression. No. The Ukrainians. For defending themselves. Sounds like an abusive spouse…

Just like the Orange Moron, he’s out blaming everyone else for his own actions and failings. Just like the Orange Moron, whatever sanity he may have had at one point has taken a powder. I stand by my assertion that his madness seems likely the result of his isolation during Covid. Have you seen the photos of that nutball at one of his forty foot long tables or in rooms so big his advisors have to talk to him via microphone? I think the distance could be about not catching the virus but, in fairness, Putin has poisoned so many people, he could just be scared someone might try to poison him right back, as they should. (More on that in a minute…)

Oh, and he threatened to widen his war to include Europe and the rest of the world. At this point, he doesn’t seem to have the military strength to do that so what do you think his threat refers to? The west limits it’s assistance in Ukraine to equipment and logistical support, fearing the madman with the nukes might use them – always the nightmare scenario when the topic of nukes comes up. But even THAT is too much for Comrade Putin. He wants everyone to look away while he attacks a peaceful, sovereign nation with the intention of returning control of Ukraine to “Mother Russia.”

The Russian people seem to be unhappy about the attack and many of the Russian soldiers report that they didn’t even know they were going to war. They thought it was a training exercise. So, it appears that nobody likes this invasion except Putin. Well, Putin and the American far right. That group has been trying to snuggle with Putin for years because they see him as a strongman and a beacon for white superiority. Besides, it’s easier for them. They don’t have to actually LIVE under Putin’s brutal rule so they get to fantasize about how awesome it must be. They COULD go there and find out but one does not see much of that…

As a sidebar, I read an article in the Guardian suggesting that both the far right AND the far left have embraced Putin. No link because the article is so stupid but the headline is, ‘Far Right and Far Left Alike Admired Putin…’ The writer gave many modern examples of far-right scoundrels who openly fawn over Putin, including Donnie the Dumbass, Marie Le Pen in France, and Boris Johnson of the UK. He offered two examples of far left supporters: Karl Marx and Oscar Wilde. Seems like a real reach claiming lefty supporters when you have to go back to the 19th century to find them. All right, I’ll give you Eugene Debs, too, but even he died in 1929. Putin wasn’t even born until 1952 so my bet would be none of those guys were actually Putin fans. Conservatives will just say anything to try to make a “point”…

The stupidity of the racist right has always boggled my mind a bit. I continue to hold that the best argument against White Supremacy is the white supremacists. Drooling morons, all. Donnie the Dumbass is, of course, their current poster child but Marjorie Taylor Green wants in on that action to the point she went and spoke at a recent racist rally in Florida. (Of course. Where else would it be?) Curiously, she doesn’t think racists should be “cancelled.”

When I was in the service, I learned that the Geneva Conventions – humanity’s attempt to civilize war – make clear that invading a sovereign nation without provocation is a war crime. It’s also a war crime to attack civilians. Putin’s tortured logic in attacking Ukraine was that he wanted to “denazify” the country – from it’s JEWISH President. Apparently, like so many conservatives, Putin wasn’t paying attention in History class. Russia keeps insisting they’re NOT targeting civilians. They just keep hitting, maiming, and killing them accidentally in a way that couldn’t possibly be avoided – unless one had chosen not to attack at all in the first place. The world has already begun to collect evidence.

The thing is, I think the only way the madman stops his illegal war of choice is for someone near him to kill him. (He seems to think so, too.) Yes, I know. I’m suddenly agreeing with Lindsey effing Graham fercrissakes. But the math is simple. The Ukrainians don’t have the ability to take Putin out. The west won’t get involved because Putin has nukes – which he’s now threatening to use either way so, good call there. That leaves some humanity-loving Russian to step in. To quote Sting, “I hope the Russians love their children too…”

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Have you seen the news that the Dumbass apparently lied to his dumbass supporters when he told them he would march with them in their seditious insurrection at the Capitol building on January 6, 2021? His private White House schedule has come into the possession of the investigating committee and shows quite clearly he had other plans. He talked THEM into it, then skulked off to watch television. He’s a liar and a coward and it was all just more trumpery…

I’ve noticed a common thread in what’s happening in Ukraine. NOBODY wants to be fighting that effing war. The Ukrainians certainly don’t want it. The Russian soldiers don’t want it. Sure, they’ll do their duty – it’s what soldiers do – but they’re heart isn’t in it. They don’t believe in their mission. Some aren’t even showing up as expected. Europe is aligned against Putin. China? Well, they’ve put out a tepid statement saying they respect Ukraine’s sovereignty but…Russia’s “security concerns” should be addressed – so, who knows?

How many people do you know who went into the Covid-19 lockdown and came out crazy? Sadly, I know a few. It looks like the same has happened to Putin. Russia’s “security concerns” seem to be fomented in the mind of a madman.

You know who’s STILL showing support for Putin? US Republicans. They’re a deeply confused crowd, you know? They’ve been SO FAR conditioned that they’ll say anything, DO anything to “stand against the left” – even when that means they’re actually standing against American interests and humanity in general. The Orange Moron lavished praise on his handler, Putin, calling him “smart” for his invasion. He’s critical of humanity’s response. I suspect he’s too stupid to have considered that Russian banks are being cut off from the world banking system. How does trump get paid if Putin can’t deliver the money?

Fox “News” moron Tucker Carlson called Putin’s illegal war a failure for the Biden administration. He was SO fawning, Russia used his comments as propaganda unedited. They just slapped on Russian subtitles and let it run. They didn’t need to massage one thing. The cons will praise anything, everything, that stands against America – all while waving the American flag and declaring themselves patriots. Yet another decent into their own moral rot…

Here’s a tiny bright side to all of this. If you’re paying attention, you know that, recently, Donnie the Dumbass got busted in possession of stolen, classified documents. 15 boxes of them! He’s had them in his possession since he left office. (If you’re a con, you’re VERY upset the M&M’s aren’t as sexy as they used to be. Fox just didn’t tell you about the stolen documents…) I never have to sit quietly by and listen to some America-hating con blather on about Hillary’s emails again.

No one has said what was in the boxes, of course. It was classified information and shouldn’t have been taken or left sitting around in an office. So it’s pure speculation that the Dumbass gave Putin a look at the information. It was shortly after the boxes were retrieved that Putin made his move. Maybe there’s no connection whatsoever. But the way Donnie kowtows to Putin – and always has – means it’s not crazy to consider trump’s loyalties lie somewhere other than the United States. There’s no way to know how much US intelligence Donnie shared with Putin during his four-year infestation of the White House. Then the Dumbass goes to CPAC (Conservative Pukes Acting Crappy) and repeats his fever dreams about how awesome he believes himself to be compared to everybody else.

I admire the Ukrainian spirit. One story has 13 Ukrainian defenders of an island telling invading Russians to “go fuck yourselves.” Initially, they were all reported as dead but the call has gone up around the country. The road department in Kyiv has removed all of the actual road signs and replaced them with signs that read “go fuck yourselves.” In a hopeful note, the 13 might still be alive according to Ukraine’s State Border Guard…

I’ve been very impressed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during this whole thing – starting from the time the Dumbass tried to blackmail Zelenskiy into helping trump cheat his way through the election. Zelenskiy said no. When the US offered to get Zelenskiy out of Ukraine he reportedly replied, “The battle has begun. I need ammunition, not a ride.” He started posting photos of himself, proving he’s still in Kyiv. Now we see him in a battle uniform sitting next to others fighting for their country. That dude has balls as big as all outdoors. I have no doubt that Putin will have Zelenskiy killed if captured. I remember when the Dumbass retreated to a bunker because he was so scared of a bunch of Black Lives Matter protesters. Zelenskiy is out fighting with his troops.

Truth be told, I thought Russia would have greater success than they’re showing so far because of their edge in weaponry, made stronger by trump cutting off weapons to Ukraine after they wouldn’t help him cheat. It’s VERY difficult to gauge the power of the cause in these things, though, and the Ukrainians seem to be MORE determined to fend off the illegal attack that the Russian troops are in pressing it.

I stand with the world in support of Ukraine. Putin – and his lapdog trump – can go fuck themselves…

I know. We’ve all seen this story before. Still, it defies odds. CheetoJesus doesn’t do any miracles when he “beats” one legal challenge after another. Mostly, he has relied on the support of his entranced minions. He bullies and browbeats. They whimper and show him their bellies. Or turn a blind eye to his crimes. Or disregard his treason with one of our strongest adversaries. Or acquit him without even considering the evidence. This after the whole world watches on television as he incites the true believers to violence and insurrection on his behalf. Obsequious compliance becomes the order of the day.

But when the law identifies criminal behavior and sets it’s sites on a person? For better or worse, the law doesn’t roll over. The law takes it’s time. It’s thorough. Hurling epithets won’t have any effect on the outcome. Lying to a compliant press won’t change the evidence. To be fair, so far, he manages to evade responsibility for his actions. Many others have gone to jail for him or because of him but he keeps walking free. Truth? He won’t go to jail now, no matter what they find. The US doesn’t imprison ex-presidents. Period. But that doesn’t mean he’s a viable future for his party.

They say rats flee a sinking ship. I think it’s probably true. Hell, everybody tries to flee a sinking ship, right? It’s more of a saying, really. It means that bad guys try to insulate themselves from the targets of those investigations the moment it looks like the investigation is going to go against the target. Deutsche Bank has said it won’t do business with the trump crime family again. The accountants for the family have jumped ship. Both of those companies have, likely, made a lot of money as a direct result of their connection. But, suddenly, the connection is FAR too risky – even for piles of money – so they’re out.

His lawyers have mostly abandoned him, too. Most lawyers, of course, are different that those other professionals. They readily associate with criminals – so long as the checks clear – and get away with it because it’s their jobs. But most decent attorneys have also turned their backs on the dumbass. He’s burned through the top-level guy, the mid-level guys, and most of the “also-rans.”

The rats are fleeing the USS Trump because they sense the impending doom. These are not people or groups prone to panic attacks. They make steely-eyed determinations and respond accordingly. THEY think the orange moron has become FAR more of a liability than an asset, whatever the outcome. Sure, he might still slither out of things. I’ve said before and I’ll say again: Satan takes care of his own. But the fleeing rats are a sign we haven’t seen before…

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I’m pretty much sick of hearing about “inflation.” It’s really “greed.” I call it ‘The Great Fleecing’ and I’m pretty sure it’s going to get worse before it gets…no…it’s just going to get worse. I don’t mean to sound so pessimistic. It’s just that I don’t see any angle, from any direction, that will pull us out of this. The last time we were stuck being fleeced by rich people, FDR stood up and stopped them. But FDR was, historically, a very unusual case. He could be termed a one-time good deal. He DID set us on a better, far stronger course. People who can’t manage their own greed have been trying to undo everything he did from the time he did it. They’ve succeeded. You might want to hunker down now…

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https://mybaconpress.com/

Hey, Hillary’s got a new hat! She’s trolling the dumbass. The hat says, ‘But her emails.’ Funny, right? Recently, she seems to be testing the waters to see how she might be received as a candidate for President. I still won’t vote for her. Yeah, I know. If I DON’T vote for her, I’ll get the dumbass again. Let’s call it the threat vote. The Dems line Hillary up against one of the most disgusting human beings ever to infect the planet – and STILL she loses and she’ll lose again. I continue to believe Progressives won’t vote for her. WE remember what Bill did to this country in the 1990’s.

Quick recap, he was a tremendously charismatic individual who seemed like a fun guy to know and was commonly called the smartest man in the room. He promised to focus on our pain like a laser, causing lefties to relax and go about their business. Then he used the complacent trust he had sown to actually govern almost as badly as any conservative ever did. (43 and 45 took their turns lowering the bar to even more unimaginable levels.)

Most people didn’t even see it at the time. I certainly didn’t. Hillary had been described as something of a co-president and after Bill, many on the left thought it would be a neat trick to elect Hillary and get the team back together. Fortunately, she chose to sit out her very best chance. The damage done by Bill – and, presumably, his “co-president” – was hidden at the time but became more apparent as time went on. He did the harmful things he did with the cooperation of the Republicans in Congress. Why, after all, would THEY object? THEY were getting their wish-list fulfilled beyond their wildest dreams – and all they had to do was pay slightly higher taxes during Bill’s term. And they STILL got to call the Clintons horrible names throughout. What a show…

Our country suffers in a bubble of fantasy delusions so economists will tell you in the corporate media that the economic crash of2008 STARTED in 2008. But the actual seeds were sown in the 1990’s – under Bill Clinton. Oh, and the media would not have been ABLE to convince Americans of so many fictions if it hadn’t been for Bill. Bill’s the one who set the stage for the corrupted and nearly useless opinion-based infotainment industry we suffer today. Bill’s the one who allowed all the BIG media companies to buy all the little media companies so that ALL the outlets would “report” the same stories about how awesome business is and how incompetent government is. I found it quite frustrating that when a BIG company bought a small company – reducing competition – it was ALWAYS accompanied by the phrase “increased competition is good for the country,” effectively admitting that what they were doing was BAD for the country…

So if my choice is going to be between Hillary – a very smart conservative – or the dumbass – a very stupid narcissist, I’ll take the dumbass. Hillary’s smart enough to cover her tracks and get away with the damage she does while the gettin’ is good. Clearly, the dumbass is not. Drumpf’s stupidity will lead to citizen action faster than Clinton’s stealth…

Have you seen HIS latest antics? He stole a bunch of documents when he left the White House. Yet another crime in his long list of crimes. The government will retrieve the docs but nothing more will come of it. The CheetoJesus really could murder someone on Fifth Avenue and nothing would happen to him. Nothing says more about the so-called “Rule of Law” than that.

He’s also reputed to have torn up many, many work papers. It’s even said he flushed them down the toilet – to the point where he clogged the toilet doing so. He denies it, of course. Evidence says otherwise. Some of the documents that got turned over to the House committee investigating his insurrection had, in fact, been torn up. Some had been taped back together, some have not. So we KNOW he tried to destroy papers that should not have been destroyed. The only question is if he used the toilet to dispose of them. Come to think of it, it seems like an apt metaphor for what he did to the country as well…

We found about the torn up papers when the House subpoenaed documentation that related to his coup attempt on January 6th, 2021. The Orange Moron tried to claim Executive Privilege to protect himself from being exposed in his participation. Even his corrupted Supreme Court agreed that was a bridge too far. I’ve never really like the concept of Executive Privilege. The idea is that the President needs to have complete, unfiltered information and in order to do that, the people who give him advice need to be protected over the advice they give. In my mind, the only time that would be necessary is if the advice is to do something illegal. The dumbass’s assertion seems to support my suspicions…

Isn’t that funny? I continue talk – and think – like we still live in Better America.

I watch ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’ on HBO on Fridays. Week after week, he has Dems on as guests. He summarizes the sorry state of affairs here in Submerging America and asks the Dems what they’re going to do – how they’re going to fight back and set the ship of state back on the right course. Week after week, the answers he receives are mealy-mouthed bunk. The minute the answer begins with “If we could…” the rest is just blather – because we can’t.

I’ve become convinced that the Democrats and Republicans are two sides of the same coin. The Republicans will protect the 1% at all costs and tell the world that’s all they care about. The Democrats will protect the 1% at all costs and tell the world they’re working for the little guy. At this point, it seems the “little guy” knows better. The only question is how much longer we’re going to suffer the dog-and-pony show…

It looks like the anti-sex crowd is about to achieve a “victory” of sorts in outlawing abortions for poor women. I know, they pretend they’re outlawing abortion in general but, of course, anybody with resources will just travel to a blue state, get the medical care then need, then go home. No, these laws are designed and intended to keep poor women poor. Nothing else. Still, they’re going to get that law from our now corrupted “Supreme” (meaning it includes with sour cream) Court.

The moment the court rules against safe and legal abortions, I’ll be watching for the obvious companion bills to start becoming law in those same states. You know the laws I mean. Since the women are on the hook for the next 19 years (from the moment of conception), it seems obvious the men who impregnate them should ALSO be on the hook, financially, from the moment of conception – or, at least, from the moment she’s denied the freedom to choose. I’ll be watching for the laws dictating that the mother receives full child support from the father from, what is it, twelve weeks?

Sure, there will be problems. Some women might, accidentally or otherwise, identify the wrong man as the father. Some women might not KNOW the identity of the father. (Most rapists, for example, seem unlikely to introduce themselves. “Hello, I’m Don Drumpf and I’ll be your rapist today.”) Until DNA can certify the identity of the father, the named man must pay the required amount. If it turns out he’s NOT the father, she has to pay him back (discouraging intentionally misidentifying a person) and the properly identified individual must pick up that tab – going back to that twelve week threshold. (So, technically, the correct sperm donor would repay the incorrectly identified not-the-donor…)

I feel certain the GOP has these bills ready and they’re just waiting on a final verdict from the ideologically subordinate court…

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Have you heard the one about the political party that completely debased itself by declaring a seditious act of insurrection “legitimate political discourse?” Why, that would be today’s Republican Party. These people are SO obnoxious they’ve called the January 6th insurrection “legitimate political discourse” and opted to punish the last two sane Republicans, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. Freaking Liz Cheney is not conservative enough for today’s Republicans? Holy gods. It’s because today’s Republican Party is made up of people who once comprised yesterday’s Libertarian Party. Many people didn’t know there even WAS a Libertarian Party. That was largely due to the fact that their thinking was SO muddled, SO out of line with decent, rational thought, most people just dismissed it as a fringe element of crazies. That’s WHY they took over the Republican Party in the first place. It’s a kind of stolen credibility. But the Libertarians didn’t improve their thinking to be Republicans. Instead, they dragged the Republican Party down into the rabbit hole of standard Libertarian crazy.

Look, the Republican Party’s decent into madness has been televised. We’ve all watched – and cringed – as they’ve moved further and further from reason to, well, this. It seems inevitable the party would crash sooner or later but I’ve got to confess, I never expected them to just say – out loud – “No, treason’s okay, so long as WE’RE the beneficiaries!” Still, that’s definitely their message. Hell, they’ve codified it. In censuring Cheney and Kinzinger, they’ve entered it into the Congressional Record!

Yeah, I know. They still have considerable power. But they’ve exposed themselves. They can no longer be considered the “loyal opposition.” Their announcement shows them to be disloyal, unamerican gadflies. History will not judge them kindly…

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You get up in the morning, pour your coffee, and sit down to read the news. You know what you don’t expect to see? A headline that reads, “Texas Butterfly Sanctuary Forced to Close After Threats.” But that’s the headline I read when I opened the Guardian this morning. It gets your attention, you know? Who in the heck would threaten a freaking butterfly sanctuary, fercrissakes?

Yep. Cons, of course. It offers only small comfort that the cons aren’t angry about the butterflies. (Give ’em time, though…) It turns out the Orange Moron’s Wonder Wall was meant to pass through the sanctuary and the people who run the sanctuary were able to block it. Obviously, this meant an assault of Q-Anonsense and the crazies came out of the woodwork to party. And this is Texas. EVERYTHING is bigger in Texas, especially the crazy.

So now, even butterflies are taking a hit from the insanity of America’s most radical and dangerous element, the Q-Anon cons.

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Well, we made it. 900,000-plus dead from Covid 19. And they’re still counting…and counting and counting and counting. The cons may be crazy but they’re doing their job. The bulk of those dying these days ARE the cons themselves who refuse proper medical intervention until they CAN’T refuse proper medical intervention. (Even then, some still try.) I think of them as Darwin Award winners and their voluntary deaths are probably improving the overall intelligence level of America – but that doesn’t seem to be saying much…

I’m still surprised that in order to maintain their philosophy of contrarian obstructionism, the conservative bubble chose to kill off their own supporters. It seems like a Pyrrhic victory. Perhaps those who run the conservative bubble have decided they gained enough control over this once-great nation, they don’t NEED the mob anymore…