12/3/2020 - My Future in the GOP: Spoiler... Not!

 

Is Good Ol' Matty P leaving the GOP again?

Sometime late in 2014 or early in 2015 I made the decision to leave the Republican Party. I was fed up. I would sum up my frustration in two ways. First, I saw their opposition to Pres. Obama, opposition I supported, but the GOP's opposition did not propose practicable alternatives. The GOP proposed ideological alternatives that were never meant to stand the scrutiny of passage, nor the test of implementation, but which were instead a counterpoint in principle only. They rarely, if ever, proposed real solutions to the problems Obama took on, I'm thinking mainly of healthcare. The GOP really just defended the status quo and cried out in unison, in denial. And secondly, I understood that the GOP talked a big game: the budget, trade deals, etc. etc., but when I looked at them critically, and I did, they sold out American workers in favor of overseas workers and corporate profits again, again, and again. So I came to the conclusion that I was no longer a Republican, and changed my registration to 'independent'. If the GOP wanted my vote, I figured, they would have to campaign to get it. As an independent, I reasoned, I would be viewed as a swing voter, and would become important to their chances for election and re-election, not a presumed vote to be overlooked and unappreciated.

Then, Donald J Trump and Melania came down the escalator. As much as I knew he was an asshole, I also found that his rhetoric resounded in me. Here was a guy who actually seemed to love America, and who really seemed to connect with me as a voter. And so, in 2016, when I moved my voting registration to Florida, I also changed my party affiliation back to the GOP so that I could support Trump in the primary.

Now Trump is in a battle over election, voter, and ballot fraud in a number of states, enough states that it would change the apparent outcome of the election. And in this battle, what do I see from most of the GOP? Most of them are sitting on their hands, more than happy to see the bully Trump go away. They want to go back to being what they were before Trump. I see that. I am sure many, many others do, too. Well, there's one thing they were before Trump that if they have their way I promise you they'll be again. They'll be without me, Good Ol' Matty P. If Trump's challenges fail, and I think it's about an 80% certainty they will, and especially if the Democrats win the Senate, which I think is about a 60% chance right now, due to disaffected Republicans in GA staying home because the two GOP candidates represent the pre-Trump GOP, not Trumpism, I will once again change my party affiliation. If there is a new Trump party of some sort, I will join it. If not, then I'll either go independent again, or maybe Libertarian.

I believe the country is headed in the wrong direction under Democratic Party control. I have no interest in supporting a Republican Party that is more than happy to be the minority, opposition party. As minority, opposition party they will once again point and criticize, but they'll do nothing that is in the country's best interest. Want a real example, new as the last 24 hours? Senator Lee of Utah's support of eliminating some green card restrictions so big tech can get their overseas workers. Fuck Americans out of work during a pandemic and its shutdowns. Fuck America first. Well guess what Senator Lee, GOP, and US Senate? Fuck us? No, Senator, fuck you!

A special note for my friends from the left: please understand when I post something critical of Democrats or of a Democrat, when you come at me with "But the GOP...", it falls on deaf ears. When you point out to me what the GOP is doing as a counterpoint, you're not missing the bullseye, you're missing the target altogether. 'Cause the GOP ain't me. 30 days or so and I'm outta there officially. Unofficially, I've been outta there for years. I'm a Trumplican, and I take no responsibility for the other bastards called Republicans.

12/1/2020 Boot Camp Memories

I just finished reading Thomas E. Ricks' "Making the Corps", his 1997 book about USMC boot camp in the mid to late 90's. The book explained that USMC Drill Instructors no longer get 'physical' with recruits like they did back in the 70's and before. I went through boot camp in 1978, but I only recall one time when a D.I. got physical with a member of my platoon. There was a kid named Private Germany in the platoon. Germany was easily the most athletically gifted and physically fit kid in the platoon. He was so fit that pretty much none of the things they did to break us down seemed to phase him in the least. I remember in some of the worst of times, the rest of us were grunting, groaning, sweating, and bulgingly red-eyed, Germany was just having fun, often smiling, almost mockingly.

So one day one of the DI's, a Guy named SSgt Anger (great name for a DI), had had enough. Anger wasn't with us more than about 5-6 weeks, and he disappeared. We saw him next he was a Gunny and was Company Gunny for a different company in our battalion. Anyway, SSgt Anger was PT'ing us for something (whatever, they didn't really wait for an airtight excuse), and Germany was going through the motions like usual, smiling, happy, having a ball. So Anger stopped us and brought Germany up front. "You think this is just a game, do you, Germany?" Long story short, a few minutes later, Anger took of his SSgt chevrons and told Germany they'd settle their differences in the gear locker. We heard some banging and stuff, and when they came out, Germany was beat up pretty good. Unfortunately, Germany washed of boot camp out a few weeks later. The story we heard was about a girl and a baby back home. I don't know if they washed him out because of something to do with her or for something else, but we never did see him again. Oddly, Germany's picture is in my boot camp book, so he must have washed out right at the very end, after the book was finished.

A funny second part to the gear locker incident, is that right afterward Sgt Washington, the meanest sadistic bastard of our DI's, asked if anyone else in the platoon wanted to settle anything with him in the gear locker. Private Ryan immediately stepped forward. "Sir, if the drill instructor wants to settle things with this private, the private would love to go into the gear locker now!" "What's your beef, Ryan?" "Sir, when my girlfriend's picture went onto the hog board, the Drill Instructor said 'Who's Dago is this?', and said the private would have duty on graduation day when she comes to boot camp, and would show her a real man. After we get done in the gear locker, that won't happen." And Washington didn't go in there with Ryan. Germane to the story is the fact that John was a PAL heavyweight boxing champion in New York back before boot camp. He'd have tore Washington's head off, and I'm sure Washington knew it just as well as Ryan and every other recruit in our platoon did, too. Ryan was a damned stud, and was probably 30 or 40 pounds heavier and 4-5 inches taller. I'm not sure 3 or 4 DI's would have been smart to take him in the gear locker, at least not without weapons of some kind.

 

I wonder where Germany and Ryan are today? I was a little older, so I'm guessing they're both 60. Funny how reading that book brought back memories.

21/1/2020 Election 2020, What's YOUR Truth?

 

I saw a Facebook post this past weekend by a friend who's a longtime Democrat. He's entitled to his opinion and I did refrain from adding my comments and thoughts to his post. But his complete dismissal of the issue of fraud in the 2020 as being an imaginary issue in the minds of Trump supporters based on Trump lies made me wonder what all kinds of different people might think happened in the election and in its aftermath. Where do you stand on it, and why? Pick a number and leave a comment if you're willing to explain.

1. All of the people who've filed affidavits or testified alleging voter, ballot, or other kinds of election fraud are liars who are willing to say anything to help Donald Trump, the liar in chief. Fuck the Republicans!
   
2. There were things that could have been perceived as suspicious that happened, but there are legitimate explanations for nearly all of them. The remainder, even if they were election, ballot, or voter fraud, wouldn't have made any difference in the election.
3. Concerns about the election are really just thinly veiled efforts at voter suppression because you really don't think people of color and women should be voting in the first place.
   
4. I don't care if they cheated or not, I'm just glad that bastard Trump lost. Fuck the orange man, and fuck racist, xenophobic, homophobic bastards who voted for his fat fascist ass.
   
5. I'm sure we cheated and I'm glad, because fuck Trump!
6. There was probably cheating, but I'm indifferent. I don't like Trump or Biden enough to pay attention.
7. People who think the election was stolen are delusional and paranoid.
   
8. I feel certain there was cheating, but I know I could be wrong, too. I'd like these issues investigated promptly to ensure of the 2020 election's integrity before the wrong candidate is sworn in.
9. There was no doubt ballot, election, and voter fraud. Some of it was overseas interference, likely from China, Iran, and Russia. The rest was from corrupt city, state, and federal officials, elected and appointed. It happens all the time and there's nothing can or will be done about it.
10. I am a Trump supporter, and I'm certain the election was stolen from President Trump, and I'm so fucking stupid I've decided to let Democrats win everything now and in 2022 so I can watch them ruin the country and I'll be able to point and laugh and say, "See! I told you so!"
11. I want every affidavit and every testimony of voter fraud, ballot fraud, and election fraud investigated and prosecuted. I will never accept Joe Biden as president. He's illegitimate and we need to resist. Fuck Biden and fuck Democrats stealing the election!
    
12. I don't know what's right or what's wrong with the election, but the affidavits and testimony worry me. If you ask me, the numbers don't add up to a legitimate result. I think for sure there was some cheating, but don't know if what can be proven will make a difference or not. I'd like it investigated and corrected, regardless of how that might affect the outcome, but especially if it affected the outcome. I want any and all cheaters, regardless of party, punished to the fullest extent of the law. I'd also like safeguards put in place to eliminate as many of these problems as possible in the future.
13. Something else. (please explain)
    

So where are you at? I'm #12.

11/28/2020 Corners Without Exits

Immediately after the election I wrote that I recognized Trump's chances were slim. I still feel the same. Right now I still hope Trump's legal team will show the court ample evidence of fraud and corruption in enough of the states of Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania to get the phony election results tossed, and I do believe they're phony, but for several reasons, I don't think the efforts will succeed.

1. The first reason is simple: there isn't enough time. The Electoral College is December 14th. An investigation into some, any, or all of the questionable occurrences in these states leading up to the election in changing their rules, often in ways not provided for in their state's constitution and election laws: the actual execution of the election itself by absentee, mail, early in person voting, and day of election in person voting, election infrastructure (especially the machines and software for collecting, storing, counting, and transmitting vote totals), and post-election decisions and actions, to be done right will simply take longer than till Dec 14th. So time is the first and biggest hurdle.
2. Democrats have home field advantage in most of the states under contest. Most of these governors, secretaries of state, state judiciaries, and election officials are partisans who won't support a real and thorough investigation, and frankly, it's likely in some cases because they're the ones who bent rules, thumbed the scales, or perhaps downright committed the fraud themselves.
3. Republicans can be divided into three categories: Never-Trumpers who are glad to see him moved out and who may have been co-conspirators in any schemes. Many of these are the "uni-party" types who are Republican in name only, but in reality they're just cashing in on power. Then you've got the chicken-shit Republicans. These chicken-shits have a lot of Democrats in their districts and are afraid to speak up for fear of losing the next election. And lastly, the Trumplicans, like myself. The problem with us Trumplicans is, we're the majority of the party, let there be no doubt, but because we're a new phenomena, the never-Trumpers and chicken-shits in most cases are the office holders in the states in question, and they don't recognize us as their primary constituency, if indeed they recognize us as constituents at all.
4. Judges will be loathe to take an action and ensure the election is policed and ensure electoral integrity. No matter what they rule, they'll be pilloried for involving themselves. And besides, considering the time constraints I discussed in the first paragraph, many of the corrupt acts will still fall short of evidentiary rules lacking the time consuming, full and thorough investigation that would be required to toss the result.

 

So, based on all the aforementioned, what do I think? Should Trump concede? No. Should he continue to fight? Yes. And we MUST concentrate on both challenging the corruption AND winning the Senatorial runoffs in Georgia, too. Should we leave the GOP and form a new party, the Great America Party or the American Greatness Party, the Patriot Party, or the America First Party? I think so. Not until after January 2021, but long the before 2022 Mid-Terms. This party should appeal to all the Trumplicans, all Democrats who aren't radical leftists, and especially to minorities who want opportunity, and to not be used to win Democrats and election and then set aside until the next campaign rolls around, and who don't want to be sold out by fat cats by both parties in favor of cheap overseas labor and corporate profits rather than their own financial well being. And this party would also favor and end to endless wars, something Democrats and Republicans alike seem to love more than our country itself.

I feel like both the election of 2020 and the future of the two party system equate to corners without exits. It's as if it's untenable to stay where we are, but within the framework of the system as it is now, there's no way out. It's time to rebuild it, and when we do, to install exits from thess corners.

11/23/2020 Why Did Trump's Legal Team Distance Itself From Sidney Powell?

 

Attorney Sidney Powell

Yesterday President Trump's legal team issued a statement that lawyer Sidney Powell was NOT acting as part of President Trump's legal team. "Sidney Powell is practicing law on her own. She is not a member of the Trump Legal Team. She is also not a lawyer for the President in his personal capacity," said a statement from Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis. This statement sent some waves among both supporters and opponents of Trump's legal challenges and objections to events surrounding the 2020 General Election Nov. 3rd. What is going on here? What about "The Kracken"?

This morning, Powell, through various spokespersons, stated the following:

"I agree with the campaign's statement that I am not part of the campaign's legal team. I never signed a retainer agreement or sent the President or the campaign a bill for my expenses or fees. 
 
My intent has always been to expose all the fraud I could find and let the chips fall where they may--whether it be upon Republicans or Democrats. 
 
The evidence I'm compiling is overwhelming that this software tool was used to shift millions of votes from President Trump and other Republican candidates to Biden and other Democrat candidates.  We are proceeding to prepare our lawsuit and plan to file it this week.  It will be epic. 
 
We will not allow this great Republic to be stolen by communists from without and within or our votes altered or manipulated by foreign actors in Hong Kong, Iran, Venezuela, or Serbia, for example, who have neither regard for human life nor the people who are the engine of this exceptional country. 
 
#WeThePeople elected Donald Trump and other Republican candidates to restore the vision of America as a place of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.   
 
You may assist this effort by making a non tax-deductible contribution to www.DefendingTheRepublic.org.  #KrakenOnSteroids"
 
Sidney Powell"

There are some relatively simple explanations, although exactly which, or what combination of them is the real reason, I'm not privy. But here goes:

1. Sidney's statements have just been too outrageous and Trump and or his legal team decided it was better to have some degree of separation from her at this point. "Releasing the Kraken", etc., forced Trump to create political space between Powell and his own team's work.
2. Trump's team and Powell are taking a divide and conquer approach, where his team will focus on certain aspects of the challenge, and Powell on other, different aspects.
3. Powell is raising money to support her efforts, via the link in her statement, above, and this creates legal technicality as far as Trump's standing as POTUS and financial disclosure and restriction laws.
4. There are certain things that in his standing as POTUS, Donald Trump can't challenge in court legally, but if Powell, acting independently as a representative of other concerned and aggrieved citizens can.
5. Powell is gunning for corrupt Democrats AND Republicans, and the fallout of her work could have far reaching implications that traverse the aisle AND transcend 2020, going back maybe as far as 15 or 20 years. She alleges, among other things, that Bernie Sanders was cheated in 2016, knows he was, and that his silence was bought off.
   

Whatever is is, whether she's simply gone off the deep end, or that there are legal technicalities that require the separation, or political ramifications that require same, of all the people I've followed in the Washington D.C. political and current events scene, I trust Sidney Powell more than 99% of everybody else. She indicates she will stir up a legal and political shit-storm with a filing most likely this week. I can't wait to see what that is.

A closing note: I don't know precisely what it is that Sidney Powell will allege this week, nor do I know specifically against whom the allegations will be brought forward. But I don't care what political party, country, state, city, or branch of government those allegations may be brought against. If they're accurate and these people are as corrupt as it appears she will say, then I hope she nails every one of the dirty bastards.

11/20/2020 - 1 Unpopular, Alternate Take, a National Embarrassment

The kinds of ballot and election fraud and incompetence we are seeing in jurisdiction after jurisdiction: "oops, look, here's 2500 more ballots!" "ballots were wheeled in in the dark of night through the back door", "dead guys still voting", "nursing home ballot roundup campaigns", "Gift cards for voting? Nothing to see here.", etc., have been going on forever. Likely more of a factor in a lot of local and statewide races, let there be no doubt, political operatives, community activists, and election officials have put their thumb on the scale many, many times in elections across our country, going back further than any of us would even hazard to guess, and right on up to 2018 and 2020.

So what was different in 2020? Two things: 1) Trump was the target of most of these mom and pop up to larger organized efforts to take the presidency, and the bastard unexpectedly and inexplicably 9from their perspective) got so many votes that extraordinary measures were necessary. And in doing so, they got sloppy. 2) Trump is assembling all these reports, an avalanche or reports, many of them in isolation either weakly explainable on their own, but even if not, small enough to be dismissively brushed aside as not impacting the larger outcome. He's also assembled a team of aggressive lawyers who WILL fight the corrupt system and it's good old boys and girls who normally pull this kind of shit with impunity. And in ones and twos, looked at in isolation, apologists look at each of these goings on, as they happened in other years, and conveniently say, "No big deal. There's no significant election fraud or ballot fraud in the U.S."

If you ask me, this stuff's been dirty from the get-go, not just this go-round. But it's been their swept out of sight, their 'dirty little secret'. In 2020, a dirty little secret wasn't going to beat 73 million (or more) votes, so they had to take far more drastic action, AND Donald J. Trump isn't going to let people pull that stuff, even if it turns out it doesn't make the difference in the election, and go down without throwing the people who did this to him a full on shit grenade.

Even if Trump's challenges aren't successful, I presently only give him a 15-20% chance maximum, I hope at a minimum the end result is ample election reform that eliminates all the dirty little secrets that apologists tell us didn't really matter for once and for all. Because the way we do this is an embarrassment. A full-on, undeniable, total, national embarrassment.

11/20/2020 On the New CCP Virus Restrictions

After seeing some comments on a post I made about the virus yesterday, there were some replies I didn't get back to. I want to clarify and amplify my discomfort with recent mandates by governors.

California Governor Newsome

 

To begin with, I know that the number of cases is on the rise. This was expected and predicted last spring. I remember clearly Dr. Fauci saying we were likely to see this. I do believe the accuracy of the numbers we've been told, i.e. cases, hospitalizations, ICU availability, and fatalities, are dubious at best. But that being the case, there is surely a surge in case numbers, regardless of how inflated they may be. And I do, to the extent I think is appropriate, respect the seriousness of this disease, especially as it threatens elderly and people with co-morbidities like my parents, etc. I'm not in denial about any of that, so throwing a chart showing me a sharp upward curve as a response to my objection, in this case to Minnesota's restriction to having visitors in a household who don't live there doesn't sway me much.

Minnesota Governor Walz

 

Further, I am not even saying that government mandated restrictions: closures, numerical limits on get-togethers, or restrictions on out of household visitors, curfews, venue capacity limits, social distancing requirements, mask wearing, and hand washing aren't helpful.

 

Illinois Governor Pritzker

 

I am saying that SOME of these restrictions and requirements, in coming in the form of government mandates, make me uncomfortable and leave me questioning if one size fits all mandates are in everyone's overall best interest. For example on the get-together restriction which set me off, here's perspective. Let's say that grandpa and grandma are quite elderly. They have some greatly shrunken and finite number of Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays left in their lives. In such a situation, where catching the virus at Christmas, for example, is not a certainty, but a possibility, and where the Christmas gathering can, with some effort, be done in a way to minimize that possibility, why would we deny them the family time when we all know good and well that any and every Christmas moving forward, including this one, might very well be their last?

Here come the closures!

 

I also believe that mandated closure of businesses: salons, gyms, restaurants, bars, shops, etc., while presumably in the overall best interest of the health of the community at large, encumbers the community at large, in this case represented by the same government that is mandating the closure, to protect and compensate businesses and workers in the same breath that puts them out of work. Not that I am advocating such a closure, but I am saying if Governor so and so mandates a closure, those affected by it need to be protected financially.

 

Detroit, April 2020

 

I do not deny the virus is a concern and warrants being addressed. But the solutions have adverse impacts, too. Financially individuals are hurt. Businesses which perhaps operated on the borderline of profitability are being and will continue to be lost forever. Teachers may be doing their best with remote learning, but kids ARE losing out academically, socially, in every way that being at school benefits kids. Elderly in nursing homes and shut-ins going without visitors are suffering horribly in being deprived of family contact. People with depression and other mental illnesses are suffering doubly in all this. Alcoholism and addiction has to be increasingly problematic, as are suicides.

So my objection is to "one size fits all" mandates, because one size doesn't fit all and we all know it. One size fits most? Maybe. One size fits some? Surely. One size fits none? No, I wouldn't say that at all. The bottom line is that I know some people can manage through this very well by following recommendations and guidelines. Other people are stupid, inconsiderate, and irresponsible. I don't know exactly where the line of demarcation should be in terms of the government mandating these things. But I do know I will continue to ask questions and to object when it seems a mandate might just as well serve the public if it was a recommendation or guideline and some personal responsibility were expected of us as opposed to punitive measures, the effectiveness of some which is dubious at best, for example mandating mask wearing out of doors in a park, or closing a place of business at 10:00, as if 9:59 p.m. is not so risky, but 10:01 p.m. is.

My last thought: I am responsible, considerate, and cognizant of how my own behavior might put me or people I love at risk, and I try to act accordingly. But neither am I in the Marines anymore, and your governor is not my commanding officer.