politics

Tacking Left…

by MyBaconPress

Trump seems to be tacking left a bit. He has, of course, sewn up the votes from the dangerously extremist far right. Now he has to try to convince some rational, non-cult members to vote for him, too, so he’s starting to pretend all that “pander to the crazies” was just something special he did for them. He’s really a centered, down-to-Earth guy, right? To that end, he came out disavowing Project 2025. He claims he knows nothing about it. HE didn’t write it. He has no idea who is behind it. (Like he’s never even heard of the Heritage Foundation.) He even said that some of the stuff in Project 2025 is “ridiculous and abysmal.”

I’ve written about Project 2025 a couple of times before. Essentially, it’s a 922-page plan created by the Heritage Foundation and many of Trump’s own former senior administration officials to create a government loyal NOT to America, but to Donald J. Trump. It’s sweeping, and it’s evil. So, Trump is pretending he doesn’t know the plan, never heard of the Heritage Foundation, and doesn’t know any of his former senior administration officials. Yeah, plausible…

Nope. Remember, this is Donald Trump. He’s LYING! He has publicly praised the President of the Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts, twice and his website actually links to the Heritage Foundation under his Section on ‘Agenda 47,’ his own, horrible plan to do terrible things to people, the nation, and the world. Remember, if Trump is speaking, he’s lying…

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

I have a friend who is MAGA. That’s true. How do we do it? Mostly, we don’t talk politics. But the recent ‘make the president a king’ ruling from the SKCOTUS was a momentary exception. I started it, I confess. I didn’t mean to. It was just an off-handed quip I made. “No,” I was assured, “the ruling did NOT make the President a king.” Then I heard something I’ve heard before. “Read the decision.” So I did.

No, that’s not true. I looked up the decision. I found a copy in the Guardian. The first thing I noticed? It’s a 119-page decision. My friend is a VERY busy guy. I’m certain HE didn’t read the 119-page decision. But, hey, that seemed an unfair conclusion, based on nothing but the total number of pages, so I started digging in. I didn’t have to go too far. The details of the ‘make the president a king’ thinking are in the summary – on page one, fercrissakes.

Here, for your edification: “Held: Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no
immunity for unofficial acts.”

Based on that ONE short exchange I had with my friend, I suspect MAGA is being told the left is just pearl-clutching and that there’s no such provision in the ruling. I suspect the MAGA deceivers are telling the MAGA deceived to tell people to ‘read the decision’ because the word “king” doesn’t appear anywhere in it. I’m going to stipulate to that. Yeah, they didn’t use the word.

Interesting sidebar: when one is learning to write fiction (like that SKCOTUS decision), one of the lessons taught is that one should not tell the reader a thing. They should use their words to show the reader the thing. As an example, “It was a dark and stormy night” tells the reader it was a dark and stormy night. But better writing is to describe a dark and stormy night – no lights, no moonlight because of the cloud cover, the effects of the wind and the rain. The reader then takes those pieces and puts together the idea, it was a dark and stormy night.
“What the hell is he talking about?”
“Hang on, he’ll tie it together…”

The SKCOTUS didn’t tell us they were making a king. They showed us the power of a king and claimed said power is inherent to the American Presidency. (It very specifically is not.) One had to be able (or willing) to infer and understand. MAGA most definitely, is not. If one reads about lack of light and wind and rain and comes away thinking it’s a bright and sunny day, they missed the point entirely. They clearly weren’t reading too closely. Most likely, they didn’t read the thing at all.

So, if you try to debate with your favorite MAGA on the topic, don’t be too surprised to find they know nothing of the reality of the situation. The Deceived are merely parroting what they’ve been told by the Deceivers…

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

Hey, it doesn’t seem like much but maybe, just maybe, it’s a harbinger of better things. We’ve all watched MAGA rise in this nation. We may NOT have noticed the rise of conservatism around Europe in general but, OMG, is it happening. Conservatism has taken hold wherever one finds an internet outlet cons can lie through. The cons aren’t just doing it to the US. They’re doing it to all of Europe, as well. The US is just their biggest prize.

But in the UK, cons have been running things for quite awhile – and running them into the ground. It’s the conservative way. So, finally, after more than a decade of failure, the cons have been replaced by thinking people in the UK. That’s a good thing. I suspect Britain’s future is looking up.

I know. It’s one election. Right across the Channel, in France, the cons are making great strides and claiming a huge segment of the French government. So expect a campaign of cruelty and failure in France coming soon. It’s the conservative way. But maybe the victory for rationalism in the UK can spread in the same way con misinformation spreads.

Hope springs eternal, I guess…

How The Dems Win…

by MyBaconPress

Three. That’s the number of excuses, I’m sorry, “explanations” regarding Joe’s terrible, horrible performance at the debate. Three. The first was that he had a cold. The second was that his prep team overworked him. The most recent was that he had just flown around the world. Twice. He was tired.

The thing is, when Trump ran against Joe and lost in the fair and honest election of 2020, most of us were NOT voting FOR Joe. We were voting against Trump. Most of us had the attitude that we would have voted for a cold ham sandwich over Trump. We need to remember that – and do it again. The threat that is Trump still exists and, in fact, has become FAR more threatening than he was in his first term.

It’s a little funny that MAGA does exactly the same thing for Trump. That is, I’m reminding people to overlook Biden’s shortcomings and vote for him anyway, to block Trump. MAGA, too, will overlook Trump’s shortcomings and vote for him. The difference? Thinking Americans will be voting for a guy who has been a pretty good President and MAY be having “Senior Moments.” MAGA will be supporting a serial criminal – “a one man crime spree,” Biden called him, an adjudicated rapist, a person who lies like nobody has ever seen, the personification of the Seven Deadly Sins, AND the person who experts have agreed was the worst President in the history of this once-great nation.

You remember his first term, right? Those were the years the economy was destroyed, more people lost jobs and more Americans died than any time in our history – including the American Civil War. Yeah, that was great.

Trump inherited an economy that was humming along. He managed to kill it – and over a million Americans – in only four years. “That was Covid-19!” screams MAGA. Yep. His pathetic handling of Covid-19, you mean. Covid-19 was a pandemic, meaning it hit worldwide. NO other nation suffered the number of deaths America suffered.

Then we put Biden in office and no other country recovered from the damage of Covid-19 as fast at the US, either. Biden is better than Trump. Here’s the thing. Biden is better than Trump, even if Biden has full-blown Alzheimer’s. (He doesn’t.) But the point here is, it doesn’t matter what condition Biden is in.

Rational Americans were willing to vote for a cold ham sandwich against Trump last time. We MUST keep the mindset. Every American who loves this country, despite her issues, needs to get out and vote against Trump again. We weren’t enthusiastic about Biden last time and we don’t have to be this time. He was the anti-Trump and THAT, more than any other thing, is what we need to stay focused on. Biden is the Anti-Trump.

You won’t be voting FOR Biden. You’ll be voting against the Destroyer of Worlds, and that’s pretty important…

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

But the election is just the first hurdle. MAGA has a plan to simply install Trump if he loses at the ballot box. In my last column, I asked for input. If you have any ideas how we might save this country, I’d love to hear it. Then, I had one! Sure, it’s a long-shot. Long shots are pretty much the option left so tell me what you think of this: Right now, today, Biden needs to appoint four more Justices to the Supreme Court. The Democratic controlled Senate could, should, have them all confirmed and ready to go by the time the next Court sits.

The now-rational 7-6 majority would be in charge of overseeing future legal challenges, not the insane, ideological 6-3 bullshit that has done so much harm and is just itching to do more. There would be nothing the cons could do to stop it. The now-rational majority might even be able to bring some past rulings back for review. I don’t know about that one. I’d need to ask a lawyer and I haven’t seen any since I got the idea. It doesn’t matter, though.

It’s no joke about MAGA trying to simply install Trump in the House if he loses at the ballot box. It’s an actual plan and they have all the pieces they need in place to make that happen, should they execute that evil, unamerican plan. And why wouldn’t they? Any legal challenges will, obviously, be taken to the SCOTUS to be settled. If the SCOTUS is still the SKCOTUS (meaning infested by Kangaroos), the decision is a foregone conclusion. “Who cares what the Constitution says? We love our guy!” If rationality has been returned to the court, America has a chance. Otherwise?

Yeah, yeah, MAGA would scream about how unfair it is – exactly the same way the left screamed when Moscow Mitch stole that seat to pack the court with crazies. The difference? Biden would be working to save the country, where MAGA is hell-bent on destroying her. Besides, MAGA is wrong about everything. Everything! Why the hell would any rational person listen to any MAGA about anything political, ever?

Biden has promised not to abuse his new powers as king. I appreciate that, but if USING those powers to save the nation would, well, save the fucking nation, I’d say do what you have to do. In fact, the ONLY way to get enough time to fix what the corrupt court has wrought is to change the structure of the SCOTUS. Not doing so only sets us up for evil king Trump, who will most definitely abuse his power.

But Biden wouldn’t BE abusing his power. Appointing Supreme Court Justices is a core power of the President, defined in the Constitution. He would just be doing his job. Expanding the court might be the only way to save the country. It would likely save his Presidency, too.

I often feel like the left plays the “Washington Generals” against the right’s “Harlem Globetrotters” which is a bit ironic since the Globetrotters are mostly black and MAGA is mostly racist but that’s a different column. (For the uninitiated, the Generals are the “team” the Globetrotters play against in their “games.” The Generals are expected to lose to the Globetrotters…)

I hold that actions speak louder than words. When the Dems could win a fight but don’t? I can’t explain that any other way than they didn’t WANT to win the fight and I honestly believe the left has been throwing the game to the right for decades. They LOOK like they’re putting up a fight but their job is to lose, so lose they do. But I’m STILL suggesting this because it gives America a fighting chance.

In the best tradition of Six Degrees of Separation, if you know a way to get this idea in front of the President, please use it. NOW IS the time.

Expanding the court by adding four more rational people is perfectly legal, and even if some think otherwise, it’s a core power and not to be questioned – according to the very court Biden would be expanding. Such a bold move would, I believe, re-energize the Biden campaign, too. He could save the country AND himself as President. It’s a win-win. The only question is, do the Dems WANT to win?

Hey, Maybe We Can…

by MyBaconPress

No, it’s too late. Since the SKCOTUS ruled that the President is really a king, I’ve seen some ideas about what to do. AOC has suggested impeaching some of the Kangaroos. A House Democrat, Joe Morelle, has promised to introduce a Constitutional Amendment to reverse the way-high court’s ruling. I read a very good editorial urging all Americans to get out and vote, the idea being that if we all band together we can save our nation at the ballot box.

Impeaching the Kangaroos will take too long and will NOT have the cooperation of our corrupt House. That’s the same impediment to any Constitutional Amendment. Sadly, getting out the vote isn’t going to get ‘er done, either. Dems could, should, win the election. Cons have a plan to steal it, anyway.

People I’ve spoken to about their plan can’t or won’t accept it as a possibility, let alone the reality. When I first heard of it, I wasn’t sure I bought it, either. But consider; think of every vile thing the cons have done in the furtherance of their goals, the lies and obfuscations, the incompetents installed, the bribes happily and gratefully taken, the corruptions of the rule of law. Think of every time you’ve been shocked by some new, egregious effort it took you a day or two to even wrap your arms around. NONE of those things have been opposed successfully.

This once-great nation was a smoking wreckage even before the Kangaroos put the final nail in her coffin on July 1, 2024. The Kangaroos horrifying Citizens United ruling made the country a pay-to-play nation, basically Fascism, the merging of corporate and government power. Their recent, “Hell, YES, we can take bribes!” ruling in Snyder vs United States made the country less trustworthy than we might ever have imagined.

Now, in that light, tell me what it is you think will cause the cons to stop, right as they sit on the precipice of total, appalling “success.” Win or lose in November, they have a plan to simply install Donald Trump into the Oval – and it’s all in keeping with the tattered remains of our beloved Constitution. All they have to do is tell one more big lie. Think about that. The tool they’re going to use to finally destroy the Constitution, once and for all, is the Constitution.

Their big lie? The election was SO fraught with irregularities and problems, we simply cannot trust the results. That’s it. Nothing else. They just have to tell it and stick to it. Hell, they’ve already started that one and they’ll KEEP pounding that drum until the votes are counted. The ONLY thing that will stop them is if the votes fall Trump’s way as a matter of course, a very real possibility since the Dems won’t change horses. If that happens – Trump wins – suddenly it will be the fairest election in the history of elections. But in the MAGA “mind,” it’s only “fair” if their guy wins.

Sure, Dems will pretend to fight back. They’ll file lawsuits, ultimately decided by the corrupt Kangaroos, so, good luck with that. They may try to pass laws, obstructed by the corrupt House – and any that DO pass will be “reviewed” by the Kangaroos. Consider this: the Kangaroos have already MADE Biden king. He has the same protections as Trump would have. Biden, too, could order Seal Team 6 to take out a threatening political rival with total immunity in order to save the nation. Biden could stop this thing with a word. But he won’t.

He’s already said he’s going to stick to the rules we know and depend on decorum and propriety. Hell, the cons don’t even know what ‘decorum’ and ‘propriety’ mean and if they looked them up, they’d just laugh. The Dems are forever fighting according to Marquis of Queensbury rules and the cons are in a kickboxing cage match – and using knives. So, even after the obvious cheating of the House, the Dems will dutifully attend the inauguration and hand over the keys to the White House on January 21st, 2025.

And that will be that.

Virtually the ONLY thing left that might stop Trump, realistically, is his death. Note to those who care, no, I’m not calling for his death. Besides, who the hell listens to me? I’m simply making the point that Trump is an old guy in terrible shape. Old guys in terrible shape commonly die, okay? I’m no threat. But the fact remains, however it might come about, Trump’s passing is the only way to stop this freight train, so I wouldn’t count on that, either.

If you can think of some other way to save the country, I’d love to hear it…

Immunity Day…

by MyBaconPress

Okay, so today is Immunity Day. Does Donald Trump have perfect immunity to do anything he wants while President? No, of course not, and that’s NOT what the Kangaroos are going to rule on. But, remember, these Kangaroos are weasels. (What? How is that possible?) The decision they’re going to hand down is that, yes, the President DOES enjoy great latitude in his official functions. In fact, the President IS immune from prosecution for much of his official role.

The only part the Kangaroos are going to have to weasel, is the part where “officiating” an election, especially from the White House, must be an official role of the President (it’s not), so Trump IS immune for his actions in trying to overturn the election. In a VERY partisan, 6-3 vote, they’ll simply pretend to agree with his claim of “testing the election integrity.”

Yes, it will be a severe bastardization of the law every American should be outraged about. But MAGA will celebrate because it will save their guy and they don’t understand that the corruption will continue and spread. More importantly, though, it will let Trump off the hook for his attempts to steal the election without setting a precedent that allows, say, Biden to simply order Seal Team 6 to strike Mar-a-Lardo, while Trump is at home.

The sane sector of this once-great nation will have to walk around with J6 and “I just need you to find me 11,780 votes because that’s one more than we have” in their heads while the Trump defense team of RATKG&B allows Trump to walk because that was some kind of “official function.”

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

I hear Biden met with his family to ask if he should stay in the race and, what do you know? They apparently think he should. Look, I don’t think any Biden voters (or, more accurately, anti-Trump voters) are going to see Biden’s age and vote Trump. Nobody is going to flip. But too many people are going to be off-put by Biden’s age and aged performance at the debate and will simply stay home. This, at a time Biden (and more importantly, the survival of this once-great nation) will need every vote he can possibly get.

Outside of the MAGA “mind,” (I mean in reality) Biden has done a pretty good job as President. The only real rap cons can lay on him is his age and they’ve been hammering on that for years, now. So when Biden comes out and mostly confirms their charges by his performance, he puts the metaphorical noose around his own neck – along with ours.

Yes, Biden has a proven record of success but the “old” thing is a weight he can’t escape. Replacing him with someone else would be a problem because the Dems would be starting from scratch with an unproven candidate. But the candidate for the right, Donald Trump IS “proven.” He’s a proven, convicted Felon. He’s an proven, adjudicated sexual assaulter. He’s a known, proven thief and con man. He’s a proven liar. He lies like it’s his sacred obligation to lie. He is an proven embarrassment to the country. (See below.) Hell, he’s an embarrassment to humanity.

I’ll tell you this: There shouldn’t even BE a race, here. Can it possibly be true the Dems can’t field anybody who could compare well against the personification of the Seven Deadly Sins? More than anything, THAT is a sad and sorrowful commentary on America…

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

I hear Trump saying we’re a laughing stock to the world because of Biden. I just want to remind everybody, it was TRUMP the entire world laughed at – right in his stupid face! Remember that? At the UN? Trump made a cockamamie, trump-like statement (“My administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country”) and the entire general assembly burst into laughter. Click here to see it for yourselves.

Once again (and it NEVER ends) a conservative accusation that is, in fact, a confession. The United States was laughing stock under Trump, not Biden, and if Trump gets back there, we will be again…

Inexplicable…

by MyBaconPress

Bill Maher’s show, ‘Real Time’ is broadcast on Friday nights. I usually don’t watch until Saturday sometime. That was true again this week. He had Tulsi Gabbard on as a guest. It was the second time in a week I watched cons come out and lie (no surprise there) with absolutely NO pushback. The first was the debate, itself. Trump just stood there and lied. Nobody fact-checked him at the time.

With one exception, that includes Biden, which was one of Biden’s problems. The one exception? Trump said there was no inflation under him. Biden pointed out that was because the entire economy had flat-lined and there is no inflation where there is, essentially, no functioning economy. But other than that, Trump just lied and Biden just couldn’t hit those easy pitches at all, let alone out of the park.

But, then, on ‘Real Time,’ Maher let Gabbard get away with it, as well. She spewed the lies. Maher, mostly, sat there and let her. Very little pushback, very little correction of the record. I’m curious why Democrats aren’t calling out MAGA lies. It’s not that hard. The lies are obvious and have been debunked completely. When MAGA tries to repeat them to me, I respond with, you know, facts. MAGA doesn’t like facts, but I still think they’re important. Apparently, that’s quaint, these days.

The Dems are going to foist Biden on us, like it or not. The very LEAST they could do is try to look like they’re putting up a fight. When you just sit there and let the liars lie, you’re NOT putting up a fight of any kind. In a very real sense, you’re enabling the liars. Hell, you might as well be Fox Not-News!

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

But not every false statement is provably false. Some are more… opinion oriented. For example, in the debate, Trump pointed out (correctly) that Putin took land under Obama and Putin has taken land under Biden but never even tried when Trump was in the Oval. That makes perfect sense to me. I believe (but can’t prove) Putin went to a LOT of trouble to get his mole into the White House and he wasn’t going to do ANYTHING to mess with that coup. In my opinion, Trump had FAR more value to Putin in other ways, like complete access to American intelligence. What, you think Trump stole all of those classified documents because he likes paper?

I also suspect Trump is playing word games when he insists he didn’t have sex with a porn star. I mean, he had sex with her but if he doesn’t count her a “star,” then he didn’t have sex with a porn star. Yeah, weasel words but that kind of parsing is right up Trump’s alley. I DO, however, feel obligated to point something out. Trump didn’t have sex with Daniels while Melania was pregnant. He was having sex with Karen McDougal while Melania was pregnant. (That would be the whole time. It was an ongoing affair.) He had sex with Daniels AFTER Barron was born…

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

I don’t really expect tired old Sleepy Joe to just step down quickly. There’s a process to this. Acceptance can be hard to achieve. Meanwhile, people are doing what they can to try and prop him up. Some call the debate “just a bad performance,” a one-off. Some point out how hard it would be to get someone to replace Biden.

They have a point. Replacing Biden at this point would be difficult. But NOT replacing Biden is suicide. So which do you want, difficult or suicide? Some lovely choice there, eh? Bill Maher once referred to Biden as Ruth Bader Biden. It’s a reference to Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s decision to stay on the court rather than step down just because she was old and dying of cancer. That selfish, short-sighted decision set the stage for the end of Roe (and, apparently, the United States as a whole) and now Biden is making the same, selfish, short-sighted decision…

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

Recently, in an effort to show everyone just how awesomely Christian the state is, Louisiana required every classroom in the state to post Jewish Law on the walls, for some reason. Not to be outdone, in an effort to show everyone just how awesomely Christian that state is, Oklahoma is going to require teachers to teach the Bible in their classrooms.

Do you think they’ll focus on that story about the time the daughters get their father drunk so they can have sex with him? You know, for the benefit of the children. No? Maybe it will include the OTHER time the daughters got their fathers drunk and had sex with him. Yeah, that IS an uplifting book of purity, isn’t it? No? How about the story where a man orders his slave to perform a task, which she does, and afterwards, he has her put to death and her body cut into pieces and spread to the four corners of his kingdom, do you think they’ll cover that one?

I guess it doesn’t matter. It’s all a show. A kind of competition. How Christian can WE appear? Here’s how dumb I am: when I think about Christianity, I like to look to Jesus and the words he taught. I don’t much care about some televangelist’s interpretation (that somehow always puts money into the televangelist’s pockets). So, since this is Sunday, let’s just take a look at what Jesus thought of these ostentatious displays of pseudo-Christianity.

Please open your Bibles to Matthew 6:5. 5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

That’s the New International Version. I still like the King James, which includes the line “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” Jesus really thought one’s Christian works should be handled privately…

Dear Wonder Christians,
You REALLY should be embarrassed that I’m an Atheist and I know – and live – your favorite story book FAR better than you… (Apparently, I’m still working on the ego thing…)

Trump Was Bad, Too…

by MyBaconPress

There was an aspect of the debate I didn’t put focus on too much. It seemed like damage control from the Dems when I heard it, but it’s true. Donald Trump comported himself well, for a while. But he lied. I mean, he ONLY lied. And the longer the debate went on, the more he started getting agitated and showing more, well, Trump. I’m sure MAGA loved it.

It’s hard to blame them. Had Biden won, I would have been happy, too. Trump played the tough guy and he lied about everything. He had the best lies, the biggest lies, the easiest lies. It’s all hyperbole, all the time with him. Everything he did was the biggest, the best ever, the “super-de-duperist.” (You can imagine what “duperist” is doing to my spellcheck.) Meanwhile, Biden was the worst, the least, and the failed. Every word of that, especially in hyperbole, is exactly backwards.

Trump’s presidency was a train wreck. He inherited an economy humming along from the Obama administration. His tariffs started damaging that economy very quickly. He severely damaged American Soy farmers, like, the entire group, with his tariffs. People who once bought from American farmers just started buying elsewhere and the American farmers were reduced to receiving government checks to stay afloat.

There’s no telling where the damage would have ended except his dismantling of the pandemic response team – another moronic move – left the country vulnerable just as Covid-19 was rearing it’s ugly head. Every President faces challenges. I don’t blame Trump for the existence of Covid-19 in the first place. I can’t see him wearing a white lab coat and splicing genes. But he bears FULL responsibility for the miserable handling of the pandemic. Over a million Americans died – more than the American Civil War – and the economy basically flat-lined.

Trump said during the debate that when he left office, there was no inflation, a near-truth but a misrepresentation nonetheless. Biden had a great line for him. Of course there was no inflation. The economy Biden inherited was on it’s back. Trump’s actual record is one of failure and destruction and damage to Americans.

MAGA would challenge all of that, by the way. They’ve been told something different by their media and they believe what they’re told. To hear them tell it, the US was a dystopian hellscape under Obama. Then, on January 21, 2017, the US suddenly and magically became a utopian paradise with everybody happy, the economy buzzing along, success at every turn. Quite simply, life was perfect in every way for every person. Then, sadly, on January 21, 2021, right back to the hellscape. It’s stupid, but they believe it.

The Biden I wish had been present for the debate, instead showed up in North Carolina the next day at a rally where he knocked it out of the park. The Dems, as predicted, are going with their guy, absolutely gutting any enthusiasm anyone might have for getting out there and voting. They have excused the poor debate performance and continue to insist Biden is the guy. The thing about that poor debate performance is that Biden really DID seem to be having “old man” problems. At BEST, one can suggest that he does okay most of the time but occasionally gets stuck in senior moments.

But Trump is Trump is Trump. Trump cares about Trump. Period. Based on things I’ve heard, Trump absolutely despises his base but he tells them he loves them (“I love the poorly educated!”) and that’s what they want to hear. Well, that and easy answers. That seems to be a key element in the MAGA “mind,” easy answers. And Trump gives them that in spades.

As far as MAGA is concerned, there ARE no complex problems. Everything can be fixed to their liking easily. They just need the right tough-talking blowhard in there to do it. A guy so sure of himself, he’ll fix the problems without even thinking about the problems. Of course, one rarely fixes complex problems with easy answers but Trump tells them he can do it and they want to believe he can do it so they continue to support him, even after he proved he CAN’T do it. (MAGA just ignores that part…)

That’s an advantage for Trump. He knows he never has to actually DO anything. He needs to be returned to the Oval to avoid prosecution for his crimes, so he tells MAGA anything they want to hear. The lies are lies MAGA likes so they believe him. But his goal is only to get elected, not to serve America. Once in office, MAGA will be yesterday’s news and Trump will be free to serve himself.

Despite all the blather, blather, whining and blather we hear from Trump at his rallies, he HAS laid out policy positions and by every credible account, he is going to be a disaster for the US like nothing we’ve ever seen before, not even from his previous vile and failed maladministration. Trump plans to out-Trump Trump. If he gets the chance, everyone not rich suffers. Everyone. EVEN MAGA.

I’m not particularly surprised by the extremes of the right anymore but I’m quite disappointed by the Dems and their detachment from reality in their loyalty to such an old, possibly senile candidate. The ONE LINE I hear from everyone I talk to on the subject is, “Is this REALLY the best America has to offer?” But listen, we KNOW a president can be effective with dementia. We’ve already seen that movie in Ronald Reagan. If the worst that can be said (truthfully) about Biden is that he MAY be in decline, I’m STILL going with him. Because the BEST that can be said about Trump is that he will destroy this once-great nation, once and for all.

Donald J. Trump is a direct threat to the United States of America and the agenda these guys have in place promises to be cruel and destructive to the vast majority of Americans. Yes, even MAGA. (Possibly, especially MAGA, when one considers the niche they occupy.) The Dems could do better, should do better. But the MAGAGOP could NOT do any worse.

So my advice for Americans? Don’t compare Biden to some perfect candidate. Compare Biden to the alternative. Even if it’s true Biden has senior moments, he has things going quite well, considering what he inherited from the failures of the previous guy. He’s been working to make life better for all Americans. The alternative? All HE can think of is revenge and destruction and he’s excited about the possibility of being able to carry it out…

Oh, Crap!

by MyBaconPress

Hmm, Biden should have had a Mountain Dew. I watched. I’d say Biden answered more questions. Trump ducked a LOT of them. Biden answered factually. Something many overlooked was that Trump didn’t NEED to “prepare.” He just stood up there and lied, lied, lied. That’s easy. Biden demonstrated a far better, stronger grasp of issues that honestly affect the American people. Again, Trump bobbed and weaved and avoided as many questions as possible. How ELSE could I characterize the debate other than Trump won?

Wait, what? Yeah, that’s right. Trump won. Trump’s bar was to a) show up and b) not act like a petulant child. He did those two things. Biden had to show the same vim and vigor he showed during the State of the Union. THIS, he decidedly did NOT do. Biden looked and sounded old. Biden couldn’t pull his thoughts together quickly enough. He seemed barely able to draw breath sometimes. Biden absolutely did NOT convince the electorate that he will survive a second term.

Biden’s performance was so bad, there was no talk of, “Oh, well, we’ll get them in the next debate.” The conversation went straight to “Uh-oh. Who else is available?” My own personal opinion is that it would have to be either Gavin Newsom (56) or Gretchen Whitmer (52). There are a couple of other possible options but those two already have national name recognition so one less hurdle to have to clear.

The main problem? The DNC. We KNOW they do not pivot, even when they obviously must. We know this from when they insisted on fielding the wrong candidate in 2016 and got Trump as the result. Based on past performance, I suspect they’ll insist on fielding the wrong candidate – that would be Biden – in 2024, as well.

“Biden won the primaries,” they’ll say. True, but that’s only because the DNC discouraged any other candidates. They chose Biden early. It made sense. He IS the sitting President. But it doesn’t make sense now. Biden won’t win this thing. Even those of us who understand the need to vote ‘Biden to block’ aren’t convinced and, sadly, Americans – as a group – are a shallow and stupid people. We vote on which candidate is tallest. (Gavin is 6’3″!) We cast ballots for those who “look the part.” We’ve had a couple of terrible but good-looking Presidents as a result. Biden’s optics are… not good.

Biden shouldn’t leave it to the DNC. He should step aside as the candidate and endorse whomever replaces him. That would be one of the hardest things a candidate could do. BUT… it would be “Washingtonian” of him, stepping aside for the good of the nation. Despite the MAGA media lies, Biden has had a good, successful presidency. He could trust that history will reflect as much. But I’m not sure he has the right stuff to do that. I think his ego will misdirect him.

I know this is a bit “sky is falling” but Biden seemed to highlight his biggest challenge, rather than downplay the thing. He was already suffering under the weight of the perception of his age and he only made that weight heavier. That heavy weight is going to drag Biden, the Democrats, and all of America down with it. If the Dems stay the course with Biden and Trump doesn’t die, Trump will be the 47th, and likely last, President of the United States…

Dying of Stupidity…

by MyBaconPress

Those of us not in the cult often shake our heads in wonderment at how easily the Deceived are manipulated. First, Biden is a doddering old fool, overwhelmed by senility. But then, he gives a great State of the Union address, clearly in command of his faculties in ways the Deceived had been convinced not possible.

So? Oh, he must have been “jacked up” on something. Some performance enhancing drug that put him back to right just long enough to get through that speech. Then, right back to the doddering old fool story. The Deceived just go with the flow. Biden is mentally infirm, sure, but he’s also the mastermind of the greatest criminal frame job in history – but mostly the infirm thing.

So, going into tonight’s debate, MAGA is all set to believe Trump is going to wipe the floor with poor, mentally confused Joe Biden. Except Trump knows that Biden is likely to eat Trump’s lunch in this debate. So, he and his lapdog media start lowering expectations. First, Trump tries to pretend he’ll lose the debate on purpose but even MAGA wasn’t dumb enough to go along with that idea, so it was pretty quickly scrapped.

They moved into “Biden will be jacked up again” mode. They even topped it off with complementary things about Biden’s experience and skill as a debater. Now MAGA media has the Deceived convinced there’s some drug out there that reverses senility just long enough to make a public appearance. This miracle drug nobody has ever heard of anywhere on Earth just… sets a person to right, eliminating all effects of aging.

But, nobody has told the Deceived what that drug might be. So MAGA started guessing. Their best guess to date – at least from MY point of view – is (drum roll, please) Mountain Dew! No, I’m not kidding. That’s one of the guesses. It’s a stunning development. Mountain Dew cures senility, but, apparently, only for a couple of hours. Of course, disgraced and demoted “Dr.” Ronnie Johnson (whose name is ‘Jackson,’ but Trump is always right so I guess he’s legally changing his name) can’t claim Mountain Dew temporarily cures senility so he’s suggesting some drug or elixir out there. No, he has NOT named it.

Quick question for the Deceived: if there’s a drug out there that reverses senility and demented Joe takes it, what’s the problem? It’s like controlling blood pressure with pills. The high blood pressure doesn’t go away, it’s just managed. Why wouldn’t old Joe just take his magic pills all the time, thereby eliminating the effects of his dementia and remaining the effective President he’s been since taking office?

Also, name the drug. Tell me what it is. There are millions of people around the world, struggling with dementia who would LOVE a pill or elixir that “fixed” them – even for a short time. Stop pretending it’s a magic pill and name it. Hydroxychloroquine, anyone?

I’ll tell you this: I honestly can not believe that this once-great nation is going to win a Darwin Award for dying of stupidity…

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

Truthfully, I thought he’d drop out by now, citing some b.s. excuse. But then I read that his team is encouraging him to show up and act like an adult. It would be…unexpected. As of this writing, it looks as though Trump has NOT backed out of the debate. I’m planning to watch but in a morbid curiosity kind of way.

I doubt Trump is capable of acting like an adult for a couple of hours so I’m curious what kind of shenanigans he’ll get up to. The rules rather limit the kinds of interruptions and distractions he likes to create, short of leaving his podium and going to Biden’s mic or just standing in his spot shouting like a madman.

Even if he tries to act like a grown-up, Trump is FAR too easily baited into bad behavior. I hope the first question from the moderators is, “Who won the 2020 election?” Simple question with a clear, simple answer. But it would break any pretense Trump had that he might be able to behave. His mind would spin and his mouth would fly and that would be that.

There’s still an entire day for him to slither out of it. We’ll see…

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

Well, that was clever. The SKCOTUS is under fire over all of those bribes they keep taking and taking and taking. They REALLY don’t like having to explain their corrupt selves so… they’ve legalized bribery! They handed down a 6-3 ruling on Wednesday (Snyder vs the United States) that says that, so long as the “gift” is given AFTER the preferred act, it’s more of a “thank-you” than a bribe, so it’s okay. That’s called “a distinction without a difference.” It seems to me this entire, corrupt court should have recused themselves, all of them seeming to have accepted various “gifts” at various times…

This ruling, along with their egregious Citizens United opinion, make the United States a pay-to-play system. If you can’t pay, you can’t play. And, unless you can send the Kangaroos to Fiji on an annual basis, you can’t pay. The conservatives are turning (have turned?) this country into a for-the-wealthy paradise that just happens to suck for everyone else. I wonder what their “thank you gift” is going to be?

I’ll tell you this: I wish the cons had paid better attention in history class…

Insupportable…

by MyBaconPress

So, not for nothing, but I’ve noticed that every time some natural disaster or other bad thing happens to a city with a reputation for tolerance, the pseudo-Christians slither out of the woodwork to claim the disaster was “God’s wrath” for their sins.

But there’s this town called Ayetoro in Nigeria. It was founded specifically to be a “Christian community.” It’s being consumed by the ocean as climate change advances. I haven’t heard even ONE pseudo-Christian “leader” insist it might be God’s wrath. But I’ve noticed God isn’t doing anything to protect them, either. It looks, to me, more like science is going to science and denying science doesn’t change that one iota.

The numbers in the weather reports aren’t looking any better, either. It’s already hot this summer. Yeah, I know, keyword: summer. But this is shaping up to be one of the hottest summers on record and then? I hear experts (because I still listen to experts) saying to get used to it. Future summers promise to be even hotter.

Hey, we had our chance to intervene. We COULD have taken steps to avert the disaster. We still could, although at this point the effort would have to be huge and painful – and when have humans ever signed up for that voluntarily? But conservatives would have to confess to being wrong (or lying) about science and, more importantly to the power people, it would have been bad for business.

Humanity has done this more than once, make a harmful decision in deference to some greedy power. In the 5th century, after the fall of Rome, the church took over as the primary source of power and, in an effort to maintain that power, plunged the western world into a knowledge vacuum that came to be known as ‘The Dark Ages,’ a term currently being downplayed.

The church held absolute sway for something like 700 years. It was good for the church – they got fabulously wealthy – but very bad for humanity. We just…stalled. For 700 years! Now we’ve done something similar, this time for political and financial reasons. Denying climate change was very good for business, but very bad for humanity.

Evil people doing evil things with the help of the ignorant and stupid? It seems to be the human way. I suspect it’s going to cost us dearly…

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

In what will certainly be recognized as no surprise at all, both Hamas and Israel have rejected the peace plan the US put forth. Hamas said no because giving up the hostages leaves them vulnerable to Israeli aggression, so they refused unless a permanent cease fire was in place. Israel said no because if they cease their fire, they can’t very well drive all the Palestinians into the ocean, now, can they? So, the fight continues.

Wait, did I say continues? No, I mean “expands.” Israel and Hezbollah are squaring off, too. Apparently, Palestinians in the West Bank aren’t comfortable just watching Israel wipe out all of the Palestinians in Gaza. Go figure.

At this point, I’m pretty sure Israel and the Palestinians are going to fight to their own destruction regardless of what anyone else does. If you want to see how it plays out, just watch the episode of Star Trek, the Original Series called, ‘Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.’ I just wish Israel wasn’t using American weapons to do it…

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

I’ve seen the video. I don’t think Biden “froze up” during the LA event hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and attended by Barack Obama. It looked, to me, like Biden was doing what politicians do, standing there for a moment so photographers could get a clear photo. We’ve all seen it, two politicians shaking hands and standing still and smiling for the cameras for a moment or two. It looks weird, but there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for it and everybody understands what is going on.

But I’ll tell you the truth, I think Biden made it easy for the right to mischaracterize his actions (0r lack thereof) in that moment.

Both sides are trying to show that the other guy is unfit. Biden is old. He LOOKS old. He acts old. But he’s still competent. Trump is ALSO old. HE looks old, too, though not quite as old as Biden. Trump really does lose control of his speech from time to time and the dude rambles. But let’s call it a tie on “old, with the occasional senior moment” and move on to the next categories.

On the economy? Trump crashed the economy with his fecklessness. Biden brought the recovery. That’s a clear Biden win. NEITHER Trump nor Biden have any good answers for the border. I’m calling that one a tie, though it was brought about that way by Republican obstruction. Biden is being hurt in 2024 by the Israeli/Palestinian conflict that started in 1948 while Trump has the luxury of sitting on the sidelines sniping. That’s a Trump win, even though he didn’t have to do anything for it but run his mouth.

Biden wants to preside over a constitutional government that tries to bring the best to everyone. Trump wants a dictatorship that serves himself first and other wealthy people second, all at the expense of the masses. Biden clearly wins that one. Trump has more convictions that Biden. LOTS more.

Trump has lost in civil courts AND criminal courts. Trump is currently on his bicycle, trying to stay out of any MORE criminal courts because he KNOWS he’ll be convicted, even if MAGA doesn’t. I think “most criminal convictions” works against a person, though MAGA thinks it’s his badge of honor.

On balance, Biden has been a better, if not perfect, President. But Biden is clearly, far and away, the better MAN. He has better morals, better understanding of the issues, and better ability to work with the world to solve problems. Trump is just…a problem all by himself.

Here’s the test: One doesn’t have to lie about Biden to present him as competent and decent. MAGA cannot tell the truth about Trump, even to themselves. Here’s the rule: Any position that depends on lies for support doesn’t deserve to be supported…

Cheap…and Fake…

by MyBaconPress

Cheap Fakes…they’re the talk of the town, right now. It seems the right is carefully editing video of Biden in ways intended to make him look like a doddering old fool. They’re not AI generated, so they’re not ‘Deep Fakes.’ They’re just actual video, edited in a way that takes away context and leaves Biden appearing clueless.

For example, in one video, Biden wanders over to the edge of a stage and seems to just stand there. Oh, the old guy! But he was really trying to talk to a guy who parachuted into the event as a part of it. Edit out the parachutist, leave Biden, he looks like he’s staring into space. Clever.

Of course, this is MAGAGOP’s response to all the video out there of Trump just…locking up or forgetting names and rambling incoherently for minutes at a time. The difference? Nobody on our side has to carefully edit anything. Trump glitches. Video catches it. The left highlights it. Nobody on our side is “faking” anything…

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

I hear that Trump’s PAC, ‘Pay My Legal Bills, Rubes,’ no, wait… that’s not it. It’s really called, ‘Save America.’ (He means, ‘Save ME!’) I may have whiffed on the name but that IS what he uses that particular Political Action Committee for, to pay his legal bills. Anyway, it’s running out of money.

The estimate is that he (I mean MAGA) spends $5 million a month in legal bills and his lifestyle…and Melania’s hair. But he has less than $4 million left in his PAC. Since he doesn’t use his own money for anything, MAGA will simply have to give more and the RNC will have to pony up and shift some money his way. They will, too. They already have a plan in place to skim $5000 off the top of large donations and shift it to the legal fund.

All of that will cut into his campaign funds, which might explain why he’s holding rallies outdoors in searing heat. Cheaper venues. MAGA IS sending more money but it looks like it’s becoming a question of trying to keep up with his profligate spending of their money…

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

I recently mentioned that Trump is claiming Biden will be amped up on drugs for the debate. Remember, every conservative accusation is a confession. It was the Trump White House that was awash in drugs. We know it. We have the paperwork that shows the pharmacy there was constantly filling orders for unknown people and setting up drug packages for overseas trips and other little “get ’em the drugs” things.

So, of course Trump accuses Biden of using drugs. It’s how he confesses…

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

Louisiana is moving forward with it’s plan to put the 10 Commandments into every classroom. I hope their intent is to demonstrate hypocrisy, because they’re demonstrating hypocrisy in a spotlight and in full view of everyone. Thou shalt not kill, lie, steal, or commit adultery? To the best of my knowledge, Trump has broken all but one. I have no information that he has ever killed anyone.

But the entire GOP is one big lie, these days, stealing money from donors who believe the stories, and their poster boy seems to love adultery, considering he commits it every chance he gets.

Still no word on why the so-called “Christian” community so fervently embraces the Jewish law and not the Grace of Jesus in the Beatitudes. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Why would they reject ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the Earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the Sons of God?’

Wait a minute. I think I see the problem. THOSE morals – the ones Jesus advocated – teach people to treat others with respect and dignity. MAGA likes the punishing rules better…