gambling

That Which Is Foretold…

by MyBaconPress

It’s odd, isn’t it? For decades, we’ve listened to cons clamoring for “state’s rights” over Federal government. They use it, mostly, when they want to do some evil or crappy thing. But suddenly, state’s rights don’t seem as important. I wonder what happened to change the stance? I suspect it was when they discovered they could do those same evil and crappy things more effectively with the power of the Federal government.

Minnesota banned “prediction markets.” A prediction market is like any other gambling site, but often without the gambling. The person placing the “bet” might well have insider information that makes it less of a “bet” and more like a no-risk investment. Say, for example, you (somehow) knew the US government was about to set back negotiations in a trumped up war with an unexpected bombing. You could make a prediction market “bet” and clean up.

Our Inglorious Misleader has said he “was never much in favor” of prediction markets. Of course that’s what he says. Meanwhile, he and his family are involved in the industry and according to the New York Times, Dumbass Jr has ties to two top prediction market companies. (Remember how angry the right was when they just thought Hunter Biden might be trading on Daddy’s name? Hypocrisy, thy name is MAGA.)

And of course the Drumpfsters are involved. Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison, described the markets as, “designed to be addictive and prey especially on young people and low-income folks.” He said they, “help the ultra-rich get richer and the rest of us get poorer.” I suspect the Drumpfsters are the kinds of people who would gleefully get rich with pay-day loans, too.

So, state’s rights be damned. The National Embarrassment wrote that it’s “critically important” that the federal government retain control over the multi-billion dollar prediction market industry. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a lawsuit to stop Minnesota and other states from protecting their citizens from this, particular scourge.

It might just be me, but I think the Federal government should NOT have the power to FORCE states to allow their citizens to be victimized by gambling sites…

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Well, whaddaya know and who coulda guessed? 47 bombed Iran again, just as the now-infamous and obviously-better-than-Obama’s deal was just about to be set. Oh, so close. Now we don’t get the deal that was better than Obama’s after all. I wonder which markets paid off on that one – and to whom? And now he has added a new poison pill: all the Arab nations need to sign on to the so-called Abraham Accords.

The Abraham Accords created a framework for Arab nations to recognize Israel. The Arab nations that haven’t signed it, don’t sign it because Israel has never been open to the idea of creating an independent Palestine. Those nations are not going to sign the thing until that changes. So? Poison pill. He gets to claim he’s working to end his stupid war while keeping the thing going with unworkable demands. I suspect there’s profit in it – for him, anyway.

I’m thinking that next comes more threats and tough talk from a weak guy before an “unexpected announcement” of being THIS CLOSE to a deal, a great deal, the best deal, a deal like no other deal, a big deal, a strong deal, a deal with tears in it’s eyes as it says “Sir, nobody could have negotiated a better deal than this deal.”

Then? Why, more bombs and another payout. It IS a pretty sweet arrangement if you just happen to have access to all of the beautiful insider information…

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I’m writing this early Tuesday morning. Lying Donny has a physical scheduled for today at Walter Reed Hospital. It’s his regularly scheduled, quarterly, “annual physical.” The increased visits seem to support the notion that doctors are monitoring the progress of his dementia. But the announcement, I expect, will be that he’s the healthiest human being ever to walk the planet.

Update: Yep. Word is, he’s in great shape. Oh, AND, he can still identify an elephant, too…

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London in a heat dome? On Tuesday, London hit 95.2 degrees Fahrenheit, an all-time record. All of Europe is said to be sweltering. The heat is expected to hang around for the rest of the week. Lovely. London isn’t built for heat. I suspect it might want to start getting ready.

It’s a good thing all of that talk of climate change is fake news or I’d be thinking we, the species, might be in trouble…

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Where ever conservatives hold sway, life gets crappier for the working class every single day. Have you noticed that? I mean, the cons will TELL you things are great. They’ll insist on it, in fact. But metrics are metrics and it’s measurable that where ever conservatives hold sway, life gets crappier for the working class, every single day.

It’s disheartening to discover that people will ignore the mountains and mountains of evidence that the conservative way is NOT the better way. But that’s what the evidence shows…

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Chalk up yet another successful “prediction” from Mike Judge in his unintentional documentary ‘Idiocracy.’ In the movie, the President of the United States is a clown named, Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho. He’s every bit as qualified for the job as the clown we have now. He turns the White House into a spectacle.

Now Donald “Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho” Trump is building an Ultimate fighting Champion (UFC) arena – on the White House lawn. Real classy-like, you know? He’s hosting a cage fight next month to celebrate his birthday – on the White House lawn. Apparently, he likes watching fit men in short-shorts grappling with each other…

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Megyn Kelly said “I didn’t expect the corruption to be quite as widespread as it has been.” How is that NOT the same as, “Oh, I KNOW he’s corrupt. I just thought he would be more discreet about it.” The idea that they KNEW he’s corrupt and voted for him anyway fits into another point of view I’ve recently heard.

That idea suggests that MAGA doesn’t like what Lying Donny does, either, but they DO like that it irritates “Libtards” so they stay in line. Does MAGA really hate progressives SO much, they’ll celebrate 47 harming them, so long as it harms lefties, too? “Hey, Donald Trump burned your house down?”
“Nah, he burned down the house of that libtard, next door. Mine just got caught up in the blaze.”
“But your house burned down, too.”
“Did you HEAR the part about him burning down the libtard’s house?”
“But YOUR house?!?”
“Small price to pay to own a libtard!”
“Well, where are you going to live now?”
“Hey, what did Joe Biden do to my house?”

I don’t mean to be unkind, but, honestly, in many of these exchanges, MAGA – as a group – does not come off looking any too…um…intellectually sophisticated…

Fixed…

by MyBaconPress

In fairness, it CAN be difficult to understand, the idea of an economic system that prevents people from amassing too much wealth. But even if we can’t understand it, we can see the value of it, now, right before our eyes.
“Well, yeah, but how do you define ‘too much wealth?'” some ask.
“Fair question. Difficult answer. But I’ll say that having enough to buy the government is WAY too much. Having enough to buy more than one government? Well, that’s excessive beyond the wildest dreams of avarice.”

Among the fixes FDR initiated that the One Percent have now successfully eliminated was to limit the abuses owners can inflict upon workers but more importantly, he limited how much people could take out of society by taxing wealth increasingly as it went up. It’s literally true that once a person reached a certain point in wealth, they couldn’t keep most of the rest, anyway, so… they re-invested. Not, “might someday.” They actually did.

The combination of worker protections and the prevention of wealth hoarding made America great in the first place. Check you history. The United States was a struggling place, economically, until FDR introduced the New Deal, now known as Democratic Socialism. Then we became the economic powerhouse of the world – by limiting how much a small handful of self-serving people could stuff into their own pockets. Now we’re back to the corrupt Robber Barons of old – and one should properly expect the economy to struggle again, just like it did before.

To be sure, people still got rich. They just didn’t get SO rich they could use their money to undermine government of the people, by the people, and for the people. It was a better system and I hope we go back to it, or something like it, after the revolution…

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It looks like Michele Obama is going to skip the inauguration. I think that’s a good move. In this moment, I think ALL Dems should skip the inauguration. I know, I know, the left puts on the good show. The left makes nice. The left shows decorum. But we shouldn’t.

I don’t call for all-out war and I certainly wouldn’t want to see the left acting like the right in most cases. But I’d be okay with overt shows of displeasure, at the very least…

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Have you seen how much those oligarchs gave to Trump for the inauguration? Millions and millions of dollars flowed in – all in hopes of currying favor with The Felon. The final numbers aren’t available, yet, but, so far, it looks like they gave him $250 million dollars. He CAN spend that on inaugural parties and such, but he doesn’t have to. He CAN just slip it into his pocket and, officially, it isn’t even a bribe. Sweet deal, if you’re able to buy him. Kinda crappy for the rest of us, though.

Speaking of which, Steve Bannon, who did NOT get Musk removed “before the inauguration” as promised, is claiming that the “tech bros” showing up to the event should be viewed as total surrender to Trump. Bannon couldn’t get them out, but he could CLAIM success anyway. Still, I’d bet they’re there to check out what they’ve bought.

Now the inauguration has been moved indoors. “It’s too cold,” said the tough-talker. For him, it might be too cold. He IS very old. Of course, it might ALSO be that he’s afraid people will see his, um, crowd size and laugh at him again. I haven’t heard much about this aspect, but it’s ALSO possible he’s afraid to be out in public in crowds. Many people DO seem to want him dead, and we’re a heavily armed nation. Someone could make it happen, if they were of a mind to.

Mostly, though, I remember that he IS the anti-Christ and worries, first and foremost, about himself. I’d say he just wants to be comfortable and warm, so he’s staying inside. MAGA spent money to come to Washington DC to attend the inauguration. Now they get to watch it on television. They could have done that from home and saved a bunch of money.

So The Felon will be comfortable and warm, sitting inside, surrounded by all his oh-so-wealthy donors. MAGA? No, MAGA is left out in the cold. It’s an apt metaphor – and they’d better get used to it…

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Did you see the games yesterday? NFL football, I mean. I suspect if I had to explain that to you, YOU didn’t pay attention to the games. Sorry, this bit isn’t for you. I went 1 for 2 on my expectations. I WANTED the Houston Texans to beat the Kansas City Chiefs but expected the Chiefs to win. I expected the Detroit Lions to beat the Washington Commanders, too.

The Chiefs DID “win,” but not without TWO separate assists from the officials. TWICE, officials called ‘roughing the passer’ on the Texans even though replay clearly showed no such offense. In both cases, the called penalty gave the Chiefs new life after the Texans had stopped them. Apparently, the rule is, no touching Patrick Mahomes under any circumstances. That’s hardly fair and it gives the Chiefs a tremendous advantage. Nobody else gets the kind of consideration Mahomes enjoys.

There’s big money shaping up, here. With some very generous assists from the league all season long, the Chiefs have the opportunity to win a third straight Stupid Bowl. It’s referred to as a “three-peat.” The term was coined by Roger Craig of the SF Forty-Niners back in the 1990s, when the Niners had a chance to do it. They didn’t make it. Nobody has ever done it. The Chiefs have a chance.

I’ve been warning from time to time, NOT to bet on the NFL. The games are clearly rigged. People tell me that one can still bet. You just need to figure out what the NFL wants and bet accordingly. But what does the NFL want, in this case? Do they WANT a team to finally achieve the three-peat? Then bet on the Chiefs. BUT… maybe, they want everyone to bet on the Chiefs, boosting the odds against the opponent, then have the Chiefs fall short. HUGE money for the NFL “partner,” Fanduel.

Did you notice that according to this bit, I’m expecting the Chiefs to go all the way again? Why even wait for the games, if the NFL has already determined the outcome, at least for the Chiefs? And with those kinds of calls, it looks very much like the NFL has already determined the outcome…