China

Chinese Hegemony…

by MyBaconPress

Well, there he goes again. 47 came out and embarrassed himself and this country in front of Xi Jinping. 47 kept on about the great friendship between China and the US. Xi pointed out that CHINA, and not the US, is now the world’s leader. He told Donny just to accept his new position and they could avoid the “Thucididas Trap,” an academic theory that competition between a rising power and an established one often results in war. Donny just sat there, grinning like the idiot he is. He’s been voluntarily surrendering US leads in pretty much every area, though, so it’s easy for him to sit quietly while Xi tells him to sit quietly.

Donny said the Chinese leader is in full agreement with him that AI doesn’t need no stinkin’ regulation, just before Xi emphasized the need for human control. I wasn’t there, of course, but it looks from the outside like very little got done. Donny had a chance to publicly swoon over Xi and try to fluff him a little. Xi mostly looked like a bored little Winnie-the-Pooh. I’m not sure more got done than pageantry. That’s the Drumpfster all over, though, isn’t it? All pageantry, no substance.

There was a state dinner which the big tech bros all attended, likely the true reason for the summit in the first place. Hyper rich people got to meet Xi. A little glad-handing, a little profuse fawning, maybe some casual talk of business. Opportunities, people. I suppose it doesn’t hurt to have a relationship with the new leader of the world…

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It feels like Starbucks’ vicious management techniques are having an effect on the Starbucks mystique. Their workers, “Baristas,” felt the need to unionize. They voted on it. The union won. Starbucks has pretty much refused to negotiate with the workers. That information started becoming public. Last September, Starbucks closed 627 stores. This September, they’re closing 250 more. As far as I’m concerned, if they’re not going to take care of their employees, they can close them all…

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Gavin Newsom gave an interview in which he said Americans have to come out to vote in such overwhelming numbers that the National Embarrassment “couldn’t possibly contest” the outcome. I’m not sure Newsom is paying attention. The election could go 174 million to one and Donny would STILL contest the outcome and cry and whine about all the cheating. To be clear, the only cheating that will be occurring in this upcoming election will be done by Republicans, for Republicans.

And Donny sure is trying, isn’t he? His buddies on the Robert’s Supremely Corrupt Kangaroo Court have done what they can to help him, though, admittedly, it hasn’t been much. The Demented Dotard wanted to eliminate mail-in ballots or at least as many as he could. He has never tried to eliminate his own mail-in ballot. The way high court wouldn’t let him. But they have let him use a database to determine whether a given voter is a citizen or not. That was hailed as a “big win” for the Dumbass, but was it?

It’s expected that the ruling likely will have limited impact on the November midterms. Federal law, you see, restricts most states from systematically removing voters from rolls within 90 days of an election and the election is only 38 days away. Besides, the use of this database is voluntary for states. Oh, but he’s trying.

38 days away. The closer we get, the more desperate he gets. I can’t help but think he’s got something up his sleeve. I’m not saying whatever he tries will work, but he’ll try something. He has very little choice. I should be comforted, knowing a Democratic House can stop (or at least slow) the trump crime family. But Donny’s desperate and the more desperate he becomes, the more dangerous he becomes…

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Today in history, Thomas Jefferson was appointed the first US secretary of state in 1789. George Washington was setting up the first government under this constitution. I just thought I’d mention it as we watch our once-great nation circle the drain toward it’s ignominious end.

Speaking of Jefferson, a letter he wrote a friend in 1787 has been offered for sale. In it, Jefferson writes, “Peace should be our plan, and the payment of our debts, improvement of our constitutions and extension of agriculture our principal objects.” That’s kind of slap in the face to Donny, isn’t it? He doesn’t do ANY of those things and, oh, hey look – the nation is failing. Pretty prescient, there Thom…

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When the House first finally settled for the duplicitous MAGA Mike, the Johnson – after trying almost anybody else – he went for an interview with Fox Not-News’ Sean Hannity where he said, “People are curious, ‘What does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun? I say, ‘Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it. That’s my worldview.'” That statement, on it’s own, kind of proved that the Bible does NOT represent his worldview.

It was a lie and according to the book he referenced, one is not supposed to lie. I mention it because of this: if the Dems go ahead and win the House in the upcoming mid-terms, we not only interfere with the trump crime family, we get rid of MAGA Mike, the Johnson as House Speaker. It’s a two-fer.

I’ve long held that over time in any hierarchy, the very worst people move to the top. The reason is simple. Decent people tend to self-select out. If I have ethics (and I do) and someone asks me to do an unethical thing in return for some consideration, I’m passing on the consideration. I count my ethics more important. But not everybody feels that way.

And people who don’t feel that way just think me a fool and do whatever they need to do to gain that promotion or payment or whatever other consideration was promised. Only the worst people are willing to do whatever it takes, good or bad, to get ahead. Because the worst people are the most willing, they tend to rise higher than others.

All one has to do is look around. You can see it everywhere. MAGA Mike is one very prominent example. Currently, what is thought of as the highest office in the land, the Oval Office, is occupied by possibly the worst human being alive today. That’s a tough call. There are plenty of bad people. He’s certainly the worst President the nation has ever suffered, by far. And he has achieved that lofty goal because he has no shame.

Sadly, it’s an extremely solid observation. The worst people rise to the top of hierarchies. It happens over and over and over again. The thing is, I’ve never figured out a way to stop that from happening. That’s a rather frustrating quandary. But we have a chance to get rid of at least one of these horrible humans in this next election. I sure hope we can do it…

The Gaslight Regime…

by MyBaconPress

So, by now, anybody paying any attention at all realizes the best overall name for Team Evil’s current run is ‘The Gaslight Regime,’ right? I mean, they just gaslight everything. I saw one guy claim that Stupid Donny’s stupid war in Iran is going on so long because we’ve just been so darned effective. That seems like gaslighting to me, although he could be confessing that the goal is to keep the war going for reasons of their own.

It’s happening again with 47’s China trip. Xi referred to the US as a nation in decline and quite simply, the nation has not been in this bad of a state for a long, long time. So, 47 said otherwise. Oh, we WERE in decline. Now we’re the hottest of the hot. Just look around. We’re clearly not. Gaslighting. Once again, our National Embarrassment humiliates the US on the world stage.

The thing is, despite the gaslighting, most Americans – and even some MAGA – are starting to see (no, I do not mean ‘sea,’ as in water. I mean ‘see,’ as in vision) The Gaslight Regime just says what they wish was true, ignoring what’s actually true. Republican politicians are noticing too. Or, more accurately, they’re noticing that people are noticing and, gaslighting notwithstanding, blaming the Republicans.

That threatens their phony-baloney jobs. They might not get re-elected if the voters get too angry at the current economic situation. It looks like that reality has kicked off a new strategy from the White House: gaslight the Republican politicians, too. Evil Bartiromo asked Kevin Hassett about current policies increasing gas and oil prices.

Hassett asserted without any evidence and against all logic that prices will come down quickly pretty darned soon and “…certainly ahead of the election.” I think that “…certainly ahead of the election” part is aimed at Republican politicians. I think it’s supposed to calm them. I think they’ll be fools, likely out of work fools, if they listen…

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You know the murders he keeps ordering in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific? You know, the little fishing boats the US keeps blowing up, killing everyone in them? Yeah, those murders. I’ve called them murders since the start. Sure, ‘The Gaslight Regime’ says those guys are drug runners, but they have yet to provide even a scintilla of evidence. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

But there IS evidence coming out now, and it keeps saying the people in the boats are poor people from struggling villages, just out fishing in order to eat. They stay on shore as long as they can because of the madman in the White House. But after a while, the village starts to suffer the loss. People start to feel it. Desperate men go out, hoping to feed their families. Then some gaslighting moron orders their deaths.

To be clear, I would call these murders even if every explosion included a mushroom cloud of cocaine. I come from a country and a time when even criminals deserved a trial. I know, quaint. Still, I liked that better. I thought it was better to believe, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the person being punished deserved the punishment they were receiving.

I genuinely believe those guys are being murdered just so The Gaslight Regime can try to look like a bunch of tough guys, like this is some big, macho move. I don’t think there’s anything macho about being hundreds of miles away and ordering the murder of people just trying to feed their families. Donny regularly reminds me of a weak man’s vision of what a strong man might look like and now the entire regime reminds me of what a coward might think a tough guy looks…

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I imagine 47 enjoyed his trip to China. He got to act like he knows things. He got to feel really important. He got to meet with Xi! They put on displays just for him. He got to attend fancy dinners. He got to drink champagne. Weird, for a guy who insists he’s a teetotaler but then, he lies about everything else. Why not that? Anyway, it was the whole shebang.

The Chinese took him to The National Museum on Tiananmen Square to show off the latest advances in green energy, robotics, and space exploration. The display was titled: “Forging the path to national strength.” The Drumpfster was looking right at the future and didn’t understand a minute of it, dedicated, as he is, to mastering yesterday’s technologies.

We’re supposed to be competing with China, right? But under President Pedo, the US has unilaterally sat down in the race. Oh, sure, we’re still talking about how fast we’re going to go when we get up, but in the meantime, the Chinese are blazing down the track, rapidly escaping our ability to keep up as they they disappear from view in front of us.

Policy? No, no policy. Trade deals? Well, concepts of frameworks. When the topic is Taiwan, nothing changed. When the topic is Iran, nothing changed. He declared — uh, oh, he declared that China would be buying crops from the US again, particularly Soybeans. He said, “The farmers are going to be very happy.” The uh-oh part? This is The Gaslight Regime. Donny lies about everything and regularly says the exact opposite of the truth. If he says farmers are going to be happy, farmers had better start looking for good bankruptcy attorneys.

His big takeaway seems to have been this: “China has a ballroom, and so should the USA!” I wonder how much the American taxpayer paid for his useless little excursion to China…

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Americans are upset by the current level of power vested in (or stolen by) the White House. We were not supposed to be a country with a king. We were not supposed to have an executive with this much power at all. The founders wouldn’t recognize the powers of the Presidency today and they would likely be horrified by that much power concentrated in one person’s hands. So how did we get here?

Watch this video: “How the Presidency Became Too Powerful.” Click the title. It’s a link. It’s 22 minutes long, but it’s very informative. It follows the power gains in the Executive Branch from Washington to Dumbass. Yeah, it’s a bit long, but it’s worth the look…