politics

Ducking Out…

by MyBaconPress

Well, Steve Bannon still seems set to begin his four month prison sentence on July 1. He didn’t want to. He tried to suggest to the court that he is somehow special because he lies for the cons. The court didn’t buy it and said, “No, start your sentence.” Bannon wants to take his case to the Supremely Kangaroo Court and ask them for a mulligan. NOW he wants to appeal THIS call to the same court. (I’ll bet. I don’t know if those guys are in the bag for ALL high level, criminal cons or only for Trump but it’s still the best bet he’s got…)

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The Kangaroos took a recess. Their session ends in, like, eight days. They STILL haven’t issued some of their most important – and likely most egregious – decisions. Does a President have perfect and total immunity? No, but who knows what this embarrassing court will do?

The corporate media seemed surprised. “Why, oh why, won’t they issue those rulings that are so important?” That’s easy. NOT issuing them helps their client, Trump. They’ll wait as long as they can, then issue the decisions late, as they skulk out the back door to go collect their bribes, er, “gifts.”

It’s yet another heartbreak for those of us who actually DO still love this country, seeing how corrupt the conservatives have made the institutions of a once-great nation…

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Now Donald Sutherland has passed? Say it ain’t so. Aged 88 years. He gave us a LOT of great movies. I’m a fan of his work. I know people have to go but I often wish they hadn’t, you know? Donald Sutherland, like Willie Mays only a few days earlier, was in THAT group, for me…

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Is he already running for the door? Trump is telling supporters he’s going to lose the upcoming (June 27) debate. He tried suggesting he’d do that on purpose to make some kind of point but even MAGA wasn’t dumb enough to buy that. So, now, it’s all pretending Biden will be amped by drugs, all the time.

The reality is that Biden is sharper, smarter, and better prepared than Trump and would win because the debate is about reality and not preferred MAGA distortions. But I submit that Trump is setting the stage for a chicken-out. First, he primes the deceived into believing that he can’t win because Biden will be aided by drugs, then he backs out because, he’ll claim, the whole thing is unfair and rigged.

I’ll tell you this: Trump is just a loser who can’t win if he can’t distort. MAGA doesn’t know it, wouldn’t believe it if they saw it with their own eyes, but Trump does. So, he’ll make claims. But it will just be cowardice…

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Well, it took THIS long for their stolen election lie to come back to bite them. The lie is that the 2020 election was “stolen.” It wasn’t. But the mouths have been wagging ever since. Oh, what an evil thing the Dems did to the cons. It’s a stupid lie, easily proven false unless one refuses to look at the mountain of evidence to the contrary. But “look” MAGA does not and so the lie persists.

Now it’s persistence is spreading like a cancer. There’s a politician from Virginia, Bob Good, who is a far right MAGA level con. He totally supported the “stolen election” lie. He’s running to retain his House seat. Oh, he ALSO endorsed Ron DeSantis in the Presidential primary. THAT, of course, is an unforgivable sin, so Trump endorsed Good’s opponent, John McGuire. Currently, McGuire is winning by a very small margin.

So, guess what? NOW Good is claiming HIS election was stolen! NOW it’s an evil thing the CONS do to cons. From his point of view, it couldn’t possibly be that he’s just losing. Something must be “rigged.”

This is one of the main flaws of the far-right ideology, ‘nobody counts but me.’ It doesn’t take long until they form a circular firing squad and start shooting. Good’s claim undermines Trump’s claim, which never had any credibility anyway. Every day, the “party of personal responsibility” moves further and further away from personal responsibility…

Oh, Those Lefty Rascals…

by MyBaconPress

Trump in a nutshell: When he was behind closed doors, with fellow cons, in a space he trusted, he said he thought Milwaukee was a “horrible city.” Then Wisconsin heard about the comment and responded accordingly. SO, Trump goes to a rally in neighboring Racine (and NOT Milwaukee) and claims he LOVES Milwaukee. His truth comes out behind closed doors. His lie comes out at the Racine rally. Don’t be fooled, Wisconsin. Trump thinks Milwaukee is a horrible city.

NOW he’s claiming the left did it, force him to say Milwaukee is a horrible city. Did we do that? Wow. I’m VERY impressed. I’ve got to tell you, “the left” must be pretty clever, the way we keep getting him to stick his foot into his own mouth and commit crimes. I don’t know how we’re doing that, he never goes into detail on that bit, but if we’re THAT good, if we have THAT level of control over him, his mouth, and his actions, and we apparently always have, what chance does he stand?

Think about it. Somehow, “the left” got him to have a year long affair with a ‘Playboy’ model and casual sex with a porn star instead of his wife a decade before he even entered politics! How’s THAT for a set up? THEN, “the left” got him to pay the ladies off to keep them quiet ten years later and somehow, “the left” tricked this gullible fool into cooking his own company’s books to cover the whole thing up. But that last bit was easy since “the left” had tricked him into cooking his own company’s books for decades.

Even though the “left” doesn’t go to his rallies, we manage to get him to stumble over words, lock up in the middle of sentences, and forget the names of people he interacts with on a regular basis – all while bragging about “acing” a cognitive test. (“Oh, he can STILL recognize an elephant? That’s my guy!”) AND we KEEP messing with the teleprompters he swears he never uses. How do we DO that?

But here’s the weird bit. How come “the left” couldn’t force him to do anything good? I mean, if we can force him to embezzle, lie, steal, molest, and forget names and places, why couldn’t we get him to, say, do some ‘Presidenting’ instead of playing golf for four years? Or, for that matter, why not just get him to drop out of the race entirely? Why couldn’t we get him to come up with some sensible gun control? Why didn’t we use that power to get better judges on our courts or some positive action on climate change? Why didn’t the left trick him into doing something – anything – positive for the majority of the American people rather than the wreckage he left behind?

But, no. Apparently, “the left” can only get him to bad things, like stealing all those government documents and share them with foreigners. Years earlier, “the left” convinced him to steal from a charity that supposedly fought children’s cancer. It was “the left” who forced him to steal from contractors and open and bankrupt business after business. It simply does not matter what bit of chicanery, theft, groping, or raping Trump gets caught doing all by himself, it’s somehow always “the left” that made him do it.

I mean, come on, that’s pretty masterful handling. We’ve managed to do it with NO visible mechanism or means of control. Even more impressive, “the left” got him to do all of these things for decades before he even entered politics, in apparent anticipation that, sooner or later, he would enter politics.

I’ll tell you this: If “the left” has that kind of micro-managed control over anybody and everybody who might be in or someday enter politics, who could possibly fight back? I mean, it’s a wonder Trump isn’t in jail right now, when “the left” wields that kind of power…

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I’m STILL waiting for an answer to this one. Trump is running around insisting he will pardon the J6 insurgents if he gets back into the Oval. So, why didn’t Trump pardon the J6 insurgents before he left office in 2021? He had from J7 to J20 to get it done, but didn’t. Why not? Is it possible he let them sit in jail for four years just so he could use them as a political talking point in an election?

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I guess it had to happen sometime, but it’s still sad to hear of the passing of the Say Hey Kid, Willie Mays. He was a great baseball player and, from all accounts, a great man…

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I keep hearing that black voters under age 50 are turning towards Trump and away from Biden in this upcoming election. Do you think that’s true? I mean, look, I know Biden has had some challenges in his administration but I don’t know that he has done anything in particular to harm the black community and I KNOW Trump is a racist.

Do you really think the black community is going to come out in large numbers for the guy in the pointed white hood? I’m not sure I’m buying…

Project 2025…

by MyBaconPress

A quick hit before I get to the point: when Trump started getting names wrong, like that time he repeatedly insisted Nikki Haley should have done more to protect the Capitol – even though she wasn’t there, wasn’t part of Congress, and had no role in protecting the Capitol – he told Cult 45 that he was doing it on purpose. It was supposed to be some kind of commentary. NOW he has done the same thing with his own doctor, repeatedly calling Ronnie Jackson ‘Ronnie Johnson.’ And he did it while trying to praise the guy.

No animosity, no blame, no harsh feelings between them, so no “clever message” tucked in there. Just an old man suffering increasing dementia who can’t keep straight the names of people he interacts with on a regular basis. So I think it’s important to look at the power MAGA wants to hand this senile, old, failing and dangerous man…

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Project 2025. Have you heard of this scary and diabolical plan? It’s the evil Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for a second Trump term. It’s designed to expand the powers of the Presidency while dismantling layers of government. It recommends purging the Federal ranks of many appointed roles and stacking agencies with loyalists. According to Jared Huffman (D-Ca), it would “take a wrecking ball” to America’s democratic norms and institutions.

Project 2025 “would lay waste to democratic institutions, checks on executive power, individual rights and freedoms, and church-state separation in order to impose a far-right agenda,” Huffman said. According to Schedule F of Project 2025, the cons plan to strip tens of thousands of Federal workers of employment protections. They want to replace employees based on loyalty to Trump, not experience or competence.

Now seems a good time to remind people who may have forgotten. (Like someone could forget.) Remember what happened when Trump dismantled the Pandemic Response Team because he thought, in classic con fashion, it was a frivolous and unnecessary cost? Covid-19 caught us off guard and unprepared and over a million Americans died. MAGA simply dismissed that death count because the victims were “only” old people and people with so-called ‘comorbidities.’ (Never mind that they were also people with families and loved ones that Trump essentially killed with his fecklessness.) What will MAGA myopia unleash on us next?

We already know what they plan to do to women’s reproductive rights and we KNOW how they feel about the LGBT community. They want to disrupt the concept of separation of church and state and impose pseudo-Christian values, embedding pseudo-Christian privilege into our government and public policies. They LOVE screaming about Christianity and imposing their wrongheaded vision of Christianity on everyone (except themselves, of course). (I think THEY need to follow their vision before demanding that I do.)

From the Guardian: ‘Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said: “Project 2025 is one of the most profound threats the American people face today. From attacking reproductive rights and workplace safety laws, to allowing more discrimination, pollution and price gouging, the far-right interests behind Project 2025 are preparing to go to incredible lengths to implement a dangerous and deeply unpopular agenda.”’

Huffman and some of his fellows have put together a group they call the “Stop Project 2025 task force.” They’re trying to get in front of this and raise awareness in an effort to head it off. The first part is to raise awareness – that is, convince people that this is real and it’s coming. The second part is to have a plan to try to fight back if the cons DO get back into power.

But the forces of Fascism are feeling their oats right now. They know the stars have aligned in their favor for the moment. They’ve packed the courts and they have loyalists in key positions. They know that far too many Americans can’t even wrap their arms around the possibility of such a thing and can be – will be – blindsided by fast-moving developments. They KNOW this is their best shot and they’re not throwing it away. Dark money contributors have already donated $21.5 million dollars in an effort to bring Project 2025 about.

I know people who will dismiss the threat, citing the fact that nothing like this has ever happened before. There’s a presumption that there are guard rails on our Democracy that protect her and keep things like that from happening. But the plan is to eliminate any and all guardrails and then do whatever they want to do. Remember, January 6th, 2021 had “never happened before” either – and then it did.

I’ll tell you this: I wish MAGA really loved America the way they claim to love America…

Questions, Conflicts, and Cons…

by MyBaconPress

Okay, so some failed human being goes to a splash pad in Detroit and…opens fire. An eight year old boy was shot in the head and is in critical condition. Eight other people were shot, too. They’re in stable condition. THEN, the idiot shooter goes home and kills himself. A LOT of these random crazies end up killing themselves in the end. My question? Why not just do the second part and leave everyone else out of it?

Perhaps he was just celebrating the Kangaroos return to stupidity when they restored bump stocks to the nation. A bump stock is an add-on device that allows a semi-automatic gun to fire at rates similar to a machine gun. For the most part, it’s illegal to own fully automatic machine guns in America. There are some exceptions, of course. But the gun world’s work-around was bump stocks. Bump stocks are the key to how that idiot in Las Vegas was able to murder so many people in such a short time.

Oh, yeah, bump stocks were banned by the Trump maladministration. (He got one right. He deserves that credit, though, he’s now denying he did it…) No matter. The Kangaroos overturned the ban and now bump stocks are back. The ethically challenged moron Clarence Thomas, of course, insisted that bump stocks don’t turn semi-automatic weapons into fully automatic weapons. No, they don’t. But they allow a semi-automatic weapon to fire at nearly the same rate, so the difference is negligible…

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One of the things I note about MAGA is that they lack empathy. As a group, to be sure, but I mean individually. I consider it a defining characteristic. One definition of empathy is: “The ability to identify with or understand another’s situation or feelings.” This, MAGA can not do. The only way MAGA can understand anything, even have a chance of understanding, is if they experience that thing themselves and even then, there’s no guarantee.

Steve Scalise (R, La) is a rabid gun nut. He got shot by a random shooter at a softball practice. He nearly died. He’s STILL a rabid gun nut. He’s also still in good with MAGA. Compare that to Gabby Giffords. She was also a strong gun supporter, though maybe not a “rabid” gun nut. Then she got shot. Now she’s more wary of allowing just anybody to have a gun or to carry one anywhere and everywhere. She learned. Scalise couldn’t.

The reason I mention this is that there’s a tendency for me to momentarily wish upon them the things they deny others. Does that happen to you? When I heard Thomas’s claim about bump stocks, I momentarily wished he could be on the receiving end of someone with a bump stock. When that young woman insisted she’s going to destroy a woman’s right to control her own body, I momentarily wished her pregnant by her rapist.

I really don’t like that. It shames and embarrasses me that such thoughts might even BE in my head. I don’t mean them. They just show up, unbidden. Then I have to slap them down and reproach myself for even considering it. I don’t WANT to be like MAGA. I suppose (hope?) it’s a natural, animal response. But I KNOW it’s not decent nor civilized. I think it comes from a place of, “Well, if it’s the only way they’re going to learn…” But it isn’t the “only” way. It can’t be. How DOES one teach a person who doesn’t WANT to learn?

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Everybody on the left is worried that the cons are ushering in Fascism because we, on the left, know what Fascism is. Everybody on the right is worried that the LEFT is ushering in Fascism because cons DON’T know what Fascism is. I think both sides are wrong. I’ve seen all kinds of lists about what MUST be on display to be Fascism but I never agree with them. They seem a distraction from the simplest, most correct definition, the one I take from the so-called “Father of Fascism,” Benito Mussolini.

Mussolini kept it simple. Fascism, he said, was the merger between government and corporate power. He didn’t say anything about the “add-ons,” things like authoritarianism. Those came later. But IF one sticks with Mussolini’s definition, it seems the United States has been a Fascist nation since 2010, when the SKCOTUS made their dreadful, infamous Citizens United vs the FEC ruling. That’s the one that allowed (required?) rich people to buy politicians through unlimited campaign contributions.

Consider: we all know that politicians these days are owned and operated by corporations and rich people. If the politicians want to keep their phony-baloney jobs, they have to stay ‘hat in hand’ with the money people. The average Joe, sending $20, or $50, or even $100 to some candidate isn’t the person the candidate will look to after winning. They’ll look to the rich guy or corporation that sent them $20,000, or $200,000 in bundled cash, or the people who pay the tab on expensive gifts and other bribes.

But that system absolutely reflects the “merger between government and corporate power.” The wealthy buy the politicians, the politicians do as they’re told by the wealthy – and the wealthy only want politicians to do what’s best for the wealthy! Voila! Fascism. It happened quietly. Most people didn’t even seem to notice. Many haven’t noticed yet.

But I’ll tell you this: it happened. Fascism came to America in 2010. It WAS wrapped in the flag and carrying a Bible, too. But make no mistake, it came because wealthy people bought it and morons supported it. Now we’re all suffering from it…

Random Thoughts, June 15, 2024…

by MyBaconPress

I’ve figured out why MAGA can’t accept that Trump is a convicted felon: his conviction is a fact and it’s based in truth. Really, it’s that simple. Cult-45 has been so abused for so long, they no longer have the capacity to even recognize the truth. What a scary way to live…

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As you likely know, Alex Jones is finally being made to pay for his lies about the Sandy Hook massacre of first graders being a “hoax,” performed by “crisis actors.” He might even lose his beloved Mt. Bullshit site, Infowars.

Meanwhile, survivors of the Sandy Hook massacre graduated from high school the other day. They paid for his gun lust immediately and without choice. It seems wrong that he has been allowed to forestall paying, by choice, for twelve years…

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Now that we know a person can’t use drugs AND have guns, why won’t people start going after private gun owners who smoke marijuana – or even consume alcohol? In their zeal to “get” Hunter Biden, did the MAGAGOP just lay out the blueprint to slow gun ownership?

Nah! The ACTUAL rule is that a person can’t use drugs AND have guns AND carry the name Biden. It’s VERY specific, if you’re MAGA…

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The cons chose Milwaukee as their host city for their convention because Wisconsin is seen as pivotal in the Presidential race. Essentially, the GOP is pandering to Wisconsin. But not Trump. He thinks of Milwaukee as “a horrible city.” He said so, out loud. Way to woo ’em, Donny…

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Even when they get it right, they do so for the wrong reasons. Our crumbling SKCOTUS issued a ruling that supported continued use of what has become known as the “abortion pill,” Mifepristone. This is the “get it right” part. BUT – they based their ruling on lack of standing by the plaintiffs so the issue isn’t dead. It WILL be back. I saw a young woman on television saying so. Young women arguing against reproductive choice always confuse me.

They must be optimists, believing THEY will never be impregnated by their rapist. But they’re ALSO ignorant of history and the things women went through before Roe (and are starting to go through again, thanks to the cons) and completely lack empathy, a marking characteristic of all cons everywhere…

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When Trump went to the Capitol to visit with his toadies, he suggesting replacing income tax with an “all tariff” model. Economists have already said the plan would seriously harm middle and low income workers and seriously boost the wealthy. That’s JUST what we need in this submerging nation, a policy that harms the majority and helps those who need help the least.

Go ahead, MAGA, vote for Trump. He WILL make you bleed…

Competing Convictions…

by MyBaconPress

So…the presumptive nominee for the Roepublicon Party underwent his presentence probationary interview this last week. The interview is part of the sentencing process. It helps the judge gauge certain aspects of the defendant’s (now the convicted person’s) attitude. DOES Trump feel any remorse? Not based on any of his words. According to him, the fault lies, not with his crimes but with the people who punished him for them. He even sent out fundraising emails calling the conviction a “fraud.” That’s hardly contrition.

Apparently, they asked him if he understood that as a convicted Felon on probation, he wouldn’t be allowed to associate with other known criminals, specifically, people with criminal convictions. That pretty much lets out everyone Trump knows at this point. It seems to be a thing, hang with Trump, go to jail…

But his hearing was rather unusual; more of that Special Treatment he’s always bitching about. He got to do his interview via Zoom. He got to have his attorney present. His interview lasted a little less than a half-hour. NONE of that is, apparently, standard practice…

Weird, isn’t it? The impending election pits one guy who, yes, is old against the other guy who is ALSO old AND can’t travel freely around the world due to his status as a felon and will have to weave his criminal probation into his Presidency, wants to impose a far-right, extremist agenda, did a terrible job when he had it before, and fully intends to dismantle the Constitution. And millions of Americans are STILL voting for the second guy. I just don’t get what’s wrong with people…

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Oh, but the cons got Hunter, didn’t they? Everyone was so shocked, so surprised. Wait, no. That’s not right. Hunter had already indicated his guilt. The prosecutor investigating the case had looked at it and offered a plea bargain. MAGA couldn’t have that, just a plea bargain. Never mind that a plea bargain is the same sentence offered others in similar cases. This is Hunter Biden and they have to get Joe! (Dear MAGA, Hunter is STILL not Joe. If you need a President with a drug problem, look to your beloved Donny…)

They knew they could drag embarrassing details about drug addict choices out in public and put it in a court record somewhere, as though court records aren’t already full of the stupid things drug addicts do. Of course, after the conviction, MAGA was ready with all new conspiracy theories, freshly minted by their bullshit machine and injected into the body politic for ready rhetorical use. Suddenly, Hunter’s conviction was a set-up by – wait for it – JOE BIDEN! That senile old man is one clever and crafty son-of-a-bitch, isn’t he?

See, according to this insane conspiracy theory, the (stupid) plan was to convict Hunter for a petty crime, which naturally and automatically, of course, covers up all the vast web of crimes out there that Joe is committing and MAGA knows everything about but can NOT (for some weird reason) come up with a single shred of evidence for proof. So fear not, featherheads, the “investigations” will continue. They know Joe is guilty. All they have to do is find a crime now. Easy…

‘Uninformed’ is Winning…

by MyBaconPress

There is a song out in “Christian” media calling Donald Trump, ‘The Chosen One.’ Donald didn’t write it but he promoted it. The Chosen One? Isn’t that title already taken in the Christian religion? I believe it’s held by a guy named…um…Oh, Jesus Christ, what IS that guy’s name? Oh yeah, Jesus Christ.

So the next time you’re out there, scratching your head, wondering how MAGA can stay so loyal to this international criminal buffoon, remember that song. They believe he’s the next coming and they’ll support him as such. What a bunch of rubes…

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Here’s a question: if Donald Trump is as popular as he says he is, why is he faking photos to show huge crowds? Shouldn’t he just be drawing huge crowds? When a thousand people show up, he claims 100,000. Recently, he released a campaign photo showing a huge crowd and suggested the crowd was at his rally. But it wasn’t. The crowd he showed was from a local music festival – where Trump wasn’t.

As a sidebar, he had a rally in Las Vegas, where he told his fans that he didn’t care about them, he just wanted their votes. To be specific, he said, “We need every voter. I don’t care about you. I just want your vote.” He said he was kidding and the crowd laughed. But he wasn’t kidding, was he? He FINALLY tells a truth, and it’s an insult to his base. But, they’re still “the uneducated” and they didn’t get it. “Oh, idn’t he funny?”

If he’s lying about crowd size every chance he gets – and he is – why wouldn’t he lie about all the other amazing “successes” he’s experiencing, like how much money he’s bringing in from donors (to pay his legal and living expenses and get Melania $8,000 dollar haircuts)?

Oh, yeah, he’s also claiming something like 22% of under-50 African Americans are Trump supporters. I heard Raphael Warnock (D, Georgia) on the radio. Warnock insists there’s no way 22% of under-50 African Americans are voting Trump. I believe Warnock, not Trump. Especially since Trump keeps getting caught faking photos trying to show how much the African American community loves him. Once again, if you have to fake it, how true could it be?

I’ll tell you this: It turns out, the sexually assaulting, convicted felon, and international criminal Donald J. Trump might be a liar, too…

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I don’t know if it’s better or worse that Europe is also suffering a surge in far-right conservatism. Better because it means we’re not alone here in the US. It usually helps to know others have experienced something someone is going through. The panic on the left at the rise of backwards, ineffective thinking in the US can be felt by the left all over Europe.

Worse because it means the far-right propaganda machine is working much of the western world and making great strides. I believe I’ll NEVER understand how so many millions of people can be so deceived, so completely, for so long. But I’m watching it happen right now, with my own eyes, and it doesn’t matter if I believe it or not. It’s happening.

The general thinking among those who still do (think, that is) is that the rise in far-right conservatism is going to make it much harder to govern Europe, just as they’ve mucked up the political process here in the US. In France, the far-right showed so many gains, their President, Emmanuel Macron, dissolved their national Parliament and called for a snap legislative election, a kind of electoral re-do. Honestly? I can’t decide how I feel about that. It doesn’t feel very democratic. The election was the election. The people spoke. If they spoke in the manner of brain-dead morons, so be it.

On the other hand, the people supporting those movements in country after country are doing so because they’ve been deceived by a sophisticated propaganda machine and they don’t have the tools (or, in some cases, the capacity) to identify the deceptions. SHOULD a country suffer under the weight of wrongheadedness just because a large number of people were fooled? If there’s legal method for an instant re-do, shouldn’t they? I’d guess that if such a thing had been possible in the UK when Brexit happened, the Brits might have jumped at the chance for a do-over.

It’s weird. We’re watching a battle between informed and uninformed – and uninformed is winning…

D-Day, June 6th, 1944…

by MyBaconPress

I suspect most thinking Americans know that Donald Trump’s relationship with God is, um, non-existent. He avoids questions on the topic by talking around them. At one point, he refused to name even a single favorite Bible verse because, he claimed, it was “too personal.” What horse-hockey. I’m a freaking atheist and I have a favorite Bible verse! But MAGA lapped it up like a kitten at a cream bowl, just like they always do.

Oh, MY favorite verse? It’s Matthew, Chapter 7, Verse 5. You know the one. It’s the one where Jesus tells his followers not to be hypocrites. You’re not going to look it up, are you? Okay, it goes, “Thou hypocrite,” – I like the King James Version for fiery rhetoric – “first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”

After his Felony criminal conviction, he was asked on a softball ‘Fox and Fiends’ Interview, “What’s your relationship with God like, and how do you pray?”
“OK, so I think it is good,” Trump replied. “I do very well with the evangelicals. I love the evangelicals. And I have more people saying they pray for me ― I can’t even believe it. They are so committed, and they are so believing…”
He thinks he has a good relationship with God because he does well with evangelicals? I’m not sure that’s how it works. He’s the living embodiment of the Seven Deadly Sins: Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Avarice, Wrath, and Sloth. I suspect those aspects of his reality would go FAR further in God’s thinking – along with the actual acts of stealing, lying, sexually molesting, adultery, and even having a God before God (himself, of course) – than whether evangelicals vote for him…

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You know those movies about high school where there’s some pampered bully who runs roughshod over everything and everyone in sight, often by instigating others to do his evil bidding? He usually stands opposite of the star, who eventually overcomes the abuses of the bully. I have no doubt in my mind that Trump was that bully in high school, just like he’s that bully now. Where, I wonder, is the hero who eventually overcomes the abuses of this bully?

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Today, June 6th, is the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the invasion of Europe that was the beginning of the end for the Nazis in Europe. As the United States hurtles toward our own Authoritarian Fascist destruction at the hands of those “so believing” MAGA, I’m reminded of the 80 year rule. History repeats in roughly 80 year cycles. (No, it’s not perfect. It’s an average, but it’s a solid average, one you can trust.)

My own thinking for why the 80 year cycle is, that’s how long it takes us, collectively, to forget. Those of us who are interested have seen the film of the destruction of Germany and Japan. We’ve read the books and learned a lot about that war. But we had to make an effort. It didn’t just come to us. And since so many people do not pursue that kind of history, they never really understand it, hence, they forget – and then humanity has to do it all over again.

The Nazis were not good for Germany. MAGA is not good for America. In the 1930’s, thinking Germans found themselves overrun by foolhardy followers. In the same way, in the 2020’s, America finds itself overrun by the same crowd. People in Germany couldn’t stop Hitler from coming to power. If we’re not very careful, Americans are not going to be able to stop Trump from coming back, either. Germany was decimated. ALL of it, whether one supported the Nazis or not. If America continues to follow the same path, America will be decimated, too. ALL of it, weather one supported MAGA or not.

The people who COULD have stopped Hitler in Germany, the wealthy and powerful, decided, instead, to try to use him to their advantage. Other people, the day-to-day workers, weren’t concerned enough about Hitler, thinking yes, he’s a demonstrable buffoon, but he can’t do much damage due to the structure of the government.

I used to try to imagine and understand their shock as the realized they couldn’t control him and he didn’t give two figs about the structure of government. He just dismantled said government and did what he wanted to do. Sadly, I no longer have to try to imagine how the thinking people in Germany felt. I’m feeling the very same way, most days, as far too many Americans embrace the once-unimaginable in ‘Hitler 2, Donald Trump.’

I’ll tell you this: It’s really ironic as hell. This is the anniversary of the day Americans fought and died to put a stop to Fascist Authoritarians, occurring at a time that the US is falling into the clutches of Fascist Authoritarians…

Just More DJT BS…

by MyBaconPress

“The “sentencing” for not having done anything wrong will be, conveniently for the Fascists, 4 days before the Republican National Convention. A Radical Left, Soros backed D.A., who ran on a platform of “I will get Trump,” reporting to an “Acting” local judge, appointed by the Democrats, who is HIGHLY CONFLICTED, will make a decision which will determine the future of our Nation? Our United States Supreme Court must DECIDE!”

That’s an actual post by…guess who? Oh, c’mon, pretend it was a hard question. The ONLY bit he got right was that his sentencing IS scheduled for 4 days before the Roepublicon Convention. The cons have taken to calling the left Fascists, even though Fascism is a far-right ideology and there is no greater living threat of Fascism gripping a nation than Donald Trump. (He has had an equal, but that guy is no longer alive.)

Oh, hey, as a completely random and out-of-nowhere aside, there’s a fascinating article in the Guardian, this morning, comparing the rhetorical styles of Trump and a guy named Adolf Hitler. It’s called, ‘The Reich Stuff – What does Trump really have in common with Hitler?’ Turns out, they’re twinsies – at least in rhetorical style. It’s really worth the read…

Alvin Bragg is hardly “Radical Left” and he’s not “Soros backed” any more than any other left-leaning thing the right likes to ascribe to the left. He didn’t “run on a platform of “I will get Trump,” either. Nor is he “HIGHLY CONFLICTED.”

A Trump speech is like a drive-by shooting. He points his words at a given target and just sprays everything around him. It’s some rapid-fire stuff, too. Topics get hit quickly and then the shooter speeds away. There are never any details in any of the charges he makes. He doesn’t need them. None of the cons give two figs about the details or even if he’s telling the truth. They’re having fun and they feel like they belong to something. It’s that second part, the feeling of belonging, that makes them tenacious – and dangerous.

The part that bothered me most, though, was the part where he called on his most effective legal team to help him out. “Our United States Supreme Court must DECIDE!” There’s no mechanism for the Kangaroos to stop the sentencing, as far as I know. They have to wait for the appeals to reach them, which, might be difficult. The defense has to come up with some Federal violation during the state trial. Or pretend to. They just have to get the case to the Roos and let his defense team of RATKG&B do the rest.

For their part, MAGA is out there pretending to be a Sheryl Crow song, “Lie to me. I promise, I’ll believe.” They will, too…

Slowing the Gouging…

by MyBaconPress

People seem to be closing their wallets. FINALLY! We keep hearing about “inflation,” and the cost of living IS going up. A LOT! But it’s not structural inflation, it’s greed and price gouging. The core drivers of the “inflation” are housing costs – being driven up by Wall Street investors – and fuel – as always, driven by greed.

But people have been spending anyway. They got used to easy credit and easy debt. The recent rate increases seem to be having the desired effect. That debt ain’t so easy any more and people are getting worried. Where I live, the wine industry is, well, pretty much everything these days. They’re suffering. People are eschewing the wineries (and their prices) for off-the-shelf stuff. I heard ‘Target’ is going to cut prices on something like 1,200 items. That’s an indicator. People aren’t buying. Spending is down, revenues are down. Now, in a natural turn of events, prices will start coming down, too.

But not in housing and not in fuel. As long as Wall Street can buy the houses, the cost will continue to skyrocket. Gas companies just gouge. It’s what they do. Prices at the pump here in California were making their way steadily to $6.00/gallon but the state legislature passed a law, here, that allows them to look into cost increases – and punish the companies if such a look finds the increases were just based in greed. So, as the prices started going up and up, a state politician said, out loud, ‘maybe we should look into those gas prices.’ They dropped the next day. Funny how that works…

Now there’s an entire movement out there, a “no-buy year,” in which participants buy only essentials. I doubt such a thing will go widespread in our consumer society but it won’t take a lot of people for an impact that can make a difference.

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

Trump called Robert De Niro a failed actor. De Niro is anti-Trump and makes no bones about it. He spoke outside the courtroom where Trump’s criminal trial is under way. Someone tried to heckle him and he shut the guy down. Trump claimed De Niro had run into a “force far greater than the radical left – MAGA!” I saw the exchange. I thought De Niro won the moment. Just one opinion, though.

Donald J. Trump is the thinnest skinned snowflake I’ve ever even heard about.

I keep getting new favorite bits of this process. The most recent was when a spokesperson for Trump came out in front of the press, complaining that the left was trying to turn the trial “into a campaign event.” Let’s just ignore how the trump campaign has raised money off of the trial and used the press draw as free advertising where the defendant in a criminal trial is allowed to hold court and speechify on nearly whatever topic enters his diseased mind.

Trump claims he wants to be on the campaign trail. In my view, Trump IS on the campaign trail. So, of course MAGA is pointing the finger at Democrats. But, as always, with MAGA, every accusation is a confession…