Crime

Busy Friday, Part 1…

by MyBaconPress

Well, lets’ see. Has anything worth writing about happened in the last couple of days? Some people call the “news” we get in this country on Fridays, “Take out the garbage day.” NORMALLY, it’s just fluff stories and light stuff. Sometimes, though, something important slips in under the radar – and right past the masses, hopefully. This was not that Friday.

Donny lost his fraud trial in New York. No, that one starts in March. This is the civil case brought by Letitia James. The judge, Arthur Engoron handed down his much anticipated ruling. $365 million dollars from Donny, two of his criminal kids, and a couple of their cohorts. The lions share goes to Donny, though, at $355 million dollars. You’d think he’d LOVE that. He got the biggest numbers. The Best numbers. Nobody has EVER had numbers like him.

In addition, he’s barred from doing business in New York for three years and can’t work with any bank, any where, that is registered to do business in the state of New York. Being the financial capitol of the world, that’s pretty much any bank large enough to do crime, er, business on his scale. I was disappointed.

Up until the ruling, it was assumed Art – can I call you Art? – Okay, it was assumed Judge Engoron was going to bar him from doing business in New York for the rest of his life. He even wrote up the order. THAT is what I wanted. Then I remembered. This is just the first conviction in a long line of convictions. This was a civil trial, not a criminal trial. This cost him money, but other trials he’s facing could very well cost him his freedom. That is to say, most rational Americans expect him to be in prison within three years…

He testified in one of his depositions he has about $400 million cash on hand. The way he lies, that might well mean he has $1.28, but let’s use his numbers. He just got hit with $355 million to New York. He’s already been ordered to pay $83 million to E. Jean Carroll for ‘Defamation Loss II,’ the sequel to his famous ‘Defamation, What Not To Do’ trial,’ which cost him an additional $5 million. That comes to $443 million dollars. Wait, no it doesn’t. I mean, it does, but there’s interest. According to Letitia James, that starts at around $99 million, and counting, pumping the beginning balance he owes to $542 million dollars.

I suspect most people think he’s going to tap into “campaign contributions” to pay some or all of the bill. It’s not supposed to be legal. NONE of this has anything to do with his maladministration nor a campaign but, since when does Donny care about legal? I don’t know how long MAGA can keep this up. (Actually, it’s only about $8 bucks to each of the 70 million MAGA who voted for him last election, despite his crimes and failures.) He’s also still got a compelling interest in his website ‘Truthiness Social.’ Hey, that has the word ‘Social’ in it. It must be communism.

Now comes the stalling. I’ll give Donny this: I’ve learned a LOT about the legal system in this country and how the rich manage to manipulate it to their advantage, thanks to him. Donny is OLD. He’s been “working the system,” as the saying goes, for a long, long time. He knows just about every trick. Supposedly, has to post a bond in the amount due for each trial he wants to appeal. In most states, bankruptcy can delay judgement payments but not discharge them. Will someone lend him money? I mean, he’s now been officially adjudicated a liar and a fraudster. Who’s going to part with a half-BILLION dollars to a known scallywag?

I’ll tell you this: Letitia James landed a big, hard blow on that tiny, little snowflake. She certainly staggered him – but she didn’t knock him out…

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I wonder how MAGA feels about their man Vladimir Putin today. Do they still love him for being the “strongman” or have they noticed, yet, that “strongmen” often kill their political opponents, like Vlad just did to Alexei Navalny? Navalny ran a long standing campaign against Putin for years and years. At one point, Navalny escaped Russia and kept taking pot-shots at Putin from a distance. Putin’s people found him and poisoned him, nearly killing him. He survived, though. THEN, the dude went BACK to Russia and filed to run against Putin in an election.

So, Putin did what Trump wants to do. He tossed his political rival – Navalny – in prison on what most of the world saw as trumped up charges. Navalny managed to keep up the attacks so Putin had him moved to a FAR north gulag, where they could kill him slowly and without any prying eyes. And they did. They say he died after a “fall at the Arctic penal colony where he was being held.” A LOT of Putin’s political critics die from sudden, unexpected “falls” these days. I guess gravity is cheaper – and easier to administer – than poison. Currently, the State is refusing to produce the body.

The thing about dictators is that murdering people they don’t like is a common arrow in their quivers. It’s not just Putin. Duterte did it. Erdogan does it. Xi does it. They ALL do it. Hell, Idi Amin used to EAT his opponents. I suspect MAGA thinks dictators are a great idea because they think they’re safe from the dictator’s wrath. I don’t think they understand, well, anything, really, but they seem to miss the idea that ANYBODY can become the enemy of a dictator, at ANY time, for ANY reason. Sometimes, all you need to be is in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In the book ‘Fahrenheit 451,’ the protagonist, Guy Montag, lives in a dictatorial society, based on Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union at the time it was written, and realizes at one point that he’s on the wrong side. He runs for his life, at night. He loses the helicopter chasing him but watches on television as the cops in the chopper kill “him.” The public had been tuned in to the chase, see, so they could know that opposition to the State was a bad idea. When Montag lost the helicopter, the State had to produce results anyway, so they gunned down a silhouetted figure, insisting they got their guy. Weirdly, I’ve always felt badly for that character we never even met, except to see him die. He just lived his life, likely followed all the rules, but died anyway in a misguided show of strength on the part of the State.

I’ll tell you this: MAGA should look more closely at the dictator state they think they want. It doesn’t usually go really well for the masses…

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So that’s it. That’s everything that came out this Fri – wait, what? Oh, yeah. It also looks like Willis is winning and the House MAGA are losing, but you’ve got things to do and so do I. Let’s look at those tomorrow…

The Games People Play…

by MyBaconPress

Well, that was a very good football game with an ending I’d rather had gone differently. Congratulations to the Chiefs. They’re an amazing football team and beat the Niners pretty much the way I feared they would. I’ve got the Niner loss down to Moody missing that Point After Touchdown and Wilkes’ defense in the second half and overtime.

The missed kick changed the entire strategy of the game. KC only needed a Field Goal to stay in the game instead of a touchdown. Losing Greenlaw was huge – and heartbreaking. The guy tore his Achilles tendon running back onto the field. This meant his backup came in. A coach like Reid is going to target a backup player and Coach Reid certainly did. Wilkes called a pretty good game at the start but there’s something about the guy. He seems to revert to less-than play-calling in some situations.

At one point, Defensive Coordinator Wilkes called SUCH a poor play, Head Coach Shanahan was forced to use a timeout to tell him to call something else. Even the commentators were saying it was a seriously bad play call in the moment. It’s possible Shanahan would have done that again but he only gets three timeouts per half. I’m guessing he was irritated he had to do it once, let alone use all his timeouts trying to help his DC.

Look, I don’t mean to lay this all off on Moody and Wilkes. Mostly, KC is a great football team and all of Niner nation knew this was a possibility going into the game. We also knew the weak points. In what turned out to be something of a metaphor for the game, Moody set a Putrid Bowel record with a long field goal. Yay! Then, he lost the record to KC’s kicker, Butker, in the same game. Rats!

Moody’s challenge is playing in the shadow of Robbie Gould, one of the great kickers to have played the game. He might get more consistent. But Wilkes has a long history of real average coaching. There was no reason to think he was the guy to suddenly step up to that level and it turned out he wasn’t. I suspect the Niners will give a presser and say Wilkes did a fine job and it wasn’t him and yadda, yadda. Then, I suspect, the Niners will seek out a stronger candidate.

On the up side, this was Brock Purdy’s FIRST full season and he took the team to, and had a chance to win, the biggest game of the big games. Because Brock is stuck in a rookie contract, the Niners have a LOT of salary cap space, so they may, well, be able to keep the core of the team together. What THAT means is that it’s more than just blather when the Niners say, “We’ll see you next season!”

Also on the up side? We get to leave all the hype about the big game behind us for awhile. Now all we have to endure is hours and hours of political commercials and that’s…ah, crap! When does football start, again?

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Today is Donny’s deadline to ask the Kangaroo Court to rule on whether or not Joe Biden has perfect immunity. Okay, no, that’s not his question. He wants perfect immunity for himself. The DC Court of Appeals has said, rightly, that no American president has perfect immunity. Donny knew he was going to lose this fight going into it. He didn’t care. The point was about stalling. The court sniffed that out and ruled that a) he doesn’t have perfect immunity, b) he could appeal to the entire panel but the case was going back to Chutkin and would be active again even if he did, and c) they gave him until today to file his appeal with the ideological kangaroos.

The kangaroos, I’m sure, would love to help him. They help him every chance they get. But in this case, how do they give Donny perfect immunity without giving it to Joe, too? The only real risk is that the court takes up the case and then waits until it’s slinking out the back door late at night in June to issue their ruling. That would buy Donny LOTS of time…

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Did you see that weasel crap about Robert Kennedy, Jr during the Scooper Brawl? A Super PAC that supports him used an ad that looked exactly like something John F. Kennedy used in the 1960 campaign, complete with vintage look and soundtrack, and just stuck ‘Robert’ in where it would have said ‘John’ originally. In fact, it WAS something John Kennedy used. I wonder if the PAC can be sued for plagiarism? The thing is, THIS Kennedy is no John Kennedy. He’s a righty, in fact. He’s trading on his father’s and uncle’s name but he’s not in their league by like, light-years.

The dude even pretended to be a Democrat until 2023, when he switched to ‘Independent.’ The subterfuge, pretending to be a Democratic Kennedy, helped to get him elected in the first place. Now he’s running for President. I don’t know. Pretending to be something you absolutely are not in order to trick the electorate into supporting you? That seems…sneaky. Then again, it really is the American way…

Oversights…

by MyBaconPress

Okay, so there’s a scathing new report out suggesting that the Biden administration has been downplaying Biden’s retention of classified documents. First we were told it was only a few. Then, there were a few more. Then, a few more. A special counsel was assigned.

In the end, the special counsel determined that Biden had willfully retained some documents but that no charges were warranted. This is likely because Biden cooperated with the whole thing. The special counsel took great pains to rip on Joe Biden for being old. That was not necessary but I was okay with it. It demonstrates the guy didn’t like Biden but STILL couldn’t recommend charges.

Do you think that will shut MAGA up, though? Where have YOU been living, under a rock? Of course it won’t shut MAGA up. They’ll see NO difference, whatsoever, between Biden having documents, turning himself in over them, cooperating with the investigation and giving them all back and Donny’s efforts to keep the documents, first claiming he didn’t have them, then that they were his to keep, then lying about giving them back, then trying to hide them. THEN trying to “negotiate” the documents return, finally losing them in a warrant search of Mar-a-Lardo, only to discover he likely has even MORE in his secret locked room.

Biden shouldn’t have had those documents and he is paying a political price (MAGA whining) for having them. Donny shouldn’t have had the documents HE had, either, but his crimes are about obstruction of justice – which Joe DIDN’T do. Joe cooperated, Donny didn’t. Joe gets a scathing report that attacks his age, Donny got charged. It’s all in keeping with the law and known legal practices but MAGA is going to scream and shout about this for a long time to come. Thanks, Joe.

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Turns out? It’s not likely to matter. Scientists have discovered that the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc), a vast system of ocean currents that is a key component in global climate regulation is slowing at a far faster rate than previously expected. Great.

So, what IS the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, you say? It’s a conveyor belt in the Atlantic ocean that moves warm and cold water around, regulating much of the Earth’s climate. As global warming advances, the glaciers in Greenland are melting and dumping massive amounts of cold, fresh water into the ocean. This, in turn, slows the Amoc and changes the planetary climate – for the worse, it you’re human (and many of us are).

Scientists told us this was going to happen decades ago. Conservatives shouted that scientists wouldn’t know their ass from a hole in the ground and the scientific consensus was wrong. They knew this because some talking head in the conservative bubble who knows nothing told them so. So, thanks to a political position du jour, humanity didn’t respond fast enough.

Scientists say the change is likely to happen so fast, adaptation will likely not be possible. Oh, they ALSO say it will be “devastating.” But absolutely, let’s keep debating whether there are kids in school who get cat boxes in the bathroom because they think they’re cats. (There aren’t and they don’t. That’s just more MAGA crazy…)

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One of Donny’s missteps. The other day on the campaign trail, he pointed out that Nikki Haley’s husband isn’t out, campaigning with her. ”Where is Nikki’s husband?” he asked, pointing out the absence. Interesting choice. See, Nikki Haley’s husband is a combat veteran and active duty military member deployed overseas. Nikki responded, “Michael is deployed serving our country, something you know nothing about.” Then she got to add, “Someone who continually disrespects the sacrifices of military families has no business being commander in chief.”

This does two things: One, it highlights Donny’s draft-dodging cowardice and, Two, it begs the question; where is Melania, or anybody else in the Dumbass family for that matter? In 2016, Donny had nearly his whole crowd there. Barron stayed out because he was too young and Tiffany mostly missed it as well, though she did make some appearances.

But he had Ivanka, Dumbass Jr, and Eric with him all the time. Melania made the occasional appearance as well. I presume DJ and Eric are out because they need all of their time to fight the criminal charges they may be facing. Ivanka managed to avoid criminal charges, being the smartest of the crowd, and I suspect she’s staying away to keep from getting close to charges again.

We even know Melania renegotiated her marital agreement with Donny a few months back. The presumption at the time was she was getting more money for Barron before Donny loses it all in court battles but it surely included some provision that she pretend she likes him on the campaign trail a time or two. Still, it seems as though it would be fair for Nikki to ask the same as Donny, “Where’s Melania?” One thing’s certain, she sure as hell isn’t out “serving” anyone, particularly this country…

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We don’t know where Michael Haley is (and we probably shouldn’t) and we don’t know where Melania is (and we REALLY don’t care) but we all know where Taylor is. She made it to LA and is now on her way to Nevada. It looks like she’s going to make it to the game, just in time to tell all the Swifties to vote for Biden…

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Donny’s comments are becoming increasingly unhinged. On Saturday, he claimed that in an unspecified NATO meeting, he told a head of state that if they’re delinquent, the US wouldn’t support or defend them. He added, “In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills.” That, in and of itself is hilarious coming from the serial deadbeat Donny is known to be. But it’s also dangerous.

Trump brags he destroyed a woman’s right to choose. MAGA supports him. Trump brags that while daily carnage plays out in the streets, he will make no effort to protect Americans from Americans with any kind of gun regulation. MAGA supports him. Trump sings praises of dictators around the globe and insists he’d be a dictator on day one, pretending it would ONLY be day one. MAGA supports him.

Now he’s suggesting he would stand idly by while Putin attacks NATO allies. He would, too. And MAGA will support him. It’s sure a good thing the conservative corrupted supremely kangaroo court is going to keep him on the ballot and give him another chance to destroy our republic. He couldn’t QUITE pull it off on his first try. By all means, let’s keep giving him opportunities until he finally bumbles his way to success. Effin’ morons…

Details, Details…

by MyBaconPress

Well, the Republicans failed – again – in their ongoing quest to find somebody to impeach. The problem seems to be, they have no evidence of a crime from any of their potential “impeachees.” (That’s not really a word…) They see that as a detail to be handled later.

They tried to get Joe Biden for…reasons. Pretty much, they managed to post some revenge porn on the floor of Congress and then…crickets. This after they had repeatedly promised they had the evidence. You know what would have been good? It’s just my opinion, mind you, but I think they should have shown somebody the evidence they claimed to have. I suspect that would have been a huge step on their path to glory. I wonder why they didn’t try THAT tactic?

But they didn’t and the effort fizzled. So they turned their attention to Alejandro Mayorkas, the Secretary of Homeland Security. They at least got THAT effort to a floor vote, but then? Ooh, they lost the floor vote. Even some Republicans said, “What, are you stupid or something?” Yes, by the way. The answer to that is yes. MAGA is working hard to make “stupid” an art form. But it’s a dedicated stupid and dedicated stupid can be a very dangerous thing.

I wonder who their next impeachee is going to be? Hey, I had to sit at a red light a little longer than I wanted to the other day. How about they go after Pete Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation? After all, red lights DO impede my freedom of movement. Buttigieg is trying to take my freedom! I mean, what more evidence do we need?

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So, Donny is running about – no, Donny doesn’t run – okay, Donny is lumbering about snarling that if we don’t suddenly grant full and absolute immunity for all Presidents (but mostly him) every President will, naturally, be indicted when they leave office. Someone pat that bloated monster on the head, would you? He got VERY close to a truth – which is a momentous event for him.

What he meant to say is that every President who commits the kinds of crimes HE committed while in office will be indicted – and that’s true! It’s also good. I’m not only okay with that, I’m a staunch supporter…

Oh, but instead of upholding Donny’s dumb position, the court made a good ruling. I mean, the President doesn’t have perfect immunity. It would be stupid to think otherwise. Even Donny doesn’t believe the President has perfect immunity. What he believes is that he needs more time before the election or he’s very likely going to jail so he needs to stall, stall, stall.

My guess is that his plan was to appeal the oh-so-stupid position to the DC Court of Appeals, where he would get a three judge panel. He did that and it took about a month. THEN, he planned to appeal to the full panel – a move that he wanted to take at least another month. Then, when THEY agreed no President has perfect immunity, he would take it to the Supreme Court, you know…eventually.

But the three judge panel saw the same legal strategy playing out. I’m of the opinion that courts don’t like to be trifled with and they REALLY do not want to the be the instrument of someone’s obstruction of justice – pretty much the exact definition of Donny’s plan. So the three court panel, in addition to slapping him down on his ridiculous claim, ALSO ruled that even if he asked the full court to review the case, it would still go back to Chutkin and be active again, essentially cutting out the second step of the stall plan. More, they told him he had until February 12th to file an appeal with the Kangaroos, if that is what he is going to do.

It’s no minor detail that there’s no known basis for Donny’s argument. He just wants it. Roberts Kangaroos should refuse to review the case. The three judge panel got it right. There’s nothing left to consider. They may not refuse it, though. They’re loyalists. Although they can’t rule a president enjoys perfect immunity, they CAN take a bunch of time before saying no, helping Donny that way.

So now the only remaining question in this matter is whether the Roberts Supremely Kangaroo Court will go ahead and trash whatever remaining credibility they might enjoy in order to play lapdog toady to their precious – or will they do the right thing? I’ll tell you this: it’s a national embarrassment that nobody can say, one way or the other, for sure…

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Today, though, the Most High and Corrupt Court will be hearing the question of whether a known traitor should be handed the levers of power once again. It’s mind-boggling that such a question is being treated as a real question. The whole thing hinges on whether the President of the United States is an Officer of the United States. If yes, section 3 of the 14th amendment applies. If no, coups by a president are a-okay.

I’ve made the point that references to the president as an Officer were in the original Constitution (Section II, Article 1) but were (probably inadvertently) amended out by a less detailed writer. But the 14th Amendment was passed in 1868. The Amendment that changed the language, the 25th Amendment, was passed in 1913, meaning that when the 14th was passed, the Constitution clearly considered the President of the United States an Officer of the United States.

It seems a hair-splitting detail, but I also see a difference in an office and an Office, the difference being the capital ‘O.’ An office is a room one works in. An Office is a job one does, a rank one holds. Commonly, an Officer works in an office. As written, the Presidential oath says that the president will “…faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States…” See the capital ‘O’ in “Office?” In my mind, that capital ‘O’ indicates the founders understanding that the president is, indeed, an Officer of the country. They weren’t talking about the room he worked in. They were talking about the role he was taking on.

I’ll tell you this: My mind is STILL having difficulty accepting that so many “Americans” would WANT him in the Oval again, after what he did. I still don’t know how stupid this country actually is, but I have a healthy concern that we might all be about to find out…

The Trials…

by MyBaconPress

A quick look at Donny’s trials. In the NY fraud trial – no, the civil one, not the criminal one – Judge Engoron said he wanted to issue his ruling by the end of the last month. Clearly, he missed his target. But there’s a reason. Just before he handed down his ruling, he received an update from the independent monitor appointed by the court, former Federal judge Barbara Jones. Tucked into a footnote was a little tidbit that seems to have caught Engoron’s eye.

She found what was claimed to be a loan Donny owed to one of his companies to the tune of $48 million dollars. She asked about it. At first, she was told there were no loan documents available for that loan. Apparently, she was told, no loan documents ever even existed. THEN, the Trump Crime Family finally admitted there was no loan. It was just a way to avoid paying taxes on $48 million dollars. A fraudulent way. More specifically, a criminal way.

My guess is conservative media will spin it as a “minor” error, without mentioning the $48 million dollar part. Donny has already started with that lie. But it wasn’t. Minor, I mean. So, now Engoron has to re-think his ruling. Any rational person must, by now, believe that more fraud will be uncovered the longer people look. Engoron doesn’t want to have to keep going back and resetting his trial every time more evidence comes up and he wants to get the ruling out so I think he has to construct some kind of order that allows him to simply add to the damages as more fraud is uncovered.

Meanwhile, in the Florida stolen files case, prosecutor Jack Smith has reportedly uncovered the existence of a secret room at Mar-a-Lago. Apparently, when the FBI was executing their perfectly legal and proper search warrant in an effort to uncover the files Donny stole, they missed a locked closet AND a “secret” room. Overlooking the locked closet apparently happened because of the deference they were showing while executing their warrant.

This is, after all, an ex-President. NO ex-President has ever committed the crimes Donny has and the need to execute a warrant was unprecedented. They had to make up a proper protocol as they went along and they included deference. So, when they asked about the locked closet, they were told it was an old staircase that wasn’t used anymore and didn’t go anywhere – and the FBI chose to accept that statement at face value! But the information I have is that Donny had the lock changed on that closet January 22, 2021 and he’s the only person with a key.

In fairness to the FBI, they didn’t know about the secret room. It isn’t just a secret room. It’s a hidden, secret room. It’s made to blend in to the room seamlessly and there is a dresser in front of it. My guess is, it’s a panic room, built originally to protect the residents from a home-invasion robbery. They were all the rage among rich people for awhile and I don’t think they’re a bad idea. But a panic room would explain why it didn’t show on the architectural drawings the FBI likely looked at when they did their preparatory briefings before serving the warrant.

Donny has apparently converted his to a documents storage area. Now it gets a bit sticky. The original warrant is stale, for sure. Unless, that is, witnesses testify that more stolen documents exist in that space – and nobody knows what the witnesses are saying about that, yet. Either way, Donny has very likely already shared all the good stuff with Putin so it’s not like we’re going to avoid the national security risks by getting the papers back but it would be nice to know exactly what the traitor breached so any holes could be plugged.

For MY part, I’m enjoying the idea that the room might be where Donny has all the goods on all the MAGAGOPCORP toadies who claim to stand against trump but also snuggle up to him and bend the knee. As an example, after J6, Kevin McCarthy was angry and pointed his crooked little finger directly, and properly, at Donny. THEN, McCarthy went down to Mar-a-Lago, and immediately changed his tune. Why? Kevin was right about J6 and how Donny put his life at risk. Why just back down after a quick visit with Donny? It’s a least possible Donny showed Kevin what he keeps in that locked room about Kevin.

Finally, the DC Federal election interference trial date has been postponed. It was supposed to start March 5 but now we have to wait. Donny filed an appeal before the trial even started! He claims to have perfect immunity in all things because he was President. It’s a very stupid idea and it’s totally wrong. Sooner or later, the court will say so but they’re dragging their feet for some reason. Worse, right now it’s a three member panel of the appellate court. After their ruling, he can ask the entire court to review the decision, which will take more time. After the full court says no, he can ask the High Kangaroo Court what they want.

He’s not likely to win that argument in court. Hell, he’s not likely to win ANY of his arguments in court. But he doesn’t make them to win them. He makes them to buy time. And this stupid argument is buying him months.

I’ll tell you this: there’s a very real risk Donny’s going to beat the clock on these trials. Benjamin Franklin’s words just keep looping through my head. ”…a Republic…IF you can keep it.” There’s a very real possibility we can’t…

Positioning…

by MyBaconPress

I think Nikki Haley is making a smart play by staying in the GOP primary. She doesn’t NEED a win. She only needs to stay. As Donny’s troubles pile up, she’ll be in the best position to stand up, should he fall down…

His recent mental lapses (yes, he can still recognize an elephant!) are an excellent opportunity for her, as well. She can attack HIM and his current failings without ever attacking MAGA or his pretend record. She can say, “Yeah, he WAS great, but he’s failing now.” Hang in there, Nikki. Stay in his head. Highlight his decline…

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Have you heard? I’m sure you have by now. Taylor Swift is not a young woman superstar pop singer in love with a young man rising star (and not bad actor) football player. Not at all. She’s a “Psyop!” Which, I guess, makes him her “Psyde kick.” MAGA just loves using words they think make them sound smart and “Psyop” fits the bill while also sounding like they’ve got some super-de-duper inside information, so they MUST be in the know. See? Secretly, they’re the smart ones. (It’s a VERY well-kept secret…)

Hey, maybe you’re a normal person so…a “Psyop” is a ‘Psychological Operation’ used to disseminate information the government wants spread and/or suppress information the government does NOT want spread. MAGA thinks rational Americans need the government to tell them Donald Trump is a bad man, a threat to the nation, and that people shouldn’t vote for him. Funny, I figured it out all by myself.

So, to that end, if you’re MAGA, the Stupor Bowl is already rigged for the Chiefs to win – I guess because Taylor Swift doesn’t already have a large enough stage from which to spread her message. AFTER the Chiefs rigged win, see, THEN ‘Tay/Trav’ (okay, that mashup needs a bit of work) can announce that Donny’s a dumbass and people should vote for Biden. (No word on why they couldn’t make that announcement if the Chiefs lose.)

That’s some elaborate insanity, right there…

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In court, where facts matter, Donny isn’t even trying to make a case that he might be innocent of any of the charges brought against him. Instead, he’s looking for technicalities and loopholes. He stalls, disrupts the court, and tries to aggravate judges into over-reactions that can lead to mistrials or work as a basis for an appeal. He never even tries to introduce evidence that might indicate innocence. That part, at least, makes sense. He’s guilty (allegedly). How could he show innocence? He has no choice but to rely on “work-arounds.”

So now he’s filing anything and everything he can think of. Some of it is way out there. So far out there, other lawyers laugh at him and his “team” for even making the filing. His primary “lawyer” is taking a lot of mockery from her fellows. ”Why would she even file that?” ”Doesn’t she know better?” With her, I couldn’t possibly say if she knows better BUT…

Each of those filings gets ruled on. Each one causes a delay. Each one buys Donny a little bit of time. As an example, Donny doesn’t have to part with the $83 million dollar judgement until the case is settled. He even has to put the money up if he wants to appeal so he needs this case to not close yet. The only tool he has to that end is insane filings. ”I can’t be tried by someone with blue eyes!” or whatever. Yeah, he’s going to lose those, too, but he wins a bit of time. And what does he want to DO with that time?

He’s actively looking, right now, for somebody rich enough to help him pay off the judgement. They’re called “mega-donors.” They’re the super rich people now allowed to buy our government thanks to the High Kangaroo Court’s corrupt Citizen United decision. But I’ll tell you this: I find myself wondering why the stable genius billionaire needs help paying what, to him, should be a mere $83.3 million dollar tab. I mean, if you’re a billionaire, isn’t $83 million dollars pocket change?

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Hey, it cuts both ways, though, yes? He filed a defamation case in the England about the Steele Dossier. In keeping with his true calling and maintaining his seemingly endless string, he lost. BUT – and this is kind of fun – the court there never even considered the merits of the case. He lost because he brought it too late. He lost on a technicality…

Fights, Good and Bad…

by MyBaconPress

Wow, what a game. TWICE, now, the Niners have come out and started slow, to say the least. I doubt they’re intentionally spotting their opponents points but it sure looks like they’re spotting their opponents points. Can we please put the “Purdy is a pretender” talk to bed, now? The naysayers can still have “Purdy is less accurate in the rain.” That one, at least, seems to be true. But all the rest? You’re just being stubborn. He’s a very good player. That whole team is loaded but there’s no negative narrative going on about any of the other players. Just Purdy. So just stop, okay?

Detroit played very well. After all these years, it was nice to see Detroit enjoying a bit of success. Not so nice I wanted them to enjoy success over my Niners but still… That’s a team that has suffered for a long, long time. At this rate, I have little doubt they’ll make the leap, here, soon. They played some very good football. In truth, they, THEN played some not so good football but they deserve props. They’ve come a long way in a short time…

I’m not sure what happened to the Ravens. Well, yes, I know the Chiefs happened to the Ravens but the Ravens played badly, all on their own. They started flat, like the Niners did, but never managed to turn things around. Lamar Jackson is something else. This was a very good team, all season long. To fall apart like that in the Championship? There’s going to be some disappointment in the clubhouse for a while.

For the Chiefs it just seemed like business as usual, just another game to be played. Mahomes is still Mahomes, which means a very good football player. Andy Reid is still among the best coaches coaching, these days, and still a better bet than Belichick for GOAT. Of course, one can never overstate the contributions of the vaunted Taylor Swift, either. Normally, when a player on the field does something wonderful/amazing/glorious (or even bad/embarrassing/disastrous), the camera focuses on the player, who gets an extra moment of screen time. When poor Travis Kelce does something great, the camera pans straight to Taylor Swift, for her reaction shot. (Spoiler alert: she’s happy for her boyfriend.)

Hopefully, we’ll all get to see how Taylor looks when she’s sad because her boyfriend is about to lose the Stupor Bowl on February 11. The camera will absolutely grab that screenshot, just like they do when she’s celebrating. She has asked them to tone it down, a bit – they just don’t comply. Why would they? They get free celebrity endorsement from Swift every game and they don’t even have to pay her.

I expect a heck of a game. I HOPE the Niners win but I wouldn’t BET the Niners will win. These are two very good teams. Sadly, I think one of the most glaring problems for either team is the Niners Defensive Coordinator, Steve Wilkes. That guy just doesn’t understand the Niner defense. Last year the Niners defense was top-of-the-charts under DeMeco Ryans, as it was the year before that under Robert Saleh. They’re pretty porous with Wilkes at the helm. That could prove to be the difference in the big, dumb game this year…

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Can somebody help me out, here, please? I’ve been looking for information about how HAMAS is fighting back against Israel. I can’t find anything. Whenever I go looking, all is get is references to the oh-so-stupid HAMAS attack on Oct 7. I DID see a story about how some HAMAS fighters used a rocket to kill three Israeli soldiers preparing to blow up a building but there’s precious little else.

Netanyahu says he isn’t stopping until all of HAMAS is wiped out. It’s hard to blame him for feeling that way, but he ALSO seems to think that every Palestinian is HAMAS. He also seems to be trying to expand the fight from just Gaza to the West Bank. To me? He seems to think this is his chance, once and for all, to get rid of the Palestinians. ALL of the Palestinians. The whole world has asked him to stand down. He just thumbs his nose.

I’ll tell you this: Netanyahu may not be saying ‘from the river to the sea’ but he sure seems to be doing ‘from the river to the sea.’

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There’s a guy running against Putin in the upcoming Russian “elections.” That’s some guts. He will either end up in some Russian prison (“Say ‘hello’ to Nalvany for me…”) or dead, having committed suicide by drinking poison, chopping off his own head, and then throwing his own body out one window and the head out another. And THIS is the system MAGA wants to see in America?

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There’s a weird “analysis” of dissolving Donny’s businesses in AP, this morning. It takes the position that shutting down Donny’s fraudulent business will only empower the state to shut down other fraudulent businesses, and, after all, how fraudulent WAS Donny’s fraud? Oh, and he stopped some of his fraud – right after he got sued for providing fraudulent statements, so, what’s the problem? The “analysis” suggests that most of the time, when a business DID get shut down, the case was able to demonstrate who got hurt.

But THEN, it acknowledges that NY law doesn’t require showing damages, only an ongoing pattern of fraud. It acknowledges that not every business shut down showed damages. Despite the fact that the “analysis” seems to arguing against shutting down trump businesses, the article points out these things have been going on for at least eleven years and says, “Trump exaggerated the size of his Manhattan penthouse apartment by three times. He listed unfinished buildings as if they were complete, and apartments under rent-control as if they were free of such rules. He showed restricted funds as if they were liquid cash. And he portrayed Mar-a-Lago as if it could be converted to a residence even though that is prohibited in its deed.”

I’ll tell you this: When the “analysis” says, “Yeah he did all those things but we should just give the guy a break?” I suspect it was written by MAGA…

The Defame Game…

by MyBaconPress

It’s always his mouth, isn’t it? Well, no. Apparently, sometimes it’s his fingers but MOST of the time, it’s his own, awful mouth that gets him in trouble. This one has a ‘coming-home-to-roost’ feel, though. In the NY fraud case in which Donny inflates and deflates values depending on how his answers affect him financially, one of the things that seems to bother him the most (weirdly, really) is that, officially, his Florida not-a-home-because-he-swore-it-wouldn’t-be is worth $18- to $21-million dollars. That’s in the record.

He is SO obsessed with that one point, it caused him to write one of his biggest hits, the classic, ‘Mar-a-Lago Worth A Lot!’ He does it at every show, without fail. Of course, like many of his standards, it’s an epic and wandering bit. By now, we all know the chorus:
  ’Mar-a-Lago, worth ten times!
  I be hassled by those Slimes!
  It sell fast, 1 point 8 billion!
  Who knows? Maybe more, a trillion?’

Yeah, catchy. The thing is, the value of Mar-a-Lago is set by the county assessor’s office based on, you know, an assessment… and, apparently, a bit of negotiation between the county and the property owner – Donny – who actually got the county to lower their original assessment. It lowered his property tax, you see. EXACTLY what he’s being charged with in New York. The point is, Mar-a-Lago is officially valued at $18 – $21 million dollars but he keeps insisting, based on his muse, I guess, that it’s worth $1.8 Billion, minimum.

But that’s not the story I wanted to tell you…

The story I wanted to tell you involves his OTHER New York civil trial, in which he’s already been found responsible for raping Ms. Carroll. THAT one inspired an entire concept album that gave us a string of hits, including ‘E. Jean is Not My Lover,’ ‘I Never Even Knew Her’, ‘Not My Type,’ and ‘Isn’t That Marla?’ Of course, ‘Isn’t That Marla?’ isn’t as well known outside certain circles. For MY money, though, it was the ‘B’ side, ‘Unfortunately…or Fortunately,’ that sold that record. But I digress.

As you no doubt recall, the ruling in the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial was made a long, long time ago. He was ordered to pay $5 million dollars in damages. His minions coughed that up in about 20 minutes, though, so he didn’t give two figs. ”Please support Trump. He needs your help to win back the White House. Stop Joe Biden! MAGA! (Please make your checks out to the New York State Unified Court System, Attn: E. Jean Carroll.”)

Of course, he ran right out and started in on her again. So, she sued him again. Now the court is trying to decide how much is enough to shut this guy’s vicious, flapping maw once and for all. Donny’s team tried to downplay the damages and pretend she wasn’t harmed, so everybody should just forget the whole thing and go home. E. Jean Carroll’s team made their case that this guy is worth a LOT so the disgorgement needed to be substantial or he won’t even feel it and, therefore, won’t stop. TO that end, they presented, to the jury, Donny’s claims that Mar-a-Lago is worth $1.8 billion dollars. This is for deciding punitive damages, the “punishment” part.

Frankly I enjoyed watching Carroll’s team use Donny’s own lying words against him. I enjoyed seeing his braggadocio come back to bite him, rather than impressing everyone with how rich he is. I once wrote in these pages that I would like to see the county assessor’s office send him a letter telling him they’ve decided to use HIS valuation so here is the new property tax amount along with the back taxes he owes for shortfalls in the past. Mine was just a fantasy. Carroll’s team made it real. I laughed out loud.

When all is said and done, Donny has been ordered to pay $83.3 million dollars in damages. No, that’s wrong. The minions need to cough up $83.3 million dollars. Donny can’t be expected to pay. He’s got a writer to defame…

MAGA Kneels…

by MyBaconPress

Okay, I kind of love this. Donny sued the NY Times over a story they did that he didn’t like. He thought he’d hit them hard in order to show what a brilliant tough guy he is. The Times published a story about the trumpster “wealth” and tax practices. Donny didn’t like it. So, he sued the NY Times, the reporters who wrote the story, and the story’s source, estranged niece Mary Trump for $100 million dollars. (Hey, a guy has to get money somehow…and he certainly isn’t going to earn it honestly…)

First the reporters, then the paper itself, were dismissed from the case. Of course, it was a complex case and, again, he was asking for $100 million. The problem? The story was essentially correct and laws protecting the free press kicked in. Now DONNY has to pay the NY Times and the reporters $400,000 in restitution over his frivolous lawsuit! (They’re still pursuing Mary – for now…) File a frivolous lawsuit in an attempt to get $100 million dollars and end up having to PAY $400,000? Priceless!

At this point, MAGA is going to have to start selling their cars to pay Donny’s penalties. He seems to be racking up punishments faster than MAGA can refill his coffers. If they don’t get busy, he might have to pay out some of his own money. (Heaven forfend!) Then, MAGA can sit around complaining that they don’t have any money and blaming Joe Biden for it. That’s not right, MAGA. You voluntarily gave your money to a con man and you keep doing it. You know what they say, ‘A fool and his money are soon parted.’ Excellent demonstration of the concept, I’ll give you that.

So, that’s $400,000 to the NY Times, $370 million to the state of New York, and maybe $150 million more to E. Jean Carroll. Remember, that’s just January. MAGA keeps whining about what the national debt will do to our kids. I think they’d better start paying attention to what their god-on-earth is doing to THEM…

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They won’t, though, pay attention to what he’s doing to them, I mean. The Iowa Caucus is coming up. Stinky Donny has a huge lead, despite the fact that he hasn’t campaigned as much as the others because he’s been choosing to go to court, trying to defend his indefensible criminal activities.

MAGA knows they’re voting for a criminal. They just don’t care. MAGA is in full-on delusional mode these days and the more evidence that comes out showing what a useless puke Donny is, the harder they fight to defend him. That’s some serious “irrational,” right there…

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In the hearing in the ‘House Committee to Harass Hunter Biden,’ Democrat Jared Moskowitz said, “You come up here and talk about Hunter Biden’s behavior, and you’re so disgusted, but the guy that you all kneel to associates himself with a pedophile.” (He’s talking about trump’s loyalty and devotion to Jeffery Epstein.) MAGA pretended to get angry at the suggestion that they “kneel” to trump. Snowflake Clay Higgins interrupted, “I kneel to Christ!” Uh-huh. Somehow, I doubt that. What I do NOT doubt, is that if Donny told you to kneel before him, you would.

And you might as well. You ALL kneel before him, metaphorically, all day, every day. Why pretend to be offended by something we all watch you do on a daily basis?

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I got scolded in social media for the way I think of MAGA. The person wrote, “…thank you for characterizing me and all MAGA the way you’ve been taught.” It’s true. I HAVE been taught how to think about MAGA – by MAGA!

MAGA pays Donny’s bills – because, they insist, the courts, and not the criminal, are corrupt. MAGA stays loyal to Donny despite his absolute, complete, and easily proven failures as President and the piles of evidence and charges against the guy. They insist upon their delusions and pretend to get furious with those who refuse to delude themselves along with them. I see them as abused wives explaining why they shouldn’t have “made him to do that.” NOBODY questions the idea that MAGA, any MAGA, any time, would kneel before Donny upon command, but to be outside MAGA and say so out loud? Oh, the huMANity!

Dear MAGA: if you don’t want to be lumped in with MAGA, don’t be such an effing MAGA. It’s pretty simple, really…

Take A Stand…

by MyBaconPress

I read an article on Tuesday from ‘The Hill’ quoting Stinky Donny saying the economy is going to crash and he hopes it crashes in the next year because he doesn’t want to be Herbert Hoover. Too late, Donny. You’re already worse than Herbert Hoover. In fact, in every measurable way, you’re the worst President the United States ever suffered. Don’t you remember your woeful mishandling of the Covid crisis? Most Americans do. Most of the world does. Had YOU done better, the economy would have done better. Sadly, we had an incompetent at the wheel in that moment and you drove us into a ditch. Dumbass.

Of course and like always, he’s taking credit for the current good economy. No, really. He says the only reason there’s any good at all is because it’s “running on the fumes” of what he did. Sorry, Donny, wrong again. Those “fumes” you sense are the smell of death from all the Americans you killed. On the up side, the current economy is SO strong these days, cons are hoping for failure as the best hope of winning in November. Leave it to cons to hope for harm and failure in the United States because of how they perceive it will help them…

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Donny’s out there promising he’s going to testify in his trial. No, not that one. No, the other one. No, not that one, either. This is the civil business fraud trial, in New York. I guess he plans to try to save whatever money his loyal acolytes have left, since they so kindly pay his fines. They’re going to need whatever money they have left. Donny has a BIG loss facing him in the E. Jean Carroll trial. MAGA is going to have to rent out their children as laborers to help pay his fines.

Donny wants to present the closing arguments. This part of the trial is about – and ONLY about – disgorgement. How much does Donny have to pay? There has already been a finding that he’s only ever been smoke and mirrors and his business model is fraud, fraud, fraud so he has to dissolve ALL of his business interests in the state of New York. Now the question is, how much will he pay?

The original filing was asking for $250 Million dollars but since then, the independent monitor has “noted” (caught) a few other elements that should be included. The adjusted number now stands at $370 million.

This month, he’s still looking at his next round in the E Jean Carroll case, too. He’s been found responsible for sexual assault. He defamed Carroll over that and lost his case. He was ordered to pay $5 million as a penalty. Then he went outside and doubled down, so she re-filed. Meanwhile Rudy Giuliani was found responsible in HIS defamation case and ordered to pay $148 million dollars. THAT set the new standard. This is trump’s follow-up defamation case. The one that suggests he didn’t get the message at $5 million. Maybe $150 million more will help him understand. (I made that number up based on the Giuliani ruling. It could be less, it could be more…)

Frankly, I doubt ANY monetary damages will convince him to stand down. HE doesn’t pay them. His loyal, and oh-so-gullible followers pay them, so why should he care?

Update: I wrote that bit Wednesday morning. By Wednesday night, trump had decided (surprise!) he wasn’t going to speak, after all. The cons will pretend the evil gubmint kept him from talking but, for clarity, Engoron, in fact, said Donny could speak but he had to limit himself to the issues at hand. He couldn’t give a campaign speech and he couldn’t just attack people he doesn’t like. That left Stinky Donny with nothing to say so he demurred, then declined. What kind of life do you live if you’re stuck in “If I can’t whine and cry, ‘poor me!’ I have nothing to say?”

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I saw a story that irritated me. The Headline suggested a Catholic priest got defrocked after marrying a woman. That paints a picture that fits into a larger, already established narrative about abusive priests in the Catholic church and I was all prepared to write about it. He was 29 when they met and she was 17! They married a year later. An element of the story is that the two had “fled” to Italy. I actually DID start writing about it, but wanted some details – why did he “flee?” – so searched out other articles on the topic. Turns out, that headline was technically true, he did leave the church after marrying a women, but not accurate.

The truth is, two people dated for a year, then got married but he had to quit his job because of that choice. See, this happened in Alabama. In Alabama, the age of consent is 16. He didn’t break any laws. He didn’t “flee” to Italy. They moved there. The church didn’t defrock him – technically, called ‘Laicization’ – as punishment for marrying the woman (though they would have). The priest in question started the process and made no effort to fight it. The church defrocked him for abandoning his post at his church – with his cooperation.

Corporate media sucks in this country. One must be VERY careful when reading even the most minor of stories. They just want the clicks and they’ll say nearly anything…

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The NFL, never short on greed, has decided to air one of their playoff games on a streaming service station only. If you don’t have ‘Peacock,’ you don’t watch the game, except in the local markets where NFL rules require them to air the game on a local channel. It’s the Chiefs/Dolphins game so they can watch it in Kansas City and Miami without paying. But everyone else? Pay up, suckers. The NFL made $12 BILLION dollars in 2020, and that was DOWN from $18 Billion because of the pandemic. Now the NFL is trying to squeeze out a little bit more. The ONLY way to protect ourselves from this ever-encroaching greed is to shut our wallets.

I’m asking you to avoid THAT game. It’s for our own protection. If they make money on this move, we’ll see more and more of it until football is an entirely pay-per-view event. If the game loses money, they’ll be LESS likely to push this as quickly. (Note that they WILL keep trying. Greed is a disease that does not go away on it’s own.) We, the fans, need to ensure the game loses money, or we’d better prepare to pay out lots and lots more. ”Oh, c’mon, they’ll say, it’s only $5.00 dollars.”

Yeah, today. But if it “works,” soon we’ll have to subscribe to ALL the streaming services just to watch a game or worse, the NFL will move all of their games to their own streaming service and charge hundreds of dollars a year. (That’s not hyperbole. Have you checked the price of their ‘Season Ticket’?) Soon, after that, I wouldn’t be surprised if we had to buy ‘Personal Viewer Licenses’ ($300.00) to obtain the right to subscribe to their service ($300.00 MORE). THAT part might be hyperbole. But even that is only a ‘maybe.’ The greed of the NFL is legendary and inexorable. I say again, the ONLY way to protect ourselves from this ever-encroaching greed is to shut our wallets.

Yeah, I’d rather see the game, too. But I’ll catch the highlights later, maybe. Let’s make pay-per-view-only football a failed test…for our own protection. Please, don’t watch the game…