Welcome To The Land Of Make Believe

So now we must pretend that Donald J. Trump is somehow qualified to be President.

That he isn't a traitor.

That he isn't a rapist.

That he isn't a tax cheat.

That he isn't a total fraud.

That he isn't a lifetime grifter, who would steal the pennies off a dead man's eyes. 

That he doesn't really admire Hitler.

That the incoherent garbage that come out of his mouth is somehow wise state craft.

That he doesn't lie about EVERYTHING.

That he isn't just a collection of ugly, insatiable, appetites, with the intellectual capabilities of a very dull child.

That he isn't in Putin's pocket.

That Melania isn't a mid level underwear model from Eastern Europe. That she really deserved her "Einstein" visa. That she will somehow restore "class" to the White House. That she isn't just another grifter like everyone else in Trump's orbit.

That the media isn't ignoring Trump's slide into dementia.

That the Trump administration won't be full of criminals, fools, crooks, amoral billionaires, Putin stooges, and assorted sycophants.

That they won't hurt the majority of Americans. 

That they won't care that they're hurting the majority of Americans.

That Elon Musk is a genius, and not a drug addled freak, with a deep fondness for Nazis.

That the Republicans in the House and Senate aren't happily shitting on the Constitution 24/7/365.

That the majority of the Supreme Court isn't comfortably in the bag for our descent into Christo-fascism.

That the media hasn't been complicit, (for the sake of ratings, for fuck's sake), in this entire sordid charade.

That this is all perfectly normal. 

Gore Vidal called our country The United States of Amnesia. He was right.

Santayana said "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." He was right, too.

Welcome to the Land of Make Believe.

Compare And Contrast The Candidates

This isn't nearly as hard as some people insist on making it, so here goes:

Joe Biden: well, he is old. And he does stutter from time to time.

Donald J. Trump: rapist. traitor. pathological liar. traitor. tax cheat. traitor. adulterer. traitor. incompetent businessman as evidenced by all those bankruptcies and all of those failed businesses. traitor. fraud. traitor. sexual predator--including, allegedly, with very young girls. traitor. seemingly slipping into some form of dementia as evidenced by his every public utterance. traitor. lap dog to Putin. Did I mention that he's a traitor?

Biden, despite having to work around shit stains like Mitch McConnell and Mike Johnson, faux Democrats like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, mainstream Media that doesn't care what happens to democracy as long as they have a close "horse race" to blather about, and a Supreme Court overrun with medieval Corporate Whore Catholics, has managed to get passed more positive legislation than any President since FDR. But no tax cuts for the rich, so...

And Trump? Well, to be fair, Trump did manage to squeeze 3, count 'em 3, more turds onto the Supreme Court, and a tax cut that almost entirely benefits the richest American. Oh yeah, let's not forget that his son-in-law walked away with 2 billion dollars of Saudi money.

Hmm.  That's a tough choice.

Some Thoughts From An Angry Old Man

Ya know, if you have to constantly tell everyone that you're an "alpha male", you are definitely not an "alpha male". The proof to this is every guy on Twitter who claims to be an "alpha male".

The only way I can see this country ever having sane gun laws is if a whole bunch of elected Republicans get gunned down. Maybe then...

It's nice that the Supreme Court gets to set its own ethics code--and then ignore it. Nice for them, not for us.

Speaking of the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas has set a standard for self-hating Black men that may never be broken. I have two words for Clarence: the first one is House...To be fair, he has to wake up next to Ginni most days, and isn't that punishment enough?

And one more thought regarding the highest court in the land: 23% of Americans identify as Catholic, but 66.6% of the Supreme Court are Catholics. And most of them seem to be practicing a positively Medieval version of Catholicism. They are stuck in the Darkest of Ages, and they want us all to join them.

If someone had beaten some sense into Donald J. Trump when he was a young man, he might have turned out to be less of a festering, sexually predatory, turd. Might. My late mother-in-law had a simple solution for rapists: Cut off their balls. She was not a violent woman, but you did not want to cross any of the lines she drew.

Every time I hear "Macho Man" for the rest of my life I will think of a morbidly obese man, wearing a ton of makeup, kitten heels, a poorly fitting blue suit,  a clownishly long red tie, a diaper, and something pretending to be "hair" on his empty head. This is probably not what the Village People had in mind.

Marjorie Taylor Greene desperately wants to be Trumpie the Clown's running mate. The best she can reasonably hope for is adjoining cells.

Kari Lake will never be governor, but there are openings at Fox Nausea--I mean Fox "News", and all she has to do is keep lying her fool head off and she's as good as hired. You go girl!

Things We Don't Talk About Enough

America's eugenics movement inspired the Nazis. Oops.

Republican presidential candidates committed treason on at least three separate occasions: Nixon's team meddled in the Paris peace accords in 1968, promising the North Vietnamese a "better" deal if they'd reject LBJ's proposed deal. Reagan's team talked to the Iranians in 1980, promising them a "better" deal if they'd reject Carter's deal for the hostages. And Trump, of course, is so far up Putin's ass that he can count the Republican Congressmen nesting there.

Slavery and stolen land helped build this great land of ours.

Guns DO kill people. All the fucking time.

Nobody needs an AR-15 for self protection.

People who like to throw their Second Amendment "rights" in your face always leave out the part that says "a well regulated militia."

Back in the 1950's, the decade that conservatives are so nostalgic for, the corporate tax rate was 45%, and the personal tax rate for the richest people topped out at 91%.

(Actually, it's the 1850's that they're really longing for.)

There's way too many Catholics on the Supreme Court. And the Republican ones are seemingly longing for a return of the Inquisition.

Churches that decide to meddle in politics should be taxed.

Apparently the Christo-fascist majority on the Supreme Court think that their black robes and lifetime appointments make them bullet proof. I guess we'll see.

Libertarians have never built a goddamn thing by themselves.

Without massive government support, all those Billionaire Libertarians would just be a gaggle of cranks sitting at the far end of some dive bar, talking to themselves.

 

What Did They Think Would Happen?

So you nominate a life long criminal, who has been charged with money laundering, and accused, with good reason, of multiple sexual assaults, defrauding subcontractors, buddying up to mobsters, lying/cheating/stealing, to name just a few of his accomplishments.

And somehow, with a lot of help from RussiaRussiaRussia, Facebook, a nonfeasant media, the head of the FBI, and a few million gullible and/or brain dead American voters, this asshole gets elected President of the United States.

Did they think he would suddenly stop all of his crime-ing?

Are they fucking stupid?

Well, yes.

But they also knew this was their best, and perhaps last, chance to pack the courts with Christo-fascists.

AND to give a huge tax cut to all of their billionaire/millionaire supporters.

What's a little grifting compared to all of that? 

But when you have someone without any morals at all in a position of almost unlimited power, and you let him go unchecked because you're busy screwing the country in your own way, really bad things can happen.

Donald J. Trump only cares about himself and money. He will do ANYTHING for money, and to gratify his ego.

Selling our secrets to the highest bidder? Why not? If the price is right, anything goes.

It's a safe bet that intelligence assets have died because of him.

It's also a safe bet that some of our nuclear secrets may now be in Moscow, Beijing, Riyadh*, wherever the money was right.

I've said it before, and I will say it again: 

At this point, anyone who still supports Trump is a goddamn TRAITOR.

*There's a reason the Saudis gave Jared Kushner 2 billion dollars to "invest" and it isn't because he's good with money. He gave them something in return. Something he shouldn't have had any access to at all, since he couldn't get a security clearance without his father-in-law's interference. Hopefully, the DOJ will get to the bottom of his crimes, and Jared can spend the rest of his life in prison.

 

 

Is There ANYONE Associated With This Administration Who ISN'T A Criminal?

Uh...apparently not.

Are there ANY Republicans in Congress who aren't in Russia's pocket?

Maybe. One or two.

Do we really want all of those Catholics on the Supreme Court? 

No. At least not the "Baby Jesus weeps for fetuses" kind. If they're the "shut the fuck up and mind your own goddamn business" kind, then...maybe. But those are few and far between in public life. So, let's just go with "NO", ok?

Do they have Presidential suites at Federal prisons?

Hopefully we will find out very soon.

Every Sperm Is Sacred...Alabama Toodleloo

This country becomes more of a joke hourly.

From the spray tanned Traitor in the White House, to the organ grinder's monkey pretending to be our Attorney General, and all the other Trump appointed misfit grifters polluting our body politic, it's hard to be shocked by anything that happens in the good ol' USA.

But...

A bunch of good old white boys who happen to sit in the Alabama legislature, and the Georgia and Missouri legislatures as well, have decided to put uppity wimmenfolk in their place, and let the poor things know, once and for all, who's in charge of their bodies.

Spoiler alert! It ain't the women.

Obviously, these women just don't appreciate the wonderful blessing they've received when they are impregnated by a mouth breathing hayseed. Even if the hayseed raped them, or is related to them. After all, every sperm is sacred. It says so in the Bible-doesn't it? It must! If it doesn't, it should! Roll Tide.

Under normal circumstances, we could wait for the Supreme Court to explain to all the Bible thumpin' Jethros out there that Roe v Wade is the law of the land, and to mind their own fucking business.

But these are not normal circumstances. Thanks to Mitch McConnell (who, if there is a Hell as described by Dante, deserves his own ring) we now have a Supreme Court peopled with the likes of Brett "I Like Beer!" Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch to go along with Clarence "I've Done All You Asked--Now Can I Be An Honorary White Man?" Thomas, Alito and Roberts.

Do not hold your breath waiting for them to do the right thing.

(By the way, there are a disproportionate number of Catholics on the Supreme Court. Way too many. And their religious beliefs tend to color everything they rule on. This is not a good thing.)

So, here we are. Going backward in a hurry.

I would say boycott Alabama, but honestly, who the fuck wants to go to Alabama in the first place?

Loud, Drunk and Obnoxious

We all know people who drink a little too much.

Some of them get sad. Some of them get somber.

Some wax philosophically. Some become screamingly funny.

And some become loud, obnoxious and violent.

In some people it tends to magnify whatever their true self is.

Since he won't answer honestly any questions about what kind of judge he might be, we only know a couple of things about Brett Kavanaugh for sure:

One is that he has an extreme sense of privilege and when that privilege is questioned he becomes obnoxiously loud, hostile, and very, very defensive. He went to Yale, dammit!

And two?

Well, Brett LIKES beer! I mean, he REALLY likes beer!

A lot...

Gee, I Guess No Republican Woman Has Ever Gotten An Abortion, Huh?

To white male conservatives, women are essentially chattel.

Breeding stock. The "weaker" sex.

Too, uh, emotional, to control their own reproductive systems.

So men must control them.

And since the right to a safe abortion takes some of that control away, abortions must be outlawed.

That has been the sole thrust of large segments of the Republican Party for the last 40 years or so.

All those slobbering evangelicals screaming their fool heads off about Roe v. Wade.

They care, oh they care so deeply, about those fetuses.

Doctors are murdered, clinics are bombed, women are terrorized--all for those magic fetuses.

(Of course, once the child is born, unless he or she is white and rich, the good folks over at the GOP couldn't care less about them. Day care, family leave, Head Start,  good public schools, health care, subsidized lunches, after school programs? Nah. That's all handouts. That's all socialism.)

Since 99.9% of this vileness comes from the Republican Right, it raises the question asked in the title of this post; "Gee, I guess no Republican woman has ever gotten an abortion, huh?"

And if you believe that, well...

Fortunately, there is a solution and it's really pretty simple: if you are a female, and are against abortion--don't have one.

And if you are male, and against abortion--shut the fuck up. Mind your own goddamn business.

See. Simple.

A True "Axis Of Evil"

How about this:

You've got the completely amoral corporations. Whose only goal is to make as much profit as they can in whatever way they can.

Then you've got the amoral corporations' bought and paid for Congressmen and judges. Who do what they're told to do, however detrimental to the nation it may be.

And finally, a militarized police force keeping the rabble in line. A force made up in large part by racists and sociopaths. By the way, the "rabble" includes most of us.

There's your All-American Axis Of Evil.

Works for me.

Hey, What Happened?

I thought we were all supposed to be dead from Ebola by now? That's what they said on Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. That we were all going to die because Obama hates white people and Ebola is his way of getting back at us for slavery. And if we didn't quarantine all of West Africa, we'd all be dead by Thanksgiving!

And what about ISIS/ISIL? It was neck and neck whether we would die from Ebola before ISIS/ISIL cut off our heads because Obama, that secret Muslim, was such a lousy, weak leader, and because he detests America so much he had opened the door for his brethren to sneak in and kill us while we slept!

And gasoline was supposed to be 6, 7 maybe even 8 dollars a gallon because of Obama's stupid energy policies! But it isn't and it wasn't and...what's the deal on that?

And the economy was supposed to collapse under the threat of that Kenyan's anti-colonial socialism, yet the stock market keeps setting records and more jobs have been created than in George W. Bush's entire presidency. That can't be possible, can it?

And remember how Putin was a three dimensional chess master while poor Barack was still shooting marbles, poorly, somewhere in a Nairobi alley? And how excited the right got about manly, manly Vladimir the Stud Dictator? Jeez, it was almost like they're genetically wired to worship totalitarianism...How'd that turn out again?

This is madness I tells ya, madness! I just don't know who to believe...

I guess the good news is that we can stop worrying about climate change, and those anti-business loons over at the EPA, because noted climate scientist and oil company cuddly toy Senator Jim Inhofe is in charge of things now and he says there's no such thing as man made climate change.

Whew, we sure dodged a bullet there.

Also, and this is very important, according to a majority of our Supreme Court, and everyone at Fox News, too, we live in a post racial society now, where everyone is judged by the contents of their character, and not by the color of their skin. And therefore, the police only shoot criminals, and not just any black person who they feel threatened or disrespected, by.

Wow, that's a relief!

Oh, Okay Then

So let me see if I've got this straight:

The GOP doesn't like a certain law. Remember now, they are the "law and order" party. And this happens to be a law passed by both houses of Congress, signed by the President, and upheld by the Supreme Court.

Hell, we even had a national election that was in large part a referendum on this law.

But forget about all that. Because if the "law and order" party doesn't like a law, I mean really doesn't like a law, they are willing to shut down the government to show their displeasure.

Gosh, if only there were a way, in a representative democracy, to change laws...(Maybe even make them better? What a radical idea! Too bad those Founding Father guys weren't smart enough to put something like that in the Constitution.)

Of course, that would involve governing and compromise, and we all know how the GOP feels about government. To a true blue Tea Party Republican compromise means "give me everything I want--or else."

So, there really is no option other than having what amounts to an infantile temper tantrum.

I guess this is just another example of that famous American exceptionalism.

Everything is All Better Now, or: The South Has Risen

Thank God for the Supreme Court! Without them, and their omniscient wisdom, we'd all still think that racism was a problem here in the good old U S of A.

But no, it's most definitely not. We're past that. We're better than that. That was, after all, a long time ago. Now we're a post racial society.

Chief Justice John Roberts knows this. Just like he knew Citizens United was the right call. He's a very smart man.

Those of us who aren't as smart might think that the factors that made the Voting Rights Act necessary in the first place are still present and active in a large part of the United States.

We might think that the laws enacted by far wiser and better men than those who struck them down are still needed.

We might consider it a classic case of circular reasoning to say that the laws that made some progress possible are no longer needed because they made some progress possible. A simple person might argue that there would have been no progress at all without the laws and that to weaken them will unchain powerful, regressive forces.

For proof we would simply offer the fact that the election of President Obama unleashed a torrent of race based hatred. Hatred that is stoked on a daily basis by Rush Limbaugh and the Fox News creeps.

And that the day--the same day--the decision to strike down part of the law was announced--Texas moved ahead with a restrictive voter ID law that would not have been possible were the law intact.

But that's why we're not on the Supreme Court. We simply don't recognize all of the progress we've made.

We do not live in the same world as John Roberts.

PS If I woke up tomorrow to find Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and Alito hanging from a tree with carrion birds pecking at their livers I would not shed a single tear. Except, perhaps, for the poor birds, which might die from ingesting something so vile.

Democracy In The 21st Century

We've got a lot of nerve, trying to export "democracy" abroad when we no longer practice it at home.

"Chutzpah", I think our Jewish friends would call it.

For instance, in the US Senate, a simple majority is no longer considered a majority. No, now you need a "super" majority. Why? Just because the Republicans want it that way...or else they'll filibuster everything. Why? Because they still can. (We can thank, dear, trusting, simple minded Harry Reid for that one.)

OK,  what about gun control? Having approximately 90% of the populace supporting some kind of new regulations should be enough, right? Au contraire, mon frere! The NRA doesn't want any changes and what the NRA wants the NRA gets. Wayne "A Gun Is A Tool And So Am I" LaPierre and his bags full of cash make sure of that.

Depending on how the questions are phrased, the majority of the American people also support abortion rights, gay marriage, green energy, sensible immigration reform, high speed rail, rebuilding the infrastructure, higher taxes for the rich, closing corporate tax loopholes, health care reform, cutting the defense budget, and a long list of other "progressive" actions.

So what's the problem? Guess.

That we are still arguing, and, as a result, stalemated over these issues is indicative of one thing:

Money trumps democracy almost every time. And the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case has only made the situation exponentially worse.

Forget all that one man one vote, land of the free, "We the People" nonsense.

Money trumps democracy almost every time.

That is the one thing we really should teach the kids in school. That and Mandarin.

Justice

Former United States' Supreme Court associate justice Sandra Day O'Connor has written a new book!

It should be called:

"Memoirs of another Republican hack, who--and don't you dare call it affirmative action--though not even remotely qualified, somehow found herself on the Supreme Court, and managed to help subvert democracy by appointing George W. Bush President even though the other guy got more votes, including in Florida, but that's not judicial activism, because I'm a conservative."

But, alas, it is not...

Back To The Future, or: Sequester This

And so we are where we started.

Trapped.

With a government hamstrung by a few fanatic lunatics, who owe their allegiance not to the wishes of a majority of the American people, but to a handful of corporate interests and/or their own misguided interpretations of the Constitution.

Fanatics who take their marching orders from a bloated, bilious, radio talking head, an anti-tax lobbyist, the simpering mouthpiece of the gun manufacturers, and, "angels and ministers of grace defend us", the ghost of Ayn Rand!

Oh my.

Now, on top of everything else, Supreme Court justice Antonin "Clarence Thomas Is My Bitch" Scalia, who is just barely, recognizably human, tells us that protecting the rights of African-Americans to vote amounts to a "racial entitlement." This after the Republican Party spent an entire election cycle trying to figure out new ways to suppress the black vote--something which Republican controlled state legislatures gleefully continue to do 24-7.

Jesus Christ.

Texas Executes Man With 61 IQ

When I saw the headline "Texas executes man with 61 IQ" my first thought was, well gee, who's going to be governor now?

But it turns out it wasn't Rick Perry after all. No, not George W. Bush either.

Now, maybe you thought that the Supreme Court had ruled in 2002 that a state couldn't execute a "mentally retarded" person because it violated the 8th Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

The Supreme Court did in fact say that, but hey, don't mess with Texas!

Besides, a person with a 61 IQ isn't considered to be "mentally retarded" in the Lone Star State.

I'll leave a space here for you to make up your own jokes:

John Roberts....A Fantasy

INTERIOR: the chambers of the Chief Justice of the United States' Supreme Court--day

[John Roberts, an insignificant man in a black robe, stands before a full length mirror]

Roberts: Well, today's the big day! Yep, the big day. Obamacare, heh heh heh.  Frankly, I don't see what the big deal is. I think liberals just like to complain about things. I'm very happy with my health insurance, and so is everyone I know. Scalia, and Alito, and Thomas. And sometimes Kennedy. You never can tell with him. It's something, though, to hold the fate of millions of people in your hands. Makes me kind of giddy.

[A 3 headed devil, bearing a remarkable resemblance to Rush Limbaugh and the Koch brothers, appears on his right shoulder]

Devil: You know what you have to do, don't you?

Roberts: Yes, Master. I do.

Devil: Just like Citizens United.

Roberts: Yes, Master.

Devil: This will finally be the end of our first--and last--black President.

Roberts: Yes, Master.

[An angel, who is the spitting image of Abe Lincoln, appears on his left shoulder]

Angel: Now John, you don't really want to do that, do you?

Roberts: Who are you?

Angel: I'm the better angel of your nature.

Devil: Shut up!!

Roberts: I didn't know I had one.

Angel: Oh John, we all do. It's just hidden in some people.

Devil: Shut the fuck up!!

Angel: John, don't pay any attention to them. They're living in the past and we're talking about the future. The future. Listen, do you really want to be remembered as the biggest asshole in the history of the Supreme Court?

Roberts: I thought that was Scalia.

Angel: Besides him I mean.

Roberts: No! No, I don't!

Angel: Good, there's hope for you yet.

Devil: God damn it!

[The 3 headed devil disappears in a puff of smoke. The angel chuckles and then he, too, disappears]

Roberts: The better angel of my nature. Wow!

[Roberts brushes the dandruff off his shoulders, and exits]

Fade to black

What's in A Name?

Last week, they unveiled portraits of George W. Bush and his fawning wife, what's-her-name, at the White House. Simple W. cracked a few jokes, smirked his frat boy smirk, and it was just like old times...

Brought back a lot of memories: Florida 2000, fat Jeb, the Supreme Court shitting all over the Constitution, 9-11, turning a surplus into a deficit, Iraq, Osama Bin Laden alive and kicking, tax cuts for the richest, W. looking like a chimp in a flight suit, "mission accomplished", Katrina, rendition, Rummy, Condi, Wall Street's meltdown, Halliburton, Blackwater, the Dark Lord Cheney's fetching sneer--ah Jesus, the list is endless...

Which reminds me, Bush's nickname for Karl Rove is "turd blossom".

Rove is also widely known as "Bush's brain".

Ergo, George W. Bush has shit for brains.

Heaven

I don't put much faith in an afterlife...

But if there is one, I'd pay good money to someday see Justices Kennedy, Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and Alito explain to Jefferson, Madison, Adams, and Franklin how corporations are people and money is speech.

I'm guessing there would be much amazement and even some laughter from our Founders.

And imagining what would happen if that noted "originalist" Antonin Scalia, whose belief in his own intellectual superiority is somewhat detached from reality, began to lecture Tom, James, John and Ben about what they really meant, fills me with immeasurable, dare I say heavenly, joy.