politics

Media’s Messages…

by MyBaconPress

I don’t like clickbait headlines. In trying to get clicks it’s often true that at some point, the highlight of the headline becomes… “less than true.” I saw an article in the AP this morning. The headline? “Secret Service agents protecting Biden’s granddaughter open fire when 3 people try to break into SUV.” Sounds ominous, right? Holy gods, they’re going directly after Biden’s granddaughter?

Um, no. Turns out, Biden’s granddaughter wasn’t even in the van. Neither were the Secret Service agents. Turns out, it was just three car thieves working a potential score. They likely didn’t even know it WAS the President’s granddaughter’s van. To them, it was just another van they could break into and steal or steal from. A Secret Service agent opened fire. Bad guys skedaddled. No one was hit and the Metro Police are looking for the perpetrators. Oh, and AP is left with a credibility hit…for clicks…

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I just finished watching, “All The Light We Cannot See” on Netflix. It’s very good and I heartily recommend it. Here’s how it ends. No, that’s a joke. I won’t do that to you. Just watch it. The reason I mention it is because it’s set in Europe (France, to be exact) in 1944, when the Nazis were in charge. As I watched, I could not stop thinking of the parallels between Nazi and MAGA. It’s really quite frightening.

Handing a bunch of small-minded, little people tremendous power and authority was devastating to the world, then and ever since. Doing it again seems like the dumbest thing in the world people could do do themselves, their loved ones, and their progeny.

MAGA would pretend to be outraged by the comparison, of course. THEY haven’t killed 6 million Jews so they COULDN’T be the same. They’re unable to grasp that while the Nazi’s were rising to power, THEY hadn’t killed anybody, either. One CANNOT compare the end of the Nazi’s with the beginnings of MAGA and declare them different based on outcome so far. ALL of the seeds of “same” are there.

The show is built around radios and at one point of of the Nazis says, plainly, that the Nazis could not have come to power without radio. That character is right. In history, once they gained control of the airwaves, they had control of the narrative and spread misinformation and fear that helped propel Hitler to power. As Mark Twain is sometimes credited with saying, “A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get it’s shoes on.”

Now we’re watching MAGA come to power through control of their narrative and the spread of misinformation and fear that helped propel trump to power – and threatens to do so again – via the internet. All of it, based on a raft of lies. The truth finally has it’s shoes on, though, so…

I’ll tell you this: the MAGA/Nazi similarities are too scary to ignore. We, the people who still love the actual United States of America, CANNOT let this happen…

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Speaking of tools of evil, Trump! He’s out saying he wants to allow cameras in his Federal trial. No, not that one. No, not that one, either. No, that one’s State. The DC trial. News outlets have already sued to allow cameras in the courtroom. In Federal court, cameras are not usually allowed. Usually. It DOES happen sometimes and, I think, it should happen this time.

I’ve been paying attention to his current NY fraud trial. He’s done everything he can to turn it into a circus. Then, he comes out and lies about everything that happens inside the courtroom. Yes, he knows there are reporters in there who will report the truth but he ALSO knows MAGA will never see those reports. The conservative media bubble will focus on his “statements” (read: lies), instead. MAGA will continue to walk around terrified, furious, and completely oblivious to the truth.

I suspect 45 might be bluffing but it could be true he just doesn’t understand how much harder it is to support his lies when the whole world (except MAGA, of course) watches the trial as it unfolds. In the NY trial, he and his “lawyers” have been as disruptive as they can possibly manage. They’re planning a “defense” of tedium, trying to bring in over 100 witnesses, NONE of whom can change the facts but, likely, ALL of whom will likely try to “testify” that Donny is an innocent angel and won in 2020. The court is busily trying to sift through the “witness” list to see who has something relevant to add and who just wants to posture for their public. All of that without cameras.

So if he gets his cameras, HE thinks he’s going to walk into the DC courtroom and take it over, Chutkin being “only” a woman, as she is. I suspect Judge Chutkin will control her courtroom, and herself, just as professionally as Judge Engoron has done. But what THAT means is that the cameras he’s asking for will simply show him being slapped down time after time after time.

45 isn’t smart but he is clever, in an evil way, and he knows his audience. He sells shirts to these people that show his mug shot taken immediately after his surrender to authorities with the words ‘Never Surrender’ emblazoned on them and his supporter never catch the irony. Perhaps he can find a way to convince those same people – who desperately want to be convinced – that when he’s getting slapped down he’s actually “winning.”

I’ll tell you this: now that she has his “permission” as well as the lawsuit from news agencies that want to broadcast the trial, I hope Judge Chutkin allows the cameras. I suspect they won’t work for 45 the way he hopes they will and it’s better for ALL of America (and the world, for that matter) to watch this thing play out in real time…

Republican Morals…

by MyBaconPress

This being Sunday, and me being the First Speaker of the Doctrine of Universal Harmony, I thought I’d give a sermon today on morals, focused on those as displayed by conservatives in general and the Republican Party as a whole. I’ve heard a LOT about Republican morals. I mean, they talk and talk and talk about how moral they are and conversely, how IMMORAL the Democrats are. I’d like to check that. I’m not going to pay much attention to the words they use. People can – and commonly will – lie. But people also tend to live their morals, right? So, let’s pay less attention to the words they can string together and pay more attention to what they do, positions they support, shall we?

To start with, it has long-since become crystal clear that conservatives abandoned the values of Jesus years ago. They have absolutely NO use for the teachings nor examples brought by Jesus. Apparently, He’s kind of a bleeding heart snowflake. They keep pretending He’s important to them so it’s hard to say exactly how long ago they turned their backs on him, but think back to when they all decided the Ten Commandments should be in every courtroom in the country. Right around then, they began embracing more eye-for-an-eye, Jewish law stuff. But the Ten Commandments are still pretty good moral guidance, right? Don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t kill. Good rules, all. So let’s use the Ten Commandments.

Well, five. The Five Commandments. I mean, let’s face it, the first five are really just kind of a whiny, insecure God commanding that you can’t like anybody better, ever. He should probably get some counseling. That kind of insecurity can really eat at you, you know? Put you in a real smiting mood. And it could be dangerous. What if, say, the self-described “jealous God” got all upset about something and, in an uncontrollable emotional outburst, wiped out all of human kin—? Oh. Sorry, that’s really a different topic. I didn’t mean to digress…

Back to the subject at hand, Republican morals. Okay, so people are people and some are going to commit adultery but I’m not focused on individual actions so much as what the larger group does and so far, I haven’t seen ALL Republicans endorse…Oh, crap. I forgot about cheatin’ Donny. Cheated on his first wife. They don’t care. Cheated on his second wife. They don’t care. Cheated on his third wife. They don’t care. Based on their actions, I’d say Republicans are a-okay with adultery. One Commandment gone. (I thought I was starting with an easy one…)

How about Thou shalt not bear false witness, also called lying. We’re considering their actions, here, and not their words because lying is all they know how to do. They lie about everything, all the time. They CAN’T win on fact so they try to win on fiction. It doesn’t work but they lie about that, too. THEN they lie about lying about the lie. I can’t even give them half-credit for that one so now we’re at two of the five in the dust bin.

Thou shalt not steal? Sure, I hear them scream (see the previous paragraph) but at every turn, it’s Republicans trying to steal elections. THEY rig them. THEY make rules barring people they don’t want voting (because they’ll vote Democrat). THEY gerrymander. THEY want and make rules in which Republicans and Republicans, alone, get to decide which votes “count.” I see THAT as stealing and NOBODY does it better – or more aggressively. But if you can’t make the leap to a metaphorical theft, they’re in full-throat support of letting Donny get away with his fraud, for which he has ALREADY been convicted. Fraud is direct theft AND lying, so they get a two-fer on that one. Three down.

There are only five of these things and they’re 0-3, so far. At best, they might make 40% of the Five Commandments if they can just keep the last two. Let’s find out.

Not covet? Are you kidding? Conservatives are driven by coveting. Money, mostly, but coveting is coveting and they fail that one, too. They want what Donny pretends to have. They want it bad. They also, always, covet bigger guns. Zero for four. That’s pretty embarrassing, yes? At this point, the best they can do will be supporting only 20% of the Five Commandments. I shouldn’t do this, but if they only embrace one Commandment, I’ll still give them credit – and they’ve still got the biggie; no killing.

No, no they don’t. They go back a LONG way with their willingness to kill if they don’t get what they want. The American Civil War was all about slavery, of course, but it only happened because conservatives were angry at not getting their way. They killed over 600,000 Americans over it.

But more recently, remember back when someone was mailing military-grade Anthrax to various Democrats? That guy (the chief suspect, anyway), Bruce Ivans, turned out be a conservative. He took personal responsibility for his actions by committing suicide with, of all things, Tylenol. Why he didn’t use Anthrax, like he chose for others, I’ll never know…

During Covid, cons killed their aging parents and grand-parents by the thousands in order to make a political point. When thinking people tried to get them to consider someone besides themselves, they actually laughed out loud and dismissed such concerns with words like “co-morbidities.” “Oh, those old people shouldn’t have been old. It’s their own fault!” Then, they refused to cooperate and killed tens of thousands of people. They continue to make jokes about Covid defenses to this day.

Now they’re back to mailing stuff, in this case, Fentanyl-laced envelopes to election workers, hoping to maybe, God willing, kill a few of them. There is a belief out there the actual phrasing of the Commandment was ‘Thou shalt not murder’ as opposed to kill. Based on the number of hits God orders in the Bible, I’d guess the word was actually murder, not just kill. But the cons have murdered and would be murdering more people if they could just make it work. Hammer to the head, anyone?

So there are five relevant Commandments they pretend to believe and they don’t live any of them. They praise adultery and covet wealth. They lie – ALL the time. They certainly steal and, God help us, they’ll kill, for real, just to make a political point. I should add, I know they say the exact same things about Democrats and progressives. The difference is, I can point to very specific, well-known examples as evidence. They can only report pretend events – that cannot be verified – they heard about from their third cousin’s, ex-wife’s, brother-in-law’s uncle’s friend.

I’ll tell you this: It seems pretty clear to me that the words ‘Republican’ and ‘Morals’ have no place in the same sentence…amen.

Kill or…No, Just Kill…

by MyBaconPress

MAGA gonna murder, I guess…
Cons are out with their message that the left is out-of-control dangerous. CRAZY! Unpredictable and unhinged.

Meanwhile, cons have taken to mailing powdered Fentanyl to people associated with the voting processes in various places. Yeah, the left is out-of-control dangerous…

As a side note: cops have made videos in which one of their deputies just touches Fentanyl and the deputy falls to the ground and goes into seizures. The videos are an attempt to scare the daylights out of people who might use Fentanyl. (“See how dangerous it is?”) Fentanyl IS dangerous. Just not touch-it-and-die dangerous. But MAGA, apparently, believes these videos are gospel so they’re lacing envelopes with Fentanyl and mailing ’em out.

I should add that at least one of the envelopes also contained a couple of symbols often associated with the left. The problem is, the same envelope also included a pentagram, often associated with devil worship. That’s because MAGA cons think all lefties are immoral devil worshipers so, naturally, we would include a pentagram on pretty much all of our communications. It’s a wonder they didn’t sign it, “Don’t blame conservatives for this. It’s from some libtard!” Smooth. Now we’ll never know which side it came from…

Fortunately, the envelopes not likely to kill anyone.
Unfortunately, the cons are perfectly willing to try…

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If not murder, might as well cheat…
The cons have realized Donny is going to lose his case in the NY fraud trial. I say, “…going to lose,” he has already lost. The judge has already ruled that the Trump Organization lied, lied, and then lied again. These days, it seems as if his entire so-called “fortune” may have been a lie from the start. It didn’t take a math genius to figure it out. A building appraised at, say, $18 million dollars is claimed to be worth say, $1.8 BILLION when he wants a loan against it and the SAME building is claimed to be worth say, $1.08 when it’s time to pay taxes. Pretty clear fraud, so even the cons KNOW this one is bad for Donny.

Enter Rep. Elise Stefanik, (R, of course). She’s decided to try to save the day by filing a letter accusing judge Engoron of bias and calling on the judge to recuse himself. Please note: that’s a United States Representative, a Federal position, sticking her nose into a NY State issue. Yes, she’s from the state but she has no business in a state court issue.

I’m pretty sure Engoron will line his bird cage with the letter and keep doing his job. He’s very good at it. He’s SO good, the cons are terrified of him. I kind of like it that way. I’ll be watching for the recusal letter for bias that comes from the cons when Aileen “Loose” Cannon presides over the stolen documents case in Florida and visibly loves Donny so much she publicly offers to hold him in a supportive embrace…

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Okay, so now, even Israeli apologists are starting to get uncomfortable with the decisions being made in this latest hot fight. The last number I know of Palestinian civilians killed (so far) is 10,000 with at least 4,000 of them being children. (Did you know? Most of the Palestinian middle generation has been wiped out completely. Gaza is mostly populated by older people and young children.) Israel has announced (you heard it here, first) they won’t be leaving Gaza anytime soon (read: ever).

One of the attackers, a guy who DID, in fact, participate in a drive-by shooting that killed someone, was arrested and is in Israeli custody. Do the crime, do the time, I’m okay with that. But then Israel went to the family home, where the guy hadn’t been for years (except occasional visits to see his children) and where the family knew nothing of his plans (that anybody can prove), and blew it up, leaving a woman and three children homeless. That’s called collective punishment. It’s a war crime. It’s immoral as hell. It’s very likely a tremendously successful recruitment tool for Hamas or whatever the next group calls themselves. And make no mistake, there will be a next group. One man’s “terrorist” is another man’s “freedom fighter.” Minutemen, anyone?

Also, it drew a public rebuke from the United States. Israel basically – I’m paraphrasing, here – told the U.S. to pound sand. Their ongoing attempt at genocide hides behind the line, “Israel has the right to protect itself.” Agreed. But they’ve gone WAY beyond that, at this point. If a guy punches you in the face, you have the right to defend yourself to the extent necessary to ensure your safety. Perfectly reasonable. You do NOT have the right to beat that man to death, then go kill everybody the man has ever known, then blow up his house.

I’ll tell you this: If you DO take that course, you’ve gone from being a victim to being a perpetrator in your own right and I’d say Israel is comfortably in that category now…

Little Pleasures…

by MyBaconPress

When he first got elected, I didn’t know much about Mike Johnson. I can’t TELL you how much I wish that was still the case. This guy is as crazy as any MAGA ever. And just to make sure he puts the cherry on top, he’s ALSO a security risk. For one thing, he was instrumental in trying to help Donny betray America. That’s bad enough, but he ALSO worries SO MUCH about his 17-year-old son looking at porn (“self-pleasure” being the sin it is), they have an app that tattles to someone when you turn on porn on ANY of your devices. (That’s why the 17-year-old is always borrowing his friend’s electronics.)

Okay, maybe you don’t understand how things like that work so let me offer you a thumbnail. Somewhere, there’s a company, with people working in it (we don’t know any of them and they likely change over time), that has full and complete access to ALL of the electronics of the Speaker of the House, next in line to the President of the United States after the VP. This, of course, creates a route for people of malevolent intent (say…Donny’s Russian buddies) to get access to the inner workings of the Speaker of the House. Cons don’t seem to care. They’re FAR too worried that Hunter once did some cocaine and took photos of himself in the bathtub. Priorities, people.

Since EVERY Republican voted for this guy, I had hoped that, maybe, he was just a teeny-weeny bit more moderate than your standard MAGA. As it happens, he’s in the extreme arm of the movement, carrying the MAGA flag (it’s all white, of course), and leading the parade (wherever Donny tells him to.)

He claims not to have any bank accounts, anywhere. What?!? How does a guy like that manage in the modern world with no bank accounts? I’d bet he doesn’t. I’d guess he just keeps that public disclosure information to himself. You know, like Clarence Thomas likes to do. Possibly, for the same reason. But he’s Speaker of the House, now, and people are on to him. If he HAS a bank account, reporters WILL find it. How does he cash his House paycheck? (And can you believe we still have to pay those useless f*cks?)

Clearly, he plans to try to govern according to MAGA delusions, too. These guys just keep trying to force reality into their preferred perceptions but it never works and they just don’t get it. It never sinks in that reality is reality and delusion is delusion and ne’er the twain shall meet. So, since the cons took over, they have only managed to finally elect a Speaker, dump that Speaker, eventually bring in a new Speaker, and initiate an “investigation” into Joe Biden for…reasons. Useless. (Good. Crazy is dangerous…)

The thing is, the founders never foresaw this kind of insanity in the House. ALL spending bills start at the HOUSE (technically. In reality, they don’t always originate there but the House has to approve first.) So…the debt ceiling the cons don’t understand? Problem. The next budget talks? Problem. Funding Ukraine? Problem. (Cons want Putin to win that war so they don’t want to help Ukraine. They’re mad at Ukraine because Ukraine refused to help Donny cheat in the election.) Cons don’t LIKE cheating in elections – unless, of course, THEY’RE the ones doing the cheating. Then they’re all in.

I’ll tell you this: It’s really quite simple. If you love America, you’ll never vote Republican…

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Donny got angry that his kids are part of his criminal enterprise and got called to the stand for it. He barked at the judge, “Leave my kids alone!” No. They’re criminals, just like you. They should be punished, just like you. At least two of them are going to jail, just like you. But the cons dutifully responded to Donny’s faux outrage by issuing subpoenas to pretty much everybody Joe Biden knows, including his lost son’s widow, for some reason. Donny made pretty clear it’s a petty response to bringing Donny Jr, Eric, and Ivanka to testify. Petty.

I’d bet money that Biden’s family’s testimony will be FAR less incriminating that Donny’s family’s testimony has been for him so…bring em…

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Donny says he wants to bring over 100 witnesses in his NY civil fraud case. Yet another stalling tactic I’m sure will fail. I doubt it’s POSSIBLE there are over 100 people with relevant information that is new. (They’re not supposed to bring witness to simply repeat information someone else has already brought up.)

He doesn’t get to ramble and he doesn’t get to give speeches, he doesn’t get to repeat some lie, over and over until his audience is mind-numbed and mesmerized and he CERTAINLY doesn’t get to throw temper-tantrums until he gets his whiny way. (Archaic reference alert:) As Joe Friday used to say, “Just the facts, please.” Donny always, always, ALWAYS loses on “just the facts.”

I’ve got to confess: I’m enjoying this…

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Hey, try to act surprised. Over 10,000 dead, so far, in Palestine. Over 4,000 of them babies. (“Oh, the babies,” whined the Israel apologists before not caring and giving Palestinian babies “what they deserve.”) Netanyahu says Israel will have a security interest in Gaza for the “foreseeable future.” You (may have) read it here, first. It’s EXACTLY how Israel plays it’s cards, over and over. Agitate your target until they over-react, then punish the HELL out of them for their over-reaction and take still MORE of their land, agitating them further. It’s been going on since 1947 and it won’t stop until Israel pushes Palestine off the map and into the ocean completely. It’s got to be getting harder for the Israel apologists to make their case…

Hamas (not Palestine) says they want to push the Israelis into the ocean once and for all but has no power to do it. Israel says, “Can’t we all just, get along?” and then continues to push Palestinians into the ocean on a daily basis because they DO have the power (thanks, U.S.) – they just have to manage the “optics…”

Listen, it’s great to be vindicated and all but…what a crappy thing to be right about…

Who Wins, Who Loses?

by MyBaconPress

It’s pretty clear to me that I’m supposed to pick a side in the Israel/Hamas conflict. The side I pick? Neither. No matter how I look at it, I don’t see any good guys in this fight. Supporters of Israel ignore bad behavior by Israel and embellish bad behavior by Palestine. (Not Hamas, Palestine.) Supporters of Palestine can’t ignore bad behavior by Israel and see Hamas and the majority of Palestinians as separate.

No rational person can justify Hamas shooting rockets into the middle of civilian populated areas nor any other portion of their attack. Brutally murdering 1,400 human beings, many of them children, at best, seems an over-reaction to the metaphorical beard-pulling and face-flicking aggravations of Israel. But it was exactly the response Israel wanted, needed, to go in and take more land and kill more Palestinians.

Every week since this conflict heated up – again – Bill Maher, a devout supporter of Israel, repeats Hamas rhetoric about destroying Israel and pushing them off into the ocean. He never seems to notice that while Israel never says they have the exact, same goal for Palestine, their actions tell the story. I’ve never understood how stated attempted genocide from one side is an unforgivable outrage, but lived attempted genocide from the other side is supposed to be perfectly acceptable.

After the initial Hamas assault, the press in the US went into overdrive focusing on the number of innocent Israeli children Hamas had killed. (A large part of the reason I couldn’t possibly support Hamas.) But in Israel’s response, they’ve killed – as of this writing and according to the UN – over 3,900 children with another 1,250 children missing and presumed buried under rubble. Children. That’s four times (so far) the number of people (not just children) Hamas killed, but I don’t hear much about that in the American press.

There’s one more piece that weighs in on my thinking. The UN estimates Hamas membership at around 30,000 to 40,000 people. (I’ll use an average of 35,000.) Gaza is home to 2.2 million people. That means that Hamas represents 1.6% of the population in Gaza. One point six percent. Israel is taking vengeance on the entire 2.2 million person population – and they’re using US supplied bombs to do it.

Yeah, yeah, Israel has the right to “defend itself” – and they do. But this whole fight reminds me of when George Zimmerman stalked Trayvon Martin until Martin reacted, then Zimmerman used Martin’s reaction as an excuse to murder him. I’m not sure I could come up with a better recruiting weapon for Hamas. Well played, Zimm…uh…Israel.

Biden has tried to warn Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister, that the brutality of his “response” is quickly eroding support for Israel in the US. So far, Netanyahu doesn’t care. This is an opportunity Israel has been waiting for and they’re seizing it. US support for Israel will remain unwavering but there’s only one reason: Israel provides eyes and ears for the US in the Middle East. It’s a strategic alliance.

I’ll tell you this: Like I said, I don’t see any good guys in this conflict but I DO see some innocent people who have gotten caught up in the fighting and I don’t want my tax dollars to be used killing innocent Palestinian babies. I sure do wish there was some super-duper invisible cloud being who could step in and stop this insanity…

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As a direct result of his criminal behavior, Donny is about to lose his business “empire.” The whole kit-and-caboodle. Prosecutors have proven, beyond doubt, that Trump’s entire business “genius” has been predicated on fraud and lying. So, naturally, his support is – increasing? Yep, that’s what it says. Increasing. MORE people support the criminal fraudster because he IS a criminal fraudster. American mental acuity can be very impressive…

In fairness to them, his supporters simply refuse to believe he’s the criminal fraudster he is – and you can’t make somebody understand something they adamantly refuse to understand. I guess that’s a good thing for Donny. The loyalty of his deceived believers is going to be his primary source of income in the very near future and he has expensive tastes. They’d better get yet another job to keep him in the lifestyle to which he’s become accustomed while they continue to try to pay his legal debts and fines for him as well.

I’ll tell you this: I see Trump living off the efforts of his supporters as the worst kind of welfare. He’s taking money he doesn’t deserve from people who have better things to do with their own money. That kind of makes him the world’s biggest Welfare Queen, the most astounding Welfare Queen, the greatest Welfare Queen in history…

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Daylight Saving Time ends again and we’re back to Standard. It seems to do little more than kill a few people trying to adjust to the time change a couple of times every year. What a stupid, stupid idea and don’t we all look like fools (except Arizona and Hawaii) for continuing the practice?

Let’s just set it at Standard Time, leave it at Standard Time, and get off this crazy carousel once and for all…

Gavin’s Position…

by MyBaconPress

It sure looks to me like Gavin Newsom is running for President. I mean, I can’t say for sure. He and I haven’t talked recently. And HE says, “Oh no, not me!” But, of course, he would. He’s a Democrat in good standing and he’s not going to rock the boat by running against Joe Biden. But he keeps…doing things. As the Governor of California (55 electoral votes), his profile is already pretty high.

But his high-profile spat with Ron DeSantis of Florida seemed mostly about increasing his name recognition on a national level AND hopefully being seen as a defender of the Florida common man (29 electoral votes). Then he’s off again, negotiating climate agreements with the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, Winnie-the-Pooh. No, I’m sorry, it’s Xi Jinping, Chairman Xi. Bother. International relationships with high-profile world leaders? Check.

On the other hand, he has a legitimate role in climate negotiations and governors DO snipe amongst themselves from time to time. It COULD all be normal. Either way, he’s positioned for 2028, should America (or humanity, for that matter) survive until 2028. But by then, nobody will remember Newsom rubbing DeSantis’ nose in it and negotiating with Xi. So maybe he sees, or even knows, something the rest of us don’t. I’ll tell you what I see.

I think Democrats are making a HUGE mistake with their currently held position that ‘Well, Biden beat Trump once, he can do it again.’ I don’t really think Biden beat Trump. I mean, I’m no MAGA, I know Biden prevailed fair and square in a perfectly legitimate election. But people voted Biden in order to stop Trump. It could have been nearly anybody. (Nearly. A certain wife of a certain ex-President, it could NOT be. But anybody else…) The only criteria America used in 2020 was, “Who’s not Trump?”

But speaking of not Trump, what if the candidate isn’t Trump? There are two cases happening right now, trying to keep Trump off the ballot via the 14th Amendment. If they prevail, as they should, other states will follow as quickly as they can and Trump will be dropped from state after state. Trump might well be simply declared ineligible before the 2024 election. Or what if he’s in jail? I know the die-hardest of the die-hards will vote for him anyway, but I doubt you’ll find too many rational Americans, Republican OR Democrat, willing to cast their ballot for Inmate 1875150.

What if Trump is dead? I mean, he’s got a few years under his very large belt, too, and he doesn’t exercise. (Driving a golf cart from hole to hole doesn’t count.) He’s under tremendous stress, right now. He’s about to lose his daddy’s business and then go to prison. At his age, in his condition, that kind of pressure can just explode a person’s heart.

Also, and I hate to say this, for all of our bluster about how super-de-duper honest the voting machines are, I still don’t trust them and I never have. The reason I mention it is, thanks to Covid-19 (what happened to Covids 1 – 18?) people were pushed to use paper ballots. (Standard rant: ALL voters should ALWAYS use paper ballots. NONE of us can know, for sure, how dependable the machines are, but pen to paper has always been pretty dependable. Besides, you can vote in nothing but your underwear! Less, if you want to.)

I’ve long been struck by Trump’s claims that he got more votes. He didn’t, but he’s just sure he did. If it’s not just a gimmick, why would someone believe they had the most votes no matter what? The thought has crossed my mind that he thinks so because he knows he paid the money for the most votes. But when the voting was pushed to paper, manipulation of the machines was no longer possible. Yet another failed investment by Donald J. Trump. But in 2024, the machines are back!

Listen, I think Biden has done a pretty good job, so far. I know MAGA disagrees but they think they live in a Mad Max style, dystopian hell-hole and 45 is being framed so…no one’s best source of information. I suspect most thinking Americans agree with me. But people are very wary of his age. (It’s scary!) I know, Trump is old, too. Trust me, I don’t want HIM to be President, either. Biden acts old, which is okay, because he IS old. But he’ll be 82 during next year’s campaign. Mitch McConnell is 81 right now and he keeps taking little mental vacations to the Bahamas right in the middle of sentences. I’m not making fun. These are the slings and arrows of age. But that’s the point: age. At 81.

I know the cons like to pretend Biden is in full-fledged Alzheimer’s and walking into walls but he isn’t and he doesn’t. Yet. Maybe never. It’s not automatic. But the likelihood increases with every year and a person can start suffering symptoms before others even become aware. I even know the country can function should the worst happen. We had a President with full blown Alzheimer’s in Ronald Reagan. The people around him (the deep state) took care of him and got things done. But can we agree, it wasn’t optimal?

So maybe Gavin positioning himself now isn’t such a poor idea. He only has until December 15 to register his candidacy, though, so, we’ll know soon…

Gaetz LOVES Johnson…

by MyBaconPress

Matt Gaetz loves Mike Johnson because of how much Mike Johnson hates America. Gaetz thinks the election of Johnson to Speaker of the House is a brilliant moment in which MAGA takes control and now? Hoo, boy, you just watch who MAGA can hurt going forward! Gaetz called Johnson a “Godly man,” but wouldn’t know a Godly man if he was talking to, well, God.

Gaetz blames the confusion in the House on Kevin McCarthy. It’s all Kevin’s fault. Kevin was working behind the scenes to sabotage the process. Kevin has been relegated to RINO status since he (gasp!) worked with Democrats to (horror of horrors) pass legislation. Gaetz knows how wrong that was and he assures the base that Johnson won’t work with anybody to get anything done. And THAT’S how he’ll get things done. Period!

Personally, I doubt anything will get done. Anything at all. Well, except damage. If MAGA convinces moderate Republicans to vote with them on some crazy bit, the Democrats will stand, uniformly, opposed. Little to nothing will get out of the House. NONE of the MAGA hate-fest will get past the Senate. The downside is that nothing GOOD will get out of the House, either.

The up side? MAGA on full display. They will no longer be able to snipe from the shadows, pointing their fingers at anybody, everybody else. They’re up front for all to see. When America’s credit rating is downgraded – again – because cons don’t fully understand the process – still – and will play games with the debt ceiling – again – there won’t be anybody to point at and blame but themselves. Oh, they’ll DO it. They do not take personal responsibility for anything. But everyone will know it was them. And I’ll be here to remind anyone who forgets.

All I knew about Johnson on Wednesday was that he was one of the traitors. Now I know he’s a hate-filled, extremist traitor. He thinks people should adhere to 18th century values. He presents himself as a super-Christian but violates the 10 commandments every time he talks MAGA. He has, in the past, blamed mass shootings on “no fault divorce laws,” “the sexual revolution,” “radical feminism,” and “government sanctioned killing of the unborn.” Nothing about arming crazy people with high powered rifles designed for urban combat. Apparently, Jesus is a-okay with that..

His answer on LGBT+ issues? “Go pick up a Bible…” There’s ALWAYS an unspoken part to that particular advice: “…and ignore the parts you don’t like.” That unspoken part is VERY important to pseudo super Christians. Sure, he’ll hate gays because Leviticus says you should but he’ll tell you about his hatred over a lobster dinner because Leviticus “didn’t mean it” about shellfish.

I wonder if he supports multiple wives (whom the man owns, of course) and wives acquired by rape? BOTH ideas are exemplified in the Bible as perfectly normal. Sometimes, under certain conditions, you can even KILL the bitch and still be viewed as an “honorable man!” Yet, he only has one wife (that we know of). I assume he’s into slavery, as well. That, too, is endorsed in the Bible. God even set the price! Those are all well-known, 18th century values.

He thinks abortion providers should be sentenced to 1 – 10 years of “hard labor.” No word on forcing the man to take responsibility for HIS actions in the pregnancy and certainly nothing about preventing abortion through early childhood education and readily available birth control. Apparently, using the brain God gave us is a sin. Yeah, that makes sense.

You know what? The version of the Bible I’ve read has a lot of ‘help the poor,’ ‘feed the hungry,’ ‘clothe the naked,’ and ‘visit the sick’ but none of that ever makes it into their pseudo-christian ideology. The Christianity-making part of the Bible, the New Testament, (you know…the teachings of Jesus) says to sell off ALL of your possessions and give the money to the poor. THEN you can get into Heaven. I never see any of that in their oh-so-on-display christian pretense and his suits suggest he may be hoarding money, not giving it all away.

So there you go; my take on our new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. He doesn’t believe in the Constitution and he cherry-picks the Bible verses that form his opinions on morality. His goal is to punish people who don’t think like he does and he’s MAGA crazy. It’s going to be quite a ride with him for the next year or so but I’ll tell you this: MAGA isn’t just crazy, it’s dangerous and if we, the people, don’t find a way to sideline them – and fast – this country will have to go through hell to rid ourselves of them later…

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I Have Questions…

by MyBaconPress

Well, interesting. Trump told his fans at a recent rally not to bother to vote. He said he has, “plenty of votes.” He said, “You don’t have to vote, don’t worry about voting. The voting, we got plenty of votes.” Instead, he wanted them to poll-watch. But if everybody is watching Democrats vote, who’s voting for Inmate 1875150?

So on Monday, October 23, 2023 in New Hampshire, Donald J. Trump declared he already has enough votes to guarantee victory on November 5, 2024? So many, in fact, the MAGAs don’t even need to bother to vote? Zero Americans have cast a single ballot in that race. Yet he has all the votes he needs? He ALREADY has so many his MAGAs can just stand down? I wonder (Putin) where all those votes (Putin) came from (Putin)? There’s no way to know…

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According to Donny, he’s a freaking genius because he “noticed” that the word “us” is spelled ‘u’ and then ‘s.’ Also, the abbreviation for the United States is ‘U’ and then ‘S.’ After dropping that deeply insightful observation on his audience, (no wonder his followers think he’s brilliant) he summed it up with, “Now, if we say something genius, they’ll never say it.”

Sure we will, Donny. Say something genius and we’ll “say it.” Hell, say something reasonably intelligent and we’ll shout it to the world. In the meantime, I must be a genius, too, because I know another word in which the letter ‘u’ appears next to the letter ‘s’: Justice! I wonder if anyone else has noticed that? The ‘u’ right next to the ‘s’ in the word ‘justice’ – something else you’re learning an awful lot about these days, isn’t it?

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Mike Johnson? That’s our new House Speaker. I don’t know much about him but I DO know he voted NOT to certify the election in 2020 because he didn’t like the way it turned out. Matt Gaetz called him MAGA Mike Johnson. Gaetz said getting Johnson into the role shows “MAGA is ascendant.” He thinks it proves that MAGA is the true power of the party. Steve Scalise couldn’t prove it. Jim Johnson couldn’t prove it. Tom Emmer couldn’t prove it.

After, what, 22 days of “proving” MAGA governing ability, they’ve finally figured out a way to open the government again so they can get back to the business of shuttering the government again. Nice.

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Okay, I need some help from my lawyer friends, here. One of Donny’s “lawyers,” Sydney Powell, entered a “guilty” plea for her role in Georgia during the attempt to steal the election. She assured the judge, I’m paraphrasing, that the charges and specifications against her were true and correct. She was under oath. Okay, no more paraphrasing. Here’s the actual exchange:
Judge: “Are you pleading guilty, today, because you believe there is a sufficient factual basis, that there are enough facts that support this plea of ‘Guilty?'”
Powell: “I do.”

So, she accepts her slap-on-the-wrist-for-treason punishment and walks out of court, essentially a free woman. Then she starts right in, again, claiming the election was rigged. She wasn’t charged with the lie so I can see her getting away with that but she also maintains that her prosecution in Georgia was “politically motivated” and that her guilty plea was – her word – “extorted,” suggesting she was just shining the judge on.

She STILL doesn’t think she did anything wrong in stealing voter data. She doesn’t think she should have faced consequences and she really does NOT see herself as guilty – the exact opposite of what she swore to – under oath – in open court. So here’s the question: Can’t the judge rescind the plea deal? If she lied to get it, is the judge still beholden to it? Part of her deal was that she would have to testify against her co-conspirators. What good is her testimony if everybody knows she’s lying from the second she takes the stand? Is it really THAT easy to game the courts in this once great nation?

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Okay, quick hit, here. If you’re a Niner fan and you think the sky is falling, suddenly the Niners suck, and Brock Purdy really should have been ‘Mr Irrelevant,’ would you please get hold of yourself? Did you really think Purdy was going to stay nearly perfect throughout his entire NFL career? Whomever you think may have been the so-called ‘Greatest of All Time,’ Joe Montana (you’re right) or Tom Brady (you’re wrong), NEITHER man was perfect. Why should Purdy be? You thought the Niners were going undefeated? An undefeated season in the NFL has happened exactly ONE time, to ONE team – and that was during a 14 game season. ‘Undefeated’ just doesn’t come up.

We’re supposed to be “Forty Niner Faithful.” Would you please hold on to the “faithful” part a bit more? The Niners will be fine…

7 of 9…

by MyBaconPress

I’m saying it’s clearly beyond their capability. Still, I admire the way they keep showing up and trying. Picking a Speaker, I mean. The Republicans STILL can’t get ‘er done. They literally have ONE JOB! It’s too much for them. They tried single candidates in the very bigoted Steve Scalise, who describes himself as David Duke (One time Grand Wizard of the KKK) “without the baggage.” Then they sent up Jim Jordan, the sexual abuse-ignoring MAGA who seems to have been one of the key congressional figures helping DJT with his coup. Both those “winners” lost. Jordan should find himself facing charges, sooner or later, for his support of J6.

Now the cons are going to try a group thing. They’re putting up nine names, most of whom participated to one degree or another in the coup attempt. These aren’t the people who offered direct, traitorous support, though, like Jordan, MTG, or Josh Hawley from the Senate. They weren’t out in front, waving banners or offering fist salutes. The treason from these guys was more subtle. See if you can spot the commonality among this group:

Tom Emmer – DJT doesn’t like him because he didn’t offer enough support, so that’s a plus. He DID vote to certify the 2020 election but he ALSO signed an Amicus Brief to the Robert’s Supremely Kangaroo Court urging the court to throw out electoral votes from key swing states.
Mike Johnson – He was one of the organizers – described as “the most important architect”- of the Amicus Brief to the Robert’s Supremely Kangaroo Court urging the court to throw out electoral votes from key swing states.
Kevin Hern – He voted against certifying the 2020 election and signed the Amicus Brief to the Robert’s Supremely Kangaroo Court urging the court to throw out electoral votes from key swing states.
Byron Donalds – He wasn’t in the House during the election but he DID show a misleading, edited screenshot of a supposed text exchange between Hunter Biden and James Biden, Joe’s brother, in support of impeaching Joe for…reasons. He would be the first black House Speaker in history.
Austin Scott – He’s been pretty vocal about how stupid the cons look, not being able to choose a Speaker, so he’s not always wrong but, while he ultimately voted to certify the 2020 election, he first signed the Amicus Brief to the Robert’s Supremely Kangaroo Court urging the court to throw out electoral votes from key swing states.
Jack Bergman – He voted against certifying the 2020 election and signed the Amicus Brief to the Robert’s Supremely Kangaroo Court urging the court to throw out electoral votes from key swing states.
Pete Sessions – Probably the most “normal” candidate. He was out of Congress in 2020 because his home district had replaced him at the polls (with a Democrat) so he moved to a new district and ran again. (Better than getting an actual job, I guess.) He voted 97.5% of the time with DJT’s positions on things…
Gary Palmer – He voted against certifying the 2020 election and signed the Amicus Brief to the Robert’s Supremely Kangaroo Court urging the court to throw out electoral votes from key swing states.
Dan Meuser – He voted against certifying the 2020 election and signed the Amicus Brief to the Robert’s Supremely Kangaroo Court urging the court to throw out electoral votes from key swing states.

Did you catch it? Sure, there are other facts about each of these men but there’s only one of concern to me: 7 of 9 (where have I heard that before?) signed the Amicus Brief to the Robert’s Supremely Kangaroo Court urging the court to throw out electoral votes from key swing states. The two who didn’t weren’t in Congress at the time so they didn’t get the chance but they still pretty much support MAGA over America. Is that REALLY the best the Republican Party has to offer?

The Speaker of the House is second in line, after the Vice-President, to become President of the United States, should that position become vacant for some reason. I really don’t want anyone in any position of authority who doesn’t believe in democracy or our Republic. (Actions speak louder than words.) Certainly, never again in the Oval Office.

Don Bacon (still) and David Valadao seem like still-sane people who should get the job. But the crazy 8 won’t let anybody but a MAGA have the job. I don’t think this is clever brinkmanship. I think this is toddler-with-a-gun dangerous. The only question is: can the brats be disarmed quickly, before any more damage is done? (Watch for a pending downgrade in the credit rating of the United States – again and, once again, at the hands of the Republicans.)

I’ll tell you this: I’ve been writing, sort of tongue-in-cheek, that some Republicans need to cross the aisle and vote with the Democrats. The Dems have a candidate they like, a guy who can very much do the job, a guy who isn’t crazy with ideology, Hakeem Jeffries. 212 votes to the good. All they need is 5 Republicans to cross the aisle to elect a Speaker. It might prove to be an individual act of political suicide to do so, but risking one’s political life in an effort to save our country would absolutely reflect well on said Congressmen in history until the end of time…

Reality Clearing…

by MyBaconPress

Falling in love.
Being dumped.
A wedding.
A divorce.
The birth of a child.
The death of a parent.
Buying a house.
Watching it burn down in a wildfire.
Being hired for a new job.
Being fired.
Winning a huge lottery prize (I assume).
Watching your beloved country be overthrown in a slow-motion coup orchestrated by a few billionaires and facilitated by the least educated among us.

All of these things have one thing in common: they put people into what might be called a minor fugue state. It’s important to understand, I’m misusing the term. In psychology, a fugue state is a serious dissociative condition in which people will, for example, travel to places with no memory of how they got there. It’s a kind of escapist behavior and, again, in psychology, it’s very serious. But one definition (in the DSM-5) calls a fugue state a kind of “bewildered wandering.” That’s more how I mean it. My use of the term doesn’t refer so much a complete disconnection from reality as a great distraction brought on by serious, life-changing events. If you know a better word for me, please let me know…

Any of the things on the above list leave us functioning, but not at full capacity. We’re still “present,” which is why I say I misuse the term, but we’re largely distracted. We move through the day, doing what needs to be done but sometimes not even remembering that we had done the thing in question. We still function. We’re still out there. We’re just not 100%. We haven’t dissociated, we’re just distracted. (Okay, in the case of a new baby, we’re also just effing tired, but still…) Good things and bad come along and knock us off our game. But we have to keep moving, so we do. Hopefully, we don’t mess anything up too badly in the meantime.

I’ve been through most of those things on that list. (STILL waiting on that huge lottery prize.) Most of the time, we can only understand our reduced capacity looking backwards. We don’t even know we’re doing it while we’re doing it but once we see it, we’re usually a little stunned at how we even got along during those times.

I think most of the United States citizens are in a kind of minor fugue state because of the last one on that list, the whole “Watching your beloved country be overthrown…” Americans just aren’t used to treason and national betrayal as a “normal” state. It has thrown us off our games, a bit, a constant distraction.

I think (hope?) the charges, trials, and convictions are helping. They seem to be helping me. It’s been a bit crazy-making, listening to MAGA tell stories that have little to no bearing on reality, as though those stories might be real. I mean, has this country REALLY become a place where facts are fluid and evidence is ethereal? As these court actions play out, the clear answer is, “No!”

There have been over 1,000 convictions associated with Donald Trump’s January 6th coup attempt. (Meet Donald Trump and go to jail!) Mostly, they’ve been low-level charges and relatively minor sentences. That bothered me, at first, having seen what they did in the Capitol. But as they’ve moved up the ladder of responsibility, the charges and sentences have been more serious. Facts are NOT fluid. Verifiable evidence is still proof.

MAGA cons are likely to never know the reality of the situation. The conservative media bubble is producing articles and broadcasts every day attempting to distort truth and paint a different – and false – picture of events. (Cons think “spin” and “a lie” are the same thing.) They made tremendous headway before the courts could catch up. But events are overtaking the narrative, as the saying goes. Out in public, they’re free to say any damn fool thing they will – and they will. But in the courtroom, where “opinion” is far less valuable than factual evidence, the truth is being reinforced, one player at a time.

We’re getting to the big fish. Oath Keepers and Proud Boys leaders sentenced to decades in prison. Sydney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro flipping for the Feds against Trump. They’ll help convict John Eastman, Rudy Giuliani, and, ultimately, Donald Trump, himself. The courts have pierced the heart of the conspiracy and the convictions are following along steadily.

I’ll tell you this: For me, the convictions are comforting, reassuring. The system, slow as it is, seems to be working, for the moment, and my minor fugue state is a bit less distracted every day…