politics

A Two-Step Side-Step…

by MyBaconPress

Well, he continues to surprise. His desperation is becoming palpable. I just wrote – yesterday! – about how he looked rather…subdued after Indictment #3. But he’s like a wounded animal. His natural instinct is to lash out at anyone, everyone who won’t let him do whatever he wants. I suspect he’s beginning to feel the heat of the investigations, indictments, upcoming trials, pending convictions, and jail time. None of his time-tested tricks seem to be working, this time. So? Threats.

Wait, threats against a Federal Prosecutor? I thought he was supposed to be smart; the guy playing chess while everyone else plays checkers. This doesn’t seem to be that. He wrote on his stupid, failing social media site, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” Oh, clever boy.

I won’t be surprised when MAGA world tries to pretend he meant that if you go after him, he’ll bring you lemonade. (These are not deep thinkers.) But any rational person, I think, would see the threat he intends. He doesn’t even try to hide it during his rallies, either. He’s pretty openly saying he’ll use the DOJ in exactly the way he accuses the DOJ of acting today. It will, in his hands, become a weapon of Presidential resentment…

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I don’t know how stupid a person has to be to think 45 is simply facing down a “free speech” issue but I think we’re all about to find out. That seems to be the defense he’s going after, “free speech.” It’s a weird defense, considering nobody is prosecuting him over speech. He’s being prosecuted for his actions. That’s different…

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Apparently, 45 was introduced to the judge, Tanya Chutkan, as “President Trump.” She then referred to him, correctly, only as “Mr. Trump.” Apparently, that irked him. He’s probably not going to like his reception in prison, either…

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The other day, I was challenged in social media about why Nancy Pelosi didn’t accept the National Guard support Trump had authorized. The question is fair enough. Kind of. There were something like 360 National Guard troops deployed in DC that day but they were unarmed, certainly NOT issued riot gear, and told not to interact with rioters except to defend themselves. Their role was to free up Metro police elsewhere so the Metro police could go to the Capitol.

When people in the Capitol DID start requesting National Guard help because the situation clearly overwhelmed the local cops, the requests went unanswered. Trump never did call out the Guard that day. In the end, the request to deploy to the Capitol came from Mike Pence. So why wasn’t there more security at the Capitol at the beginning of the day? It DOES seem a legitimate question. But it’s not. It’s a side-step. I can explain.

Apparently, there WAS some discussion about the need for greater security at the Capitol that day. The idea was shelved by Congressional leadership (yes, that would include Pelosi.) There was apparently a concern about “optics.” But as I looked into this, I was struck by a second, and I think a better, question: why did there NEED to be better protection at the Capitol that day in the first place? That is, why would the Americans inside the Capitol have any reason to fear the Americans outside the Capitol?

Maybe Pelosi made the mistake of thinking American citizens wouldn’t attack the US Capitol over a routine, likely mundane procedural event. Even after the attack started and the Congress critters had been shuffled off to their secure hidey-hole, Pelosi can be seen on video asking “Can you believe this?” I know I couldn’t.

The peaceful transfer of power in this once-great nation has been happening since 1797 when Washington peacefully handed the keys to John Adams. A perfect, uninterrupted string has followed – until Trump. The peaceful transfer of power had become so routine, I’m afraid we became complacent. Screaming, crying, rending of clothes, whining, sobbing, insisting it was stolen? All of that is perfectly acceptable. Obnoxious, but acceptable. Lawsuits and legal challenges? Absolutely. After EVERY election, there are some people left unhappy. But in America, we don’t use violence when we don’t get our way in an election. Was it really so foolish to actually believe that Americans would NEVER attack America?

But these aren’t Americans any more. They’re MAGAs.

MAGAs are radicalized and irrational. MAGAs are loyal to Trump, the Second Amendment, and the Republican Party, in that order, end of list. Do you see ‘America’ or ‘The US Constitution’ anywhere? No, me neither. And, truthfully, they’re only so-so on the Republican Party. After one strips away all of the distractions and issue-mongering, MAGAs want to destroy the American government. That’s not hyperbole. They prefer a different model, a confederacy, which, as a consequence of it’s structure, MUST dissolve into individual little countries before long. (Fun fact: America was originally founded as a confederacy! It lasted ten years. The Constitutional Republic Americans know and love today (and the one the MAGAs now want to destroy) was the solution that rescued the country when the confederacy began to fail. Had the MAGAs paid attention in school, they would know this…)

At this point, I can see them feigning shocked outrage. “How DARE you say I’M not an American!” Yeah. I’m neither impressed nor convinced. January 6th was just one day, one attack. But you guys attack this nation at every turn – every chance you get. If there’s nothing real to attack, you make crap up, call it the country, and attack away. When something real DOES threaten America? You rush to defend…the threat. Putin. The gun bloodbath. Kim Jung Un. Trump and January 6th. Whatever it is, if it’s harmful to America, you’ll find a MAGA out there defending it.

Humping the flag doesn’t prove you’re more American. You should know that the flag is nothing but a symbol – and you should know what it symbolizes. And you’all hate all of it. Go ahead, name one thing MAGAs love about the structure of America that isn’t window dressing.

I’ll tell you this: When you think it through, I suspect the answer to the question the MAGAs ask is as I suggested. Nancy Pelosi didn’t beef up security outside the Capitol on January 6th, 2021 because she could not believe she might actually be attacked by Americans at the United States Capitol. And now we all know. She wasn’t attacked by Americans. She was attacked by MAGAs…

Always Wrong Conservatives?

by MyBaconPress

I used to say conservatives are always wrong.  It’s a nice little inflammatory line that enjoys the advantage of making conservative heads explode and – truth be told – is rather easily defended.  But over time I’ve realized it’s not correct or, rather, it’s not complete.  In order to be completely correct, it needs two more words so from now on, my new phrase is: conservatives are always wrong for civilization.

It’s a small but important distinction.  I mean, sure, you can have a society in which the wealthy and powerful are allowed – encouraged, even – to use their inherent advantages to prey on the weak and defenseless.  But you can’t have a civilized society in which the wealthy and powerful use their inherent advantages to prey on the weak and defenseless – at least not for long.

You can have a society in which everyone is armed to the teeth and willing to shoot the nearest likewise armed person at the merest perceived insult.  But it won’t be a civilized society.

You can continue to oppress various groups into desperation and beyond – all the while blaming the victims for being victims.  But they’re not going to go gently into that good night and in their desperation, they’re going to disrupt civilization.

You want a society of uneducated, illiterate drones?  Why, you can have that, too, by simply de-funding public education and setting up teachers to fail.  But that’s not civilization.

You can live in a world where pharmaceutical manufacturers wave life-saving medications in front of a dying man and ask “NOW how much would you pay?” But that’s not civilized, either.

As it happens, ALL of those are examples of conservative dogmas promoted in America today.  Each of them can be found in various places throughout history. We’ve seen the results of wealthy people preying on the poor all the while blaming them for being poor.  We called it “fiefdom” and, later, “slavery”.  It took a war to stop it.  Arm everyone to the teeth?  That sounds like the Old West and was addressed, by the way, by men like Wyatt Earp – who solved the problem by passing ordinances taking people’s guns away.  You prefer uneducated illiterates?  Why, we called that ‘the Dark Ages’.

Yet conservatives continue to support these ideas as somehow suddenly credible…because conservatives are always wrong, you know…for civilization…

Media – Conservative, Liberal, or Just Corporate?

by MyBaconPress

I hear much talk about the “liberal media” (often pronounced “librul”) and the “conservative media”.  I’m here to say there’s no such thing.  What we suffer in this once-great nation is corporate media.  To be sure, corporate media targets it’s message (or lack of information, depending) through various outlets towards liberals or conservatives but the thing it has in common regardless of intended audience is that it protects corporations.

Corporate media works to deceive all Americans.  I’m fond of saying corporate media deceives conservatives on facts and liberals on intent.  What I mean is, conservatives believe (and they actually believe) that the economy crashed because the big, bad “gubment” forced poor, defenseless banksters to make bad loans.  They believe it because that’s what they were told by sources they trust.  Many of them can cite – in detail – various segments of the Affordable Housing Act as evidence of government malfeasance.

Perhaps a little background is needed.  The government kept receiving complaints from minority borrowers that loans for which they applied were being rejected even though the borrowers were certain they qualified for the loans.  As it happens, they were correct so Congress critters sat down and wrote a law.  The idea of the law was to “encourage” (read: “force”) banks to make more loans to minority borrowers.  The legislation included a cudgel: the government was going to review the banksters portfolios and if the number of funded loans didn’t include a certain percentage of loans to minorities, punishment would be swift and sure…

That’s what conservatives will tell you.  That’s the information they have.  Hmm, whaddaya know?  The government DID pass a law requiring banks to lend more to minorities.  But it wasn’t “no matter what”.  There’s a piece missing.  The part conservative serving corporate media leaves out is this:  “…consistent with sound lending practices”.

Five words but they make all the difference.  If conservative serving corporate media includes the phrase, the entire conservative position is undermined.  They’d be left to argue that making loans to borrowers who can’t pay them back based on falsified documentation qualifies as a “sound lending practice”.  Good luck.  See?  Conservatives deceived on facts…

For their part, liberals actually believed the government would do something to address the problem that would benefit the victims of the bankster’s fraud.  They believed it because liberal serving corporate media told them the government would do something to address the problem that would benefit the victims of the bankster’s fraud…if only Americans elect the “right“, er…I guess, correct candidate.

Well, we (liberals) did elect the guy who said he would help, the guy who promised us “change” and “hope”.  Of course, he didn’t.  See?  Liberals deceived on intent…

You know who benefited?  The corporate banksters and Wall Street.  They made a LOT of money while they were inflating the bubble.  They made a LOT of money after the bubble burst.  They are making a LOT of money re-inflating the bubble right now and they’ll continue to profit after THIS bubble bursts, too.  (Because the guy who made the promises hasn’t even done anything to change the corporate environment that encouraged the fraud in the first place…)

And all the while, corporate media makes money playing cheerleader for the banksters by deceiving conservatives on facts and liberals on intent.  I wonder how long Americans will stand for it?

How Do Half-Measures Help?

by MyBaconPress

No final bill, yet, I know.  But the more I look at what Congress is doing, the more I fear the net end result is that I’ll be an “outlaw”.  It seems the ONE thing the Congress critters have agree upon is that we need a law that requires people to buy health insurance.

It’s classic wrong-headed thinking.  Our so-called “representatives” seem to believe that people wouldn’t pursue health care unless they’re forced to.  MY problem is that all of my discretionary income is used up on “housing” and “food”…

Think of me as a drowning man, going down for the third time.  I can pay my bills…unless anything goes wrong.  Anything at all.  That includes a shiny new mandate about where I’m legally allowed (or required) to spend my money.  If I pay my PG&E, I can stay warm, forestall pneumonia, and avoid a need for health care.  If I pay my newly minted health care bill, I can’t stay warm.

So, I’ll be warm and take the same chance I’ve been taking for ten years, now.  (Hell, why SHOULDN’T a guy approaching 50 have confidence in continued robust health?  I mean, what could go wrong?)  But here’s where such a law would help: if I DO get sick and go to an emergency room, they’ll have a basis to deny me services: failure to comply with national health care laws…

Apparently, both measures currently include some form of government health insurance.  The Senate lets states “opt out”.  I don’t so much mind the “opt out” bit.  I don’t really think any states will opt out.  Oh, one or two might, just for show, but they’ll “opt right back in” just as soon as their constituents are done with them.  (Remember how all those “red” states who screamed about “stimulus money” nevertheless accepted “stimulus money”?)

It’s looking like the final product will also leave somewhere between 12 and 16 million people without coverage, too.  Oh, and both plans include a “phasing in” process so NONE of this stuff happens now.  Hell, the current House measure won’t be fully implemented until 2019!  Sarah will be nearly finished with her second term by then and righties will have had MORE than enough time to convince Americans “it doesn’t work”.  (And, really, because of these half-measures, it won’t…)

Some people are willing to accept “baby steps” or half-measures.  The concept is the ‘foot-in-the-door’ theory.  “Just get a bill…any bill.  We can tweak it later.”  So the Dems accept nearly any compromise, counting on the “tweak it later” part.  Repugs push for every concession, knowing the weaker the bill is now, the easier it will be to kill later.

Again, I acknowledge there is no final bill yet.  We’ve heard all kinds of scary stories about what it will and won’t do or how such-and-so provision is “dead” only to see it resurrected (or never dead in the first place…)  So it’s best to wait until we see the actual contents of the actual bill Congress sends to Obama’s desk.  But through it all, I can’t help but remember: all they had to do was expand Medicare…

It’s The Abuse, Stupid…

by MyBaconPress

This is from the BBC.  It’s the first and last paragraph from the article, ‘Gates blocks abuse photos release’, dated 15 November, 2009.

“The US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has blocked the publication of further images of US soldiers abusing foreign detainees…

…He said then that the release of such images would be “of no benefit” and might inflame opinion against the US.”

Gee, ya think? It’s too bad the Empire is unable to produce photos of the “detainees” being treated well and in accordance with US and international law…

Gates is mired in this classic “rightie” thinking, though.  See, it’s not the abuse that causes the problems.  It’s the photos of the abuse.  Personally?  I would have preferred to live in a country that believed in it’s own principals enough simply to live them and trust the example to be inviting to others…