The Dirtiest of Dirty Politics…

Amy Acton. Have you heard of her? She’s running for Governor of Ohio. Her opponent is Vivek Ramaswampy, a brown man with a funny name who is nonetheless “acceptable” (that is, ‘one of the good ones) because he supports stupidity. Rampaswampy hired Acton’s mother to star in an attack ad against Acton. Acton’s mother says in the ad that Acton is a liar and should not be trusted. I presume this ad will hurt Acton’s campaign. I mean, her own mother?

The thing Ramaswampy and Acton’s evil mom left out? What Amy supposedly lies about. The details have come out, though. They kind of had to. Acton’s mom once married a pedophile. I know, that’s no big deal to cons, but decent people still have moral issues with it. Acton’s mom allowed her pedophile husband access to her young daughter, Amy, for a couple of years. He took advantage of said access and raped the young Amy on an ongoing basis.

Amy finally went to the cops and told them that the pedophile husband was molesting her regularly. An investigation ensued and charges were filed, not only against the pedo pervert, but against the mom as well. Amy’s mom and the pervert ran. They fled to another state because mom just knew the right thing to do in this case was protect the pedophile pervert instead of her own child.

The ad caused immediate outrage on the left. Once the background details came out, even some Republicans started questioning the ad and telling Ramaswampy to pull the thing. In steps the most infamous living pedophile in modern history, Donald J. Trump. We all know he has nothing against raping underage girls. He ran a child sex trafficking ring with his best friend Jeffrey Epstein for years.

47 says Ramaswampy should continue running the ad despite the fact that the ad mostly reflects the mom’s willingness to offer up her child daughter to a pervert in exchange for, what, a credit card? “Let me have a credit card and I’ll let you have my daughter.” Pretty sweet deal. Unless one is a decent person with a moral compass, which, pedos are not.

But there’s today’s GOP in a nutshell. Raping children is a nothing-burger. Ask them. They’ll tell you. Telling the cops you’ve been raped? Yeah, THAT’S the real crime in MAGA eyes. THAT makes you a “liar” and disqualifies you from office. The moral decline of the self-proclaimed moral majority hit the rocky bottom years ago – but the GOP gave them a shovel and they’ve just continued digging. They’re digging themselves straight to Hell, but at least they owned a lib for a moment…

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Neil Bush, brother to 43, has come out publicly as voting for Democrat James Talarico in Texas. He said he has issues with Paxton’s record and he likes the character of Talarico. It seems like he’s voting for the person he thinks best qualified for the job rather than sticking to loyalist party politics. That’s a fairly brave and definitely unusual thing in this day and age.

He’s not the only Bush to jump party ship, either. Barbara, daughter to 43, not the mom (who’s dead), contributed money to a PAC supporting Talarico, too. The Bushes once represented something of a dynasty in Republican politics. Moving to the Dems is a big deal. It says more about the failings of the GOP than it does about the Dems, but the failings of the GOP are legion and that leaves many voters with little choice…

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Okay, look. I know that these man-on-the-street interviews pick and choose to show the worst responses. That’s not a left game or a right game. That’s the man-on-the-street game. Ask 100 people how many states there are in the US. 97 of them say, “Fifty.” Show the other three. Aren’t they funny? Pretend those are the only answers you got.

But what if you ask 100 people how many states there are and only three of them say, “Fifty?” That really would indicate serious lack of knowledge, wouldn’t it? Recently, I’ve seen a spate of videos in which the interviewer asks the subjects to define communism. Person after person, they can’t do it. They know it’s bad, they just don’t know what it is. When the question is adjusted to define socialism, there’s still just crickets. They know to be afraid. They just can’t say what they’re afraid of.

Even Jarringly Dumb (JD) Vance tried to define communism as, “You want to replace American workers with foreign workers and you want boys to play in girls sports.” There’s even some truth to the part about replacing American workers with foreign workers. It’s just that the group doing that is the corporations that rely on H1B visas to bring in foreigners who will do jobs for less money. And, honestly, I’m not familiar with ANY definition of communism that includes sports on any level.

In the end, they tend to point to freedumb. After stammering a bit, that’s the best they can come up with. “I been free my whole life.” Uh-huh. Did you know? We live in the LEAST free, “free society” on the planet, largely because of widespread poverty and financial desperation, here in the “richest country on Earth™.”

They will eventually get to “free handouts.” Jordan Klepper from the Daily Show asks them about “free handouts” which they disavow, then asks if they’re looking forward to their free $5,000 checks 47 promised them but will never deliver. Oh, yeah, THAT free money is okay. It’s the socialist stuff that bothers them. Apparently, the “socialist stuff” is money that helps “THOSE people.”

The funniest part about this communism that they’re SO afraid of but can’t define? Nobody, nobody, nobody is talking about bringing communism to America. Communism is as failed an idea as Free Market Capitalism. Neither system is the best for the largest number of people and both systems fail for the same reason: an inability to address greed.

But socialism? Socialism does just great, here in the US. Our best systems are our socialist bits. They’re SO successful, the One Percent has been attacking them for ninety years. The One Percent are scared the masses might eventually figure out there IS a better way and then act on it. Having seen my American brethren over the last, say, fifty years, I doubt there’s much chance American masses will ever figure out they’re being played by the One Percent.

I know plenty of smart individuals, but, as a group? Americans are dumber than a box of rocks. It really was news to me, how dumb we are as a group. I didn’t know. But MAGA has laid us bare. Exposed us. It’s rather embarrassing to be an American, these days. No smarts, no morals, no decency. That’s the long-term legacy of this once-great nation the GOP would have you leave behind and, dammit, they’re succeeding…

This Time, It Really WAS Biden…

It was way back to…oh, that’s right, yesterday when I pointed out that 47 is trying to gaslight is way to perceived success, since he can’t accomplish the real thing, lacking skill, talent, knowledge, or intelligence. I’ve been focused recently on how many times he takes credit for something someone else accomplished. That is, when he’s not desperately trying to deflect blame for the things he actually does.

To that end, he made a special effort to meet with reporters where he started flashing around a printout of an article with a headline that read, “Prescription drug prices record sharpest drop in more than 60 years.” He actually asked reporters to photograph the headline so they could highlight the thing. He wants credit for lowering drug prices and he found an article that made it look like he had done. Assuming, that is, one never actually reads the article.

You see, the piece acknowledged the drop in prices AND recognized that 47 is claiming credit, but made clear the success in lowering drug prices is the direct result of Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Oh, Republicans hated that one. It helped people who need help. Not one Republican voted for it. Now Donny needs to steal the credit, because his own efforts at everything except crime fall SO short.

According to the article our Fearful Misleader was waving about and claiming credit for, Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act “requires Medicare to negotiate prices for some popular prescription drugs” and “is more likely to be driving down costs.” In short, Biden did it, not “Hide Me” Don. MAGA won’t know because there are none so blind as those who WILL NOT see. Or who WILL NAZI. It’s the same group.

More gaslighting from the Gas-master in Chief. I suspect that if he spent more time trying to solve problems instead of looking for excuses and scapegoats, he might not have as many problems to worry about. That thought seems never to have entered his calcified head, though…

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Isn’t it awesome how Team Evil rolled back all of those pesky regulations? Particularly, those focused on food safety. We know 47’s regime has brought back Screw Worms to cattle and a cyclosporiasis outbreak in leafy greens. Of COURSE they’re also bringing back salmonella to eggs. Of course they are.

It turns out, regulations mostly existed for a reason – and that reason was not just to make life harder for food producers. Those regulations made the food supply safer. As it happens, there are always not-smart people who will try to game the system. Always. The few always ruin things for the many. That’s just the way it is. So, regulations get introduced. They’re a small burden to some, but a great relief to the vast majority.

We could eat a salad without needing a clear path to the nearest restroom. Now, thanks to trump, a garden salad with eggs might kill you. I’ll tell you this: I don’t consider that better in any way, shape, or form…

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Around the world, weather events are picking up. Europe is experiencing record-breaking heat, for example. Japan is suffering torrential rains, bringing flooding that has killed nine so far. Here in the US, Indiana is drowning, too. Those are just a few examples. Meanwhile, where I live, the weather couldn’t be nicer. That’s a bit deceiving, though.

It’s August. Temperatures this week have held to an average around 77 or 78 degrees Fahrenheit. I’ve enjoyed every second of it, because normally, the temperatures would be much higher. Our mild summer is also a weather event. It’s just not killing anyone and, really, it’s kind of nice. If one must suffer a weather event, comfortable, shirt-sleeve weather isn’t a bad event to endure.

But if the forecasts are right, our time is coming. I’m hearing a lot about a Super El Niño, a major weather event that promises to bring rain that matches or exceeds what Japan is suffering right now. I’m seeing road crews out there clearing drainage ditches and culverts. That’s a kind of forward thinking and preparation I’m just not used to from political leaders these days. The concern must be pretty great.

Sadly, at this point, I think our choice is to get used to these things. One can prepare where one can prepare, but I think there will be things we just can’t prepare for. Things we’re just going to have to endure. It’s so stupid. We had our chance. Instead, a small group of selfish people worked to maximize shareholder value, regardless of the cost…

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“Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away.” – Elvis Presley

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$46.5 billion dollars. That’s how much American taxpayer money the Republicans shoved into 47’s Big Ugly Bill to pay for his border wall. Yes, he DID promise Mexico was going to pay for it. But like everything else he says, he made that up. THEN, because he’s the world’s worst negotiator, he couldn’t make it happen. “Oh, well,” he thinks, “We’ll just make the rubes pay for it.” $46.5 billion dollars worth. Yet another promise made, promise not kept. This guy seems to be quite the liar, you know?

It’s coming to a head again because Team Evil has moved their construction process into Big Bend National Park in Texas. They’re doing major environmental damage. People in the area point out that there are natural barriers to crossing the border in that region. No wall is necessary. That area supports only about 1% of the total number of people crossing.

It was infuriating left and right equally, though now that the right is aware the left doesn’t like it either, they’ll switch their tunes soon enough. The right cannot agree with the left – even when they do. Team Evil is downplaying what they’re doing, of course. They pretend it’s just a survey road. One. Nobody believes them. I suspect that’s because of all of the other lies this group tells all day, every day.

Even the weasel Governor Greg Abbott opposed the wall through Big Bend. He says it’s unnecessary and the perfect place for electronic observation. I mean, this is what he voted for, even if he thinks he didn’t vote for this. I’ve been saying all along that when the country suffers because of Donny’s incompetence, it would be the entire country, not just the blue states. Cons messed around anyway. Now they’re finding out…

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I was reading an article from the USA Today titled, ‘Trump has become the very thing he fears most.’ It included this paragraph: “In Trump’s public appearances, you never hear solutions. You hear complaints. You hear insults hurled at political opponents. You see cruel theatrics mocking transgender athletes. You hear conspiracies about the 2020 presidential election.

“It’s a tired patter that might still work on the conservative base if we weren’t dealing with gas prices that are higher than they’ve ever been at this time of year. Or if the promised “Golden Age” didn’t seem like such a fabulous con.” Again, that’s the USA Today. Conservatives might be waking up…