His Contempt For Americans Is Showing…

The Pedophile Protector got upset when someone called him a Pedophile Protector. Do you think a toaster gets upset when you call it a toaster? He’s just pretending, though. Gaslighting. Donny is doing everything in his power to protect pedophiles – allegedly including himself – by slow-walking the release of the Trump/Epstein Files.

Cadet Bone Spurs was on a photo-op at a Ford auto plant and an auto worker named TJ Sabula used the opportunity to pitch the nomenclature at Dim Leader. Donny, ever the clever word smith and inspiring orator, came back with exactly the third grade response one has come to expect from his putrid little mind: “Fuck you” and a middle finger.

Our classy and distinguished so-called 'President' demonstrating his feeling for Americans.

Sabula was suspended with pay from the plant. Someone set up a GoFundMe page to help during the suspension. As of Januray 15, the GoFundMe page had taken in $811,010 dollars! I suspect every one of those dollars had a “No, fuck you, Donny!” written on it. You either hate that evil weasel or you’re MAGA. There’s no in-between anymore…

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

OMG, he’s beaming. He’s SO proud of his non-accomplishment. He hasn’t done one thing to deserve a Nobel Peace Prize – which is why he’s never won a Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel committee has been quite clear: No Peace Prize for Donny. He hasn’t earned it, he doesn’t deserve it.

Instead, he pressured María Corina Machado to hand over the Peace Prize she was awarded. She wants to run Venezuela, you see. Donny won’t let her because he’s so completely, absolutely jealous that she actually won the Prize and he didn’t. So, she made the same calculation everyone else makes: flatter his teeny-tiny, oh-so-fragile ego. She “gave” him her prize.

Bear in mind, as far as the Nobel committee is concerned, The Felon is merely holding Machado’s Peace Prize. It’s still hers. It’s still recorded only in her name. He just gets to hold it. Think of Michael Phelps letting you hold one of his Olympic Gold Medals. Obviously, you can hold it, but he earned it. 47 looks like he really thinks he’s done something and he claimed credit. He wrote: “María presented me with her Peace Prize for the work I have done.” I mean, just look at this beaming, pathetic loser:

The Stench and María Corina Machado.

Her ploy doesn’t seem to have worked, though. He gets her medal, but then he repeats his line that she doesn’t have the support. So she still doesn’t get to lead Venezuela (he hasn’t forgotten that she won the Prize and not him) and now she doesn’t even have her Nobel medal. She’s keeping the money, I presume…

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

If every accusation is a MAGA confession, and MAGA is convinced Democrats are paying protestors, we can know for certain that MAGA pays protestors…

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

I’ve been able to track the rise of MAGA by looking back in history at the rise of the Nazis. Checking Nazis to gauge MAGA has worked like a dream since the movement started, but MAGA hates that comparison. They’re not sure why, because they talked all through history class. They’re having trouble figuring out exactly how they’re like Nazis – because they know nothing of the Nazis. The rest of us see it as clearly as day, though. So, we mention yet another parallel to Nazis and they scream, “Waaaa!”

Tough. I’m in the, “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck” camp and MAGA very definitely looks and quacks like ducks Nazis. The parallels have been startling, truth be told. One of the main reasons the Nazis got so powerful was nobody really knew what they were about. There was very little push-back. The good news?

Americans are pushing back. We DO know what MAGA is about. We’ve seen it in history. We’re not just standing on the sidelines in shock. We’re pushing back. That’s a difference from the rise of the Nazis and it’s a big one. All of the noise. All of the cameras. All of the eye-witnesses. ICEholes complain it’s harassment. Good of them to notice. But it’s not violence, is it?

So far, that hasn’t stopped ICE from using violence. They’ve killed a bunch of mostly defenseless people. They’ve hurt and harmed many more. One ICEhole shot a guy, Kaden Rummler, 21, right in the face with a “less-lethal” projectile – ALSO an improper use of the tool. He lost an eye. Then they did it again to a guy named Britain Rodriguez, 31, who said it felt like his “eye exploded in my head.”

A spokesliar from DHS described the protestors as a mob. She lied about what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. She tried to paint a, “They deserve what they get” picture but actual pictures keep making their way into the world and we can all see for ourselves that, really, the protestors are showing great restraint in the face of abusive force.

But the pushback is one difference between the rise of the Nazis and the rise of MAGA. It’s hopeful. It’s positive. It’s making their evil work more difficult. Keep pushing. Collect names where you can (Jonathan Ross). We’ll prosecute later. We can send these evil weasels packing if we just stick to it long enough…

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

Here we go, Niners. This team, this year, has been the hardest team to evaluate that I’ve come across for a long, long time. On paper, the team has lost a plethora of starters. They’ve been playing with rookies, backups, and plug-ins. On paper, they should have been booted from contention some time ago. But they keep winning. Mostly.

They lost their Week 18 tilt against the Seattle Seahawks and, let’s be real, they lost BIG. The score wasn’t so lopsided but the game itself? Seattle looked like a lean, mean, fighting machine. They knew exactly what they wanted to do and they did it. The Niners looked like they weren’t sure the game had started. The Seahawks pushed our Niners around like the Niners were second-year players. It was ugly.

The Niners face the Seahawks again this afternoon. It will be their third meeting this year. The Niners won the first game, but lost the second. Now we get a third. The thing is, the Niners have lost in the past and sometimes lost big. It’s common for them to come back the next week and thrash whatever opponent they face. This third shot at the Seahawks comes only two weeks after the second. We have a lot of current game film to study. For our part, the Niners couldn’t do ANYTHING in that game – so the ‘hawks have very little to look at.

The Seahawks beat the Niners like an adult shaking a baby but those kinds of losses often cause the Niners to bounce back with a vengeance. For their part, the Niners are playing with their second string but they’re still finding ways to win. It’s really quite astounding. Everything I know about football tells me they can’t keep doing what they’re doing, but they DO keep doing what they’re doing. I’ve decided to “settle” the matter by… watching the game.

I want the Niners to win. I’ll pick them, 24-17, but mostly that’s because I want them to win. If they do, they move on to the Conference Championship game. If they don’t, they go home. But this year, I don’t think I’ll be too disappointed with a loss. This team has already given us more than we could have asked for. It hasn’t always been pretty but they’ve done so much with so little for so long now, I’ve come to believe anything is possible. We find out today, starting at 5:00pm…

Crazy Is As Crazy Does…

So, it seems at this point like he has dropped the whole ‘Peace Guy’ persona entirely. He has invaded one foreign, sovereign nation, Venezuela. He’s threatening another, Greenland. He’s bombing Nigeria. Now he’s saber-rattling about Iran. The ONE country, it seems, he’s reluctant to help, militarily, is Ukraine, the one country that has asked – begged – him for help. I can’t (Putin) understand (Putin) what’s keeping him (Putin) from helping in that one (Putin).

No, Nobel Peace Prize for you, Donny. We let you have the vaunted FIFA Peace Prize and you’ve crapped all over it’s hallowed tradition. And, no, you can’t even “share” María Corina Machado’s Peace Prize. I know, I know, you’ve ended, what, a hundred thousand wars? Sure, you have. But the demons you battle in your own head don’t count…

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

47 said, “If we don’t take Greenland, you’re going to have Russia or China as your next-door neighbor. That’s not going to happen.” Will somebody please show him a map? Specifically, Alaska from where, we all know from that voice of wisdom, Sarah Palin, we can see Russia. They’re already our “next-door neighbor.” Dumbass…

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

Donny keeps insisting that oil companies are lining up to get all that beautiful oil – somehow our oil, that we’re only storing under Venezuela – under their control. Obviously the oil companies want the stolen oil. It’s oil. But they’re not as interested in the problems of getting it, so they’re expressing hesitation.

Donny keeps insisting that oil companies are lining up to get all that beautiful oil but the CEO of ExxonMobile said, “If we look at the commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela, today it’s un-investable.” But Donny keeps insisting that oil companies are lining up to get all that beautiful oil – so now he’s threatening to cut out ExxonMobile because they don’t see it as a dependable investment. But Donny keeps insisting that oil companies are lining up to get all that beautiful oil…

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

Let’s visit an old friend, shall we? I’ve got to confess, his illegal invasion of Venezuela, coupled with the ICEhole’s murder of Renee Good served – very effectively – to push the Trump/Epstein files off of the front page. But the matter hasn’t gone away. No matter how desperately he wants it to and wishes it would go away, it hasn’t gone away.

We know Team Evil has been working hard to release pieces of paper showing as little information as possible. They claim those are the files, the pieces of paper. Most people think the “files” are the information on the paper, not the pieces of paper themselves. The 8.5 x 11 black pages aren’t cutting it. Worse, they’re releasing those pieces of paper as slowly as they can by claiming, “We’re working on it. We just read slow.”

So now Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna have requested the court overseeing the release to appoint a Special Master – someone who CAN read. Massie wrote: “Attorney General Pam Bondi is egregiously violating the requirements of the ‘Epstein Files Transparency Act.’ Under her leadership, the Department of Justice is missing statutory disclosure deadlines, making excessive redactions, and illegally withholding the Department’s internal communications. Because the Department of Justice has shown it cannot be trusted with making the disclosures required by law, a Special Master should be appointed to oversee the release of the Epstein files.” See? It hasn’t gone away and it isn’t going away…

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

Just a thought: racism among white men seems to be rooted in a fear, “Holy crap, what if they do to us what we’ve always done to them?” So, you could stop doing to them…

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

As Iran cracks down on protestors, martyrs are being highlighted. Oddly, as the US cracks down on, um, who are they cracking down on, again? Oh, right, anybody who gets in their way for any reason, whatsoever, right. We’re getting some martyrs, too.

Iran has been in upheaval to one degree or another, ever since the United States overthrew the democracy there in favor of the Shah (and the oil, of course). It seems natural they’d have a martyr or two. On the other hand, the US has only been in upheaval since Donny the Dumbass seized power. He’s only been running the show (into the ground) for about a year, we already have a name or two to rally around.

Yes, your own country creating martyrs IS a badge of shame, but let us not let their tribulations and deaths be in vain. Word is, his criminal regime will fall if we can get just 3% of the population into the streets. Our current population is 345,297,879. That means we need about 10.3 million people marching – peacefully, please. The sooner we get out there, the fewer names of martyrs we’ll have to collect…

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

I’ve got to say, these Forty-Niners are a rather amazing squad. They keep suffering injury after injury. They have a long list of starters sitting on the sideline. They just lost another in yesterday’s game. They won anyway. Now they’re going to play Seattle again. They played two weeks ago and it didn’t go well for the Niners.

The Niners Head Coach, Kyle Shanahan, has publicly requested a Sunday game instead of a Saturday game of the NFL. That’s pretty unusual. Normally, coaches just shrug off whatever day they’re assigned. “It is what it is.” I suspect he needs as much time as he can get to prop up what’s left of his team. Yeah, the Niners won, but they lost George Kittle to a torn Achilles tendon, the latest in a concerning, long line of soft-tissue injuries. The team leads the league in soft-tissue injuries.

There’s a story going around. Maybe a rumor? There’s a guy out there named Peter Cowan. He says he has an inkling as to why the Niners are the most injury-prone team in the entire NFL over the last decade. First he lists the injuries. It’s a pretty brutal list, and it’s long. Every Niner fan knows this team has suffered more than it’s share of injuries. We openly ask each other, “Why?” What’s going on? I mean, the injuries are a regular topic of conversation.

Cowan says he thinks the problem can be traced to an electrical substation next to the Niners practice field. He says the substation emits “low-frequency electromagnetic fields” that can “degrade collagen, weaken tendons, and cause soft-tissue damage at levels regulators call ‘safe.'” Cowan traces the pattern back to 2014, when the team started using Levi’s Stadium full time. It’s an interesting theory, if nothing else. Meanwhile, the Niner survivors are off to Seattle to face the Seahawks again…

One Fraud After Another…

Through the years, I’ve picked up a thing or two about the Dow Jones Industrial Average. For one, it’s not that anymore. Now it’s the Dow Jones index. It tracks financial stocks, not industry. Another, and this is important, is that the Dow is not the economy. I mention that one because of this one: the Dow, specifically, is nothing more than a CEO happiness indicator.

Corporate “news” likes to trumpet increases in the Dow as if it means YOU are doing better. But you aren’t, are you? You’re struggling more than, what, ever? The Dow keeps reaching record highs and you keep finding your wallet lighter and lighter. Nobody’s telling you, but the two are absolutely related.

After the Dow changed from an industrial index to a financial index, it’s meaning changed. When it was an industrial index, it measured the health and strength of the US economy. Now? Well, now it measures how well rich people are doing. Now, every uptick of the Dow means they have more and you have less. Every. Single. Tick, tick, tick. They have more, you have less. Tick, tick, tick. Celebrate a robust Dow at your own peril…

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

It’s weird to realize, but do you know who – more than anybody else – does NOT believe in Capitalism? Capitalists! Oh, you don’t believe me? Watch them. Actions speak louder than words. The story is about buying and selling. Succeed you win, mistakes, you lose. But that’s just the story. In reality, their “Capitalism” often consists of stealing and selling, not buying and selling. While it seems true that succeeding equals winning, in practice, mistakes don’t equal loss. They equal Socialism, where the population bails them out financially and gives them a second run at it. Then a third. Then a fourth. Then… well, ad infinitum.

Even Capitalists think Socialism is better than Capitalism, and you can know it if you just ignore their words and pay attention to what they do. Actions speak louder than words. I’ll tell you this: Since even Capitalists reject Capitalism, I think I will, too…

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

Okay, back to this. Sorry. I’ve been watching videos of the murder of Renee Good in Minneapolis. I’ve also been listening to Team Evil describing the events surrounding the shooting of a person in Minneapolis – apparently on the same day. Question: was there a second shooting in Minneapolis on the day Renee Good was murdered? One that nobody is aware of except the lying liars of Team Evil? Because the events they’re describing? Those events have nothing, whatsoever, to do with the events shown in the videos. None.

In the shooting Team Evil is referencing, the killer was run over by a vehicle and is now recovering in the hospital. In the Good murder, the killer kills the driver, spits an epithet at her dying body, then turns around and walks away. Then he gets in a car and drives off. That’s not what “recovering in a hospital” looks like.

Also, where is this driving school the puppy killer Kristi Noem pretends is out there? She said, it’s on video, that protestors are being trained to use their vehicles to drive into ICEholes. Really? Where? By whom? More importantly, why? How much training do you suppose that takes? But since it’s clear Good’s intention was to NOT hit Ross, either she didn’t get the training, or she failed the course, right?

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

I’ve heard two different concepts from Donny recently that I suspect are intended to seduce his base into thinking he’s doing something for them. The first was his proposal to stop Wall Street from buying single family homes and the second was to cap credit card interest at 10%. Both of those ideas would benefit work-a-day Joes.

But stopping Wall Street from buying single family homes would hurt their bottom line. Capping credit card interest rates would mean less money for the issuing banks. If you think Donny is going to do anything, anything at all, to hurt rich-people investments just to benefit working class people, I’ve got a bridge to sell you. (Again.) That is to say, I’ll believe it when I see it.

But it DOES prove that he knows there are things he could do to help the American people, right? He knows what to promise. That means he knows where, and how, we, the people, are hurting. Honestly, I don’t think he’ll do one thing for the working class. But at least we know he knows – so we also know, he just doesn’t care…

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

I really don’t understand The Felon’s obsession with Greenland. It’s important to note: Greenlanders don’t want to be part of the US, and why would they? Why would citizens of a First World nation want to move backwards into a failing, submerging nation like the US? It would represent a giant step backwards. Compared to Europe, the US is rather primitive. Greenland becoming part of the US would be like the US pulling out all of it’s plumbing and throwing it away.

Donny says he needs Greenland for national security. Not true. The US already has a huge military presence in Greenland. We already have permission to expand that presence. Owning the island won’t make any difference. I became convinced he really just wanted the natural resources available there, but then I saw Rasmus Jarlov, the former Danish business manager in an interview saying the US already has “unlimited military access to Greenland they that don’t use and they could extract all the minerals that they wanted if they would just put up the investments, so there’s nothing they need in Greenland that they don’t already have exclusive access to.”

So if he already has the military presence he needs and he already has access to the minerals, what’s the point? Based on everything else I’ve ever seen from the guy, he wants to steal something. Maybe the problem with extracting minerals from Greenland is that they might have to pay Greenland something for them. Then again, maybe he’s just insane and he can’t stop himself from starting WW III. It’s also an excellent plan to fracture NATO and we know his master, Putin, wants that.

There’s a case to made for pure stupidity, too, and Donny makes it, himself. “The fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn’t mean that they own the land. [I’m] sure we had lots of boats go there also.” So, Donald Trump thinks the US had “lots of boats” going to Greenland? 500 years ago? He said it, and Joe Biden didn’t make him say it…

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

Good football games yesterday. The Rams beat the Panthers and the Bears beat the Packers, both with exciting finishes. Bears/Packers was boring for three and a half quarters, then it really picked up. So next week’s schedule for the NFC is foreseeable. The Niners play the Eagles this evening. If the Niners win tonight, they travel to Seattle next week and the Rams go to Chicago. If the Eagles win tonight, the Rams travel to Seattle and the Bears host the Eagles. Either way, next week the Seattle Seahawks host an NFC West rival. That should be fun…

What’s Important and What’s Not…

You’ve got to hand it to MAGA media, they’re very good. Fast, you know? Pretty much as quickly as Donny’s bombs fell on Venezuela, cons had been conditioned to answer the question, “How happy are Venezuelans that Maduro is gone?” A lot of them, apparently. Not all of them, I’ve noticed, but a lot of them. No one is interested in defending Maduro. But that’s the wrong question, isn’t it?

Look, if some foreign, sovereign nation decided to swoop into Mar-a-Lardo and bundle up our national nightmare for an unplanned visit to the Hague to stand trial, the vast majority of this nation – hell, the vast majority of the world – would fall out partying and celebrating. Not everyone, of course, but the vast majority of us. Would that make it okay? See, the question conservatives should be asking is, “What right does the United States have to invade a foreign, sovereign nation without provocation?” THAT, is the right question. Oh, and just for the record? None. The proper answer is none.

Oh, I know. It’s easy enough to blow off that question, “What if some foreign, sovereign nation decided to swoop into Mar-a-Lardo and bundle up our national nightmare for an unplanned visit to the Hague to stand trial?” We’re the biggest, meanest country on the block and you know no one could pull that off, so it’s easy to be smug. But that, too, is sidestepping the proper question, which is, ‘What right?’

Donny has no legal authority to take the action he took. He just did it. This is just a sidebar, but many are pointing out that the US is asserting that the US can enforce laws against Presidents of foreign nations, but simultaneously asserting that the US can NOT enforce laws against the US President. That’s just some pretty convoluted thinking, right there. But I digress.

In one action, he has instigated an illegal regime-change, nation-building, forever war – AND set the rest of the world on edge, wondering where his delusions might strike next – and MAGA seems to be all in. That part, I have to admit, blows my mind. 47 ran on “no wars.” MAGA used to throw the “no wars” thing in people’s faces – even as the US was still fighting in Afghanistan. No wars, no wars, no wars. Yeah, yeah.

Now he’s going to sacrifice American soldiers and American taxpayer money so he can illegally steal another country’s natural resources. In retrospect, he DID tell the oil companies that if they gave him lots and lots of money, they could dictate his actions vis-à-vis our government and their corporations. Apparently, they chose “Venezuela” and another oil war was on.

“No, it’s not a war,” many MAGA are saying, “it’s more of a… police action.” Oh, really? Were those police officers that invaded Venezuela? Or were they United States military troops? Wait, haven’t we heard that one before? Oh, yeah, over the war cowardly Cadet Bone Spurs worked so hard to avoid. Vietnam was ‘just a police action,’ too. 58,000 American soldiers lost their lives and countless more were injured and damaged – and that’s only our side.

All of that death and destruction over a “police action.” And now, Donny says he’s going to stay in Venezuela. He’s going to install his preferred government because when has THAT ever gone wrong? Then he’s going to “run” Venezuela – into the ground, if his past is any indicator. He actually said, “We can’t take a chance that someone else takes over Venezuela who doesn’t have the interests of Venezuelans in mind.”

What, like him? He went in to steal their natural resources and funnel the money – ALL of the money – to himself and his rich friends. How well do you suppose that’s going to serve Venezuelans? We really ARE living in the Upside Down…

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

I put these two bits together because they reflect my day. The first, an issue of great weight and importance. The second, a low-level time-suck intended to bring pleasure through entertainment. I woke up to the news that 47 had bombed a foreign, sovereign nation. It cast a pall over my day. So I looked forward to a little entertainment in the evening – and got yet another bomb.

But there’s an obvious, huge difference between, “People died” and “My preferred team did not prevail in their sporting competition.” The juxtaposition was jarring. If it seems jarring here, too, well, that was my day…

So, yeah, they looked good – but that was just the uniform. Other than that, it was pretty ugly. Someone should have called the Forty-Niners and told them they had a real football game to play. Clearly, nobody did. The Niners apparently thought it was a scrimmage and didn’t show up. The Seahawks did, though. Kyle Shanahan got all stubborn again. The Seahawks are the very best at shutting down the run. So, Kyle kept trying to force the run. Oh, BOY did that not work. But Kyle kept trying.

I know, McCaffrey only carried the ball eight times, how stubborn is that? Well, considering the Niners only had the ball, like 15 times, that’s pretty stubborn. Yeah, okay, hyperbole alert, but not by much. The Niners only had 9 first downs in the whole game. How many carries is one going to get when one’s whole game is three-and-outs? McCaffrey could NOT move the ball on the ground. The recommended reaction is to throw quick, short passes until the defense softens up a little. Kyle didn’t do that or, at least, he couldn’t make it work.

When there was a hat-tip to the reality that the Niners weren’t going to run on Seattle, Kyle tried to pass from formations with the QB under center. The problem was, Seattle could blast right through our offensive line like it wasn’t even there. So after Purdy took the snap and dropped back, he kept finding Seattle players in the backfield with him. I think Purdy should have taken more snaps from the Pistol or the Shotgun to give him an extra beat. Kyle wasn’t taking my calls, though.

Okay, the truth is, the Niners should have been out of contention somewhere around Week 4 or Week 5. The team has had so many injuries, especially on Defense, it’s a bit of a wonder they were even able to field a team, let alone be playing for first place in the NFC. It WAS a terrible game and a sad portent of what the Niners playoff experience is going to be like this season – but it was an amazing season from a team that shouldn’t have been where they are (were)…

A Promise, Re-promised…

Zelenskyy must be feeling pretty good. Safe and secure, you know? Word is, Donny promised Zelenskyy strong, 15-year security guarantees. Oh, good. I wonder if those “guarantees” are any more solid than the original US promise of security guarantees to Ukraine for surrendering the nuclear arsenal they ended up with after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In 1994, the US, the UK, and Russia signed an agreement with Ukraine called the Budapest Memorandum. It promised respect for Ukraine’s borders, no economic or military threat against Ukraine, except in self-defense, and that the US and UK would support Ukraine in case of invasion.

When Putin first invaded, the US, kind of begrudgingly, offered weapons. Some weapons, of limited capability. The US held Ukraine to a “limited war.” I define “limited war” as a war the “limited” side gets to lose. Biden finally figured out that his strategy was poor and changed, but it was very late in the game and Ukraine had worse to face: Donny the Dumbass.

Donny started off as a Russian asset, reporting to Putin. By definition, 47 has little to no choice but to try and deliver Ukraine to Russia on Putin’s orders. Donny also started off as a self-serving grifter who doesn’t – can’t – do anything for anybody – ever – unless he gets a taste of the profits. A large taste. So Donny reneged on the deal. Now Ukraine has to renegotiate.

Maybe 47 will keep his word, maybe he won’t. As nearly as I can tell, he rarely keeps his word, so I wouldn’t bet on it. More likely, Donny will take the vig he demands from Ukraine for “security guarantees,” then turn his back on Ukraine anyway. I mean, come on, name a person or group Donny has NOT betrayed. The very best you can do is name someone Donny hasn’t betrayed yet.

Hey, is NOW a good time to remember that this is a war The Felon promised to end in one day? He said it would be easy. He was counting on his close, personal relationship with Putin. Then Putin told Trump to pound sand. Now? Nothing but excuses. People can defend him all they want but I’m sticking with the idea that if he didn’t have a plan in place, he shouldn’t have made the promises – and he REALLY should honor the agreement the US already promised…

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

Here’s a paragraph from an article from ‘Military.com:’ “Historically speaking, battleships have been obsolete since at least 1921, when a simple bombing demonstration off Virginia’s coast proved the large warships are vulnerable to air attack. That vulnerability has been validated repeatedly through World War II and ever since as aircraft, submarines and cruise missiles systematically demonstrated that bigger and more expensive warships are easier to sink. They are simply not worth the costs and risks involved in building, maintaining and using in active combat.”

Hmm, battleships are outdated technology that cost WAY too much to build and maintain with WAY to little return on investment? That sounds like the dumbest choice a person could make as far as upgrading one’s navy. So, obviously, Donny has announce a new battleship. You’ll never guess the designation. It’s a ‘Trump-class battleship.” If I was going to bet today, I’d bet the thing sinks the minute it hits the water.

Cadet Bonespurs claimed the new battleships will be “the fastest, the biggest, and by far 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built.” Of course he did. Naturally, none of that is true. American battleships of WWII were larger and the Japanese Yamato was the largest battleship ever built. By now, Donny, of all people, should know: you can tell someone yours is the biggest, but eventually, they’re going to see it and they’ll discover the truth. There’s a reason he demands non-disclosure agreements…

Army Brigadier General Billy Mitchell tried to warn the Navy battleships were vulnerable to air attack as far back as WWI. The Navy didn’t want to hear it. Mitchell proved it by sinking a captured German warship with air-dropped bombs. The Navy didn’t want to hear it. In 1924, Mitchell famously predicted that the Japanese would launch carrier-based attacks on Pearl Harbor using aerial torpedoes against anchored and vulnerable battleships. 1924.

The Navy still didn’t want to hear it. In 1925, the Army court-martialed Mitchell for accusing military leaders of “almost treasonable administration” after they refused to heed his warnings. In 1941, Japan did exactly what Mitchell had predicted. To this day, you can still visit the USS Arizona, laying at the bottom of the bay after having been bombed by airplanes and sunk exactly as Mitchell had warned.

So, of course Donny wants to build new battleships. It’s outdated technology, easily defeated by air power. It costs huge amounts of money to build and maintain, a massive waste in view of how easily defeated they are by air power. Super expensive, nearly useless, yesterday’s technology? That’s right in the center of Donny’s bailiwick: useless, expensive, and wasteful…

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

It would have been easier on the Niners had the Carolina Panthers beaten the Seattle Seahawks. But, they didn’t. The Seahawks won. The Niners had to beat the Chicago Bears to stay in the race for first place overall. The Bears are a VERY good team. The Niners have some issues this season. Nonetheless, the Niners managed the victory. It was a very good, back and forth game. At the end, it felt like the game could go either way right up until the gun sounded and the game went one way: to the Niners.

They’re playing for first place overall and that comes with a first round Bye, a chance to rest players. It can be quite the advantage. I understand why they’re putting so much into it. But it looks like they’re leaving it all out on the field, now, in these regular season games. I’m becoming concerned that what it will take to land the First Seed will cost them too much heading into the playoffs.

Then again, I’ve been underestimating this team all season long. Players keep getting injured and each injury brings a feeling of, “Well, that’s it!” So far, though, that hasn’t been it. They just keep plugging along and winning games. Next week, the Niners host those self-same Seahawks in Santa Clara. It’s yet another must-win for the Niners.

If they DO win, they earn the number one seed. They get to skip the first round and rest. THEN, for as long as they can remain in the playoffs, ALL of their games would be in Levi Stadium – up to and including the Stupor Bowl, should they get that far. That would be fun and good for the team, not having to travel at all throughout the playoffs.

If the Niners lose to the Seahawks, they’re still in the playoffs. They just get a lower seed and they WILL have to travel. Oh, AND they’ll have to play in every round and they lose their chance to rest players. I really hope the Niners win. It should be a great game. Hey, what can I say? Escapism is more important, these days, than it used to be…

TPtheUSA…

Charlie Kirk started a group called Turning Point USA (TPUSA). It, or he, became very popular among a certain conservative crowd. TPtheUSA started an annual convention called ‘AmericaFest.’ This year, for obvious reasons, Charlie isn’t the host. His widow, Erika, has the honors. ALSO, this year, there seems to have been much infighting.

Ben Shapiro, co-founder of the conservative media outlet ‘Daily Wire,’ came out swinging and insulted conservative mouthpieces Candace Owens, Megyn Kelly, and Tucker Carlson. Owens, Kelly, and Carlson then each took turns insulting Shapiro back. Steve Bannon jumped on the “Smack Shapiro Back” train, too.

Bannon’s complaint seemed to revolve around Israel. Israel was another area of contention. Some MAGA wonder if US involvement violates 47’s ‘America First’ policy. So, on the one hand, MAGA stands staunchly against antisemitism and on the other hand, they dismiss Shapiro as a Jew with a narrow focus on Israel. Of course, by now, the idea of MAGA holding two conflicting opinions most of the time is just normal day-to-day stuff.

JD Vance said anybody could be part of MAGA so long as they “love America.” Be advised, though, you have to hate the US Constitution and all of the beliefs and institutions that define America AS America. Every time they claim to love America most, I find myself wondering just what in the hell they’re talking about, the landscape?

It was nice to read about the infighting. It looks like there are cracks forming throughout MAGA as individuals split off into their own special interests and splinter groups. I’m not sure Erika Kirk is the dynamic leader Charlie was. At one point, she was presenting an award to a Utah Valley University student named Caleb Chilcutt and she said, “Despite the devastating loss of Charlie Kirk, my incredible husband at UVU, Caleb has persisted with the same grift.”

She quickly shifted to “gift” before settling on “grit,” but her accidental truth was a moment of unintentional humor. It clearly was not a smooth, easy event and the public disputes suggest trouble roiling just beneath the surface in MAGA. Stay tuned…

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

Sure, 47 will keep murdering people in speedboats. He thinks he has a cover story. But it’s pretty obvious he wants Venezuela’s oil. I mean, he DID say so. Because of his dementia, he actually said that Venezuela was sitting on our oil. He was less clear about how and why the US put it’s oil under Venezuela. So now he has seized a second tanker.

Here’s a question: How long do you suppose China is going to stay quiet about all of this? The reason I ask is, 80% of Venezuelan oil goes to China. Donny ordering the seizing of tankers seems like it could be a problem. Right now, Donny thinks he’s seizing Venezuela’s oil but it seems he actually seizing China’s oil. I suspect Venezuela is going to show up for Donny’s war with quite a strong ally…

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

I find it telling that the (in)Justice Department is dragging it’s feet releasing photos 47 is in because they have to be super-de-duper careful about making sure he’s not in a photo with one of his victims, and, apparently, that’s a very difficult thing for them to do. It suggests there are a LOT of photos depicting Donny with his victims…

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

Tax season is fast approaching and I’ve been concerned. I suspect Donny will do everything he can to milk the working class dry. My suspicion is based on the observation that, so far, all he’s done is work to milk the working class dry. So I was surprised when White House spokesliar Kevin Hassett suggested we, the people, are just about to receive the largest refunds in history.

Then I remembered: he’s a spokesliar. Everything this White House says turns out to be the opposite of the truth. If we’re being told we’re just about to receive the biggest refund in history, be afraid. Be very afraid…

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

We’re getting to the fun part of the season. You’re going to read more about the NFL, here, in the next few weeks. Like the fact that the Niners clinched a playoff spot this weekend before they even played a game. I think stuff like this is fun. The Seattle Seahawks beat the LA Rams and the Niners clinched a spot. Not only that, there’s a path for the Niners to end up winning their division AND taking the number one overall seed, giving them a first round Bye in the playoffs.

That’s wild, in view of the injuries the team has suffered this season. It’s important to note that the Niners have to win the next three games in order to achieve that goal, and winning all three is NOT going to be an easy task. The last three games are all against teams with winning records. The attempt starts tonight as the Niners take on the 8-6 Indianapolis Colts.

Indy got to where they are behind a Quarterback who got injured and is out for the season. So, the team went out and signed 44-year old veteran Philip Rivers. He’s a good player but he hasn’t been playing for a couple of years. He seems a bit rusty. Besides, in football terms, 44 years makes you Methuselah.

After that, the Niners face the 10-4 Bears, then the 12-3 Seahawks but to embrace an old Football cliche, they have to take them one game at a time. If they lose any one of those games, the attempt fails and they play the Wild Card round. Based on the injuries the team has suffered all season, just making the playoffs is a huge success. Claiming the top seed in the NFC seems almost greedy. I mean, I’m okay with it, but just making the playoffs was a hell of an accomplishment, if you ask me…

First Thing This Morning…

The first thing I see when I open the newspaper this morning? The lede is about the shooting in Australia at Bondi Beach. A father and son murder team killed 15 people and injured dozens more in an antisemitic attack on people celebrating the first night of Hanukah. I noticed a short-lived effort on the part of gun death advocates celebrating that the shooting didn’t happen in the US and claiming that “it happens everywhere.” For the record, Australia has strict gun laws and mass shootings are rare.

Meanwhile, there was a shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. As of this writing, the shooter is still on the loose. THEN, there’s a story about how Donny’s budget cuts have threatened a crime-riddled town in Louisiana plagued by gun violence.

It’s just a lot of violence to wake up to, so I thought I’d… highlight it and put it at the top? It’s the world we live in. I think it’s getting worse, not better…

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

Wow. On the topic of violence, Rob Reiner and wife, Michele, murdered? That was the last thing I expected to see when I got up this morning. Reiner was an outspoken critic of Dim Leader. So far, I know nothing of the details but it says something about the society in which we live today that the question pops into one’s mind, unbidden. Was this a political murder? It’s possible. It’s also possible it was something else so I’ll wait and see. I was just shocked by this…

UPDATE: Reiner’s son, Nick, has been arrested in connection with this event. Tragic. Is it a relief that it wasn’t some political thing? Yeah, but not much…

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

Trump with six women whose identity is protected.

Have you seen that photo? It’s a big talking point right now. The right is being told this is a photo of Donny with the Miss USA pageant contestants. Maybe it is. If it’s from the island, a survivor needs to speak up and say so. Either way, though, this photo doesn’t implicate 47 in anything. Redacting the faces is dramatic, but everyone is dressed and nobody appears to touching anything untoward. So what happens if it IS just a photo of him with pageant contestants? Won’t the right use that to undermine all of the other evidence that supports the idea that Donny was in deep with Jeffrey?

That’s the thing that bothers me most about things being tossed out, presented as one thing that turn out to be another. It makes it harder and harder to know what’s true and it’s so unnecessary. Donny is the personification of all seven of the Seven Deadly Sins. Nobody has to make up terrible things he’s done. He’s got plenty of real ones. When someone does make them up, it doesn’t harm him, it protects him.

What we do know about that photo, though, is that it was released by the Epstein estate along with something like 95,000 other photos. It seems weird that Epstein would keep a photo of Donny with some contestants, but lots of things about Epstein seem weird. Donny DID own the pageants. He is said to have violated the women’s privacy during the pageants by “inspecting” facilities while the young women were changing clothes. Maybe that explains Jeffrey’s interest.

Novelty condom bearing Trump's likeness.

This photo, however, is going to be a bit tougher to explain away. This is a condom package from Epstein Island. It bears the Drumpfster’s likeness with a brag that sounds just like the “man” himself. Donny is trying to downplay his involvement with Epstein and prevent any evidence from coming out that might implicate himself. The harder he tries, the more it seems Donny wasn’t just a client at Epstein Island. He seems to have been part of the team.

I don’t have enough information to be sure. Maybe there are condom packages with images of Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Steve Bannon, and/or Alan Dershowitz. Maybe. Maybe those packages simply weren’t released. But we all know this game. If the Dems release something they think is incriminating, the GOP works to dismiss it and then releases something of their own. I suspect, because we’ve all seen the ‘Donny Condom,’ if a ‘Clinton Condom’ existed, we would have seen that by now, too…

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

The Bill of Rights became law on this date in 1791. Those were good things we had, there, rights. It’s too bad a small handful of wealthy miscreants decided we had had them too long. It’s just one of many down sides to living in a fascist authoritarian regime. I thought I should mention it in remembrance of what we’ve lost…

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

I want to do a follow-up on yesterday’s NFL football. The Niners won, which they needed to do. There was an outside chance they could have improved their position considerably if certain very unlikely things happened and that was fun, but those unlikely things didn’t happen so they ended up just holding their own – but that’s good enough to make the playoffs at this point.

Next week the Niners are playing the Indianapolis Colts, now led by 44-year-old QB Phillip Rivers He came out of retirement to play after the Colts lost their other Quarterbacks to injury. Physically, he didn’t look like he was in game shape but he played well. They almost beat a very good Seahawks team. That means the Niners have their work cut out for them.

The Chiefs were eliminated from playoff contention yesterday. That hasn’t happened in years. Worse, for them, their star Quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, tore his ACL with about two minutes left in the game, while he was trying to drive the team downfield for a chance to even the score. He’ll probably have surgery and miss most of next season. As I watched the Chiefs get closer and closer to elimination, I noticed an upsurge in injuries to the team. I began to wonder if the idea they were at risk of being eliminated somehow increased the chance of injury. It’s just speculation.

The Dallas Cowboys were essentially eliminated, too. There IS a chance – 6%-8% – so I can’t say they’re out, but they’re out. They have to win all of the rest of their games AND they need help from other teams. I’m okay with both the Chiefs and the Cowboys watching the playoffs from home…

Failing and Fumbling…

Well, I did not expect the start of the day to look like this. The US seized a tanker off the coast of Venezuela yesterday. Oh, did I forget to mention it’s an oil tanker? No one is even pretending it’s part of a “drug war.” NOW, suddenly, Donny – who couldn’t find his own ass with both hands and a road map – yeah, THAT Donny, uncovered a cabal of oil cheats?

Pam Bondi got to make up the announcement. She said the tanker had been sanctioned by the US for “multiple years” due to its “involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations.” Terrorists, terrorists, terrorists! That’s just a catch-phrase these days. I think that, no matter where they are, when they look into the camera menacingly, scrunch their faces up, and spit the word “Terrorists!” it should be followed by a tension building, and foreboding fanfare. Technology in the world is getting better all the time. The regime should be able to find a small, hand-held player for such a moment. It will spice up the drama.

I think Donny is dragging the US into yet another oil war. He talked about the drugs – which, by the way, his base believes completely. He claimed drugs were being shipped out of Venezuela that don’t get shipped out of Venezuela. MAGA thinks those motorboats aren’t trying to reach the US mainland. They’re either going up the coast to Mexico or they’re heading to a ship waiting for them. When I asked why nobody said anything about waiting ships? Crickets. When I pointed out that, if true, ships might be going anywhere? Crickets. MAGA media gives them a story, not the details.

It doesn’t matter, though. Donny doesn’t CARE about drugs. That was just an excuse. Think Saddam and his WMDs, despite the fact that Saddam didn’t HAVE WMDs. He DID have oil and the US took that for a LONG, LONG time. Gratis. It was a light, sweet deal for US oil companies. (It’s actually Brent Crude, I think, but I liked the joke.) Donny is working to replicate the feat in Venezuela.

So, here we go again. The US gets into a brand new oil war, THIS time to procure a resource we shouldn’t need anymore. We have alternatives and we should be using them. How many lives will be lost? 87 and counting, so far. How much money will be spent?

Look, I don’t think that everything happening in today’s modern world is necessarily better but I don’t think it’s automatically worse, either. Renewable energy technology is better, long-term. It’s better for the environment and nobody has to bomb anybody to gain sunlight. It’s just…there. And, should the day come it’s NOT there anymore, human beings will have bigger problems than the cost of a gallon at the pump. MUCH bigger problems.

Donny SO desperately wants a peace prize, he’s willing to accept a made up knock-off from a soccer organization, but he’s STILL starting a war for all the world to see. I suspect he actually believes he’s picking this fight with Venezuela cleverly, fooling everyone. Blaming Venezuela, I guess, means nobody will notice what the US has been doing. But the US has been doing it badly. The world knows this will NOT be a righteous war. Team Evil really needs to be sent to the Hague and put on trial for crimes against humanity. And, the sooner, the better…

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

If you’re surprised by this, you’re definitely MAGA. None of the pretend indictments against Letitia James or James Comey or anybody else the current incompetent regime accuses of mortgage fraud have held up in court. None. But they DID prompt reporters at ProPublica – real reporters, not MAGA media, opinion-spewing talking heads – to look into other mortgages, maybe those taken by some other potentially interested parties – like Donald Trump, for example.

So… guess who actually DOES commit mortgage fraud by claiming rental properties as primary residences to get better loan rates. Go ahead, take a guess. I’ll wait…

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

Oh, sure. He imposes tariffs and wipes out the US soy market (again). Then, because his tariffs wiped out the soy market, he’s going to (again) give billions of dollars to the farmers who prefer to earn their living than need handouts. Donny gets to CLAIM he’s helping the poor, down-trodden farmer, but he’s really helping the banks that hold the notes these farmers need to pay back. If the farmers crash and burn, the banks are hurt. Donny NEVER cares about the little guy.

The regime is trying to convince the rubes that China stopped buying soy while Biden was running the show because they suffer from BBS, Blame Biden Syndrome, and blame Biden for everything. The fact that it’s so easy to check these details and understand them as the lies they are doesn’t bother them because they know the rubes will NOT check. They just believe…

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

If you’re not a football fan, please bear with me, here. This deserves to be noted. In a Monday night game on the 8th of this month, the Quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, Jalen Hurts, threw a pass. It was intercepted by a guy named Da’Shawn Hand, of the LA Chargers. Hand was starting to return the interception when he was chased down by Eagles running back Will Shipley, who knocked the ball free from, well, Hand’s hands. The ball popped free and shot straight forward – into Jalen Hurt’s hands. At this point, Hurts started with the ball, threw it, and has it again, okay?

So, Hurts began to run with the ball but immediately had the ball punched out by Chargers defensive tackle Jamaree Caldwell from behind and it rolled forward about 10 yards before Chargers linebacker Troy Dye recovered the ball. It was something to see. Word is, this play makes Jalen Hurts the first player in NFL history to turn the ball over twice in a single play. How’s THAT for a record that will never fall? I’m not sure it’s a stat Hurts is going to want people to focus on, though…

Abominations…

It’s a United States government office, but Donny has plastered his name on it. It was, properly, the United States Institute of Peace. Now it’s called the ‘Donald Jessica Trump Institute of Peace,’ or something like that. (At least, that’s what I think his middle name is. I learned it from Randy Rainbow, but can’t verify Randy’s research methods.) After all, Donny DID “win” the FIFA Peace Prize they made up for him. And he HAS murdered many people in the Caribbean, supported genocide in Gaza, AND refused to help victims of an illegal invasion in Ukraine, despite a promise from the US that we would help Ukraine if Russia attacked in exchange for giving up nukes.

Donny fired the hand-picked architect he selected to build his new White House abomination. Like other things in his world, it’s not big enough to make him happy. He really, really wishes it were bigger and he keeps looking for someone who can help him out. That effing barfroom is already bigger than the White House, itself, and he wants to make it bigger? Someone ought to explain to him about gaudy ostentation. Then again, he just fired the architect who tried…

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

In Donny’s diminished and delusional state, he has randomly decided that if a person is rich and was prosecuted for crimes under the Biden administration, the charges must be made up and the prosecution a fraud. He has no basis for this belief. He presses it because HE was nearly convicted for so many of his crimes during the Biden administration and he is STILL trying to convince someone – anyone – that he was being framed.

He wasn’t. He was being prosecuted for crimes he committed, if one believes the evidence. The only reason he wasn’t convicted is because he and the Heritage Foundation had a long-term plan for a coup that included corrupt (read: loyal to a fault) judges named by the Federalist Society. Many of those “judges” had been put in place already and they helped a brother out, you know?

So when he received a request for a pardon from one-time Democratic House Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas – along with a generous “donation” check, of course – he granted it. Cuellar apparently said the magic words, “Biden did it for political reasons.” In my mind, it’s rather important that Cuellar and his wife, who was also charged, were not yet convicted. They were charged with accepting bribes.

Apparently, when Donny granted the pardon, he assumed Cuellar would be so grateful he would switch parties and run as a Republican. Okay, so, first, run?!? He was busted taking bribes. How does one run for office, having accepted a pardon to escape the felonies he was facing? I guess if you’re brazen enough, you run anyway. This IS happening in Texas, after all.

And Cuellar IS running again. He filed the paperwork. He’s running in Texas as a Democrat and Donny is irritated about that. Donny expects loyalty he never, ever displays himself. I’d like to say that Texas is facing something of an IQ test to see if they’re dumb enough to elect an accused felon to public office, but they’ve already elected a convicted felon to public office so I guess the test is finished and the Texans can put their pencils down…

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

Apparently, this doesn’t make sense to Linda McMahon, the Secretary of Destroying Education, but it turns out, if one reduces staff, one also reduces productivity. When this wrecking ball of a regime came in and started smashing things, most of the workforce of the Department of Education was laid off. That was supposed to save money. It didn’t, because a penny saved somewhere in government gets shoved into Donny’s pocket instead.

Look it up yourself. Donny came in and thrashed the government by laying off thousands of employees, yet his maladministration has spent more money so far than any other group in power in US history – even his own, who held the spending record before THIS group of clowns set the current record.

Now McMahon is calling back a bunch of Department of Education employees in an effort to reduce the backlog she created when she laid them off – but only temporarily. I guess if one hasn’t procured new employment by now, going back makes some sense but I’m not sure I would if I had an alternative. Why help the Bozos be clowns? Woeful mismanagement brings woeful results. Are we surprised? Every day, the extreme incompetence of this regime comes into clearer and clearer focus…

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

Well, the Niners didn’t play this weekend. Bye week, you know. Still, they improved their playoff position. Pretty neat trick. It’s one of the things I like about this time of year. If you have a shot at making the playoffs, EVERY game you play now is very important. Many of the games other teams play become important, too. The Niners moved from the seventh seed to the sixth because the Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears.

Meanwhile, game by game it’s looking like the Kansas City Chiefs’ dynasty is coming to an end. It happens. I learned ALL about it, the hard way, when the Bill Walsh Niner dynasty finally came to it’s end. The NFL is kind of structured to make dynasties hard to maintain. Eventually, your team will be picked apart by other teams. The players you keep? They get old. In football, “old” starts at about 32.

This is only tangentially related but I hear Taylor Swift has set a date for her upcoming nuptials. June, 2026. This means nothing to me. I’m not saving the date as I don’t expect an invitation. BUT, Tay-Tay is marrying Travis Kelce, the star Tight End for the Kansas City Chiefs. In June, Kelce would normally be in ‘football’ mode, getting ready for the upcoming season. THIS June, he’ll be in ‘gettin’ married’ mode. To me, this date foreshadows Kelce’s impending retirement, yet another sign of the decline of a dynasty…

Flips, Flops, Flaps, and Flubs…

I don’t know what’s going to happen in the special election in Tennessee. It’s a heavily Republican district. The guy who just retired, Republican Rep. Mark Green, won his 2024 election by 21 points. The Drumpfster won that district – Tennessee’s 7th – by a similar margin. This election should be a walk for Republicans.

But the Republican, Matt Van Epps, is running on, “Ain’t Trump great?” at a time when NOBODY thinks Donny is doing great. Van Epps is promising to support Donny in every way. Like all of the other Republicans in Congress, he provides his own knee pads and has had his spine surgically removed to better serve his Precious.

Meanwhile, the Democrat, State Rep. Aftyn Behn, is running on the economy. The race is looking close enough that both team’s national committees are spending big money. Van Epps’ campaign asked Donny to come to Tennessee and Behn’s team got an appearance by Kamala, which may or may not be a good thing.

There’s a second conservative in this race, Jon Thorp, though he’s running as an independent. A normally Democrat-supporting PAC is pushing Republican voters to vote for Thorp, claiming Van Epps is a RINO. That’s a “Republican In Name Only.” There are also DINOS. Millions of dollars are suddenly being thrown at this campaign.

I don’t have high confidence the Democrats can flip a gerrymandered district that supported the Republicans by more than 20 points, but it says something that the district is seen as “in play.” If anyone can vaporize a 20+ point advantage in only ten short months, it’s Donny…

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

Donny is suggesting he’ll send everyone a “tariff dividend” of $2,000. He won’t. He hasn’t made enough in tariffs to send everyone $2,000. Worse, now that his dinosaur-like brain is beginning to register the damage his tariffs have done to the economy, he’s going to lower some of them, reducing the amount of money available to send out. But he loves that $2,000 dollar number, doesn’t he?

It came up again with health care. Now, instead of the ACA supplements Americans need, he says he want’s to give each person $2,000 to cover their own health insurance. So, first question, is that the tariff dividend AND the health care cash? Is he promising to send everyone $4,000? Or is it the same $2,000, promised for two different things? Is that annually? No one knows, but it seems like it’s intended to be a one-time good deal. $2,000 to cover health care in the US – for the rest of your life. That seems like a workable plan. If you’re rich…

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

Well, the great negotiator is offering his failed position on Ukraine again. The Drumpfster keeps offering up the same options: Ukraine gives Putin what he wants, and in return, Putin accepts it. That’s a hell of a plan, and for reasons no MAGA mind can fathom, Ukraine isn’t interested. When Ukraine rejects the surrender agreement, Donny just shuffles the talking points and re-issues it as a “new plan.”

The latest “new plan” being proposed is being described by many people as a Russian wish list. Some are saying it was written by Russia and translated by the US. The US denies that claim. Yeah, that’s convincing. Initially, Donny warned Ukraine they had to accept this plan by Thursday, but the regime have since walked that all the way back to “it’s just a proposal, at this point.” When all is said and done, it looks like there’s no “peace plan” at all…

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

But speaking of Russians writing things, the latest revelation coming from Musk’s racist website, Brand X, indicates that many top MAGA accounts are actually foreigners manipulating Americans. X added a feature showing the country of origin on X accounts and people started using the feature to look up the origins of popular MAGA accounts. Russians are on the list. So is Chile, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Morocco, Eastern Europe, and Thailand.

Look, it’s possible there’s a MAGA living overseas for some reason who maintains a pro-MAGA account, but I’d bet the lion’s share of these accounts are actual foreigners who intend actual harm to the US – and they’re achieving their goal by feeding MAGA derangement and fear…

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

Yeah, the NFL. Specifically, the Niners. More specifically, Brandon Aiyuk. He’s a wide receiver. (For the uninitiated, he catches passes.) He’s very good at it. In 2023, Aiyuk was ranked seventh in the NFL. He wanted to be paid accordingly. He actually wanted to be paid a little better. It turned into a conflict between him and the team. He ended up getting a four year, $120 million dollar contract. $30 million dollars a year to catch a ball? And $27 million for 2026 was guaranteed! Yeah, America’s priorities are right in order, aren’t they?

Anyway, Aiyuk came out for the next season and promptly got seriously hurt. Really seriously. He missed the rest of that season and hasn’t played a snap this season. All of this is standard stuff in the NFL. It’s a violent game. People get hurt, sometimes badly. The team, the player, and the fans all just wait until the player can return and we get back to it. But for some reason, as yet undisclosed, Aiyuk hasn’t been doing what he’s supposed to do.

This caused the Niners to void the guaranteed money in his contract, a notoriously difficult thing to do. Now it looks like Aiyuk will be leaving the Niners and it could well be sooner rather than later. Aiyuk was a great player before his knee got destroyed. He might never be the same. That, too, is common in the NFL. Whatever team picks Aiyuk up will almost certainly be desperate at the Wide Receiver position. So desperate, they’ll take a chance on Aiyuk. But it looks like the Niners won’t be on that hook, after all.

Aiyuk is ONLY a question mark at this point. He’ll want lots of money because he played one good season, but he’s been out two years and he really (I mean, really) damaged his knee. I’m kind of glad the Niners get to move forward without having to put up with any more of his rehab shenanigans. The team might be losing a very talented receiver. They’ll definitely be losing a big problem. That’s okay with me…