Crime

When You Can’t Win, Cheat…

by MyBaconPress

In an effort to stop the gerrymandering Donny has demanded from Texas, the state’s Democrats have fled, leaving insufficient votes to move forward with the evil plan – for now. Evil Texas Governor Greg Abbott has threatened to “remove” the Democratic lawmakers from their office if they don’t come back. That seems unconstitutional, to me, but I’m not very familiar with Texas state law.

The GOP knows the policies they’re pursuing are incredibly unpopular. Every day, more and more people are speaking out. When this country was a constitutional republic, the people could get rid of lousy lawmakers at the ballot box. It’s part of the reason there has been so little pushback to the insanity coming out of Washington, DC. Americans figure they’ll just vote the scoundrels out in the mid-terms.

That used to work. The GOP, and, specifically, evil Donny, are afraid it might work again so they formed a plan and the plan is simple: cheat. The anti-American GOP intends to gerrymander districts to eliminate Democratic seats and give the state five more Republican seats, thus extending the artificial hold Republicans have on the House of “Representatives.”

It’s not like this is back-room politics. They’re doing it right out in the open, where everyone can see. There’s not much the Texas Democrats can do about it, except leave the state, depriving the legislature of a quorum. So that’s what they did. But, come on, how long can they keep that up? They get fined $500 a day while they’re gone and their campaign funds aren’t allowed to pay the fines. Besides, historically, it only serves to slow, not defeat, legislation.

Texas is already considered one of the more gerrymandered states in the nation. Other known gerrymandered states include North Carolina (Swing, red in 2024), Maryland (Blue), Pennsylvania (Swing, red in 2024), Kentucky (Red), Louisiana (Red), Arkansas (Red), Utah (Red), Texas (Red), Ohio (Red), West Virginia (Red), and Wisconsin (swing, red in 2024).

Maryland seems to be an outlier as a gerrymandered blue state. It should be noted that the swing states that went red in the last “election,” likely went red as a result of Elon Muck’s money and his ‘knowledge of the tabulating machines’ – according to 47. But if the red states are already heavily gerrymandered – really, the only way the GOP can hold seats – all they can do is gerrymander more.

There are some blue states threatening to respond in kind, California and New York among them. California was once heavily gerrymandered to favor the GOP and we suffered terribly under the heavy hand of conservatism. The citizens managed to eliminate the rigging and California went blue again but the method we used to get back to fair also makes it very difficult for California to respond with it’s own, blue gerrymander. Newsom is trying anyway.

When I re-wrote the US Constitution, I included a bit that required each state’s congressional districts to be “as close to square shaped as possible.” The hope is that the requirement eliminates gerrymandering altogether. It’s cheating, pure and simple. Because of that, I’m not wholly on board with the idea of blue states gerrymandering to bring more blue seats. On the other hand, the red-hats are openly cheating and the country is suffering.

Do we really just stand around, squawking about honor and playing by the rules when we KNOW our opposition is openly cheating? In this case, losing with honor means losing the country. Like, entirely and forever. In view of the GOP nightmare we’ve already been treated to, I see blue-state gerrymandering as the lessor of two evils.

IF California can pull it off, we can bring as many as six more blue seats to Congress, offsetting the five Texas is trying to add. But it’s a big ‘if.’ Democrat Jared Huffman called the ploy a “race to the bottom” and I agree, but bringing a Marquess of Queensberry rule book to a gunfight seems like a losing tactic. I’ll tell you this: MAGAmerica sucks in every way…

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I’m very sorry to learn of Loni Anderson’s passing just a few days shy of her 80th birthday after a prolonged illness. I was a great fan of the original ‘WKRP in Cincinnati,’ and her character, Jennifer Marlowe, along with Gary Sandy’s Andy Travis, was one of the two “adults” in the room…

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Speaking of evil, Donny’s problem with Epstein seems to be leaving the news, just as the GOP hoped when they abandoned their jobs early to go on vacation rather than risk forcing 47 to release the files he promised to release. Yet another promise made, promise broken.

I understand why Donny wants the whole thing to go away. Based on the information currently available, I suspect he wasn’t JUST having sex with minors, he was part of the trafficking ring, supplying girls to Epstein via Mar-a-Lardo.

I have never seen such a unified, concerted effort to protect a child-raper as I’m seeing from the GOP and MAGA, though. This isn’t “shame,” it’s disgrace. I don’t have first-hand experience, of course, but my understanding is that in prison, fellow inmates are absolute in their “handling” of child-rapers. Murderers have better morals that MAGA!

I mean, it’s one thing to disagree about the best way to balance the budget but protect the pedophile? I will never understand…

Numbers…

by MyBaconPress

The US government provides numbers. Lots of numbers. Numbers on every subject. There are numbers we all know about and some numbers the vast majority of us wonder, “what the heck is THAT all about?” YOU, personally, may never look at any of the numbers – except the weather report, of course. YOU, personally, may have NO IDEA what some of those numbers are, what they mean, or even who might need them. But somebody, somewhere relies upon them.

Somebody, somewhere needs those specific, often obscure numbers. So, somebody, somewhere compiles the numbers into some usable form. An initial number is released but it’s almost always revised as information comes in. Revisions are as common as the sunrise. They’re expected. Sometimes revisions go up, sometimes revisions go down but revisions always happen.

Businesses and industries use the numbers the government produces. They’re used to make projections and decisions. They’re used to spot trends. They can be used to measure successes. They can also be used to measure failure, and THAT is the reason Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of labor statistics, was fired.

Her job was to collect, collate, and report on employment numbers. She did. She reported that in July, only 73,000 jobs were created, well short of the 115,000 jobs expected. Remember, that’s an initial number. It will be revised, which she also did with the numbers for May and June. Her revisions to those two months slashed 258,000 workers that had been reported hired originally, but weren’t.

I’ll tell you the truth, I didn’t understand how the numbers for May and June could have been so glowing in the first place. How can unemployment go down while the government is laying off tens of thousands of workers because Donny doesn’t understand things, and private industries start laying off workers because Donny doesn’t understand things? So I wasn’t surprised the numbers were revised down. But Donny was, because Donny doesn’t understand things.

By now we all know the story, McEntarfer got fired for doing her job well and reporting accurately. That is, telling the truth. But consider this: What does that say about all the other numbers the US government, THIS US “government,” is producing? What happens to a business that creates a three-year plan based on numbers produced by the government? What if those numbers are not based on actual, solid information, but rather, based on what makes 47 happy? What happens to those business projections? What good are they?

This isn’t as big of a problem today as it will be in the near future. But the longer numbers produced by the “government” are massaged to make one orange moron feel better, the less value they have. My guess? McEntarfer is going to be replaced by a “yes-man” toady, someone who LIVES to make Donny happy. Someone who would pluck out his own eyes if Donny told him to, just because Donny told him to. Someone who will definitely and absolutely create glowing, but increasingly useless, jobs reports.

I suspect that in August, the US jobs report will reflect, according to the toady, at least 558,000 new jobs, magically restoring all of the false jobs McEntarfer had revised out. Won’t that be amazing? I mean, no, nobody will actually HAVE any more jobs, but the jobs report will make Donny happy, and isn’t THAT the important part?

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Why did Ghislaine Maxwell get moved to a minimum security prison? She had to get a special waiver to go there, did you know that? She’s not eligible to BE in that prison as a child raper, but there she is. She meets with one of Donny’s useless toadies and shortly thereafter, she gets this plush new “home.” Do you know what I think? I think she’s going to lie. I know, that’s a deep insight. My vision can be uncanny. But that’s what I think…

Meanwhile, STILL no word on release of the Epstein files. Everybody on the planet knows that Donny is working overtime – no, that’s wrong. Donny doesn’t work. He’s FAR too lazy. Donny is having OTHER people work overtime trying to protect his evil name from being associated with the things he has done. It strikes, me, though, that his goal, likely, included protecting other rich and powerful people who ALSO did terrible things to defenseless kids.

I think one of the things that bothers me the most about all of this is that. Rich, powerful men who KNEW they could get away with sexually abusing financially challenged girls. They count it as one of the “privileges” they’ve “earned” by BEING wealthy in the first place. Donny even used that word, “privilege.”

I think a person, or in this case, Donny, who spends so much time trying to protect the rich and powerful from the “great unwashed” doesn’t really, CAN’T really, have the best interests of the work-a-day Joes on his mind. To him, we’re just cannon fodder. We’re just a source of money. Out daughters are his to take – and abuse – because he’s rich. We know he’s not alone. We know other rich men ALSO feel entitled to our daughters, and we KNOW that Donny is doing everything he can to protect the rich, not the victims.

47 says he can’t release the files because there are names of a lot of innocent people in there and they have to be protected. He doesn’t give two figs about the victims. They were, after all, only “poors,” people he and other rich men could buy and use a playthings. They don’t count.

I’ll tell you this: Innocent men don’t have anything to worry about. If one rode on the so-called “Lolita Express,” Epstein’s airplane, from one point to another but didn’t abuse any girls, they would – should – have no objection to anyone knowing they accepted a ride. It’s only the guilty “innocent” men who should be concerned. But they aren’t, because Donny is protecting them.

And why wouldn’t he? He’s one of them. Despite his claims of being a “man of the people,” he’s really only a “man of the rich people” and he’s doing everything in his considerable power to protect them, the rich and powerful, from the masses…

Minor Problems…

by MyBaconPress

“I never had the privilege of going to his island.” That’s Donald Trump speaking. He never had the “privilege?” His word, not mine. Of course, he didn’t need to go all the way to the island. His good buddy Jeffrey Epstein lived only a short distance from Mar-a-Lago and they did most of their partying with minors there, at Jeff’s house.

Still, I think MAGA is starting to fall in line with 47, based on social media posts I’ve seen. This was NEVER going to be the deal killer Americans wanted it to be. MAGA wasn’t going to turn away from him, not over this. Yes, they were angry with him. Nobody stoked the Epstein files story more than Donny did and he promised and promised and promised to release them and now he won’t. So they’re angry about that.

But it’s like when a politician YOU like does something you DON’T like. You condemn that one thing but say, “but overall I like the job he’s doing.” THAT is the MAGA position.

Now, in MY mind, this one should be a little different. We’re not talking about some policy detail an administration and supporters disagree on. We’re talking about sex with minors. But in the MAGA mind, the details are only a… um… “minor” problem to be overcome…

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My position on any “deal” Donny gets “done” is simple and static: wait for the paperwork. 47 runs around claiming deals. He makes up numbers and pitches them out like they mean something. He recently announced South Korea was going to surrender a full 25% of their total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to the US. To be clear, he didn’t KNOW he was claiming South Korea was going to surrender a full 25% of their total GDP to the US.

He just made up a number and threw it out there in an effort to impress people. He doesn’t even know that he only makes himself look more and more foolish to people who DO know what he’s talking about when he pretends a country will surrender 25% of their total GDP just to get a deal with him. But it’s not just South Korea he lies about.

Here’s a quote about Europe, “We have a deal with Europe where they’re doing $750 billion plus $400 billion plus $300 billion and many other countries.” Okay, first, “and many other countries?” What the hell does that even mean? Europe is going to hand over $1.45 TRILLION dollars AND some countries? I’m sure MAGA is VERY impressed.

He does this all the time. Worse, the longer he talks about the same issue, the higher the number gets. If reporters were to ask him about the South Korea deal a few more times, he would eventually claim that South Korea was surrendering 236,000% of their total GDP, just because he would keep increasing the number in order to sound more impressive to his base, who doesn’t understand things. What did he call them? Poorly educated? Stupid? Weaklings? Yeah, all of the above. Not MY words. HIS words.

Of course, the dumbest of the dumb is leading the parade. Maybe those other countries ARE telling him these things in an effort to placate the petulant potato-head. Why not? So long as it’s not in writing, it’s not real. It’s just talk. He gets to brag, you get some temporary relief.

So, if YOU want to get rid of the bloviating windbag, tell him what he wants to hear. It’s a simple strategy with predictable results and most countries seem to have adopted it. Count on the fact that he’ll trumpet the story as a “done deal,” then his tiny little mind will move on to the next lie…

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“In a way, it’s a backdoor to privatizing Social Security.” That’s a quote from evil Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, saying the quite part out loud at a Breitbart event.

It’s not ME saying they’re coming for Social Security. THEY’RE saying they’re coming for Social Security…

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He REALLY DOES seem to think that if one doesn’t measure a problem, the problem goes away. Yes, that’s stupid, but consider the source. Now he has fired Erika McEntarfer, commissioner of labor statistics, because he didn’t like the most recent jobs report. The numbers weren’t as good as he would have preferred. Is that McEntarfer’s fault, or is she just the messenger?

It’s a difference without distinction to a dumbass. He wants to only see good numbers – like the kinds HE makes up – and if the numbers aren’t good and worse, she accurately reports that they’re not good, it must be HER fault they’re not good. Perhaps it’s all those tariffs she has imposed, but put on hold, but imposed for real this time, but wait, no, not you, but everyone else, no exceptions, except you, any day now, except we’ll wait another 30 or 60 or 90 days.

Maybe it was her constant whining about the Fed chair and how Powell is not doing what the President asked, exactly as his job description says he should not because she doesn’t seem to grasp that the Fed chair’s independence is about the last shred of credibility that remains for the US dollar and fear that she’s going to stick her face in anyway scares away investment. Obviously, but does that mean she has to report it accurately?

Oh, but wait. (Checks notes.) Nope, it’s Donny threatening on again/off again tariffs and it’s Donny threatening the Fed chair, which means it’s Donny creating the uncertainty in the economy, so of course it’s McEntarfer’s fault and she must be fired. She reported on the results of his stupidity. There can be no greater crime. Out she goes.

So, because we live in the Upside Down, he wrote “We need accurate Jobs Numbers,” in social media. I’ll tell you this: Firing the person who presents accurate jobs numbers and replacing them with a toady that will dutifully report full employment, at all times, in every sector, no matter what because some orange moron says so isn’t the way to get accurate jobs numbers…

Only Making It Worse…

by MyBaconPress

Russia, Russia, Russia! No, this one isn’t about how Russia helped Donny steal the 2016 “election.” THIS bit is about how Russia sent the US a Tsunami. Okay, no, I don’t blame Russia for an 8.8 magnitude earthquake under the sea that launched a Tsunami that hit pretty much every country on the Pacific Ocean. It’s just that the earthquake started off the coast of Russia.

It looks like Russia got the worst of it, too. That makes sense, being the closest. But the tsunami did hit the US west coast. It’s quite impressive, in my mind – how far a tsunami can travel. Unfortunately, it came ashore without proper documentation so the ICEholes tried to detain it and put it into Alligator Alcatraz…

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NOW Donny is claiming his very good friend, Jeffrey, “stole” workers from him, including Virginia Giuffre from Mar-a-Lago and that’s what caused the split between them. Poaching employees. Not the sex with minors thing, there, Don?

There’s a story in the Bible in which eleven of the tribes of Israel got angry with a twelfth tribe, the Benjamites. In their anger, the eleven swore a covenant to God that they would not give any of their women to the Benjamites, so there. But, as is the way, anger faded and before long it looked like the Benjamites might disappear entirely.

Now the other tribes wanted to help but they had sworn a covenant to God. How does one get around an oath to an all-powerful being? Someone came up with a plan. They took eligible young women out to a given place, having told the Benjamite men the location beforehand. Then the chaperones all wondered off, leaving the women free to be “stolen” by the Benjamites. Problem solved. Personally, I’ve always been a bit surprised that an all-knowing God might fall for such a ruse, but that’s the story.

I’d bet Donny doesn’t know the Biblical story but I suspect that’s the same trick HE used to provide girls to Jeffrey while maintaining plausible deniability. The girls were put in a pre-arranged place, Mar-a-Lago, then “stolen” by Epstein or Maxwell. Giuffre was hired away from Mar-a-Lago in 2000 and Donny ended the friendship and kicked Epstein out of the club, right? Welllll…

In 2002, Donny told New York Magazine this of Epstein: “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

Then, that letter that he claims he didn’t write that he almost certainly wrote? The one that ends, “Happy birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.” That letter? That was in 2003. Hmm, the kicking out of the club doesn’t seem to have been an immediate response.

Especially since Epstein is STILL shown on the member roles as late as October, 2007. This, after Jeffrey was arrested and charged with soliciting prostitution from a minor the first time – in 2006.

And since we’re STILL on this subject, I want to say right now, right up front, I’m already unimpressed by Ghislaine Maxwell’s testimony and/or claims, whatever they may turn out to be. She’s motivated to lie. He’s motivated to bribe her to lie. His corrupt cronies are motivated to let her lie.

There is STILL only one proper response: Prove it. Corroborate her story. Release the files. Since ‘release the files’ seems always to be the only answer, how about we skip the Maxwell charade and just get to that, eh?

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So, with his left hand he’s doing everything in his power to exacerbate the climate crisis. But it’s okay. His regime is working overtime to remove any reference to climate change from government web sites and in his tiny little mind, if he doesn’t mention it, it goes away.

With his right hand, he’s taking away FEMA money needed by states to recover from the devastation being caused by the climate crisis he thinks he “fixed” by removing any reference to climate change. In fairness, his recently rejected requests came from states with Democratic governors so he gets to enjoy a “gotcha” moment, but those states have red-hats in them, too, and I’d bet the damage from floods and storms affected them, as well.

One could just mark it all down to being stupid – and he DOES make that option seem so… right. But I think he’s just cruel and so blinded by greed, he doesn’t CARE about anything else…

In a completely unrelated note, this year, so far, is the hottest year on record. That is, in human history. Obviously it was hotter when it was a ball of molten lava, but how that affected humans wasn’t really much of a problem at the time. It may not feel like it where you’re standing. Here in northern California, for example, we’ve been having an unexpectedly mild summer. But the world as a whole? Hot, hot, hot. And NOT in a good way.

If I’ve got this right, 2025 took the ‘hottest ever’ title from the year 2024. In turn, 2024 took the title from 2023. It’s starting to look like a pattern. It’s almost as if science is going to science even if we remove all references on official websites…

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So, a married man takes his married girlfriend to a Coldplay concert and gets caught on a kisscam canoodling while they enjoy the show. Those shots are usually local. If they had just kissed, the thousands of people at the concert would have known about it, but not their spouses. But they didn’t kiss. Instead, they acted guilty, like they were having an affair and got caught – so the whole thing hit the internet where their respective spouses and employers saw it.

They lost their jobs. They’ll likely lose their marriages. So now, the dude at the center of all of this, Andy Byron, whose name I shouldn’t know, is saying he wants to sue Coldplay for invasion of privacy? Because Coldplay front man Chris Martin commented that it looked like they were having the affair they were having? Quick show of hands, who here thinks one has privacy while attending a concert? “Oh,” he whined to multiple outlets, “they made me a meme.”

Dude, YOU made you a meme. What are you thinking? This is America, land of “freedumb.” You’re on camera all of the time, everywhere you go. Take your wife to the concert. Listen to the disc with your girlfriend in some actually private place, if such a place exists in this once-great nation, anymore. (Big Brother, anyone?) Don’t sue and, for God’s sake, shut your mouth. You’re only making it worse…

Paying the Price…

by MyBaconPress

Things known and Unknown…
One of the things we know is that Ghislaine Maxwell recruited her victims from Mar-a-Lago, among other places.
What we don’t know? Is it at ALL possible that Mar-a-Lago’s hiring practices took into account that Maxwell would be “fishing” there? If 47 was hiring girls that seemed particularly vulnerable to Maxwell’s advances, might that make Donny a co-conspirator in the scheme?

All of that is just random thinking while the Epstein File crisis continues to simmer. Deep State Donny promised to release the files and is now working as hard as he can to distract his base from them. He doesn’t WANT to release them. I’ll just bet.

Now MAGA Mike the Johnson is running interference for Donny in Congress, where a bipartisan effort to force the release of the files is gaining steam. The Johnson said, “I agree with President Trump, with the Department of Justice, with the FBI that you need all credible evidence and information out there. That word ‘credible’ is important. And why? Because you have to protect innocent people’s names and reputations whose names might be, as you noted at the outset of the program, intertwined into all these files.”

Yeah, Mike, we do that with a difficult, challenging process called “redaction.” It’s a tough concept so, try to stay with me, here. What you do is, you cross out the names of the victims with a magic marker. Black, preferably. I wouldn’t normally specify ‘black,’ but this is MAGA we’re dealing with, here. These guys might grab a yellow highlighter and consider it good enough.

As it happens, people are less interested in the victim’s names than they are in the perpetrator’s names. Most especially when it turns out that ONE of those perpetrator’s names is likely ‘Trump.’ Or ‘Clinton,’ if you’ve contracted MAGA. I mean, let’s be honest. But I’ll tell you this: The only way we can ever know for sure is if we see the files…

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Unmask the ICEholes…
Uh-oh. It seems some of these ICEholes who arrested protestors in LA lied. Yeah, who knew that someone who could so easily terrorize human beings by kidnapping innocent people off the streets while wearing masks and who make jokes about tossing innocent people into ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ might be moral reprobates?

The ICEhole’s testimony included “false and misleading” statements in their arrest reports. Prosecutors have had to dismiss at least eight cases against Angelenos because their prosecution relied so heavily on false ICEhole claims.

Nine people arrested for “assault” and “impeding” felony cases were paraded around by Pam Bondi in a great show, then, almost immediately, seven of them were released with charges dismissed because the agents lied. Notably, there was less pomp associated with the dismissals.

DHS agents made “false or misleading statements” (they lied) about sequences of events and “misrepresented” incidents captured on video. One guy got arrested for pushing an agent, only to have the video showing the exact opposite – the agent “forcefully” pushed the citizen.

A former California state prosecutor named Cristine Soto DeBerry, now director of a criminal justice reform group called ‘Prosecutors Alliance Action,’ said, “When I see felonies dismissed, that tells me either the federal officers have filed affidavits that are not truthful and that has been uncovered, or US attorneys reviewing the cases realize the evidence does not support the charges.”

She said it’s common that officers call for charges that prosecutors end up not filing, but called it uncommon for the justice department to file and then dismiss those cases – especially numerous felonies in rapid succession. Then she added this little tidbit: “It seems this is a way to detain people, hold them in custody, instill fear, and discourage people from exercising their first amendment rights.” In short, it’s a terror campaign, intended to quell dissent.

The President of the United States is running a terror campaign against the American people. Is THAT how one makes America great again? It seems like petty tyrant bullshit, to me…

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Lindsey’s Reward…
Here’s the standard reward for loyalty in the Republican Party: Challenges in elections. Consider this: Lindsey Graham. You know who he is. He’s a senator from South Carolina. He has been as loyal to Donny as anyone can be. He has debased himself on command. He has publicly bent the knee, kissed the ring, and groveled for approval. I’ve known dogs with less enthusiasm for their owners.

So, obviously, Donny is getting a different dog. Graham’s loyalty is being rewarded with a primary run by one of Project 2025’s evil authors, Paul Dans. Dans is an attorney who worked in the first Trump administration as White House liaison to the office of personnel management before going to work for the America-hating Heritage Foundation and working on Project 2025.

Stay loyal to Donny, get primaried anyway. What a great deal. Behave and get primaried or misbehave and get primaried. It seems one should just vote one’s conscience either way. But we know no MAGA can do that. It’s not allowed…

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Grass is hard…
This is nothing, really, but did you know 47 paved over the Rose Garden at the White House? The official reason was that the grass was always wet and it was difficult for people in heels to walk on. The thing is, I’ve noticed that Donny is a feeble old man who has difficulty walking under the best of conditions and stands like he has an invisible little holder up his behind, holding him up.

Perhaps, he paved over the Rose Garden because HE can’t easily walk on the grass and the Rose Garden, famously, a place where pressers were held, paid the price…

Stupid Things That Harm People…

by MyBaconPress

I saw a story in ‘The Guardian.’ A data tracking company called BatchData produced some data that was analyzed by the ‘Orange County Register.’ They discovered that nearly one-fifth, or 19% of homes in California are investor owned. When you get to the mountain regions of the state, like Shasta County, the rate surges to 83% investor-owned homes! In seven counties – Sierra, Trinity, Mono, Alpine, Plumas, Modoc and Calaveras – investors owned more than 50% of homes.

The article noted that traditional home buyers are being, “sidelined by affordability constraints.” Then, they turned reality on it’s head by saying the institutional investors are “providing essential marked liquidity while targeting distinct property segments and geographic markets.” The article pretends the investor owned properties are “filling a crucial role in tight markets.”

I say, have long said, and will continue to say, that investor owned properties are creating the tight markets AND the “affordability constraints” that have sidelined traditional home buyers. Traditional home buyers simply cannot compete with institutional investors who can offer all-cash, over-asking prices with no home inspections and the seller chooses their time in escrow.

Institutional investors have been inflating the cost of housing through their unfair, anti-competitive tactics and now that cost has sidelined so many, they’re claiming they’re doing the market a favor by buying up the properties. Useless politicians (I apologize for the redundancy) all have the same, useless answer: build more! I guess we’re just not supposed to ask how building more helps address a shortage caused by institutional investors when said institutional investor will just swoop in and buy THOSE properties, too.

There is one solution to ending the housing crisis in California (and everywhere else, by the way) – and ONLY one solution: ban institutional investors from buying single family homes. It’s really very simple. It’s not even new. THAT USED TO BE THE LAW until 2011. It was changed, ostensibly to get the economy moving again after Wall Street crashed the economy in 2008. In only 14 short years, the invested money has seized control over the housing market and created a homelessness crisis worse than anything this country has ever seen.

I’ll tell you this: block institutional investors from buying single family homes and force them to divest in those they’ve already claimed and the housing market will correct itself…

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Brave Sir Donald ran away!
Bravely ran away, away.
When danger reared it’s ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes, brave Sir Donald turned about,
and gallantly he chickened out.
Swiftly taking to his feet,
He beat a very brave retreat.
Bravest of the braaaave, Sir Donald!
– With deepest apologies to ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’

Run away!

That seems to be the strategy the GOP settled on to avoid this whole Epstein mess. The House would run away and find a hidey-hole a little over a week before a month-long vacation in an effort to avoid any difficult questions and to protect their pedophile Precious. Meanwhile, Donny, himself, ran away to Scotland to play a round of golf – at the bargain low price of $10 million American taxpayer dollars.

It hasn’t worked out so well for 47 in Scotland. You see, they have actual journalists, there. People he has little to no control over. Journalists who ask questions and don’t bow down and kiss…whatever. So, when he got to Scotland, he found the questions just as biting, maybe more so.

He should just release the files. He DID promise he would and he should. At this point, the ONLY way to convince the world he’s not in those files as a customer is to release them and show the whole world. ANY innocent person would readily do that in order to prove their innocence and I don’t see any reason for Donny to do less. ANY innocent person would. Any self-important, bloviating, blowhard would, too, if for no other reason than to regain control of the narrative. He’s certainly a self-important, bloviating, blowhard so why won’t he…? Right. An INNOCENT person would. He won’t. He can’t.

A person who knew he was guilty as charged of having sex with minors would certainly NOT release the files that prove it. Instead, they would try distraction. They would try to create different scandals. They would point fingers at others, “Hey, look over there!” They would lie. They would get their toadies to lie. They might offer a pardon for favorable testimony to any living (for the moment) participants to the crime. Of course, they’d deny that part. They’ll call it a hoax. Guilty people ALWAYS call it a hoax. Innocent people don’t have to.

He’s supposed to run away again to England in September. When he gets there, he’s going to find bus stop kiosks wallpapered in photos of him and the best friend he ever had, Jeffrey Epstein. It seems to me that ‘Run Away’ isn’t a strategy that’s going to work out so well…

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$134 million dollars. That’s the estimated cost to the US for Donny’s stupid little stunt in which he sent US Marines to stand around in LA for a while. Hey, Doge. DOGE! I’ve found some fraud, waste, and abuse for you.

The way these clowns are spending, they’re certainly NOT trying to cut the budget. They just want to make sure we only spend money on stupid things that harm people…

Guilty is Guilty…

by MyBaconPress

It’s the obvious advantage of being a lefty. We get to make determinations based on right and wrong, not political affiliations. I hear Bill Clinton’s name is in the Epstein files. I’ve long suspected that’s the main reason MAGA is interested, a chance to “get” Bill Clinton. My attitude? So, what? Guilty is guilty. To a lefty, this issue is about sex with kids and it’s not sorted by party affiliation.

If Bill Clinton was part of that scene in a criminal way, he should be tried. Maybe he could be tried in the courtroom right next to Donny. I’m not going to defend Clinton if he’s in those files. I say, release the files and let the chips fall where they may. Nobody – I mean NOBODY – should get away with what the perpetrators did to those kids and I don’t care which party they claim.

But, hey, if we have over 200 victims of Epstein’s evil scheme – and according to lawyer Brad Edwards, who represented them, that’s the count – why don’t we just ask THEM who might be in those files for inappropriate behavior? If anybody knows who did what to whom, it’s the victims they were doing it to, right?

There seems to be a new scheme afoot, as well. Donny’s corrupt DOJ has been visiting Ghislaine Maxwell in prison. After Jeffrey himself, nobody has more information about the goings on than Ghislaine. She, of course, is sitting in prison for her role in the evil scheme that doesn’t exist but the Democrats made up and it’s fake news and… Jeffrey who? Even without dangling a pardon, she’s motivated to say nothing happened and it’s all an overblown misunderstanding.

So, I expect to see her soon, declaring Donny’s innocence. The pardon will only be to “correct the miscarriage of justice,” right? Personally, I still want to see the files, themselves. Donny promised repeatedly to release them and this is one ‘promise made’ he should keep.

I can’t just take his word for it, though. I don’t believe Deep State Donny. I’m a little surprised he went Deep State, too. I don’t believe Bondi. I won’t believe Maxwell when she comes out with whatever statement she’s been handed. ONLY the files will tell the story.

So far, 47 has done anything and everything he could think of to keep from having to release the files he promised over and over to release. This whole effort to create a “nothing to see, here” atmosphere is shown false because of the obvious, common sense response: if there’s nothing incriminating in the files, why not release the files?

When he landed in Scotland and was asked about the files, yet again, he said, “You’re making a very big thing over something that’s not a big thing.” No, Donny. YOU are making a very big thing of it by refusing to keep your promise. If it’s “not a big thing,” as you pretend, then it’s no big thing to release the files. Right? I mean, right?

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The situation in Gaza has become so dire, I’m finding it difficult to stay informed. I wonder if there are STILL defenders of Israel out there because there can be no question this is an intentional, attempted genocide. Starving babies? Are you really going to try to convince me those babies are Hamas?

Even if they’re not babies, starving the people. Then, offering them food. Then, when they come for the food, cutting them down with bullets? These are not armed people. They’re not legitimate combatants. They’re starving civilians. Maybe this is something the Israelis picked up from the Nazis during WWII. Maybe not, but it sure seems like a Nazi move.

To my mind, not only has Israel surrendered the moral high ground, they’ve surrendered their morality entirely. These are not legitimate military operations. They’re crimes against humanity and the US is complicit. WE keep sending the weapons that allow Netanyahu to get away with his murderous rampage – but 47 thinks he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize? The world is clearly in upheaval. We seemed trapped in an endless “opposite day,” but if facilitating a genocide earns one a “Peace Prize,” my head just might explode…

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I haven’t seen the whole episode but I’ve seen enough. I just LOVE what ‘South Park’ did to Donny. I was laughing harder than I have for a long, long time. I don’t know if it’s true, about old Tiny Hands, but it sure would explain why he prefers to be with kids, doesn’t it? He still has a chance to convince them he’s swinging pipe, even if it IS only a tiny little straw. A grown woman knows better.

I’m not normally one to tease people about physical attributes, especially things one has no control over. I feel like one can’t tease ONE guy about “little hands” without risking offending ALL guys with “little hands.” He sure does take the bait though, doesn’t he? He’ll be talking about how he’s “fine down there” for months to come. Like many Alzheimer’s patients, the dude obsesses.

The way he is, I half-expect him to release photos of his junk before he releases the Epstein Files. Well, unless releasing said photos would only reinforce the public perception the same way the Epstein Files would. Especially if he used a Sharpie to make it look bigger…

Feints and Frauds…

by MyBaconPress

Well, let’s see what fresh hell he’s serving up today…

On the left, they’re saying 47 was dealt an early blow because the harassment lawsuit 47 filed against ‘The Wall Street Journal’ was assigned to an Obama-appointed judge, Darrin Gayles. I suppose it’s true that an Obama judge is bad news for the Drumpfster, but not because he’s an Obama-appointed judge.

People NEED to know when a case comes before a Trump-appointed judge because those “judges” are appointed by how well they kiss his a–, um, ring and not by qualification. Obama-appointed judges were appointed based on qualifications and judicial history. In short, an Obama-appointed judge will be fair and impartial and rule according to the law, so the case will be judged on the merits and that, obviously, IS a problem for 47.

I suspect big, tough Donny will drop the suit before it ever gets that far. At some point, Murdoch’s lawyers are going to want to depose 47. Among Donny’s evil powers is the ability to string out lawsuits until mountains crumble into the sea, but he’ll be stringing out his own lawsuit if he does that. Worse, the deposition is always out there, waiting, stalking his deranged mind, and threatening his safety. The longer he strings it out, the longer his own lawsuit haunts him. Eventually, he’ll drop it. Taco…

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Remember, it’s better to stonewall and be thought a child-raping pedophile,
than to release the files and remove all doubt…

When it comes to the Epstein files, the latest word is that Pam Bondi told Donny back in May that he was in the files. My guess is, that’s how Elon knows. He was, likely, present at the briefing. People keep stressing, because that’s the way we do things in this country – or used to, that there’s no evidence that Trump did anything wrong or broke any laws with Epstein’s victims.

Of course, there’s also no evidence that he didn’t and so far, we, the people have seen an awful lot of smoking guns sitting around suggesting he did. If I was going to bet, based only on the available evidence today, I would bet Donny is clearly identified as a perpetrator in those files because that’s the direction the evidence is leaning.

Donny, of course, has resorted to his usual playbook: distract and lie. He tried several distractions. The one that seems to have succeeded, for now, was his move to have the grand jury testimony released. The regime had to get the judge’s permission to do that. The thing is, everyone agreed the grand jury testimony was about other things, not the specific charges of who did what with whom and when. It’s a moot point now, though, because the judge denied the request, as expected by every legal scholar I heard from.

So now, Team Evil will start, “Well, we tried. The judge wouldn’t let us. Oh, and we wanted to so badly. You KNOW we were just about to release those files when that big, old, meany-pants judge told us we couldn’t, right?” Then they’ll breathe a sigh of relief as MAGA stands down and the Epstein file scandal recedes into the background.

I think MAGA got hooked on those files because they thought they were going to finally nail Bill Clinton, whose name also appears in the files. I think MAGA was surprised to find 47 protecting the files that could bring old Bill down and then more surprised to find out Trump is all over them.

Consider this: one of Trump’s many dodges in this case is an oldie but a goodie: fake news. But in trying to protect his own worthless name by lying about the files, he’s also, de facto, protecting Bill Clinton’s name. Talk about strange bedfellows. Maybe that’s a poor choice of words, considering the topic at hand. The point, here, is, Donny knows his name appears in the files. Bondi told him so.

Speaking of which, guess who else thinks Donald Trump’s name is all over those files. That would be one MAGA Mike the Johnson. HE’S so sure of Trump’s guilt, he shut down the House of “Representatives” a little over a week early in an effort to stop a bipartisan effort to force the DOJ to release the Epstein files. Just… shut it down. You know, as one does over fake news.

I’m sure we’d ALL like to just shut down and take August off. Congress actually does. Well, the House anyway. 47 is trying to get the Senate to hang around and confirm corrupt judges. Even with an entire month off, the House is leaving early. Is it a commitment to that ‘work ethic’ they’re always on about for workers? No, they’re actually lazy. It’s not JUST laziness, though. It’s a dodge. MAGA Mike is hoping the news cycle has moved on by September and then the Epstein files might be a distant memory.

It speaks volumes about the GOP that they know Trump is in the files, they know he was best friends with Jeffrey Epstein and as far as they’re concerned, the biggest problem with all of that is having to do damage control. The sex with minors part? Oh, THAT part is just fine with them, but this damage control is really hard.

I’ve always been glad I never contracted MAGA, but I’m extra happy these days. I REALLY would not like having to pretend I’m okay with pedophiles or that sex with children is something I can overlook. But MAGA is going to have to.

If it wasn’t such a nightmare, it would be fascinating to watch this case study in how an entire group is slowly peeled away from whatever moral base they may once have had. Before Trump, I suspect they would have been offended if you had suggested they might defend pedophiles or kill their own parents for a political win…

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All right, I need something different. It looks like the 49ers are already in injury trouble and the season hasn’t even started yet. The expected starting Wide Receivers are not in great shape. Brandon Aiyuk won’t be opening the season. Ricky Pearsall may not be opening the season. This created an opening for a new guy, Jacob Cowing. He’s been shiny in camp, but, oh, rats, now HE pulled a hamstring.

The team still has Christian McCaffrey at running back but there’s a great big question mark over him. Will he be the McCaffrey of old, the guy who ran all over the league a couple of years ago, or has he crossed a tipping point? We’ll all find out as the season opens and progresses but going into it, things look a little… disquieting…

A Peek Into Moral Failing…

by MyBaconPress

When Donny was terrorizing his base by insisting foreign countries were emptying their prisons of the worst of the worst and sending them to the US, he called it a “bad thing.” But now, he claims he’s rounding up the worst of the worst in the US and sending THEM to foreign countries. Suddenly, sending your worst to someone else isn’t bad anymore. Imagine how the countries receiving these planeloads must feel.

Fortunately for them, Donny is lying about his victims being the worst of the worst. Many of them are very fine people so their new host countries aren’t really in any increased danger…

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Hey, the evil founder of the evil Heritage Foundation, Edwin J. Feulner, has died at age 83. See? It’s NOT all bad news…

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I get that the whole kiss cam thing is fun and all, but that guy’s wife, soon to be ex-wife, is likely not having as much fun with it as the rest of us – and it just keeps getting shoved back in her face while the rest of us play. I feel badly for her. But now he’s going to have to support her in the lifestyle to which she’s become accustomed – and that’s CEO level. But he’s not a CEO anymore and may not be again. This seems like it’s going to be one of the more costly affairs in the history of affairs…

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A pedophile, a rapist, and a thief walk into a bar.
The bartender looks up and says, “Hiya, Donald…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There’s a “tell.” A tell is a behavior that gives away the strength of a player’s hand in poker. The GOP KNOWS the things they’re doing are unpopular. They KNOW that if people could, people would retaliate at the ballot box. They KNOW they would be out on their ears. The tell? They’re planning to gerrymander Texas (and probably other states, as well) to protect control of Congress in a way they couldn’t manage on policy or popularity alone. They’re cheating.

I hope I don’t sound surprised. Cheating is the order of the day in MAGAmerica. It means that even THEY know they suck so they dare not leave it to democracy. This is why I shake my head when people talk about strategies for future “elections.” They’re telling us – to our faces – “Yeah, we’re going to go ahead and cheat, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us so, ha, ha,” and people STILL think maybe we can get ’em in the next election.

We’re not voting our way out of this one. The GOP is working overtime to make sure of it. That warning from JFK is just getting louder. “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, will make violent revolution inevitable.” Every day, the GOP is working to make peaceful revolution – a revolution at the ballot box – impossible…

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Donny wants the Washington Commanders football team and the Cleveland Guardians baseball team to change their names back to the original Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians. It could just be an old, old, like, VERY old man pining away for ‘the way things used to be.’

But remember, The Drumpfster’s name is all over the Epstein files as he and Epstein were very good friends. He really should release the files he promised to release…

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Jeez, I’m getting tired of the idiots. Putin won’t stop attacking Ukraine. Netanyahu won’t stop attacking Gaza. Donny won’t stop attacking America. They’re ALL so locked into their own, selfish positions, they seem unable to reconsider their behavior, nor the consequences of their actions. Maybe they can all share a cell together, after…

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We keep hearing reports that ICE is being cruel to it’s victims in their various concentration camps and gulags. Decent human beings wonder why ICE has to be so cruel so, here’s your clue: the cruelty IS the point. It’s supposed to discourage undocumented people from coming or staying in the US. It’s domestic terrorism…

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Dear MAGA,
At the end of WWII, suddenly, nobody in Germany knew anything about being Nazi. Nobody confessed to being Nazi. Nobody knew what the Nazis were doing. Everyone claimed wide-eyed innocence. You know, the same strategy YOU plan to use about MAGA once Cadet Bone-spurs goes the way of the Little Corporal.

But here’s the thing. They had written letters. They had participated in events. They had gleefully attended the rallies. They publicly supported the immorality and crimes against humanity. Everybody knew who the Nazis were. During the war, they were proud to be Nazis.

Their families knew they were Nazis the same way your family knows your MAGA. Their friends knew they were Nazis the same way your friends know you’re MAGA. They tried to hide their swastika armbands and blend into the crowd, hoping to evade responsibility for their dedicated and loyal support of evil. Yeah, you’ll burn your red hats and try to blend into the crowd.

I know. Right now, you’re thinking, “Never!” That’s the same thing the Nazis thought when they were winning. Then they lost and the once-proud Nazis scurried to the shadows the way rats do. The longer you support this nightmare, the darker the corner you’re going to need to find once it’s over. The law came for them and the law will come for you – and everybody knows who you are…

The New Paradigm…

by MyBaconPress

It’s weird, I know, but I kind of “get” where Paramount is coming from. In one sense, they’re as much a victim of Donny’s cruel regime as any of the rest of us. I don’t even approve of the constant, ongoing consolidation in ownership of media. Hell, that’s part of what got us into this mess in the first place – corrupted airwaves. But if that IS the current paradigm – and it is – then Paramount is just doing what the other corporations have been doing for quite some time: merging.

I think they’re wrong to cancel Colbert, but I suspect THEY think they’re wrong to cancel Colbert. These people are greedy, not stupid. One does NOT kill off their cash cow blithely. They just have no choice. If you’re doing big business and you want to make a deal, you’ve got to get 47’s beak a little wet and, just for good measure, punish one of Donny’s enemies. Sure, it’s corruption at its worst but that’s the way MAGA wants things and that’s the way things are.

I didn’t realize “drain the swamp” was only the precursor to refilling it with fresh and revitalized swamp juice and a whole new generation of new and improved swamp monsters. Thanks, MAGA…

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Look, I get this. We’re all starting to voice, in private conversation, thoughts I can’t legally write in this space. Americans want Donny out and, increasingly, we don’t care how. This Epstein thing seemed to be a possibility. MAGA got mad at 47 right along with better Americans and the pressure has built and remained. It really IS his own doing. HE is the one who promised, and promised, and promised, AND promised to release the Epstein files, exposing all of the rich and powerful men who think statutory rape is an awesome way to demonstrate their untouchable status.

Then Elon says the Drumpfster is in the files and suddenly the Drumpfster won’t release them. He released parts everybody had seen before so, really, a re-release, then declared it a done deal. He has suggested he might release some bits that don’t really relate to the public interest but based on everything everybody knows about the guy, there’s little to no doubt that Elon wasn’t wrong. Donny IS in those files. Probably a LOT. So Donny said no.

This is a common sense thing. The best way – the ONLY way – to prove he isn’t in the files is to release the files. He adamantly will not release the files. IF he could prove his innocence by releasing the files but won’t? Is there some other reason possible?

MAGA is all in a dither about it. Some have burned their MAGA hats. Some have publicly declared they will no longer bend the knee to him. Some have said some pretty harsh words about him. As this scene has played out, Americans have been joining in. It SEEMED like this might be an opportunity to maybe get through to a MAGA with some actual facts. It certainly IS uncomfortable for 47.

In the end, I suspect MAGA is going to remain disappointed in him on this one, but realize he’s still their Precious and they’ll stick by his side. They’re not trying to decide if they should renounce him. They’re trying to find a way to accept that he is a pedophile and continue to stand with him. Remember, this is the crowd that killed their own parents during Covid just to ensure he got the political “win.”

They’ve already accepted and approved of the fact that he’s a rapist so how much harder is it going to be to just add the word “statutory” and keep on keeping on? That was the whole point of chipping away at MAGA morality over the last 40+ years. Hell, they can buy new hats…

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Donny seems to be having tremendous success cornering the market in coal. It helps that nobody is trying to stop him or even compete with him. Every intelligent person on the planet knows that renewables are the future, so of course Donny’s all in on fossil fuels. Why go forward when you can go backwards, right?

Just to make sure it’s the dumbest possible move, he’s ALSO doing everything he can to eliminate renewable energy technologies from the US. Leave that to all of the other countries. Let THEM be “stuck” with the advantages while the US continues to be mired in the muck of coal…

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I keep seeing stories about how the budget shows a surplus month over month. Sure it does. The government stopped paying it’s bills. ANYBODY can have a lovely balance sheet if they don’t pay their bills – for a short while. But at some point, the lights get shut off and no water flows from the faucets.

Right now, we’re in the “put it back in the mailbox” stage, but pretty soon? It’s going to be lights out…

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Color me disappointed, but not surprised, that the toady Congress voted to claw back money from PBS. Donny doesn’t see the value in PBS. He doesn’t watch it, the words are too big. The US is quickly running out of valid, non-partisan sources of information. That’s not an accident. Donny said he loves the poorly educated and he wants the entire country to be as dumb as him.

This MAGA Congress is so servile it’s disgusting. Even when they KNOW they’re doing wrong, they do it. They KNOW they’re attacking their own constituents and they KNOW there might be a backlash so they’re preparing to gerrymander Texas in an effort to keep their phony-baloney jobs. (Dear MAGA, the previous sentence was a lesson in they’re, there, and their. You’re welcome.)

After the revolution, our new Constitution needs to specify that congressional districts need to be as close to square-shaped as possible. Gerrymandering is an affront to democracy…