January 16, 2023

We celebrate today the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the positive effect he has had on generations of Americans. He is a matyr, and a true American hero. On the other hand, we have Donald Trump, and the toxic effect that he has had on the world. The most recent example is to the controversy over classified documents. Does anyone believe that the issue with the discovery of documents in Joe Biden’s possession would be a big deal if it wasn’t for the Trump Effect? Trump once again broke through the guardrails of our democracy when he knowingly took hundreds of classified documents to Mar-a-Lago, lied about it, and obstructed justice. In the spirit of trying to be “fair and balanced,” the mainstream media feels the need to cover both stories as equivalencies, and that’s the Trump Effect. Joe Biden touches a woman, and that is equivalent to grabbing them by the you know what. Trump Effect.

Joe Biden has a better chance of getting holiday named after himself than Donald Trump, unless it is Halloween.

January 16, 2023

I really don’t care what is on Hunter Biden’s laptop unless there is irrefutable proof that Ted Cruz’ father killed JFK. I watched many hours of the Benghazi hearings as the Republicans shamelessly attacked Hilary Clinton, which Kevin McCarthy openly acknowledged was a political hit job. However, if Republicans are going to go after Hunter Biden, which is not their duty but is their right, in the spirit of being fair and balanced, they need to go after Trump, the Trump children and their spouses as well.

The Trump children, and Donald Trump, made millions off of the Trump DC hotel. It was well known that if you wanted an audience with the Donald, you had to stay at the hotel. Jared Kushner inked a $2B deal with the Saudis before the blood was even dry from the insurrection. At least the blood of Jamal Khashoggi was dry. This came after the Qatar sovereign wealth fund bailed Jared out from his disastrous investment in 666 Fifth Ave. in Manhattan.

Ivanka Trump’s forty or more trademark requests in China were fast-tracked. I guess that is why Trump needed a bank account in China. Trump himself lied about having business interests in Russia. While in office, he tried to steer the G-7 meetings to his Doral property in Florida. The Trumps bilked the taxpayers by overcharging Secret Service personnel, who were required to stay at Trump properties. Let’s look at everyone’s laptop.

January 16, 2023

One of our favorite rides at Disney World in Orlando, FL. is “It’s a Small World.” A cast of dancing animated children from nearly every corner of the world achieve universal harmony by singing songs. Ironically, Ron DeSantis is proving once again that his Florida is a small world after all as he tries to divide Americans over culture war issues. This time he is focusing on gas stoves. Doesn’t the Governor of 22,000,000 million people in the fastest growing state in the country have something better to do? This comes after he went after Disney for its stated opposition to Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education” law, known as “don’t say gay.” He commissioned a special election police force to enforce election laws and jail innocent voters, and transported vulnerable Venezuelan immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard. I don’t know how big his hands are, but you know what they say about people with small minds. People with small minds live in small worlds…after all.

January 15, 2023

I am afraid to come out of my house. According to what I read and hear, everybody is coming after me. The IRS wants to hire 85,000 jack-booted thugs to give me a financial colonoscopy. The FBI wants to knock down my door in the middle of the night to take my cell phone and laptop computer. Immigrants at the border want to take my job, my Social Security and healthcare. School administrators want to turn our schools into re-education, conversion camps where my children will be groomed for god knows what. I let social media come in the front door, and now it wants to sell my name, image and likeness to Russian troll farms out the back door. The police want to take away my guns. People want to impersonate me, and cast ballots in my name. Democrats want to take away my identity. I can’t even trust cryptocurrency. I am not going out today. I think I hear drone overhead.

January 11, 2023

It’s that time of year again. I am hunkered down in my basement surrounded by the ocean of unclassified documents I need to prepare my taxes. At the same time, I have one eye on the Ring app on my phone to make sure that IRS agents are not trying to break down my door. Last year, I took a deduction for a charitable contribution made in cash to the local animal shelter. I don’t have any documentation so I am nervous.

Fortunately, the Republicans in the House voted to rescind increases to the IRS budget in order to hamper its ability to enforce its anti-democratic regulations against people like me. Republicans around the country have compared the IRS to the Gestapo, the secret police of Nazi Germany.

I don’t mind paying my fair share in taxes as long as I know that they are going to pay the salaries of Republican politicians, who are just looking after my interests. The CBOE says these cuts will cost the American taxpayer over $100B, which is a small price to pay for freedom. Let’s go further, and defund the IRS.

January 11, 2023

It is being reported that new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is planning on making major changes to committee assignments as part of his revenge tour. On the way out may be Representatives Schiff, Swalwell and Omar. On the way in are stalwart supporters Greene, Gosar and Santos.

Marjorie Taylor-Greene is the Queen of Crazy. In her online posts, Greene described mass shootings as fake, characterized the Clintons as murderers, insisted that Obama was a secret Muslim, and called for Pelosi’s execution.” She blamed Jewish space lasers for starting forest fires. Maybe she meant Jew-ish.

After the 2020 election, Paul Gosar said, “We will not allow Biden and his thugs to steal this election.” “God is on our side.” On Twitter, Gosar urged Bill Barr to seize Arizona’s ballots and search for “stolen votes.” He tweeted: “THIS ELECTION IS A JOKE!” He published “An Open Letter to Arizona” that began with a rhetorical question: “Are We Witnessing a Coup d’État?” His own family members voted for the Democrat.

George Santos is under investigation by multiple authorities. He lied about virtually everything in his background, and is facing serious charges about his campaign finances. His native country of Brazil has found him guilty of fraud, and wants him back. I would trade him for a few samba lessons.

January 6, 2023

Per Wikipedia, “owning the libs” is a political strategy used by some conservatives in the United States that focuses on upsetting political liberals. Users of the strategy emphasize and expand upon culture war issues intended to be divisive to provoke a reaction in others. As I watch the car wreck that is the Republican Party trying to elect a Speaker of the House, I am not feeling particularly owned. There are a lot slur names and phrases for the Republican Party that come to mind that capture the moment. The Clown Car. The Insurrectionists. The Raucous Caucus. The McCarthy Hearings. Gaetz Gate. The Greene New Deal. Gang-nam Style. The Caucasian Caucus. Red ties, white necks and Blue Ribbon beer. The Laddie and the Trump. The Gray Old Party. We’ve fallen down, and we can’t get up.

If you are trying to own me, you are going to have to do better. The reality is you can’t be owned by anyone for whom you have no respect. You can’t be owned by crazy. You can only be owned by something that has a scintilla truth. When the truth is negotiable, the only reaction you’ll get from the Libs is pity.

January 3, 2023

Once again, NFL players took a knee to show their concern about an issue that impacts them. Last night, Buffalo Bills cornerback, Damar Hamlin, took a direct shot to the chest, and went into cardiac arrest. The players, the majority of whom are black, took a knee, bowed their heads, and said a silent prayer in support of their fallen comrade. Many of them were in tears. Not too long ago, many of these same players took a knee during the national anthem to show their concern about a different issue that impacts their community i.e. police brutality with a racial bias. QB Colin Kaepernick paid dearly for his expression.

When in church, we genuflect as a sign of respect and devotion. When we propose marriage, we get down one knee to show our sincerity and supplication. Maybe it’s possible that the NFL players were praying on one knee in both of their situations to ask God for his mercy and deliver them from evil.

December 31, 2022

There was an interesting juxtaposition of news articles today. In 2022, Bill Gates donated $5B to the Gates Foundation. In 2020, based on his tax returns, Donald Trump gave $0. At least Ebenezer Scrooge gave a goose to Tiny Tim at Christmas, and not a goose egg. Donald Trump was the Presidential candidate, who claimed to be worth $10B in 2016. I guess he had a set back, which answers the question about his NFT trading cards.

In 2019, Donald J. Trump was forced to pay more than $2 million in court-ordered damages to eight different charities for illegally misusing charitable funds at the Trump Foundation for political purposes. The Attorney General said, “Charities are not a means to an end.” The foundation was forced to close its doors.

I don’t think being a mega donor to charity qualifies one as a candidate for President. Bill Gates ran Microsoft, but I don’t want him running the country. However, abusing the tax laws regarding charitable contributions on the one hand, and then being parsimonious to a fault on the other certainly should disqualify one from holding office. “Charity begins at home,” and, in Donald Trump’s case, that was as far as it went.

December 28, 2022

The Republican Party is killing itself. It might be considered a Trump-assisted suicide. Studies suggest that for decades public health decisions in states controlled by Republicans on issues such as Medicaid, gun legislation, tobacco taxes, and vaccines have led to higher Republican death rates. Republican-led states pushed back on COVID lockdowns, and the impact on population death rates was observed within weeks. Other factors such as more poverty, less education, and worse socioeconomic conditions could explain the higher death rates in Republican-leaning places, but this is hardly comforting.

The Grand Old Party was already shrinking anyway as the crazies and fabricators took over, which drove the moderates out. Millennials and GenZoomers clearly prefer the Democratic agenda as witnessed in the last few elections. Voters who were born into Republican families continue to vote for Republicans because they can’t imagine doing anything else. I think many of them are just voting against Democrats. However, these voters are aging out, and this process is being hastened by the party’s own agenda.