The Deficit, Spending, Our National Debt, and the Two-Party System - 8/29/2022

When it comes to the deficit, spending, and our national debt, both parties are to blame. The GOP is more inclined to pretend they're worried about it or to promise that they'll address it, but the plain truth is, BOTH parties are spendaholics. The only times that our deficit has grown more slowly or actually shrunk is when our economy is booming, firing on all cylinders and generating revenue through growth. But to hear the GOP whining about the effects of the recent green new deal bill falsely named as inflation reduction, or to hear them complain about the student loan forgiveness on the basis of deficit is at best disingenuous. Not that those complaints and concerns aren't valid, but simply that the GOP is no better. They just spend different, but they spend. And spend. And spend.

A couple are in a financial debt crisis. They make about $65K a year and have a small mortgage, two car payments, and a boat they make payments on, too, totaling $2000 per month, or $24,000 a year. That wouldn't seem to be a big problem, but each of them likes to spend. 

He plays golf every Saturday, and twice on three-day weekends. He regularly shops at Lowe's, Home Depot, and Harbor Freight Tools for all the tools he 'needs', and always has the newest cellular phone and electronic devices. 

She has expensive tastes as far as hair, nails, and clothing, and like him, likes to do her shopping. Her favorite pastime is spending Saturdays (while he is off golfing) at the outlets or boutiques with her best girlfriends lunching, shopping, and having a few premium cocktails. She loves Amazon, and they have a box or two delivered every day or two. After all, she knows all the stuff they 'need' for their home, and Amazon seems to always have a great deal on the right stuff at the right times. 

Together, their biggest expenditures are for vacations, especially those long weekends away at the lake with their boat, partying it up with their closest friends. Those weekends at the lake are amazing. Their cellphone plans total almost $200 a month, and cable, internet, and streaming video subscriptions total $273 per month when added together. It suddenly dawns on them that they have $90,000 dollars in credit card debt, spread across 7 or 8 different cards. She just found out she's pregnant with their first child, and he's been notified he's being transferred to a different location for work and starting next month will have a 35+ mile commute. They are in a very heated argument right now, as a debt collector has been pestering them about late bills. Each says it's the other's fault. Neither sees their collective spending of $110,000 a year while making only $65,000 a year as a problem at all, but both of them see the other's spending 'needs' as the root cause of the problem.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Republican and Democratic parties. ^^^^ Both parties think they spend on the right things Both parties spend too much. Both parties truly believe it's the other party's fault we're in this mess.

Redacted Affidavits and Rorschach Tests - 8/27/2022

What do you see? I see a Grateful Dead skull and crossbones album cover.

From the beginning everything to do with candidate Donald Trump as he came down the escalator, up until the present, Former President Donald J Trump's home raided to collect classified documents, if nothing else, he has been a human Rorschach Test. It's pretty amazing, actually. Most of you, Trump supporters over there, and Trump haters over there, are probably going to disagree with some or much if what I have to say, but I have to say it.

First off, I have read a number of editorials regarding the raid on Mar A Lago, and something I have seen stated time and again is that Trump brings much of this upon himself. I'd like to say "No way!" or to make a cogent argument against such statements, but I can't. Time and again he's said stuff that makes even me, a supporter ask, "What the hell did he have to say that for?" He is a true bull in a china shop and often says what everyone is thinking in a way that is sure to offend some, make others uncomfortable, and still others stand up and cheer, "Finally! Someone is saying what needed to be said!"

Another thing Trump has done and continues to do, is to challenge and defy the DC establishment and bureaucracy, aka "The Swamp". The Swamp includes establishment politicians from both parties who are getting rich, rich, rich while performing "public service". It also includes all the career agency employees. Theses are the ones who, unelected, wield power like an untouchable, independent, fourth branch of the government. This includes the IRS, the FDA, the DOT, and of course the CIA, DIA, FBI, and NSA. Trump has taken the opportunity to kick these swampers in the nuts every chance he's gotten. The swamp nowadays also includes a majority portion of the press and media, including big social media. And finally, last but far from least, the swamp includes the big money, the influencers who own the politicians and who call many, many of the shots in our government in D.C. None of them like Trump very much. The feeling is quite mutual. They collectively wield way more power than an ex-President. They're also unscrupulous and vengeful.

So, lemme get to the point. We don't know the facts. You don't. I don't. We often see what we presume to see. Everyone in the aforementioned swamp is working to undermine and damage Trump. Every single bit of it is. Some of you have great faith and trust in these institutions. I don't, but I concede that many of you do. And I have to concede, also, that Trump causes his own problems, which is where I started this piece this morning.

Trump was the President. As President he not only had access to classified documents, he had full authority to declassify them. I know some of you you don't think he was ever fit for the job, but that's neither here nor there. He had the job and with it he had declassification authority. He's probably going to say he declassified these docs. How in the hell are they going to argue that he didn't or couldn't or whatever? I don't know.

Trump believes he was unfairly targeted by Comey, McCabe, and the rest of them with the Hillary Clinton funded Russian Collusion hoax, which spawned the Mueller investigation. The entire swamp rallied behind this conspiracy, and many of you who are breathless at these new classified document revelations (revelations? really? what has been revealed? redacted revelations?) were equally so at the Russia hoax. You bought Hillary's lies hook, line, and sinker. Yeah, you did. Many STILL believe it. Well, this stuff coming out now is coming from the same people and with the same kinds of leaks and media flame fanning that characterized 2016-2019. It was a setup from the get go. This looks remarkably similar to many of us.

Did Trump have stuff at Mar A Lago that is still classified and that he shouldn't have had there? Very possibly. Was there wrangling and sparring, aka negotiations, going on about these prior to the raid that they don't want us to call a raid? Yeah, there was. Trump didn't give in to them. But why? I don't know for sure. You don't either.

Did Trump have some of the formerly classified documents that he ordered declassified in the fall (or was it winter) of 2020? I'm referring to Russiagate docs that show the swamp's setup of the whole scam. If you don't recall, I do. Trump ordered those docs declassified. He had full authority to do so from the get go. The problem is that some of you, like the swamp, never accepted someone like Trump as your President from the get go. You felt "resist" was a totally acceptable and necessary thing because you never saw any legitimacy in the Trump presidency. How much of that was because you believed the Russiagate stuff, and how much was just the shit Trump said over and over in ways that rankled you to your core? I contend you can't separate the two, but that the two combined to shade your perception of every single thing Trump said and did, and what he says and does right up to today.

The sense of Trump's illegitimacy from day one permeates the swamp totally and fully. Some of you, too, if you're honest. I am convinced that the folks over at the National Archives, the archivists who manage presidential documents and have for decades, have felt a compulsion to address the grave concern that this illegitimate and inappropriate, uncouth, anti-swamp warrior has presidential documents of which he is not and was never worthy of and now that he's gone they are taking no chances that he continue to possess that which he ought not to have had in the first place.

Trump is a political Rorschach Test. Some of you see nothing but evil and wrongdoing in every single thing he says and does. Some of us say, "Finally, someone who represents us!" There are very few people in the small area in between.

To some, what a redacted document says proves Trump guilty, to others, what is blacked out it proves a corrupt swamp is working overtime to frame him. There's not much there, but everyone is seeing what they want to see anyway.

I've got to ask. Why now? I can tell you there is a great deal of political opportunism going on here. This raid, the fight over these documents comes at an extremely opportune time. It's one thing, not the only thing, that has taken some of the critical focus off a Joe Biden presidency that had been flailing and wallowing. The Supreme Court's overturn of Roe V Wade helped Democrats some. The Student Debt forgiveness will sway some and help his favorability, too. But let there be no doubt, there is nothing better to energize the base for Joe Biden right now, and for Democrats headed into what was looking like a mid-term drubbing, than "Orange Man Bad". It works. They know it works. They are playing it to the fullest. The fact that President Biden and his spokesperson Jean-Pierre are calling Trump's MAGA movement fascist this week is no coincidence. I'm sure many on the left were delighted to hear them say it. You don't have the fucking balls to call me a fascist, because you know it's a goddamned lie, but you love love love hearing Biden and Jean-Pierre say it.

This is NOT just a political play for 2022 and 2024, though. I'm not that naive. Trump is the enemy of the left, and the enemy of the swamp. He is being attacked with the intent of destroying him and also his movement.

Canceling Student Debt, It's A Matter of Perspecive - 8/25/2022

If you have student debt, chances are you support student debt cancellation. Duh.

It's all a matter of how you look at it, a matter of perspective. I realize that.

I saw a post from a woman I follow on Twitter. She's a Mets fan. She posts in a little collection of Mets fans whose stuff I see regularly. In her comment she seemed to be genuinely perplexed that people couldn't see how canceling this debt would benefit her and many, many others like her. I didn't know anything about her, so I looked at her page this morning to see where she was coming from. It's clear she's a grade school teacher. It's a matter of perspective.

I read a post from another person. He asked, "If your credit card company chairman announced that he was canceling a part of your balance, would you say that's unfair to the other card holders?" My response was, "If the President of my credit card company called me and said “We know you’ve made your payments on time, so are increasing your debt by $10,000 because we are forgiving your next door neighbor’s $10,000 debt,” I think I just might levy an objection. It’s a matter of perspective."

Before I go further, let me offer that there are things that President Biden could have done that would have made me support this initiative. 

One: means test debt forgiveness recipients. Don't forgive debt to people who made plenty but spent their money on lots of other stuff who somehow can't find the money to pay off their student loans. 

Two: discriminate by degree. What fields of study lead to essential jobs in the community which don't pay a salary commensurate with the community's need for their services. Teachers, for example. Engineers, lawyers, doctors, etc., make enough to pay their loans. That Liberal Arts degree may make for a well rounded individual, but there's no appreciable need in the community for Liberal Artists.

Three: Make a public service payback provision. You're a doctor, lawyer, engineer, or liberal artist who doesn't qualify under provisions One and Two above? You can be paid back if you commit to community service in your chosen field or as a generalist of some sort. Figure out an hourly rate, per field of study, and require 1/2 hour to cancel one hour's worth of debt. For example, someone owes $20,000, and the occupational field related to their degree pays $50 an hour on average in their community. That comes out to 400 hours, times 50 to get to $20,000. In my scenario, 1/2 of the 400 hours would cancel the debt: 200 hours. That comment I made on Twitter applies here: if they're going to increase my debt by $10,000 in order to forgive my neighbor's $10,000, I'll feel better about it if for the next two years he'll be washing my car once a month, cutting my lawn every two weeks, and trimming my hedges once a month.

Four: make colleges and universities pay a portion of the debt out of their endowments. Let's face it. These institutions jacked up their tuition costs commensurate with the amount of money that was made available to students in the form of federally guaranteed loans and grants. The colleges and universities are a huge part of this problem. Not only did they jack up prices to claim this additional available money (same as auto manufacturers and EV rebates are doing right now), but I fully expect them to jack prices up again to claim this debt forgiveness windfall as best they can if they can.

Of course, none of what would make this acceptable to me is in there. It's not because this is a pure vote grab in an election year when Democrats are scared to death of November because our President is inept, has dementia, and is of their party. Lacking any of One through Four, above, I'm against it. But I don't matter. I'm not one of the votes he's buying, anyway.

Mitch McConnell and the Establishment GOP, Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys - 8/24/2022

For many years I felt the worst possible candidates for President were Senators and Lawyers. And the Senators who run often are lawyers. Lawyers are different. They're trained not look at issues and events through a moral lens, but to look at things through a legal one. "Can I justify this?" "Can I defend that?" Right or wrong are often far removed from the logic that supports or opposes their stance or vote on an issue. And a Senator, they're this upper house body which maintains a status quo. If I were to make a list of all the politicians I detest or have detested in the last 40 or so years, I bet a whole lot of them would be Senators. And a whole lot of those would be Republicans, the party with which I was affiliated for so many years. If there is such a thing as a "uniparty", it is nowhere more in evidence than the US Senate. Even in all the Mitch Rapp books by Vince Flynn that I like so much, the villain is often a Senator. Too big for his or her britches, and deeply connected to both the donor class pulling strings behind a curtain, and the bureaucracy, pulling the levers of power, unelected but empowered by tenure and invisibility.

Mitch is a clown.

 Before I go any further, let me get right to the point. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is a uniparty scumbag. He absolutely doesn't care if the GOP doesn't win back the Senate. As a matter of fact, I believe he wants to lose. It's so much easier to be the opposition party than the party in power. He can complain and carry on about not liking what's going on, to the delight of gullible Republicans who think he's sincere. But he isn't really opposed to much. It's a show. A charade. A deception. A farce. He's getting richer. His donors, the real unelected government, are happy. Life is good. Fuck the electorate.

Donald Trump? That bastard isn't beholden to McConnell's donors. That asshole questions the bureaucracy, thinking as President he holds power, that he has a say. We're so much better with a pliable puppet who was a Senator for many years who knows how the game is played and what the rules are. Well, he oughta, except that he has dementia.

Mitch McConnell, the Establishment GOP, the Uniparty, and the DC bureaucrats, aka "the swamp"? Not my circus. Not my monkeys. Most of em are clowns, anyway.

Really Bad Precedents - 8/23/2022

Last night I read an excellent article by John Soloman from his "Just the News" site. The article (link below) details how the Biden Administration has green lighted the investigation of President Trump that led to the Mar-A-Lago raid that has infuriated me and so many others. I want to explore with you some of the implications in my mind that come from all this. First, if you're interested, the Soloman piece:

justthenews.com John Soloman Article

 

If you don't read Soloman's "Just the News", maybe you should.

The first thing Trump supporters and even detractors need to realize is that among Biden supporters and Trump detractors, be they GOP establishment types or Democrats, is a core belief that Trump is corrupt. It's probably safe to say it's a compilation of reasons that drives them to this presumption of guilt.

First, there's his boorish, abrasive, inappropriate behavior and big mouth. Supporters may recognize that only the nastiness of a wolverine can confront the predatory and vicious attacks that come at every prominent Republican candidate. They came at Bush One and Bush Two, at Romney and McCain. They'll come at DeSantis or whoever is next with vicious attacks, too. Trump may be the only kind of a candidate who can stand up to the attacks, and does so the only way he knows how, by attacking his detractors just as viciously. It may be the only strategy that can withstand the attacks, but to many it's beyond unseemly all the way to unacceptable. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Then there's the fact he's a successful entrepreneur of significant wealth. There is a presumption among many, especially on the left, that every company and person who is highly successful financially is corrupt. To the socialistic and communist left, business is the daytime home of the boogymen that hide under their beds waiting to pounce when they close their eyes seeking peaceful sleep. Trump and his kind wait for just such moments to destroy the innocent and "helpless".

And lastly, his political initiatives, positions, and programs are at odds with all that is progressive and leftist, things that in their minds are all goodness. So someone like Trump who would challenge and thwart the good and beneficial progressive agenda must surely be evil and accusations of criminality are certainly befitting such an evil doer as that.

What I am telling you, is that underneath all these efforts to get Trump: in New York by a DA who campaigned on a "I will get Trump" platform, in Georgia, where Trump did the unconscionable by not just questioning an election he did not believe was conducted legally or fairly, and in DC, where Trump's efforts to drain the swamp were an affront to bureaucrats across the entire broad range of Federal Government agencies, is a core belief in his guilt. Guilty of what? Of something. Of anything. Of everything. It was the DC swamp that sanctioned and enabled the unprecedented Mar-A-Lago raid. The raid was indeed sanctioned by the White House, and Joe Biden is lying when he says it wasn't or that he didn't know about it. Joe is hiding behind a flimsy plausible deniability curtain, but anyone with eyes can see right through it. There are report Joe has been pushing AG Merrick Garland to "get Trump". Why would Joe do this, breaking with 200+ years of precedent? I just told you. Trump's a jerk. He's a successful businessman, which means inherently corrupt, and he opposes the left's agenda, which is clearly an evil thing for anyone to do. So he's got to be guilty and they just need to catch him. It's imperative.

Think about this: The Biden Administration waived Trump's Executive Privilege. Insanity.

Lemme finish by turning this around a bit. I think the precedent of going all in to destroy Trump is the absolute worst political thing anyone of any political party or persuasion has done in my lifetime. There is a new precedent, a third world dictatorship mentality being embraced on the left and by never-Trump conservatives like Liz Cheney. Do you think that Hillary Clinton, Joe "10% for the big guy" Biden, and the heroes of the left are any less contemptible to me/us than Trump is to them? Do you think the fact these creeps spend a lifetime in "public service" and are worth tens or hundreds of millions of dollars is any less an indication of corruption than Trump's business successes (and failures) are? Do you think to a conservative that the left's political initiatives, positions, and programs are any less evil or contemptible in the eyes of conservatives? The answers are no, no, and no. This new precedent of using the apparatus of the government to destroy our political opponents is a bad one, a very, very bad one. It is a mistake, a mistake that clearly the people doing so feel in their hearts is righteous and justified in making. I got news for them.

What goes around comes around.

Trumpism, the GOP, and Matty P - 8/22/2022

There has been a lot of angst among members of the Republican Party over what Donald Trump did to it. I read the Wall Street Journal, and they've been particularly critical of Trump and Trump supporters, I guess because we're not being pragmatic and supporting traditional GOP type candidates in favor of Trump endorsed interlopers who would dare to challenge those same traditional GOP types. We're handing things to Democrats by not choosing the practical candidate from the GOP establishment in favor of someone who wants to overturn the GOP apple cart.

Before I go further, I have no idea why Trump endorsed Dr Oz. To me it was a terrible choice and I'm not a Trump mind-numbed robot. I'm not in PA, but if I were I probably wouldn't vote for him, either. So Trump endorsements don't control my choices. Back to that "GOP apple cart".

I'm not a Mitch McConnell fan. Not even a little bit.

Trump didn't steal me from the GOP. Let's get that straight. In 2014 I left the GOP before Trump came on the scene. At that point I was completely fed up with and tired of Mitch McConnell and the others like him. I did not believe they cared a bit about me, that they represented me, or that they were loyal to us as a GOP voting block. They were and still are sellouts as far as I am concerned. I might have tolerated same, but I got sick and tired of their weak feigned support of Conservative principals. They let progressives, liberals, and Democrats have far too many wins, and more importantly, far too many easy wins. They didn't fight for me. I never felt they did. I felt they fought for their own financial enrichment, period. So I left the GOP and became an independent. I figured 'let them see me as a swing voter'. Let them campaign for my support. Let them work for my vote.

Trump came along in 2015 and in 2016 I came back to the GOP to support Trump. I didn't come back because I was any more enamored with Mitch or Ryan or any of them. I came back to support Trump, who I believed and still believe represented me better and who I believe loves our country more than either of the two conniving establishments do.

So when the WSJ and establishment Republicans try to understand why I and others like me aren't lining up behind their choices for the GOP, which are 100% continuation of the establishment and a repudiation of Trumpism, I can only say my vote wasn't yours to begin with. Trump brought me and millions of others to the GOP to support him. He didn't bring us, nor am I here, to support your tired line of bullshit and your weak-asssed efforts where you pretend to support me, but to see you time and again cave in to the left and march to the orders issued by your owner donors.

We aren't divided because of Trump. We got Trump because we were so divided.

It's not Trump and Trumpism that is causing weakness and division. It is you, the establishment Republicans, who are shooing us toward the door because we won't sing along with the songs in your tainted hymnals. Figure out why we came in when Trump came along. Show us with actions first, words next, that you want to Make America Great Again and that you will put America First. Show us that you will fight the left's progressivism like relentless rabid attack dogs. That's not who your military industrial and pharmaceutical masters are telling you to be? Well, choose. It's them or us. I won't support you if you choose them. My vote isn't in your hip pocket. You can bet your ass it's not.

Liz Cheney, Good Riddance - 8/17/2022

I'm going to make this short and sweet this morning. I am delighted that Liz Cheney was defeated in her bid for re-election for her seat in the House of Representatives representing Wyoming. I'm going to give you, I suspect, a slightly different perspective on the whole thing than what you're getting from liberal or conservative media of all types. Follow along.

Good riddance!

 

1. January 6th protesters were well within their rights to protest the execution of the 2020 Presidential Election in its entirety. The fact that an election so important left so many of us with legitimate questions about the run up to, execution of on Election Day, and the counting is inexcusable. I'm not even going to list the grievances I know that I share with many millions of Americans. None of the grievances I have were conjured up by Trump. Not a one.

2. January 6th trespassers and rioters were wrong. The then President, Donald Trump, asked that the protesters act peacefully and lawfully, if I recall correctly. But some got carried away and did wrong.

3. Taking #2, above, into consideration, who were the instigators? I have seen many, many allegations that Capital Police and the FBI had undercover officers, agents, and informants inserted into the crowds of protesters. So far, so good. But here's the rub: some of these cops are alleged to have instigated illegal activities. I struggle with "entrapment" in that if you're not a criminal and someone suggests you commit a crime, to the largest extent, you own it if you do it. But it's not an undercover cop's place to incite, inspire, and encourage crime. "Let's go over there and do this!" "Let's go over there and do that!" According to much of what I've read, that is exactly what happened. It happened in Michigan with the absolutely phony Whitmer kidnapping. To what extent did it happen on January 6th?

4. And this is where I fall off the Liz Cheney bandwagon. She's a never Trump (fine if you don't like him, but not fine in a criminal justice situation wherein you put damaging Trump ahead of doing the right thing for all the other people in the Jan 6th situation). If the Republicans on the Committee aren't asking questions about the undercover cops and agents, then who will? The January 6th Committee was nothing more than a show trial to get Trump. Where Cheney had a chance to ask the questions me and many millions of others wanted asked: about the election and about the entrapment activities on January 6th, but instead chose to help Speaker Pelosi rid D.C. of Donald Trump, once and for all, that's where I decided she can go fuck herself.

Goodbye Liz. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Note: Having doubts and serious questions about the 2020 election, all the shady and questionable shit I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears isn't anti-democracy. Stop it with that bullshit. Cheney wasn't protecting democracy. She was trying to rid D.C. of Trump. I realize you have Trump Derangement Syndrome and can't differentiate between the two, but I wish you'd try.

I Fear for Our (formerly?) Great Country, An Angry Rant - 8/16/2022

Democrats Have Crossed the Rubicon with the Mar-A-Lago Raid on August 8th

As a primer, I recommend this excellent Margot Cleveland piece from the Federalist yesterday.

Excellent Margot Cleveland Federalist Article

More than anything else, I've spent the last year and a half, almost two, astounded by what seems to be a complete and total disconnect between the left and the right. And as much as some, perhaps most people might want to blame Trump for the disconnect, I do believe the Trump phenomena is a result of the division, not the cause of it. Let's just presume for the sake of this discussion that Trump is destroyed by the Deep State and Democrats this time. Then in 2024 we'll have a different candidate on the GOP side. Whether that's Florida Governor Ron DeSantis or someone else, we will see the same demonization, vilification, and underhanded, dishonest attacks made against the new GOP candidate as the old. I expect the attacks to be vicious, relentless, and mostly based on unfounded innuendo and baseless accusations, a la Justice Brett Kavanaugh. But here's the kicker: the people making the attacks, and their like-minded politically aligned people will deeply and truly believe every single thing, every single word of it. The result? Even if the 2024 candidate is NOT Trump, they will truly believe him or her unfit for the office, and that belief will color every single thing they say and do before, during, and after the election.

Cernovich can be a knucklehead, but this tweet says it all.

If you read the Margot Cleveland article I linked, and if you think about what's going on with Trump right now, and put that all in the context of Cernovich's very accurate assessment in this tweet, you get it. Lemme take this to where it seems to be going.

They're not going to let up until Trump is finally arrested. Who's they? The whole, entire fucking left. The politicians, the media, and the vocal left on social media and everywhere else. The Deep State. The entrenched D.C. bureaucracy. In their eyes he's evil, unfit, and any and all allegations are believed true and egregious, regardless if they are or aren't.

And then there's me and people like me. I've got no other or better way to say it. The Mar-A-Lago raid pissed me off. Not like so many other things have. All the shit they've done to Trump has pissed me off. But this latest one for me was different. It hit me in a whole different place and a whole different way. Incredibly, Trump's worst crime in their eyes, in your eyes if you're the lone lefty with balls enough to read my stuff, was not accepting the result of the 2020 graciously and conceding to their power like the loser they see him as.

Well, look here. You motherfuckers cheated in the election. I can't say I know and have proof it was enough to change the outcome, but you cheated. Trump BELIEVES the cheating did affect the outcome. You may not like that, but he does and as such he has every fucking right to believe it and say he believes it. Maybe you shouldn't have stopped counting in the middle of the night. Maybe you shouldn't have changed the rules contrary to your state constitutions for Covid. Maybe, just maybe some portion of the 2000 mules is true (some of it is, period).

Well now you've got the Presidency. Of course in it you have an ineffective, demented has-been, a small man who looks smaller every day, a pipsqueek of a man who looks evil and vile, spiteful and hateful with his DOJ's unnecessary and totally unacceptable attack on his predecessor and likely 2024 opponent. Mr. President, Mr. Attorney General, Mr. FBI Director, this doesn't end well. Nope. Why not?

Because I know how I feel about the way they're doing President Trump. Lemme tell you. I feel like this is an attack on me personally. You see, when I voted for Trump, twice, it was as much or more a rejection of the D.C. establishment as it was anything else. And they know this. They know we voted AGAINST THEM. And all this? All this is to punish us. To force us to bend at the knee and accept their power and control. This is about way more than Trump. This is about the Trump movement which is a fight to have a government controlled by our people, not special interest after special interest and international and domestic financial giants who buy and own our elected officials. The power is flexing and fully invested in hammering us back into our rightful place, fully disempowered and unable to affect them or their efforts moving forward.

I was livid to know that Trump had to take the Fifth in a hearing in NY being conducted by a DA who ran on the promise of "getting Trump". Evil. I was livid when I heard about the Mar-A-Lago raid. Unacceptable. I was livid when I read they took Trump's passports. Total fucking insanity. They act like that was an innocent mistake. My fucking ass it was a mistake. They saw the whirlwind it created and gave them back and called it a mistake. It was no mistake. It was overreach. I was livid when I heard that Rudy Giuliani was the target of an election interference. Listen up leftist fuckfaces in and out of government: we have a right to question the results of 2020 and to say so anytime and anywhere we want. We have a right to hire lawyers, investigators, and dig in to find answers to things that appear at best to be questionable. The unfair and unacceptable treatment of January 6th protesters is how people who dare to question the absolutely questionable are and will be treated.

Unless someone can talk some sense into the Deep State and leftists in D.C., I fully expect we will see President Donald J. Trump in handcuffs. I believe it will be perhaps the biggest political, social, and legal mistake in our lifetimes. Some people who will be as angry as I will over it will act out. I am sorry to say that, but that is foreseeable and is totally predictable. For what? For fucking what? A flex of muscle to intimidate us who dare to disagree with the way Washington does business these days? This won't end well.

I fear for our country. Are we still great? Some of us want greatness. I have no idea whatsoever what the other people want. And you motherfuckers have absolutely no idea what an insurrection is or what an insurrection looks like. Seems to me you're doing your best to find out. I fear for our country. Can cooler heads prevail? Biden, Garland: the ball is in your court. Can you be the cooler heads we need, or are you the evil vengeful pricks you are showing yourselves to be right now.

Unifying? My ass Joe. We've never been so divided. I blame you. I fear for our country.

Never This Divided in My Lifetime - 8/13/2022

Let me start with this: I do not think Donald J. Trump is infallible, perfect, above the law, or incapable of wrongdoing, mistake, or misjudgement. He has a massive ego, he always has to get in the last word, he feels compelled to respond to insults and slights in kind, and far too often when he could make a point clearly and definitively, he instead takes a low road that undermines what might otherwise be an effective and relevant case or argument. Yeah, he's an asshole. But at least a part of his brusque and bellicose natural tendency is badly needed in our country right. It was in 2016, 2020, and still is headed into 2024.

See, Republicans and Democrats alike are mostly corrupt. I'm sure there are exceptions who are on the up and up from both parties, but both parties are owned and controlled by special interests, often foreign who do NOT have the United States' best interests, nor the American people's best interests at heart. In order to remain in control and in power, these politicians and special interests have discovered the best way to keep their stranglehold on Washington is to keep us divided and at each other's throats. Behind the curtain, though, away from our prying eyes, both left and right are getting rich at the hand of the same special interests.

 

Trump threatens all of that. He is no doubt a highly imperfect vessel, I conceded that here at the outset. You can't convince me he doesn't love our country and love our people. He was a billionaire before he was President, and as such was nearly impervious to the power and influence of the special interests who own enough of the other politicians in Washington to have a firm grasp on the throttles of power and control.

I have felt a simmering loathing deep in me for the left. Most of what they put forward seems to me to be either illogical, immoral, impractical, or a combination of two or all three of those. Granted, I can often see an underlying good intention, but the road to hell is so paved, as the cliche says. You can name any of the debated issues of our time, and if we disagree about it, chances are it is one of those three characteristics where our opinions will differ. A healthy dialogue about any one of these issues, under those three lenses, would help us to narrow our misunderstanding and maybe find small areas of agreement we could build on. I can't find much healthy dialogue, free from insult, innuendo, slander, or dishonesty. So lacking meaningful dialogue, and seething at those insults, innuendos, and slanders, I wind up deep in an echo chamber, where my own thoughts, even where moderate, aren't ingested for comprehension and mutual understanding, but rather become just a stepping stone to some further and further place. As positions migrate further and further, these here going this-away, those there going that-away, the divide gets continually wider and deeper. As I read and hear the stuff from the left as it migrates further and further, and as it is delivered in the form of insult, innuendo, and slander, I seethe. I loathe. I despise. It is hard not to respond in kind. Very.

We simply don't know how to talk to each other anymore. Trump's appeal? He calls the bullshit as he sees it. Does he go too far? Probably so. No, definitely so. But as I am bombarded with insult, innuendo, and slander, only Donald Trump steps up on my behalf. This is what I think my friends on the left don't understand. Look at the shit Hillary Clinton said about me/us in 2016. We were "deplorable". We were racist, homophobes, zenophobes, on and on and on. Not only did I not hear ANY, not one, not ANY of my friends on the left object to her doing so, instead you cheered her on. Yeah, you did. As outspoken and vocal as I am, only one person, my nephew, asked my to explain why I supported him. Everyone else assumed, presumed, and bought off on the inflammatory leftist stereotyping and insults. At the same time I saw many of my friends on the right do likewise to the left. So the divide deepens. It widens.

For the record, I have never stopped wanting to understand my friends on the left. That doesn't mean we, having mutual understanding, would agree. It'd be less divisive than buying off on political propaganda and assumptive stereotypes. Show me why you think my position is illogical, immoral, or impractical. Find a way to do that without calling me stupid, evil, brainwashed, or dishonest. If you can't, then scroll on. You're not worth talking to anyway.

TDS Wack-O-Meter - 8/12/2022

The New TDS Wack-O-Meter:

You may be a wacko, infected by the leftist virus, TDS, the full name of which is Trump Derangement Syndrome. This simple test will help you determine if your dislike of or distrust of President Donald J Trump is healthy and normal, or if you are a fully deranged left wing wacko, beyond help or reason.

Take the following true/false test. Give yourself the number of points in parenthesis for each question for which you answer: "true":

1. Donald Trump colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential race vs. Hillary Clinton, true or false? (2)

2. Donald Trump paid a Russian Hooker to pee on a bed that had been slept in by a former US President of a rival party, true or false? (3)

3. Donald Trump called a report about Russians paying bounties on US Soldiers to the Taliban fake news. Donald Trump was lying when he did so to protect his fragile ego, true or false? (2)

4. Donald Trump called Neo-Nazis "fine people", true or false? (2)

5. Donald Trump advised peopleat  to drink bleach to fight Covid, true or false? (3)

6. Donald Trump cleared protesters with tear gas so he could stage a bible photo op, true or false? (2)

7. The Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation, true or false? (4)

8. The election in 2020 was fair and untainted, as no court found evidence of major fraud, true or false? (2)

9. January 6th was an insurrection to overthrow the government of the USA, true or false? (3)

10. Donald Trump was so angry on January 6th that he attempted to forcibly take the wheel of the Presidential limo known as "the beast" to take it to the Capitol, true or false? (2)

Scoring:

0... It's great you're a Trump supporter. He's not as perfect or infallible as you seem to think. I do commend you for not watching CNN or MSNBC, though.

2-5 points... You are a skeptic, but your skepticism is in a reasonably healthy range. We should all maintain a healthy skepticism of our leadership, regardless of personality or party.

6-10 points... You have mild TDS. You might consider doing some of your own fact checking rather than taking what you read from the NY Times, Washington Post, or hear on NPR, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, or ABC as factual and accurate. Ask yourself if your favorite sources of news information are impartial and just as critical of candidates and politicians from the left as they are of Trump and the right.

11-15 points... You are fully infected with TDS. You are closed minded and simple. If you discovered evidence that provided incontrovertible proof of corruption on the left or Trump innocence of any allegation, you would hide it for what you think are the country's best interests. You are beyond help.

16-25 points... You not only have severe TDS, you are a wack-a-doodle-doo fucking moron of epic proportions. You may not hear people talking about how stupid you are, but I promise you, they do. A lot! Ask your parents how much they had to donate to your high school to get them to issue you a diploma. There are reasons why you didn't get that job you wanted or the promotion that you sought. To save your dumb ass the trouble of trying to figure it out, let me tell you plainly: you're really, really stupid, and you're a gullible follower totally incapable of taking on more responsibility or of taking a leadership role in any organization except the Democratic Party. But don't get too excited about that. The Democratic Party doesn't really care for you either, they just like to amass large numbers of really dumb motherfuckers like you for their own power and gain. They know you're too lazy to think independently or critically, and that you're dumb enough to take one for the team while they laugh behind your back.

Banana Republic, USA - 8/10/2022

The FBI raiding Mar-A-Lago has descended the US into banana republic status.

In 2001 after Bill Clinton left office, I felt Republicans who were obsessed with taking potential criminal justice actions against him for his “crimes” were out to lunch. Once the guy left office, it was time to move on. We are not a banana republic where vindictive action against political foes to exact revenge for wrongs, whether real or imagined, is how we should conduct ourselves. At the time I felt the GOP was in the wrong for not letting Clinton go peaceably into history.

Many Republicans remained obsessed with Bill Clinton, long after his presidency.

In 2017 I was glad that President Trump didn’t follow through on his bombastic threats against Hillary Clinton. Defeated at the polls, the best thing for Hillary, who I don’t like at all, not even a little bit, was to let her stew in the disappointment of her own loss. As a matter of fact, I even hoped Trump would pardon her for the emails and all the rest just to permanently cast all that stuff aside so we could move on.

A lot of people would love to have seen Hillary Clinton in an orange jumpsuit.

And here we are. Just as in the way Harry Reid shitcanning the filibuster over judicial nominees came back to bite Democrats when it came to Trump SCOTUS nominees, the viciousness and vindictiveness that Democrats are showing toward Trump, post presidency, will come back to bite them. Between the Jan 6th hearings and now this raid in what is supposedly part of a dispute over classified documents, but which is obviously a fishing expedition looking for anything that might damage Trump, Democrats have inspired a new, far less diplomatic attitude in me toward all this.

By nuking the filibuster, Harry Reid enabled tyrannical majorities evermore in the USA

Post-Biden, I hope Republicans are absolutely ruthless and vicious toward “the big guy”, his family, his staff, and all corrupt Democrats even tangentially connected to him. I hope I get to see some of these filthy bastards in shackles. I hope Biden and his corrupt son are ruined financially by a mountain of lawyer’s bills as they try to defend their corruption. I hope the incoming Justice Department will turn Merrick Garland’s life upside down, examining every phone mail, text, email, meeting note, calendar entry, and other record looking for even the flimsiest of evidence of the political hit job he is attempting to do on Trump right now. I want to see Christopher Wray and every single FBI official who is party to this fired for cause.

Merrick Garland is showing by his actions as US Attorney General us that he is far too small a man to be a SCOTUS Justice.

We don’t raid former president’s home over disputed documents. We just don’t. And we don’t go fishing to destroy our political enemies, at least not using the criminal justice and law enforcement apparatus of the federal government to do so. At least we didn’t used to. I guess now we do.

Has Biden inflation impacted your travel plans? No worry. No need to travel. Joe Biden is bringing a Banana Republic right to your door.

The ghost of Harry Reid says hello, and welcome to Banana Republic, USA. Oh, by the way, I plan to make a donation to Donald Trump today. He wasn't my first choice for 2024. He is now.

Trump for President 2024 - 8/9/2022

Up until early yesterday evening, my position on 2024 has been that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is my first choice, and while I would prefer he not run, that I will vote for President Donald Trump if he is the nominee.

This morning that's all changed. Why? Because last night President Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and FBI Director Christopher Wray descended my beloved country to banana republic ststus, behaving more like third world dictators than leaders of a constitutional republic. They have exhibited behavior more fitting for Vladimir Putin, Adolph Hitler, or Joseph Stalin. The party that loves vaccines more than liberty went full evil despot tyrant last night in an attempt to inoculate us from another Trump presidential term.

Unacceptable. This act was a declaration of war against not just Trump, but against those of us who supported him and his America first, Make America Great Again movement. Where I had been wishy-washy about Trump 2024, I was never and am not the least bit ambivalent about putting America first or MAGA.

The Biden presidency is a failure on every level. The only thing he's good at is not being Trump. And he's not Trump. He's not as smart as Trump. He's not as decisive as Trump. He's not as effective as Trump. Joe Biden isn't as effective as even Joe Biden was 15-20 years ago. He is a shell of a man, a puppet on a string, a true "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" kind of a guy who allows leftist activist operatives trample on longstanding US traditions, for example the treatment of ex-presidents.

Yesterday morning when I woke I was a DeSantis 2024 supporter. This morning I am a Trump 2024 supporter. Fuck the Democratic Party. Fuck the DOJ. Fuck the FBI. Fuck the Deep State. Fuck the GOP establishment. Fuck Joe Biden. Fuck Merrick Garland. Fuck Christopher Wray. And fuck this new vaccine they rolled out last night, an inoculation against Donald J Trump for President, 2024. It's time. Time to donate, volunteer, demonstrate, to speak up and to speak loudly and clearly. It's time to get out the vote. First, to undermine these tyrannical thugs in 2022, and then to elect Donald Trump in 2024. I hope he announces his candidacy this morning.

Liar in Chief - 8/8/2022

 

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

Joe Biden: I'm not gonna raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000.

I knew that he was lying when he said it. Many of you knew he was lying when he said it, too. Those of you who didn't know he was lying know now that he lied to you.

"No new taxes" was George H. W. Bush's downfall. Why don't Biden's supporters hold him similarly accountable? My hunch is because they don't care. They don't look at his failures or deceits critically at all. Trump is evil, and can do no good. Biden is not Trump, and therefore is above criticism or reproach.

Here's some fun facts to close this morning: According to Forbes, there are 735 billionaires in the USA. President Biden is hiring 87,000 new IRS agents, or 118 new agents per billionaire. He's NOT hiring them to squeeze more money from those billionaires if you ask me. Just like under his mentor, President Obama, these new IRS agents will be used as political warriors to take on the left's enemies, which includes me and a lot of you.

On Brittney Griner, Not in Kansas Anymore - 8/7/2022-3

Brittney Griner

Honestly, I don't care that Brittney Griner is black, gay, or that she won't stand for the National Anthem. Color is a thing to a lot of people, but it ain't my thing. So she did some Black Lives Matter shit. I believe Black lives matter. I don't support Black Lives Matter. Some people can't make a distinction. I do. You don't like it? Tough crap. If you ask me Black lives do matter AND the Black Lives Matter group are socialist, communist, terrorist, and anti-white-racist in behavior.

Sexual preferences seems to be a cause for obsession for some people, them that feel it's an abomination and somehow impacts their lives, and also for some LGBTQ types who act as if only taking a near activist stand on the issue can prove one NOT a homophobe. I'm neither. You live your life and love who you want. The fact that Brittney Griner has a wife? WTF does it have to do with anything? To me, nothing. I've heard some speculate that Brittney Griner is trans. Maybe so. That's her business, although if she's M-F trans, some genetic women have been treated unfairly by having to compete with a guy on the basketball court. That's "if", by the way. I don't know and I don't care.

Brittney Griner broke Russian law. She should have known better, in fact I bet she did/does know better when she did it. What she did was bring a very American view of the law, law enforcement, and criminal justice to a foreign land where the American system has no bearing. I remember in 1979 I got orders to Okinawa, the USMC had me attend a class. I was taught that Okinawa is Japan, not Kansas. As in, "We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto." Well, Brittney has lived in Russia before. She knew the rules. She fucked up. Badly.

I'm not spiteful or vindictive. Did Brittney Griner disrespect our flag and veterans? Fuck yes she did. That's her right. I stop short of applauding her for exercising that right, but I have to say it is her right.

I hear some say it's incumbent on the US Government to do something to help her to gain her release. Ironically, the same people saying this would say someone like me who supported President Trump are Putin puppets and ridiculous nonsense like that. Well, who is advocating we kiss Putin's ring and ass, and genuflect before him to win the release of Brittney Griner?

Me? I'm not saying she should rot in prison for the entire 8 or 9 years. But neither would I agree with selling out US interests to gain her release. There's plenty of people in Kansas who need help. Help them. Brittney Griner is NOT in Kansas anymore.

Shipping Them North - 8/7/2022-2

Migrants are being bused from border states to blue cities up north.

I think it's great. You call yourselves "sanctuary cities". Now you're crying because your status as a sanctuary city is being utilized. Suck it up, buttercups. You wanted all these migrants to be here illegally? They're yours. House them. Clothe them. Feed them. Provide them medical care, schools, and social services. You asked for it. You got it.

To the border state governors: Please distribute ALL the people entering our country illegally to sanctuary cities and states. All of them.

We Need 87,000 New IRS Agents Because..... - 8/7/2022

In my family, I take care of our taxes. I pay every penny we owe, every year. I don't fudge, sneak, or cheat. But somehow, the addition of 87,000 new IRS agents makes me feel like a target. Why do the socialists in Washington feel like we need them, and what is it that makes me feel targeted?

We'll spend more on 87,000 new agents than those agents will reap in extra revenue.

1. "The rich aren't paying their fair share." What's fair is surely subjective, and the definition of rich is very much dependent on where you are on the income spectrum. I'm sure I am rich to some people. I don't think I am, and I worked and saved and saved and worked and sacrificed for what we have. To the people who think I'm rich and aren't paying my fair share, go fuck yourselves. Get a better fucking job. Work your ass off. Stick to it under incredible stress. Move your family multiple times across the country to realize modest success and security. If you haven't done that, cry me a river. It's your fucking fault, not mine.

2. "Everybody with money cheats... they take advantage of loopholes in the tax code." OK, listen up. Not everybody cheats. Not near as many a you think. And loopholes are loopholes. Taking advantage of loopholes isn't cheating. You're just too stupid and too jealous of people who made themselves successful while you got fired for attendance or attitude or lack of commitment from shitty job after shitty job, some of us went to night school, endured shitty assignments, and moved ourselves up the job food chain. Or maybe you quit without a better job already lined up because, well, because you're a fucking quitter. The fact that there were deductions for my cross country moves, for work related education, etc. doesn't make me a cheater. Just because you have been told it's impossible to get ahead and because YOU didn't sacrifice the way I did to advance yourself don't make me a cheater. These cheating accusations are mostly bullshit and target small business owners and others who have found even modest success.

3. "We need the extra revenue these new agents will generate through additional audits to cut the deficit." You're shitting me, right? Republican and Democrat alike will spend proportionally more for any and every extra dollar that may be raised. I suspect less will be raised than the cost of 87,000 new unionized, Federal government employees. 87,000 additional unionized, Federal employees. 87,000 additional unionized, Federal employees. Adding 87,000 to the Democrat voting block. And while we're at it, let's locate them in states and municipalities where Democrats need the extra votes.

How about this instead? Simplify the damned tax code. There's no reason things need to be this complicated. Cut Federal spending where it is wasteful. Spend less for the same shit. You can't convince me that the new VA Hospital being constructed in Louisville, KY, for example, isn't costing us FAR, FAR more because it is a federally funded project than what the exact same building and facility could be done privately. Didn't Trump prove this with a Post Office or something in D.C. before he was President? 87,000 new auditors to watchdog all federally funded project(s) wasteful spending would save us at least as much as they will gain us by auditing "rich" people's tax returns. You'd have a hard time convincing me different.

I pay my taxes. All of them. I do not fear an audit. If I ever made a mistake and knew it, I corrected it and sent a check. That has happened exactly twice in my life. I feel targeted by this, nonetheless. Why? Because Democrats are the party of class and race warfare. I'm an honest person who worked hard and it's easier to call the path I took, which most of the critics don't have the fortitude, aptitude, nor attitude to do themselves, unfair and privileged. Well, if you think that, fuck you. Get a better fucking job. Better yourself. Quit fucking complaining about me and what I have. It was there for your taking. Quit listening to the hucksters who told you is wasn't. And quit listening to teachers who tell you it's impossible to get ahead because the whole system is so unfair. They're knowingly or unknowingly feeding you a line of bullshit. And if you do work hard like I did and achieve some measure of success, they'll come after yours just like they are mine. Join with me in wishing them a very loud and enthusiatic, "Go fuck yourself!"