Texans Sing Same Song, 2nd verse, 2nd verse Same as the 1st

One thing you can’t hide, is when you’re crippled inside.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott leaves the podium after speaking at the 11th annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast May 7, 2015 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Washington, D.C. (CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn)

Texas Guvnah Greg Abbot is a goddamn moron, a cruelly incompetent, and corruptly selfish son-of-a-bitch, fucking liar and idiot, whose brain is apparently as crippled as his withered, useless legs.

Cow turds have some nutrient fertilization value for soil, and when dried, can even be burned; whereas on the other hand, he has no value whatsoever.

Texans will have to burn more cow turds to keep warm, since your sorry-ass governor can’t even keep the goddamn lights turned on. But, that’s what you wanted, because you voted for more of it. So, enjoy your fill until January 19, 2027.

And be certain to thank the Electric (Un)Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), a “membership-based 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation, governed by a board of directors and subject to oversight by the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Texas Legislature.” They’re similarly corrupt, inept, and in the pockets of the Repugnicunt state legislature, and executive office.

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Frustrated Texans Endure Winter Storm With No Power, No Heat

Thursday, 02 February 2023

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Thousands of frustrated Texans shivered in homes without power for a second day Thursday, most of them around booming Austin, and fading hopes of a quick fix stirred grim memories of a deadly 2021 blackout after an icy winter storm across the southwestern U.S.

The freeze has been

Repugnicunts Want to RUIN the U.S. Economy

repugnant — incompatible, inconsistent, hostile, distasteful, contradictory, abhorrent, obnoxious, odious; originates directly from the Latin term repugnantem (nominative case repugnans), present participle of repugnare, meaning “to resist, fight back, oppose; disagree, be incompatible.”

repugnant (adj.)

early 15c., repugnaunt, “hostile, opposed; contrary, inconsistent, contradictory,” from Old French repugnant “contradictory, opposing” or directly from Latin repugnantem (nominative repugnans), present participle of repugnare “to resist, fight back, oppose; disagree, be incompatible,” from re- “back, against, in opposition” (see re-) + pugnare “to fight” (from PIE root *peuk- “to prick”).

The meaning “distasteful, objectionable” is from 1777; that of “offensive, loathsome, exciting aversion” is by 1879.

cunt (n.)

“female intercrural foramen,” or, as some 18c. writers refer to it, “the monosyllable,” Middle English cunte “female genitalia,” by early 14c. (in Hendyng’s “Proverbs” — ʒeve þi cunte to cunni[n]g, And crave affetir wedding), akin to Old Norse kunta, Old Frisian, Middle Dutch, and Middle Low German kunte, from Proto-Germanic *kunton, which is of uncertain origin. Some suggest a link with Latin cuneus “wedge” (which is of unknown origin), others to PIE root *geu- “hollow place,” still others to PIE root *gwen- “woman.”

The form is similar to Latin cunnus “female pudenda” (also, vulgarly, “a woman”), which is likewise of disputed origin, perhaps literally “gash, slit” (from PIE *sker- “to cut”) or “sheath” (Watkins, from PIE *(s)keu- “to conceal, hide”). De Vaan rejects this, however, and traces it to “a root *kut-meaning ‘bag’, ‘scrotum’, and metaphorically also ‘female pudenda,’ ” source also of Greek kysthos “vagina; buttocks; pouch, small bag” (but Beekes suspects this is a Pre-Greek word), Lithuanian kutys “(money) bag,” Old High German hodo “testicles.”

Hec vulva: a cunt. Hic cunnus: idem est. [from Londesborough Illustrated Nominale, c. 1500, in “Anglo-Saxon and Old English Vocabularies,” eds. Wright and Wülcker, vol. 1, 1884]

First known reference in English apparently is in a compound, Oxford street name Gropecuntlane cited from c. 1230 (and attested through late 14c.) in “Place-Names of Oxfordshire” (Gelling & Stenton, 1953), presumably a haunt of prostitutes. Used in medical writing c. 1400, but avoided in public speech since 15c.; considered obscene since 17c.

in Middle English also conte, counte, and sometimes queinte, queynte (for this, see Q). Chaucer used quaint and queynte in “Canterbury Tales” (late 14c.), and Andrew Marvell might be punning on quaint in “To His Coy Mistress” (1650).

“What eyleth yow to grucche thus and grone? Is it for ye wolde haue my queynte allone?” [Wife of Bath’s Tale]

Under “MONOSYLLABLE” Farmer lists 552 synonyms from English slang and literature before launching into another 5 pages of them in French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. [A sampling: Botany Bay, chum, coffee-shop, cookie, End of the Sentimental Journey, fancy bit, Fumbler’s Hall, funniment, goatmilker, heaven, hell, Itching Jenny, jelly-bag, Low Countries, nature’s tufted treasure, penwiper, prick-skinner, seminary, tickle-toby, undeniable, wonderful lamp, and aphrodisaical tennis court, and, in a separate listing, Naggie.] Dutch cognate de kont means “a bottom, an arse,” but Dutch also has attractive poetic slang ways of expressing this part, such as liefdesgrot, literally “cave of love,” and vleesroos “rose of flesh.”

Alternative form cunny is attested from c. 1720 but is certainly much earlier and forced a change in the pronunciation of coney (q.v.), but it was good for a pun while coney was still the common word for “rabbit”: “A pox upon your Christian cockatrices! They cry, like poulterers’ wives, ‘No money, no coney.’ ” [Philip Massinger: “The Virgin-Martyr,” Act I, Scene 1, 1622]

See also: https://qz.com/1045607/the-most-offensive-curse-word-in-english-has-powerful-feminist-origins

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And, given the opportunity, Repugnicunts would ruin the U.S. economy.

Even now, in the opening days of the 118th Congress, there’s talk among Repugnicunts of eliminating the Federal Income Tax, along with all other forms of Federal tax, and replace it with a 30% Value Added Tax.

If you think inflation is a bugbear now, just add 30% to it, and see what it’s like. Repugnicunts are such morons.

The reason why, is because that’s what they want to do:

TEAR IT ALL DOWN.

Not repair, not rebuild, not reinforce, not improve efficiency… but TEAR IT DOWN — and hope for the best, then sell off to the highest corporate bidder the skeletal remains.

For example, NOT A SINGLE REPUGNICUNT in the House or Senate voted for Pandemic Economic Relief.

Had the American people not had that money, our economy would have melted down, and suffered a depression even worse than the Great Depression.

But, it didn’t.

In fact, it didn’t even have a recession.

Not even.

So, when the Repugnicunts cry and whine about national debt, not only are they TOTALLY missing the boat, they’re missing the BIG PICTURE.

And here’s the odd thing about it:

They want to cut spending, but don’t want to pay for it — they do NOT want PayGo, or pay-as-you-go. And if they had their way, they’d let America default on its “loans.”

But, there’s an even BIGGER picture that few, if any, ever talk about, and certainly, most probably don’t even understand it. This entry will try to correct that.

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“…the U.S. government’s ability to borrow.”

U.S. To Max Out On Debt Soon, Setting Up Political Fight

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government is on track to max out on its $31.4 trillion borrowing authority as soon as this month, starting the clock on

“Moscow” Mitch “The Bitch” McConnell shows what a Son-of-a-Bitch he really is.

You DARE question MY POWER?!?

I’ll show YOU who’s the boss, you little pissants!

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Mitch McConnell

Senate Repugnicunt Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of KY has removed Senators Rick Scott of FL, and Mike Lee of UT from the powerful Commerce Committee in apparent retaliation for Scott’s challenge to McConnell’s leadership, and for Lee’s support of Scott’s effort.

The Commerce Committee has broad jurisdiction over numerous federal agencies, is considered a prestigious assignment, and McConnell had exclusive power to decide whether Scott and Lee would remain on the Committee because it was the third so-called “A-list” committee assignment both held.

Scott is also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, while Lee is a member of the prestigious Judiciary Committee, and the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Scott had more seniority on the Commerce Committee than Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, who also serves on two other “A-list” committees — Banking, and Environment and Public Works committees — and Lee had more seniority than Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, who also sits on the Appropriations Committee and is the ranking Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee.

McConnell replaced Scott, Lee, and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin — who left the Commerce Committee to take a coveted seat on the Finance Committee — with

Nashville, TN Cop Has A Shooting Problem

Q: How many bullets does it take for Nashville, TN cops to kill a man?

A: ALL of them.

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“On the call recording, Jerome acknowledges the presence of police a few seconds before a flurry of gunshots. He continues to repeat, “Don’t shoot him! Don’t shoot him!” through sobs after shots have been fired. The footage from Slim & Husky’s shows the man turning and tossing something toward Ramos, at which point Ramos fires 14 shots and the man falls to the ground. The man reportedly died shortly after.”

That officer, “Metro Nashville Police Officer Dylan Ramos shot and killed a 47-year-old Black man on Buchanan Street just before 7 p.m. on Sunday,” just emptied the fucking magazine on that man.

Just TOTALLY EMPTIED IT.

12345, 12345, 1234

ALL 14 rounds.

Even big game hunters DO NOT shoot that many bullets into their game.

Goddamn!

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In-car camera footage shows Nashville Metro Police Department officer Dylan Ramos approach a man on Buchanan Street on Sunday night.

Police Kill 47-Year-Old Black Man on Buchanan Street

Officer Dylan Ramos fired 14 shots in the second MNPD shooting of 2023

https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/pithinthewind/police-kill-47-year-old-black-man-on-buchanan-street/article_02116188-a0be-11ed-9b89-23270989a3f5.html

by Eli Motycka, January 30, 2023

Metro Nashville Police Officer Dylan Ramos shot and killed a 47-year-old Black man on Buchanan Street just before 7 p.m. on Sunday.

A video from MNPD stitches together two 911 calls with footage from Ramos’ body cam and squad car. It also includes an angle from Slim & Husky’s patio camera, which shows the man — whose identity the police have not yet released — tossing something toward Ramos moments before Ramos fires 14 shots toward him and the man falls to the ground.

The first 911 call came from an individual identified as Jerome at Willie B’s Kitchen and Lounge, a restaurant across the street from Slim & Husky’s.

“He’s playing with this gun, pointing it at people,” Jerome tells the 911 operator. “He needs to

Wasted Federal Money: We Are Long Overdue for Change

When examined in context, over the long term, it all begins to make sense (at least to anyone who’s studied the matter at all);

Nixon’s “War on Drugs” was purely a manipulative election ploy designed to obliquely instill fear in the American public, by creating in their imagination the false perception of a massive national crisis (substance use, primarily cannabis, and predominately, if not almost exclusively, among/by college/university students), and to portray them as depraved, and anti-American, because they opposed the Vietnam War, then…

Well, just read what John Ehrlichman, Nixon’s Domestic Affairs Policy Advisor, and convicted Watergate co-conspirator, said to Dan Baum when interviewed by him, for a book he was writing at the time:

“You want to know what this was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: The antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

On November 17, 1973, then-POTUS Richard Nixon spoke at Disney’s Contemporary Resort in Bay Lake, FL, to the Associated Press Managing Editors annual conference. During the Question and Answer portion after his address, a New York Times reporter asked him about his role in the Watergate burglary scandal and efforts to cover up that members of his Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP) had funded the break-in.
In response, he said in part, that, “I made my mistakes, but in all of my years of public life, I have never profited, never profited from public service — I earned every cent. And in all of my years of public life, I have never obstructed justice. And I think, too, that I could say that in my years of public life, that I welcome this kind of examination, because people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I am not a crook. I have earned everything I have got.”

When Nixon ignored the recommendation to decriminalize cannabis made by his hand-picked Commissioner Raymond P. Shafer in the report commonly known as the “Shafer Commission,” properly as the First Report of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, March 1972, and then

Prediction: Banana Repugnicunts will do NOTHING about Santos/Devolder

Perhaps the most “burning” question in many political observers imagination in the matter of George Santos/Anthony Devolder’s election is:

“How DID this happen?”

I’ll take that question for $1000.

In a word, “apathy.”

Constituents who entrusted their support to him in NYD3 were hypothecated.

Allow me to explain. They pledged their support (as evidenced by their votes), and when the pledge expired following the election’s certification, he took the Congressional Oath of Office, and to their dismay, voters discovered they did not control (own) him. After all, they DID allow him to run under their banner. Had they any control over their own party, they would have never done so… or, at least they want us to believe that.

Frankly, NYCD3 voters have no one to blame but themselves.

One of their several news outlets — no, NOT The Old Gray Lady, but the North Shore Leader — warned constituents long in advance (in September) that he was a fraud.

The metaphorical “voice of one crying in the wilderness” was largely ignored, until it was convenient for the OG to belatedly “pounce” upon the dirty deal done dirt cheap in December… after the election was over, and certified, and hope to draw some belated attention to themselves… long after the fact.

But, ’twas too little, too late, because by then, there was

George Santos, Anthony Devolder, whatever his name is, has indicted himself.

The lying Republican elected to represent New York’s 3rd Congressional District (Queens/Nassau) is not just any old run-of-the-mill liar, he is a pathological liar.

His life, or rather, what he has presented as his life, is just one blatant falsehood after another. And that the good people of that portion of Long Island which he represents have elected him, speaks more to THEIR laziness and THEIR ineptness than to anything else.

The people of that district have stained THEIR own name, THEY have soiled their own shorts.

One of their local newspapers, The North Shore Leader, broke the story on The Fabulist, and did an at-lenght exposé of him BEFORE the election, and BEFORE the New York Times.

In a story published 20 January 2023 and headlined “The Leader Told You So: US Rep-Elect George Santos Is a Fraud — and Wanted Criminal,” they detailed how, at least four months earlier, they had broken the story, and wanting to endorse a Republican candidate, they could not, because of his wholesale lies about himself, which again, they discovered and reported BEFORE the New York Times.

Instead, they endorsed a Democrat.

In the few days since he took the oath of office as a United States Representative, numerous news outlets have uncovered, discovered, and otherwise brought to light the ignominious history of the man, with tales so perverse, so depraved and bizarre that only the most wretched human being could have possibly done them. Among them, stealing the money from a GoFundMe account established for a Veteran, whose Service Animal needed life-saving surgery.

The Veteran’s Service Animal died because George Santos/Anthony Devolder diverted the money raised for his own selfish use.

It is almost a pointless exercise to detail the hideous lies he has told about himself, each one more fantastic than the next, and with the discovery that they were all a pack of lies, he merely brushed them all off saying they were “embellishments” of his résumé.

Seemingly countless people have come forward, individuals who knew, or have known him personally, and without exception, they every one have essentially said the same thing: George Santos/Anthony Devolder is a liar.

Wikipedia page for user Anthonydevolder, who is, more likely than not, George Santos. Devolder is his late mother’s surname.

It’s even uncertain what his real name is, or even what his birth date is. But what IS certain, is that he is a wanted man in Brazil, where authorities there had years earlier charged him with theft of a checkbook, forgery of those stolen checks, and theft of merchandise purchased with those forged checks. Santos even apologized to the merchant where he passed the forged instruments, and confessed to the authorities that he had committed those crimes. But shortly, when authorities came searching for him, he was nowhere to be found, and had absconded to the United States, where he remains to this day. It is unclear exactly what actions Brazilian authorities will take, if they will seek extradition, or exactly what course of action they will take in regard to seeking justice.

Stay tuned.

In the mean time, others who have been around him over the years have found evidence from a few years earlier when he was a drag queen.

While he has claimed to be openly gay, he was once married to a woman, and purports to have changed. Exactly how, he has not made clear, and refuses to speak to news outlets.

When news and video of his drag queen days made the national news, he denied it all.

When news of George Santos’ Wikipedia User ID page under the name of “Anthonydevolder” in the category of Drag Queen was made known, “edit wars” started upon it almost immediately, and the page was “blanked,” which raises several unsettling questions: “Why?,” and “who?” most notable among them.

HOWEVER… HuffPost recently published at least one news article about the recent discovery of an item which was

An Easy Way To Ensure Unbiased College Admissions

Anonymity.

Make ALL applications anonymous.

It’s just… that… simple.

And, it’s EASILY facilitated!

Simply ID the applicant/prospective student by the first letter initials of their name, e.g., ABC, their birth date, e.g., 01022023, and the last four digits of their Social Security Number, or Alien Registration Number, e.g., 1234.

Thus, candidate “Iwannabe Funkybean Gobbledygook” would be IFG01022023-1234, or IFG010220231234, or IFG-01022023-1234, or similarly — even with last name first, GIF01022023-1234, or GIF010220231234, etc. Candidate “Al-Shaz Baraz el Hominy Jones-Smith” would be ASBHJS, ABHJS, or JSASBH, JSABH, or similarly.

It’s just ENTIRELY TOO EASY!

Our brethren in the UK have done so –and– they’ve also made job applications anonymous.

In a news article by Education Reporter Judith Burns published on the BBC News site 26 October 2015, she wrote that “Candidates’ names will be removed from university application forms from 2017,” and cited Prime Minister David Cameron’s OpEd, published in The Guardian Monday, 26 October 2015 02.00 EDT, which in part, read “We have already persuaded big employers to make job applications name-blind. Now universities will do the same.”

He wrote:

“At the Conservative party conference two weeks ago, I spoke about a young black woman who had to put a more white-sounding name on her CV before she started getting called for interviews. Such racism in 21st-century Britain, I said, was a disgrace, and I committed our party to ending discrimination and finishing the fight for real equality. The audience rose to their feet. It was a significant moment. And it provoked three reactions.

“The first was:

Here’s One Easy Peasy Way to Find Truth

Representative Jim Jordan-R,OH4

Have you recently read any crap on Twitter?

It’s much too easy to read plenty of phony baloney malarkey on Twitter.

Of course, that’s not very difficult to do now that Elon Muskrat is actively burning down that house, and welcoming Neo-Nazis, White Supremacists, Big Lie promoters, QAnon conspiracy theorists, and other such ilk on board… again.

Here’s but one statement which I recently read on that social media dumpster fire:

“Incoming House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan has not authored, sponsored, nor passed one piece of legislation in his 17 years in Congress.”

Of course, there were other surrounding contextual words and remarks, some of which were opinion, others fact (sounds vaguely familiar, eh?), and it was quite obvious that the author had no love lost for Ohio’s 4th Congressional District Republican Representative.

And frankly, neither have I lost any love for that lunatic.

But, on its face, such a claim — that Jim Jordan has

How Long Before A Teacher Shoots Back?

We’ve already started off the 2023 New Year with a BANG!

Abigail “Abby” Zwerner

That’s right, a BANG!

A BIG BANG!

“Big Bang” as in a school shooting — this time, by a 6-year-old boy in Newport News, VA at Richneck Elementary School who opened fire with a handgun in the classroom upon his 25-year-old first-grade teacher Abigail “Abby” Zwerner, shooting her in the abdomen, after the little bastard got into what was officially described by Newport News Police Chief Steve Drewan as an “altercation” with her.

In his official press conference, the Chief said in part, that, “The altercation was between a 6 year old, the student who did have the firearm, and then the teacher, and then a round was fired. Like I said, she suffered a gunshot wound and was transferred to the hospital.”

Abby was immediately rushed to Riverside Regional Medical Center where her life-threatening injuries were treated, and she is now, expected to recover… exactly to what extent and how much, however, has not been made clear.

School Principal Briana Foster Newton issued a statement Monday, January 9, 2023 which, in part, read:

Bakersfield Man Kevin McCarthy Will Utterly Fail as Speaker of the House

The 118th Congress will be pockmarked by confusion, an inability to pass legislation for the people’s benefit, and the Repugnants will attempt to cut Social Security, Medicare, and literally, every program that helps the American people. Kevin McCarthy will not last a year as Speaker of the House, and will be ousted most likely, no later than July 2023. His term in office will be abbreviated, interrupted with a motion to Vacate the Chair, and quickly forgotten. His consistent inability to gather support from among the majority party, causing a meltdown on the opening day of the 118th Congress that led to 15 consecutive votes over a period of 5 days, will be the highlight of his utter failure.

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I’m One of the Last Holdouts Against Kevin McCarthy — and I Won’t Back Down

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Guest Essay by Bob Good
January 6, 2023
Mr. Good, a Republican, represents Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District in the House of Representatives.

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Back in the summer, a group of conservatives put together a proposal with extensive changes to the rules and processes that govern how Republicans run the House of Representatives. For example, we wanted regular, rank-and-file members to have more power to amend bills on the House floor. We wanted at least three days to read and consider bills before we were asked to vote on them. And we wanted to limit the scope of bills to a single subject, so we wouldn’t be asked to vote on legislative “Christmas trees” passed on a tight deadline. We made those demands because the people we represent have told us time and again that Washington is broken, and we knew they wanted to see a change in the status quo.

Representative Bob Good, wearing a taupe-colored suit and maroon tie, stands before a black microphone that rises from the center of a polished wooden table in front of a row of brown leather chairs in the House chamber in the Capitol.

What the American people have tuned in to watch this week is a healthy democratic process, working as it was designed to: with members in the same place, engaging in debate, and having face-to-face conversations. Important negotiations often take months or even years in a legislative body. Yet this is the one and only opportunity we have to debate how the House is run every two years, both with the election of a speaker and with the passage of the new House rules.

While some have accused us of acting in our own personal interests, we are standing strong because we believe the United States House of Representatives was designed to be the People’s House where the will of every American would be represented. That is why the selection of a speaker requires the votes of a majority of the House. A majority of the people’s representatives must trust that person to lead us.

Throughout the past few months of negotiation and debate, we have been very clear with Republican leadership that we want changes that empower regular members of Congress, who each represent a district of more than half a million people, to have more meaningful input into how legislation is considered. And some of those procedural changes have been accepted.

We also wanted to

Alabama Redneck Weasel Repugnicant Mike “Rugrat” Rogers Drunk on House Floor

Richard Hudson-R,NC8 physically retrained Mike Rogers-R,AL3 from attacking Matt Gaetz-R,FL1 after he verbally accosted Matt Gaetz following Gaetz’ “PRESENT” vote in the 14th round of balloting for Speaker of the House (SOTH), causing Kevin McCarthy-R,CA20 to lose, late Friday night, January 6, 2023

“Matt, you’re FINISHED!
I’m not gonna forget this!”

Ever wonder what barnyard animals
— pigs —
behave like?

Wonder no more.

Mike “Rugrat” Rogers, a Redneck Repugnicant from Not-So-Sweet-Home Alabama, a slave state, the asshole of Dixie, who misrepresents the state’s 3rd Congressional largely poor, uneducated and easy-to-command mostly-White District was drunk and disorderly, under the influence of intoxicating/spirituous beverage, according to at least one observer who was close enough to smell his breath, when “Rugrat” Rogers accosted Matt Gaetz-R,FL1 and attempted to start a fight with him on late Friday night, January 6th, 2023, after the 14th failed round of balloting for Speaker of the House.

No, Mister Mike “Rugrat” Rogers, YOU’RE the one who’s finished.

You’ve now made your Alabama shit stain mark
to a national television audience,
a global audience via the Internet,
and yourself a permanently indelible pock mark
upon your wretchedly failed party,
and sadly, upon American history.

Richard Hudson-R,NC8 physically retrained Mike Rogers-R,AL3 from attacking Matt Gaetz-R,FL1 after he screamed at and verbally accosted Matt Gaetz following Gaetz’ “PRESENT” vote in the 14th round of balloting for Speaker of the House (SOTH), causing Kevin McCarthy-R,CA20 to lose, late Friday night, January 6, 2023.

Congratulations, Mr. Asshole Weasel Drunk Redneck Mike Rugrat Rogers.

You shouldn’t have been on the House floor under the influence, and you sure as hell didn’t represent Alabama — or, maybe you did!

Alabama is full of assholes like him.

They’re called “weasels,” and are generally considered pests everywhere they’re found. Interestingly, a group of weasels is called

Repugnants FAIL 14 Times in 4 Days From Opening Day

Mike Rogers-R,AL3 is physically restrained from attacking Matt Gaetz by Richard Hudson-R,NC8 after he confronted Matt Gaetz following Gaetz’ “PRESENT” vote in the 14th round of balloting for Speaker of the House (SOTH), late Friday night, January 6, 2023

“Matt, you’re FINISHED!
I’m not gonna forget this!”

— Mike Rogers-R,AL3 screamed at Matt Gaetz-R,FL1 after Gaetz voted “PRESENT” instead of “McCarthy” in the 14th round of balloting for Speaker of the House of Representatives (SOTH), late Friday night, January 6, 2023, which was the 14th consecutive failure in 4 consecutive days by members of that party to elect a SOTH. Gaetz, and 19 other members of the Freedom Caucus, refused to vote for McCarthy for several legitimate reasons, though Kevin McCarthy-R,CA20 used coercive threats, and other unethical and authoritarian-type behaviors to have some of them acquiesce, under pressure from him, to change their votes to FOR him, instead of someone else, or “PRESENT.” Matt Gaetz never did.

No, Mister Mike “Rugrat” Rogers, YOU’RE the one who’s finished.

And you’ve now made your shit stain mark to an national television audience,
and to global international audience via the Internet,
and yourself a permanently indelible pock mark upon your failed party,
and in American history.

Congratulations, Mr. Asshole Rugrat Weasel Drunk Redneck Mike Rogers.

You shouldn’t have been on the House floor under the influence, and you sure as hell didn’t represent Alabama — or, maybe you did! Alabama is full of assholes like him. They’re called “weasels,” and are generally considered pests everywhere they’re found. Interestingly, a group of weasels is known as a “sneak,” a “boogle,” a “gang,” or a “confusion.” And in the Repugnants’ case, it’s confusion. And, that’s exactly what Rogers did — he sneaked up from behind amidst the confusion.

Mike Rogers-R,AL3 is physically restrained from attacking Matt Gaetz-R,FL1 by Richard Hudson-R,NC8 when Rogers confronted Gaetz after Gaetz voted “PRESENT” in the 14th round of balloting for Speaker of the House (SOTH), late Friday night, January 6, 2023

Matt Gaetz was 100% correct when he stated this before the 12th vote:

My colleague from California, Mr. Garcia, knows the incredibly high regard I hold for him. He is a patriot; I deeply, deeply admire him, but I must take some exception to some of the comments he made in his nomination of Mr. McCarthy.

First, he said that Mr. McCarthy has “earned” the position.

You only earn the position of Speaker of the House if you can get the votes. Mr. McCarthy doesn’t have the votes today, he will not have the votes tomorrow, and he will not have the votes next week, next month, next year.

And so, one must wonder, Madam Clerk, is this an exercise in vanity for someone who has done the math, taken the counts, and is putting this institution through something that absolutely is avoidable?

My colleague Mr. Garcia did not say this, but many of my other Republican colleagues have. They believe Mr. McCarthy has earned the position of Speaker of the House because he raised half a billion dollars to get Republicans elected.

Several believe that one earns the position of Speaker by raising enormous sums of money, and there is no doubt that the individual that was nominated by Mr. Garcia is the Lebron James of special interest fundraising in this town. There’s nobody better.

[NOTE: In a Newsweek OpEd entitled “McCarthy Has Earned the House Speakership” by former SOTH Newt Gingrich published 12/16/22 at 6:00 AM EST, he not only confirmed McCarthy’s mammoth fundraising machine of $500 million, but also that fundraising massive amounts of money IS a qualification for the office, and wrote: “Set aside the $500 million McCarthy and his allies raised during the 2022 campaign cycle. Some of his critics seem to think that effort doesn’t count (it should) because he had the power of the conference (and they don’t).”]

But I will suggest that

Mitt Romney Was Correct

Mitt Romney’s remark made at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines in 2011, that ‟Corporations are people, my friend,” was then, and remains even now, painfully accurate.

His explanation, however was an abysmal failure, and came nowhere close to explaining why ‟Corporations are people, my friend.”

Essentially, ‟Corporations are people, my friend,〞because their articles of incorporation state something to the effect that they can “… to wit, to do any thing a natural person could do…” That is known as “artificial personhood.”

Cornell University writes the following about artificial personhood, which may sometimes also be referred to as legal personhood, though the two are not always interchangeable — a Natural Person is also always Legal Person, but a Legal Person is not always a Natural Person — which is why there is a differentiation made with Natural Person, and the term “Artificial Person” is much more simple, and descriptive:

“An artificial person is also known as a juridical person; it has a legal name and has certain rights, protections, privileges, responsibilities, and liabilities in law, similar to those of a natural person. In other words, an artificial person is a non-human legal entity that is not a single natural person but an organization recognized by law as a fictitious person. In the United States, an artificial person usually refers to “any entities established under the law of the United States, any foreign country, or a state, province, territory, possession, commonwealth, or dependency of the United States or any foreign country, and as to which the government, state, province, territory, possession, commonwealth or dependency must maintain a record showing the entity to have been established.” Specifically, in a business sense, an artificial person is any form of business association and any other non-governmental legal organization, including a profitable or non-profitable corporation, partnership, limited liability company, association, trust, or unincorporated organization.”

The United States Supreme Court has reinforced that sense of personhood by and through their decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission which was issued January 2010, which supported the notion of artificial personhood, and granted additional rights to corporations, but few, if any, of the responsibilities.

Some rightfully call it the “money is free speech” ruling, and the primary problem with such a belief, ruling, or ideology, is that, if it is true that money is free speech (it is not), then the poor man has none, and the Constitution was written for all, equally, and so, in that sense, at the very least, the ruling violates the Equal Protection Clause, and the First Amendment.

The essence of the case is summarized as;

Holding: Political spending is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment, and the government may not keep corporations or unions from spending money to support or denounce individual candidates in elections. While corporations or unions may not give money directly to campaigns, they may seek to persuade the voting public through other means, including ads, especially where these ads were not broadcast.

Judgment: Reversed, 5-4, in an opinion by Justice Anthony Kennedy on January 21, 2010. in a 5-4 decision with an opinion written by Justice Kennedy. Justice Stevens dissented, joined by Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, and Sotomayor.

There are other cases, of course, and this one didn’t just suddenly appear out of nowhere. There were other precedents which prepared the way for it, among which were:

• Buckley v. Valeo (aka The Court’s First Big Mistake) (1976)
• First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti (aka The Citizens United of the 1970s) (1978)
• Federal Election Commission v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life (aka The Nonprofit Case) (1986)
• Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce (aka The Good One) (1990)
• Citizens United v. FEC (aka The Worst Decision Since Dred Scott) (2010)
• Arizona Free Enterprise Club v. Bennett (aka The Public Financing Case) (2011)
• McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission (aka The Nightmare Continues) (2014)

But, to be absolutely certain, the problem can be traced back even further, to the Civil War era, when before that time, corporations were held to account by focusing upon the Chief Executive who was responsible, and accountable for all aspects of operations, and any failures fell squarely on their shoulders alone. Power and responsibility were natural complements of each other. After changes in laws were made, power and responsibility were separated, and power was concentrated at the top, but responsibility was diffused throughout the organization, so that no one person could be held to account — all the power, and all the perks that came along for the ride, but all the responsibilities were left at the train station.

That all came to a metaphorical head with the collapse of Enron, a once-high-flying Ponzi scheme bankruptcy of an energy company based in Houston, Texas which was founded and headed by the now-late Ken Lay (1942-2005). That firm’s collapse and subsequent bankruptcy was one of the largest instances of corporate fraud then to have occurred in America, and illustrated how the divorcement of power from responsibility was a formula for disaster. Healthsouth, another firm caught up in such a scheme, in which “cooking the books,” i.e., purposely, deceptively, and fraudulently making falsified entries in the firm’s accounting, most often for the purpose of driving up (artificially inflating) the company’s stock prices, which in turn benefited the executives, primarily, but others who may, or may not, have been somewhat privy to the acts… which, at that time, were not in and of themselves illegal, per se, though they were most certainly frowned upon by reputable accounting firms, Wall Street, and others.

Congress put a screeching halt to such abuses by writing legislation requiring the CEO to personally sign for the authenticity and accuracy of all corporate accounting and reports. And that was just a scratch up upon the surface of corporate greed and corruption, which remains prevalent today, more so now in the form of avarice (greed gone wild), than anything else.

Corporate avarice is also the single greatest problem in our nation’s economy, with one very minor example being the difference between the CEO’s pay, and their average employee’s pay — who, on average, made over 350 times the average employee’s pay. In 1989, the average differential was 61 to 1.

In fact, research performed by the Economic Policy Institute found that from 1978 to 2020, increases in CEO compensation far outstripped growth of either the Standard & Poor’s stock market index – 817%, exceeded by 6 times the increases in top income earners’ gains, and grew, on average, 1322%.

Meanwhile, in that same period, the typical employee’s annual compensation only grew a paltry 18%.

When it comes to Wall Street and BIG BUSINESS, it’s more for them, less for you.

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‟Corporations are people, my friend.〞

by Mark LeVine, Director of the Program in Global Middle East Studies at UC Irvine
12 August 2011

Mitt Romney’s friendliness to corporations excuses them from bearing the responsibilities endowed upon them by the rights they are given as ‘persons’ under US law [AFP]

Thank God for Mitt Romney.

In a moment of candour he likely thought would win him much needed support from the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party, the presidential candidate explained his thinking to a heckler – who asked why

Weird, BUT TRUE!

Grim Reaper statue, Cathedral of Trier, Trier, Germany

https://www.npr.org/2023/01/02/1146318331/yoga-guru-qanon-conspiracy-theories

She was a popular yoga teacher who embraced QAnon

—//—

Man… shit’s just getting weirder, and weirder by the day.

Next thing you know, Putin will be an outer space transsexual vegan lesbian lizard with a PhD in Marianas Trench basket weaving using Jewish space lasers funded by Elon Musk and owned by Muslims who are in cahoots with dead Pope Benedict XVI, who actually died 59 years ago, and has been a zombie ever since, secretly controlled by Elvis who is still living in seclusion in Memphis, is a major Republican donor, secretly married Marilyn Monroe who is also still alive in the Himalayas, and gave birth to a child who has the secret ability to morph, then became the 43rd, 44th, 45th, and 46th U.S. President, and is still President, but secretly living in seclusion after impregnating Hillary.

That man, is

Thank A Republican

If you enjoy your electrical power from TVA, and all the other associated benefits that have come along for that ride, such as regional economic development, improved health, care & quality of life, etc., you can thank a Republican.

That man would be Nebraska Republican U.S. Senator George W. Norris (1861-1944), who served 5 terms in the House (10 years), and 5 terms in the Senate (30 years), the last term of which he became an Independent, and was defeated for re-election in 1942.

George W. Norris as a newly elected U.S. Senator, 1912.

Senator Norris was also a member of a somewhat contrarian group in the House of Representatives that, in 1910, brought reform to its practices, by reducing the autocratic control which the Speaker of the House then had.

He also authored the 20th Amendment, which abolished so-called “lame duck” Congressional sessions, fought for presidential primaries, and direct election of Senators.

He also saved TVA from being sold — more accurately, prevented Wilson Dam in the Muscle Shoals area of Northwest Alabama from being sold — to one of the wealthiest industrialists of his era, which POTUSes Coolidge and Hoover (especially), both GOPers, wanted to sell to private enterprise, bidding in which Alabama Power (part of Atlanta, GA HQ’d Southern Company) was a strong contender.

That man was Henry Ford.

In the May 22, 1920 edition of The Dearborn Independent, a Henry Ford publication also known as The Ford International Weekly, Henry authored a front-page article entitled “The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem” that was later translated into several languages and distributed widely.

Interestingly enough, Henry Ford was a rabid anti-Semite Nazi sympathizer, of whom Adolph Hitler spoke fondly in a March 1923 interview with the Chicago Tribune, who said,

The Right To Bear Arms

A distinguished citizen takes a stand on one of the most controversial issues in the nation

By Warren E. Burger, Chief Justice of the United States (1969-86)
Parade Magazine, January 14, 1990, page 4

[NOTE: Chief Justice Warren E. Burger (1907-1995), was first nominated by POTUS EISENHOWER January 12, 1956 to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (often called the “Mini Supreme Court”) to fill the position created by the death of Judge Harold M. Stephens, was confirmed by the Senate 28 March that year, and on 23 June 1969 was nominated to be Chief Justice of the SCOTUS by POTUS NIXON following the resignation of CJ Earl Warren, who was also nominated by POTUS EISENHOWER, and  presided over numerous landmark Constitutional law cases and wrote the majority opinion in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), Reynolds v. Sims (1964), Miranda v. Arizona (1966) and Loving v. Virginia (1967). CJ Warren also led the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination of POTUS KENNEDY, was Governor of California from 1943-1953, and widely considered one of the nation’s most influential Chief Justices. CJ Burger was known more for his administrative acumen than for his intellect, and in 1974 authored the unanimous decision in United States v. Nixon, which rejected POTUS NIXON’s claim of Executive Privilege in the midst of the Watergate crimes, and eventually chose to resign, rather than face certain impeachment, thereby becoming the first POTUS to ever resign from office.]

Warren E. Burger, Chief Justice, United States Supreme Court, official portrait

Our metropolitan centers, and some suburban communities of America, are setting new records for homicides by handguns. Many of our large centers have up to 10 times the murder rate of all of Western Europe. In 1988, there were 9000 handgun murders in America. Last year, Washington, D.C., alone had more than 400 homicides — setting a new record for our capital.

The Constitution of the United States, in its Second Amendment, guarantees a “right of the people to keep and bear arms.” However, the meaning of this clause cannot be understood except by looking to the purpose, the setting and the objectives of the draftsmen. The first 10 amendments — the Bill of Rights — were not drafted at Philadelphia in 1787; that document came two years later than the Constitution. Most of the states already had bills of rights, but the Constitution might not have been ratified in 1788 if the states had not had assurances that a national Bill of Rights would soon be added.

People of that day were apprehensive about the new “monster” national government presented to them, and this helps explain the language and purpose of the Second Amendment. A few lines after the First Amendment’s guarantees — against “establishment of religion,” “free exercise” of religion, free speech and free press — came a guarantee that grew out of the deep-seated fear of a “national” or “standing” army. The same First Congress that approved the right to keep and bear arms also limited the national army to 840 men; Congress in the Second Amendment then provided:

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

In the 1789 debate in Congress on James Madison’s proposed Bill of Rights, Elbridge Gerry argued that a state militia was necessary:

“to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty … Whenever governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia in order to raise and army upon their ruins.”

We see that the need for a state militia was the predicate of the “right” guaranteed; in short, it was declared “necessary” in order to have a state military force to protect the security of the state. That Second Amendment clause must be read as though the word “because” was the opening word of the guarantee. Today, of course, the “state militia” serves a very different purpose. A huge national defense establishment has taken over the role of the militia of 200 years ago.

Some have exploited these ancient concerns, blurring sporting guns — rifles, shotguns and even machine pistols — with all firearms, including what are now called

“Saturday Night Live” Dying A Slow, Torturous Death

Do you ever watch Saturday Night Live?

If not, don’t worry. Not many people do… any more.

Like millions of other Americans, I do NOT watch it, and rather, see but snippets of it online every now and then, and occasionally see it mentioned in various news items here, there, and yon.

The reason I ask, is because a thought occurred to me, which is that, even though it’s circling the proverbial drain, it is salvageable.

In fact, in this now seemingly not-so funny time, it could quite possibly rise beyond its highest ratings period, which was its heyday, and perhaps even surpass it. But, the writers now ALL need to be fired. Why? They’re… Just. Not. Funny.

The track the show’s been on is eventually going to land it in the graveyard, and that’s not where longtime producer Lorne Michaels would like it to end up. But, at this point, it seems all but certain. The post mortem would read: Died for lack of humor caused by bad writing.

More to the point, as I pondered the matter, a thought occurred to me:

I do not ever recall having seen any skits or jokes about,
or references to,
the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.

That thought occurred to me after reading an OpEd about the committee, which lead with this sentence,

“The U.S. House’s Jan. 6 committee has performed its task with a dignity that verges on parody.”

If you’ve ever seen SNL, even once, then

Kudos to you, James Dedelow of WJOB! And shame on you, NPR!

Purdue Northwest chancellor apologizes after mocking Asian languages
A university chancellor apologized after mocking Asian languages in his speech
https://www.npr.org/2022/12/16/1143222095/purdue-northwest-chancellor-mocks-asian-language

So much bullshit.

I mean to refer to the article.

People are wearing their goddamn feelings on their sleeves, waiting for ANY opportunity to pronounce their faux dismay and disgust at some inane remark made by anyone about anything for any reason.

The chancellor referred to a portion of the commencement speaker’s remarks which may be found beginning around the :52 mark, which in context, was his statement of a silly little game he played with his grandchildren, in which he used gibberish as a concocted foreign language — and indeed, demonstrated the same numerous times throughout his address, speaking to his family, who were in attendance on the front row, and to the greater audience.

Commencement speaker: James E. “Jack” Dedelow, WJOB Radio and Founder, JEDTV

“I wanna’ first thank my family that gets to sit in the front row here, and I’ll just mention them, because when you give a speech, you gotta’ always do that, and sometimes you forget.

My wife Alexis — gave the commencement four years ago, my daughter Jackie and Tommy… my dad who went here in the late ’50s.

My son Steve, my granddaughter Lois is there.

Genie Viegal… yes, there she is.

We have a special thing, I’m supposed to play this straight, but ah… I have a thing on the air, if you ever listen.

I sometimes just roll off into a made up language, and I’ve taught it to my granddaughter, so if she starts crying, or this baby over here [gestures to his RIGHT] starts crying, I have something for them. It’s the ishgamaloofka language, and hopefully I don’t have to use it.

[continues remarks… looks to his LEFT — interrupts his remarks 58:53 with gibberish, gestures with LEFT hand as exclaiming]

Adama noris mo adis mor nisti!

[asks his family w grandchild]

Is the kid gonna’ stop?
See?
Did you see that?
Just try that!

[points with LEFT index finger to grandchild]

Just go in the shower and make up a fake language and use it on your kids. It works great.

[continues remarks, turns to LEFT and addresses his father]

My dad here, in 1959, 1960 — he’s right here. He looks… well, ah… I can say this:

[points with LEFT finger, breaks out in gibberish exclaiming]

Hadama mañyerist nor amnisti!
See?
Did you see that?
My dad here played basketball and baseball at PNW.
And he still does it today at the age of 83.

[remarks continue, and he again utters gibberish]

[upon conclusion of his remarks, he seats himself, chancellor returns to podium]

Well.. all I can say is ‘homja yayiyom, [turns to commencement speaker] bye arr.
That’s my Asian version of his… his ah…

Here’s the odd, even perverse thing about NPR’s reporting on that particular story — and it speaks, in my opinion — about fundamental hypocrisy.

But, there’s an even greater, even grotesquely bitter irony, one that many may have overlooked, including the author of the article — who, in that piece, injected her opinion — a CARDINAL sin in reporting. It was, in fact, an article wholly written about HER OPINION of one minuscule, picayune, so infinitesimally minute, and inconsequential thing, that, had it not been for the HEADLINE BLASTING HER OPINION, few, if any, would have read it.

But she, and NPR, understand what William Randolph Hearst, and Joseph Pulitzer understood quite well many years ago: Yellow Journalism gets people’s attention. Salacious garbage sells. In broadcast lingo, viewership and audience is colloquially termed “eyes on the set.” And today, in the online Internet realm, it’s called “clickbait.”

What’s saddening, is that the author most definitely has an impressive professional journalistic resume, and a first-class education, having “graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media, where she was a fully funded Roy H. Park Fellow.” So, she most DEFINITELY knows better.

Naturally, there’ll always be people who are looking for something negative to write about, and this was no exception. The university’s Associate Vice Chancellor, Kris Falzone, spoke with the Chronicle of Higher Education and said that media outlets had blown out of proportion the Chancellor’s brief utterance by saying that, “Chancellor Keon was reacting to something that the speaker had said, and it was taken out of context.”

Citing statistics provided by Purdue, the author wrote, “Purdue University Northwest reportedly accepted one of its largest and most racially diverse classes of first-time freshmen this year. A combined 2.7 percent of students identify as Asian, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, according to the university.”

The United States Census Bureau states that Indiana’s demographic profile consists of 3.7% AAPI individuals who are broken down into subgroups as follows:

American Indian and Alaska Native alone, percent 0.4%
Asian alone, percent 2.7%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, percent 0.1%

So, a 2.7% student body population, and a 3.7% state population are statistically insignificant, insofar as there’s only 1% difference between the two figures. But, if one genuinely wants to split hairs, that’s a 31.25% difference between the two figures. But again, as a reflection of that segment of the state’s demographics, it’s insignificant — de minimis.

If the NPR article’s author, Giulia Heyward, had bothered to watch the entire video (I do not know if she did, or did not), she would have heard Mr. Dedelow explain the reason why he does what he does — having given up a lucrative job and seats on the Chicago Board of Trade, to buy a radio station, change his cell phone number, and begin a new career path. His remarks in full, in that context, begin at the 1:04:54 mark:

“This is the part where I tell you guys something meaningful. And I’m 60 years old, I lived in a commune, I traded at the Board of Trade for 18 years. I’ve been on the radio and built a media network. And I’ve lived a life, quite frankly, of debauchery at just about all of those levels.

But I do wanna’ tell you why I sit there every day.

I get up everyday at 4 o’clock, I ride my bike over there. Sometimes

It’s 🎼 beginning ♫ to ⛄️ smell 🎄 a 🎶 lot 🛷 like…

Yup… Xmas is just a few days away.

Fourteen, to be exact, as this is being written.

And Americans have done what Americans do best — commercialize and capitalize upon the sacred.

I mean, what would Xmas be like without Satan Claws, the Ishtar Bunny, Abdominable Snowman, or Rudolph the Brown-Nosed Reindeer, eh?

Maybe that’s too much mixture of metaphones.

But, “merii Kurisumasu,” to you, anyway.

“Kurisumasu” is Japanese, being, of course, the phonetic pronunciation of Christmas, and “merii” being the phonetic pronunciation of the term recognizing the Virgin of Paloma; combine the two, and you have yourselves a merry little Christmas, dear. No more running of the bulls in Pamplona… which should not be confused with melanoma, nor with Oklahoma. Thank you, Will Rogers — the Sooner State’s Favorite Son… who was a Cherokee, a literal honest Injun, a Red Man — not to be confused with the chewing tobacco. And to you too, Fred McFeely Rogers. What would Big Bird be without you? Kentucky Fried Chicken. And Doumo Arigatou (どうもありがとう) to you, Harlan Sanders. And to Komatsu, and John Deere, we send mounds of earth. Now, get moving.

So, what’s the meaning of all this hegemonic, cacophonic, histrionic, mesenteric, miasmatic mess?

Creativity — pure and simple. It’s something made up in the crevices of my creative cranium using things we know about. It’s the use of reality to make a surreality, a phantasy — a thing like the real, somewhat resembling the real, though its most defining characteristic is that it is unreal… very unreal. And we know it.

But seriously, our Japanese brethren have taken a shining to Xmas (but not The Shining), a virtual twinkling of an eye, and/or lights, and/or toes, candy canes, little tin soldiers, and stockings hung by the chimney with care in the hopes that Saint Nick soon will be there, even though Japan is a predominately Shinto and Buddhist nation, just like Middle Eastern nations are predominately Muslim. Seems they like having something to celebrate in the dead of winter, besides soy sauce, saki, and Sony. Now they have Santa. What would a Buddhist Santa look like?

Maybe something like this?

For the Christian faithful, it’s now the Advent season, an annual celebration which consists of the four Sundays before Christmas, or in Eastern Orthodox churches, the 40 days before Christmas, which will then become Christmastide (being the festival observed from December 24 which is Christmas Eve, Christmas Day is the First Day of Christmas, until January 5, the 12th Day of Christmas, which is the eve of Epiphany), then followed by Epiphany.

Got it?

In other words, it’s the season for some of the holiest, and most important days of the year for many orthodox and Catholic Christians, though some Protestant denominations also acknowledge them. And then comes Lent (which is a 40-day period of fasting and penitence observed by many Christians in preparation for Easter, which in Western churches, lasts from Ash Wednesday until Holy Saturday — which is the day before Easter Sunday — excluding Sundays, in which time the observant commemorate the fasting done by Jesus of Nazareth while in the wilderness) and Eastertide referring to the Easter season, which occurs from Easter Sunday to Ascension Day, sometimes also called Whitsunday, or Trinity Sunday, which is 40 days in duration, initiating with Easter Sunday. Easter is ALWAYS on a Sunday, because that’s when many Christians think Jesus of Nazareth was resurrected from death, following his execution by the government, and subsequent entombment.

As the story is told, He was never “properly buried,” per se — which as many now consider it, is to have the mortal remains placed in a casket, which is then inserted inside a concrete vault, which is placed in a hole dug into the ground, then covered with soil — and rather, His body was placed in a cave, the entrance to which reportedly had a large rock placed in front of the entrance as a blockade. Archaeologists, experts and others who’ve scoured the area around Jerusalem have found only 4 round disc-type rolling rocks used as tomb covers/blockades among the 900-plus Second Temple-period burial caves, all of which were examined by examined by archaeologist Amos Kloner, and those were reserved for the very wealthy and/or royalty. Much more likely, and much more common, was a stone, which may have been hewn, used as a type of plug, in a manner somewhat similar to a cork in a bottle.

That is similarly attested to by researcher Dr. Urban Cammilus von Wahlde, PhD, of Loyola University, Chicago, IL, a Research Fellow Yale Divinity School, 1979, member Catholic Biblical Association American, Society Biblical Literature, Chicago Society Biblical Research, etc., who authored an article to that effect which was published in the March/April 2015 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Biblical Archeology Review, in a column entitled “A Rolling Stone That Was Hard to Roll,” in which he analyzed the Gospel accounts to determine how such a stone which was reported to have sealed the cave/tomb, and found in particular in the Gospel of John, in the original Greek, the grammar used yielded a detail which supports the idea that the cave/tomb in which Jesus of Nazareth was reportedly buried was sealed with stone in a cork-like manner. Here’s an image of such a type cave/tomb.

Very few tombs in Jerusalem from the late Second Temple period had round (disk-shaped) rolling stones, which were utilized by those of wealth and royalty, and it was much more common to seal tombs with cork-shaped stones, such as the one seen here. The archaeological evidence strongly suggests that the cave/tomb of Jesus — which the story says was the unused tomb of Joseph of Arimathea — would have been sealed with a cork-shaped stone. Photo: Tom Powers.

Before it seems like we’re getting all bogged down before making a point, please… bear with me, be patient. There’s a reason why, and it’ll be plainly evident soon enough. Very soon, in fact. And these religious holy days/holidays must be enumerated in order to understand what will be presented at that moment, when “the reveal” is made.

So, continuing…

Eastertide, sometimes also called Paschaltide, Paschaltime, or the Paschal season, focuses upon celebrating what the Christian faithful say is the

Why Do White Supremacists Worship A Jew?

Am I the only one who sees the dark irony of the inconsistency and hypocrisy of White Supremacists and other racists who say they’re Christian, yet the very religion which they ostensibly espouse was founded by Jews, and based upon the tenets taught by a Jew?😳🤯

The fact that they literally WORSHIP a Jew, yet hate the Jewish people?

CORRUPTION in the Supreme Court

Re: Supreme Court of the United States

“Does this institution need to change in some way to regain the public trust?”

The short answer is a resounding “YES!”

Now, read on to learn at least one stunning reason why.

There’s PLENTY of brouhaha and he-said-she-said nonsense reported as “journalism” these days, and the same is absolutely true with this most recent matter concerning allegations that a previous decision from the SCOTUS, specifically referring to news that a “leak” about how a decision would be rendered in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., would be rendered.

In short, the 2014 case revolved around birth control, that the defendant, Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. wanted to deny birth control to Burwell the plaintiff, and asserted that they had a legal right to do so.

In essence the ruling “permits a closely held for-profit corporation [meaning one that is privately held by an individual, family, or family trust] to deny its employees the health coverage of contraceptives to which the employees are otherwise entitled by the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA), based on the religious objections of the corporation’s owners.”

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Hobby Lobby is a multi-billion dollar, for-profit, privately held corporation owned by the Green family of Oklahoma City, OK, which has just under 1000 stores nationwide, over 43,000 employees, and describes itself as an “arts & crafts store,” which imports most, if not all, of their merchandise from China, India, Vietnam, and other developing nations. Very little, if any, of the merchandise they sell is American made.

With a net worth of $15.1 BILLION estimated by Forbes, the Green family members are Evangelical Christians, and the company was founded in 1972. In the company’s 50-year history, it, and/or its owners have been criticized for numerous deceptive and questionable activities, and have been found guilty in Federal court in 2017 of smuggling ancient middle eastern antiquities — 5,500 artifacts purchased for $1.6 billion — which were later learned to have been looted from archeological sites, and shipped in boxes deliberately deceptively labeled as “tile samples,” to their Oklahoma City corporate headquarters. For that crime, they were ordered to pay a $3 million fine, forced to return the booty, and forfeited the money which they spent to illegally purchase the loot. From 2018-2020, they also later confessed that fragments of a document which they claimed were portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls, were forgeries, though they presented them as authentic in their Washington, DC-based “Museum of the Bible.” And in March 2020, the Greens announced that they would be repatriating 11,500 additional ancient artifacts to Iraq and Egypt.

As the COVID pandemic began to rage and claim lives, dropping humans like so many flies, the company refused to close its stores in numerous locations because Deborah Green, the founder’s spouse, claimed to have “heard a message from God” to keep them open, and further falsely claimed that they were an “essential” service employer which exempted them from compliance with various states’ and local laws ordering businesses closed for public health preservation, to prevent spread of the disease. Later, under pressure from employees concerned for their own safety and welfare, the corporation acquiesced to their employees’ pressure, closed all stores, and furloughed every employee, which led at least two employees to remark, “This has all been so stressful and exhausting. I don’t want to stay home because I’m too lazy to work. I want to stay home to do my part to stop the spread of the virus.” -and- “The line our manager gave us [from corporate] was, ‘The employees got what the employees wanted; the stores were closed.’ My question was, ‘Did God tell them they needed to close the stores and not pay us?'”

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In the Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. ruling, the SCOTUS held that not only can corporations have, practice, and espouse a religion, but that they can also deny healthcare treatment to anyone in the organization who may need a medication which the corporation finds onerous, or objectionable, based upon ostensibly religious grounds.

It’s not about “rights” as the plaintiffs allege, it’s about CONTROL — specifically, control over others in an effort to manipulate them, to force them to abide by manipulator’s beliefs — NOT about individual liberty, or freedom.

This most recent revelation of a much-earlier leak comes on the heels of another similarly related, though much more blatant, and publicly observed leak: A decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a ruling from 6  so-called “conservative,” Republican-appointed Justices — 3 questionable appointments who were nominees by The Federalist Society via then-POTUS Donald Trump — whose combined opinions effectively overturned Roe v. Wade, a 1973 decision allowing abortion, and the 1992 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey which affirmed Roe. A copy of a draft in the Dobbs ruling was “leaked” to POLITICO, and was later authenticated by CJ Roberts.
see: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21835435/scotus-initial-draft.pdf

The 6 GOP-nominated right-wing radicals all attested, under oath, during their confirmation hearings, that Roe was well-established and settled legal precedent of very nearly 50 years, that its rendering was unimpeachable, and unquestionable. Of course, lawyers that they are, they artfully dodged giving a straight-forward and direct answer when asked their opinions of the Roe decision — stare decisis be damned. Naturally, it has led to justifiable moral outrage from many who contend that such deception under oath is an impeachable offense. And, it very well may be.

Naturally, Justice Alito, and others, have denied that any such thing occurred, and further denied that he “leaked” information on how the Hobby Lobby ruling would be made.

HOWEVER…

Rob Schenck, the longtime vehemently radicalized Evangelical protagonist in this matter, goes into GREAT DETAIL describing how he was the one whose idea to duplicitously train of a group of spies to infiltrate the SCOTUS with well-heeled, wealthy couples, to

Dear Georgia Voters: DO NOT VOTE FOR CHARLES MANSON!

Dear Georgia GOP voters,

I beseech you:

DO NOT
— DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT —
VOTE FOR CHARLES MANSON!!

‘Oh… but Charles Manson isn’t up for election, and in fact, he’s dead,’ you may say. ‘Besides, he’s a killer,’ perhaps you might add.

You’re only partially correct.

And as you recall, being “partially correct” is being ENTIRELY WRONG.

Charles Manson IS dead, but his spirit lives on… in Herschel Walker.

Here’s how.

First, Charles Manson NEVER killed anyone;
-and-
Secondly, Charles Manson NEVER ordered anyone to be killed.

Yup.

That’s correct.

Charles Manson NEVER killed anyone.

If you don’t recall, you need to familiarize yourself with that case.

Charles Manson’s conviction was one of history’s most stupendous criminal convictions, and a monumental achievement for the rule of law because of that fact. And the lead Prosecutor — Vincent Bugliosi (now deceased) is to be commended endlessly for his accomplishment to keep the People of California safe from Charles Manson’s wickedly wry predations, which was his innate ability to manipulate and control people.

There is NO ONE (no one in their proper mind, that is) who for even a microsecond, thinks that Charles Manson was in his proper mind. For he most certainly was NOT.

Neither is Hershel Walker.

And to be certain,

Herschel Walker Is Simultaneously Registered To Vote in Texas & Georgia

It’s been often said that “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

So, in that case, here are six… and a couple PDFs as well.

Voter Registration records are PUBLIC INFORMATION.

Which means that ANYONE can access them for ANY REASON.

Public means public.

Here, for your perusal, are images from the website of the office of the Secretary of State of Georgia -and- of Texas of Voter Registration for Hershel Walker.

A parting thought:

Republicans, in large part, if not exclusively, have raised a ruckus claiming all sorts of fraudulent vote-related activity, most of which has to do with the actual casting of a ballot, despite abundantly overwhelming evidence to the contrary. However, as they have done in recent history, Republicans, again, have also changed many laws pertinent to voting — which includes voting registration — to make offense of them, a felony act. A felony act, by definition, is a crime for which the penalty/punishment is/can be imprisonment/incarceration for a period of NOT LESS THAN 366 days, i.e., a year and a day (excluding leap years).

Felony acts are, by their punishment, considered to be the MOST SERIOUS of CRIMINAL offenses. And so, to be certain, when states’ legislators enact law that makes a deceitful act pertinent to voting, and/or registration, they are, in effect, saying that such an act is the moral equivalent of murder, which is itself a felony act.

The proliferation of legislatures — again, mostly, if not exclusively Republican — changing punishment for existing laws which have been considered misdemeanor acts into felony offenses (that is to say, increasing the severity of punishment) has in recent history INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY. And so, it’s little wonder that in the United States, an ostensibly “free” nation, there are MORE PEOPLE INCARCERATED TOTAL -and- PER CAPITA than in any other nation the world over  — including Communist China, Russia, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Cuba, and other dictatorial, authoritarian, and totalitarian  regimes COMBINED.

Yeah.

Let that soak in a while.

It’s not a joke, it’s not exaggeration, it’s not hyperbole.

It’s the unvarnished truth, and a hard, cold, fact.

Even the Department of Justice acknowledges as much which the National Institute of Corrections, a subsidiary agency of the DOJ, quoted 2014 research article “The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences” published by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine:

“After decades of stability from the 1920s to the early 1970s, the rate of imprisonment in the United States more than quadrupled during the last four decades. The U.S. penal population of 2.2 million adults is by far the largest in the world. Just under one-quarter of the world’s prisoners are held in American prisons. The U.S. rate of incarceration, with nearly 1 out of every 100 adults in prison or jail, is 5 to 10 times higher than the rates in Western Europe and other democracies. The U.S. prison population is largely drawn from the most disadvantaged part of the nation’s population: mostly men under age 40, disproportionately minority, and poorly educated. Prisoners often carry additional deficits of drug and alcohol addictions, mental and physical illnesses, and lack of work preparation or experience. The growth of incarceration in the United States during four decades has prompted numerous critiques and a growing body of scientific knowledge about what prompted the rise and what its consequences have been for the people imprisoned, their families and communities, and for U.S. society. [The report] examines research and analysis of the dramatic rise of incarceration rates and its affects. This study makes the case that the United States has gone far past the point where the numbers of people in prison can be justified by social benefits and has reached a level where these high rates of incarceration themselves constitute a source of injustice and social harm.”

Contributor(s): National Research Council; Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education; Committee on Law and Justice; Committee on Causes and Consequences of High Rates of Incarceration; Jeremy Travis, Bruce Western, and Steve Redburn, Editors

But, it’ll be interesting to see what becomes of this matter.

Will either state, Georgia, and/or Texas pursue justice?

Or, will the, again, mostly-Republican dominated state governments allow “one of their own,” i.e., the rich and famous, e.g., Herschel Walker, get off scot-free?

We’ll see.

Stay tuned.

Here are the images.

How Sick Is A Sick Party That Pushes Sick Candidates On Sick Voters?

Appearing on Alex Jones’ “InfoWars” program, Kanye West recently said, 

“I see good things about Hitler. Jewish people are not going to tell me: ‘You can’t say out loud that this person ever [sic] did anything good.’ I’m done with that. I like Hitler. The Jewish media has made us feel like Nazis and Hitler, [and] have never offered us anything of value to the world.” 

Kanye is widely known as a mentally disturbed multi-millionaire Black male entertainer whose fortune came in large part from sales of athletic footwear following modest recording successes, and now prefers to be called “Ye,” who continues supporting degenerate racist Republican madman and chronically habitual liar, the chiseler-swindler-thief, former POTUS and election-denier-in-chief, Donald Trump.

Kanye has increasingly and very publicly exhibited bizarrely erratic behavior on full display through various online social media accounts, in other public venues and ways, in 2016 and 2019 was hospitalized because of psychiatric emergency, and in 2016 was diagnosed with bipolar disorder about which he has publicly spoken, though he denied it in a public White House Oval Office meeting with the 45th President in October 2018 claiming that he was merely “sleep deprived,” yet months earlier claimed bipolar disorder was “my superpower” and on his June 2018 album cover of “Ye,” scrawled “I hate being Bi-Polar its awesome.”

His deteriorated mental health condition is painfully obvious to even the most casual of observers, and with the 2010 production of an album named “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” in conjunction with his on-again-off-again denial of the reality of his disease, refusal to treat his disease with medications, in combination with a very public divorce involving four children, his life has become an unsightly public disgrace at best, and a laughingstock and open mockery at worse.

“InfoWars” is a moronic madhouse media show of radicalized right-wing extremist conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who, despite multi-billion dollar civil judgements against him for deliberately promoting lies, continues producing his show, and has most recently filed bankruptcy in Texas following the civil judgments against him.

Alex foists numerous mind-boggling insane rants, including most notably and tragically, that the 2012 mindless mass murder massacre of 20 6-and-7 year old children, 7 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut — and his mother in her home — was a “false flag” staged stunt, a hoax performed by actors perpetrated by the Federal government in an attempt to outlaw assault weapons. Alex Jones’ lies in turn caused his followers to harass the grieving parents & siblings, including an FBI agent who had responded to the scene. The 20-year-old perpetrator Adam Lanza committed suicide on site using the AR-15 style rifle fitted with several 30 round magazines which he used to kill the children, teachers, and his mother.

Alex Jones, Donald Trump, and Kanye West… those 3 men alone are IRREFUTABLE PROOF POSITIVE that America is much, much, much more gravely mentally ill than previously imagined, that the depths of depravity which they represent are but a mere scratch on the surface, the veritable tip of the proverbial iceberg, perhaps much like the one which sank the allegedly “unsinkable” luxury cruise ship “Titanic,” again, which ironically occurred after striking an iceberg on its 1912 maiden voyage.

But we could add a 4th: Herschel Walker, another man with a well-known mentally-disordered psychiatric disorder who is equally well known for his chronically habitual lying, spousal/partner abuse, and wholesale denial that anything is wrong with him.

Having been manipulated into becoming a candidate for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat under the Republican banner by the former 45th President, Hershel Walker appears to have violated Georgia election law by claiming to be a Georgia Resident and voting in the state’s Republican primary and the Georgia November 2022 General Election, while simultaneously taking a homestead tax deduction in Texas, though “the place where he stays” is his wife’s house in Georgia.

Herschel Walker is an equally VERY SICK, SICK man, who is also a known chronic pathological liar, spousal abuser, philanderer, manipulator and all-around psychopath… much like the 45th POTUS.

BUT!

Do you know what MUCH, MUCH — even EXCEEDINGLY — worse?

A people who either cannot see, or refuse to see, the depths of Herschel Walker’s depravity and utter lack of character qualities befitting such an office, which on their face are innately inherent moral disqualifications, or either are so blindly stuck on the GOP that they’d vote for a warm piece of shit, instead of anyone else, just because it’s under the Republican banner.

Yet those sick men’s cult members cannot themselves be blamed for perpetrating and promulgating such mass evil. Their enablers are

Pope Francis: I don’t name Putin because everyone knows I’m talking about him.

Pope Francis was interviewed recently for “America: The Jesuit Review,” a Catholic magazine published by the Jesuits. Francis is the first ever Jesuit pope, which is properly the “Society of Jesus,” hence the name “Jesuit,” though it was founded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

Jesuits have a history as reformers, and are considered the “brains” of the Catholic church, insofar as academics, particularly higher education, medicine, law, and science, is important to them. In fact, it was a Jesuit priest, Father Georges Lemaître, a Belgian Catholic priest, theoretical physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and professor of physics at the Catholic University of Louvain, in Belgium — the Université Catholique de Louvain, from where he earned Docteur en Sciences in 1920, and in 1927, earned the Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology — who first came up with the expanding universe theory, years ahead of Edwin Hubble, who later confirmed Lemaître’s work, rather than originating it, as some mistakenly believe. Another magnificent scientific achievement, now considered the scientific standard, is the “Big Bang” theory of the origin of the universe, was also originally proposed by Fr. Lemaître. Additionally, he also served as an artillery officer in WWI. When afterward he began academic pursuits, he studied at the renown University of Cambridge, where he later became a researcher, and an associate researcher at Harvard, and MIT. So, he was definitely no slouch in numerous ways.

But Pope Francis…

The interview was wide-ranging, and covered numerous topics of concern to all, not just to the religious, or to Catholics, which included bishops accused of sexual abuse of children, and adults, and their complicity in those criminal activities, as well as public perception of the church’s lack of concern about spousal/domestic partner abuse.

Toward the conclusion of the interview, Pope Francis was asked about his thoughts on the Russia/Ukraine matter, and made the following remarks.

Editor’s Note: On Nov. 22, 2022, five representatives of America Media interviewed Pope Francis at his residence at Santa Marta at the Vatican. Matt Malone, S.J., the departing editor in chief of America, was joined by Sam Sawyer, S.J., the incoming editor in chief; executive editor Kerry Weber; Gerard O’Connell, America’s Vatican correspondent; and Gloria Purvis, host of “The Gloria Purvis Podcast.” They discussed a wide range of topics with the pope, including polarization in the U.S. church, racism, the war in Ukraine, the Vatican’s relations with China and church teaching on the ordination of women. The interview was conducted in Spanish with the assistance of a translator, Elisabetta Piqué. A transcript of the Spanish text can be found here.

Here is the full transcript of that portion of the interview.

---

Gerard O’Connell: Holy Father, about Ukraine: Many in the United States have been confused by your seeming unwillingness to directly criticize Russia for its aggression against Ukraine, preferring instead to speak more generally of the need for an end to war, an end to mercenary activity rather than Russian attacks, and to the traffic in arms. How would you explain your position on this war to Ukrainians, or Americans and others who support Ukraine?

Pope Francis: When I speak about Ukraine, I speak of a people who are martyred. If you have a martyred people, you have someone who martyrs them. When I speak about Ukraine, I speak about the cruelty because I have much information about the cruelty of the troops that come in. Generally, the cruelest are perhaps those who are of Russia but are not of the Russian tradition, such as the Chechens, the Buryati and so on. Certainly, the one who invades is the Russian state. This is very clear. Sometimes I try not to specify so as not to offend and rather, condemn in general, although it is well known whom I am condemning. It is not necessary that I put a name and surname.

On the second day of the war, I went to the Russian embassy [to the Holy See], an unusual gesture because the pope never goes to an embassy. And there I said to the ambassador to tell [Vladimir] Putin that I was willing to

Internal Report: Unrest in China’s “iPhone City” will cause 6 million lost iPhones

Apple Could Lose Six Million iPhones
Taipei Times
Tuesday, November 29, 2022, page 12

FACTORY TUMULT: Departure of new workers will negatively affect production much less than official governmental quarantines imposed on existing employees, said a worker at China’s ‘iPhone city.’

Turmoil at Apple Inc’s key manufacturing hub in Zhengzhou is likely to result in a production shortfall of almost 6 million iPhone Pro units this year, said a person familiar with assembly operations.

iPhone 14 Pro Max

The situation at the plant remains fluid and an estimate of lost production could change, said a person who requested anonymity to discuss private information.

Much depends on how quickly Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the Taiwanese company that operates the facility, can get people back to assembly lines after violent protests against COVID-19 restrictions. If lockdowns continue in the weeks ahead, production could be further reduced.

The Zhengzhou campus has been wracked by lockdowns and worker unrest for weeks after COVID-19 infections left Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), and the local government struggling to contain the outbreak.

Thousands of staff fled last month after

iPhone 14, Domestic Manufacture, Free Trade, International Diplomacy & National Security

Apple charges between US$799 for a basic iPhone 14, to US$1599 for a top-of-the-line iPhone 14 Pro Max model.

That’s how much you’ll pay without carrier subsidies, which are typically tied to a service contract, but…

How much does Apple pay for it?

How much does it cost them to make it?

Japanese business newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun, and Fomalhaut Techno Solutions, a Tokyo-based mobile communications equipment analysis firm, collaborated to investigate and issued a report of their findings which were based upon disassembly of three models of the iPhone 14 series, and an estimated cost analysis of the hardware components.

Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nihon sometimes also spelled Nippon), translated as “Japanese Economic Newspaper,” is Japan’s most widely respected daily business-oriented newspaper, with a total morning and evening circulation of 3.7 million.

iPhone 14 Pro Max

The report found that the total parts cost of Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro Max, their top-of-the-line model, costs about 20% more than last year’s iPhone 13. The iPhone 14 Pro series has few new features, and is powered by Apple’s A16 processor, which continues the company’s strategy of producing ultra-high performance products, yet prices in the US and elsewhere remain the same, thus ostensibly constricting, or compressing, profitability.

Since its 2018 introduction, iPhone’s flagship “Max” model has cost an extra US$400 to US$450.

Based upon their analysis, Fomalhaut estimated that the total parts price for the iPhone 14 Pro Max is approximately US$501, which is slightly US$60 more than last year’s iPhone 13 Pro Max model.

The cost increase in the iPhone 14 Pro series is primarily because of Apple’s “A16 Bionic” chip, which uses a state-of-the-art 4nm (nanometer) production process, currently only available from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC), and Samsung Electronics.

Moves Protect Intellectual Property

Headquartered in Taiwan, TSMC is the world’s largest contract chip maker, a major Apple supplier, and is constructing a US$12 billion plant in Arizona near Phoenix. Governor Doug Ducey had initially visited Taiwan in 2017, and again in August 2020 for a 3-day trip, at which time TSMC announced their intention to build a $12B chip foundry in Arizona that year, and shortly thereafter began seeking subsidies. At the time of the announcement, TSMC speculated that construction would begin in 2024.

However, in August 2022, Governor Ducey made a brief construction progress report about TSMC’s Arizona facility, and recollecting his previously visits, stated in part that, “Just over two years later TSMC has completed construction for its main facility and continues to make excellent progress. Along with TSMC’s historic investment, roughly two dozen Taiwanese-based suppliers are finding Arizona is right for investment.”

TSMC broke ground on the project March 2021 and had a ceremonial “topping” celebration, a construction industry term meaning installation of the last beam, with 4000 attendees in July 2022. The property literally went from 1100 acres of tumbleweeds to factory shells in under six months.

But not only is the construction of TSMC’s Arizona facility a win-win for the United States, it also represents a prospective national security matter, because there have been rumblings that the Communist Chinese government could seize the Taiwanese facility.

Speaking in May 2022 at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China in Beijing, Chen Wenling, Chief Economist at the Communist Chinese government-run China Center for International Economic Exchanges told attendees that, “If the US and the West impose destructive sanctions on China like sanctions against Russia, we must recover Taiwan.”

Her remarks were alarming, and appeared to encourage Chinese military assault, and she warned the attendees that

Tim Cook & Apple Computer MUTE On Human Rights Abuses In Factories

In what is rapidly becoming an International Public Relations, Marketing and Sales nightmare for Apple Computer — the world’s largest and wealthiest corporation, with a market capitalization value of at least US$2.356 Trillion — Chinese citizens in Zhengzhou, China, known colloquially as “iPhone City” for its massive manufacturing facilities owned by Foxconn, which are contracted with Apple Computer, of Cupertino, California, to manufacture the iPhone 14, and other Apple-branded consumer computer hardware — have gone on strike after having been brutally beaten by Communist Chinese police over a reneged promise made to prospective and new employees by Foxconn for their pay.

The iPhone 14, Apple’s latest and greatest model, which retails from US$799 to $1,599.00 for a top-of-the-line iPhone 14 Pro Max model, is now “behind the power curve” on holiday sales leading up to, and immediately after “Black Friday,” when many American customers nationwide reported an inability to find the product in stores, or online. The phrase is an aviation-related one, which colloquially means to be in a situation in which circumstances are beyond a locus of control, and any extra effort to play “catch up” only gets worse with each successive attempt.

“Black Friday,” of course, refers to the day immediately after Thanksgiving (which always occurs on a Thursday) in which retailers experience their greatest sales, which for many, if not the exceeding majority, accounts for a significant portion of their annual profitability, and places them “in the black,” rather than being in an indebted, or profitless condition, which is referred to as being “in the red.”

Tim Cook, Apple CEO, official portrait

The events in China’s “iPhone City” couldn’t have come at a worse time for Apple.

Matters are further complicated by the Communist Chinese government’s mandatory “shutdowns” of all public business operations, and public intercourse.

Again, ALL of this is completely outside Apple Computer’s locus of control. Yet, there are some thing that Tim Cook could do to minimize, or ameliorate, any damages, now, and in the future.

Naturally, the problem is not limited exclusively to Apple Computer, and rather, is the initialization of an avalanche-like, cascading chain of events which will reduce Apple’s profitability, as well as that of retailers nationwide.

Beyond that, it further reemphasizes what has been continually been an increasing point of contention in the United States, which is the “outsourcing’ of American manufacturing jobs —  the most notable of which is China — to nations where there are little-to-no labor laws, practically non-existent workplace safety laws or regulations, and certainly no wage standards, and neither minimum wage laws, nor collective-bargaining labor unions to represent the employees’ interests.

In short, it is the moral equivalent of — and for all practical purposes is — slave labor, because the employees in  factories in China, overseas, and in other developing nations, have no rights, nor opportunity for redress of grievances against their employer as in the United States. It is capitalism run amok. And the worst part of it all, is that it originates from within the United States.

We are now living in an era and age in which

Marsha Blackburn is an ignorant, dunder-headed twit.

Video screen capture of Tennessee Republican U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn lining a baking tray with WAX PAPER upon which she will bake cookies.

Marsha Blackburn… 🤪🤢🤮

I’m trying to decide if Marsha Blackburn is a moronic imbecile, or an imbecilic moron.

Regardless, she’s a fool, and is proof positive why NO ONE should EVER even give her the time of day, much less seriously consider anything she says.

And you know what’s even WORSE?

She majored in Home Economics at Mississippi State University, in Starkville, where she earned the Bachelor of Science in 1974.

Maybe she missed class that week.

Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn is telling her followers to put wax paper in the oven, a potential fire hazard,… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…—
PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) November 24, 2022

Video screen capture of Tennessee Republican U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn placing cookie dough upon WAX PAPER lining a baking tray which she will then bake.

1.) “The short answer to the question of whether you can put wax paper in the oven is a resounding no!”
— Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods, miller/granary

2.) “…definitely not for heating food in the oven.”
— A Taste of Home, cooking website

3.) “…using wax paper in the oven is not recommended.”
— ryujinramenbrooklyn.com, cooking blog

4.) “…you cannot put wax paper in the oven.”
— OvenQueries.com, oven cooking website

5.) “The paper could catch fire

CDA Section 230 violates Equal Protection Clause & threatens National Security

There’s been a significant amount of handwringing over remarks made by so-called “free speech” advocates who assert that anyone can say anything online “because it’s ‘free’ speech,” and ostensibly protected by the First Amendment.

I demur.

Facebook, Instagram (owned by FB), and Twitter, which are the “Big Three” online Social Media (SoMe) corporate megaliths (that is, if Twitter survives Elon Musk, if not, then TikTok may take Twitter’s place), have increasingly come under fire in the past several years — justifiably so — for turning a blind eye to bad behavior, “speech” in particular (as writing and/or video, both mediums posted on the services), thereby, in essence, becoming purveyors of lies, complicit by their inactions, in aiding and abetting actions of bad actors, consequently harming our nation — a significant portion of which continues originating in nations hostile to American national interests.

Writing in the Global Security Review, June 10, 2019, in an article entitled “Facebook, Compromised: How Russia Manipulated U.S. Voters” — the second of a four-part series — Sophia Porotsky detailed how Russia, as a malign foreign actor, sought, and continues seeking, the downfall of the United States.

“Russian Information Warfare content on social media attempts to subvert Western democracies in five ways:

1.) Undermine public confidence in democratic government;
2.) Exacerbate internal political divisions;
3.) Erode trust in government;
4.) Push the Russian agenda in foreign populations, and;
5.) Create confusion and distrust by blurring fact and fiction.

Russian propaganda on social media can be divided into four themes:

1.) Political messages intended to foster distrust in government (e.g. allegations of voter fraud, corruption);
2.) Financial propaganda (i.e. create distrust in Western financial institutions);
3.) Social issues (e.g. ethnic tensions, police brutality), and;
4.) Doomsday-style conspiracy theories.

“Information warfare content is generated and disseminated through channels that fall into three attribution categories:

1.) White (overt);
2.) Grey (less-overt), and;
3.) Black (covert) channels.

They propagate a blend of authentic, manipulated, and fake stories and they feed off of and reinforce each other.”

Among the numerous sources cited was “Russia’s Approach to Cyber Warfare,” a paper written by Michael Connell and Sarah Vogler published March 2017 by the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) — an 80-year, independent, nonprofit research and analysis organization dedicated to the safety and security of the nation that informs the decisions of Navy, Marine Corps and DOD leaders as the Department of the Navy’s federally funded research and development center — which stated that,

“Russia views cyber very differently than its western counterparts, from the way Russian theorists define cyberwarfare to how the Kremlin employs its cyber capabilities.” Part of that difference is that the Russians “conceptualize cyber operations within the broader framework of information warfare, a holistic concept that includes computer network operations, electronic warfare, psychological operations, and information operations.”

And as part of their overall operations in that realm, not only does Russia “employ cyber as a conventional force enabler,” they integrate cybercriminals, hacktivists, and other nefariously malign non-state actors into their overall operations scheme, a practice also undertaken by “China, Iran, North Korea, and other cyber adversaries.”

That information is further borne out by the writings of Professor Dr. Mark Galeotti, PhD, who in June 2022 was recently banned from travel to Russia, wrote an OpEd in the independent news journal The Moscow Times, published December 22, 2017, that, “It is hard to sustain a serious claim that NATO tanks are about to surge eastwards – though some of the Kremlin’s more fanciful propagandists do try – but the virtues of the “secret battlefield” of intelligence work is that it is precisely covert.”

Dr. Galeotti is an internationally-recognized expert in security politics, intelligence services and criminality of modern Russia, is a Senior Non-Resident Fellow of the Institute of International Relations Prague, an Associate Fellow at the Council on Geostrategy, Honorary Professor at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, Honorary Professor at University College London, and Executive Director and principal in Mayak Intelligence, a London-based consultancy specializing in, and primarily focusing upon understanding organized and transnational crime, war, politics and history in Russia. Dr. Galieotti is also a contributing member of the Network of Experts of the independent civil-society organization Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

The root cause of such problems, wrote David J. Smith in “How Russia Harnesses Cyber Warfare,” published in Defense Dossier, American Foreign Policy Council (August 2012: Issue 4), 9,” is inherently based in, and the natural outcome of,

Life Imitates Art — The Man Who Planted Trees

The forest doesn’t need us.

It was here before us, and it will be here after we leave.

The forest will survive despite our abuses of it.

We are the ones who need the forest.

 

“The Man Who Planted Trees”
A short story by Jean Giono
Featuring the Paul Winter Consort & Jean Giono
Narrated by Robert J. Lurtsema
The work won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1987.

“The Man Who Planted Trees” is 1953 fictional short story by French author Jean Giono, who in a 1957 letter to a Digne, France city official wrote, “Elzéard Bouffier is a fictional person. The goal was to make trees likeable, or more specifically, make planting trees likeable.”

The book, which was translated into several languages and distributed without charge, was so well received that many thought it was a true story, thus somewhat necessitating such a letter.

The story illustrates the magnitude of difference that one person can make to the earth.

“The Man Who Planted Trees” tells a tale of Elzéard Bouffier, a simple man of determination, who, after losing his wife and son, retreated to a desolately remote part of France, which land he thought “was dying for want of trees.” So, with his dog and sheep as his solitary companions, he began his life’s work — daily planting one hundred acorns.

Over 30 years, laboring in peace without interruption, and in complete anonymity, Elzéard’s planting of trees resurrected and transformed a once desiccated landscape, relentlessly ravaged by winds, and forsaken by people, into a verdantly vibrant, vigorous, and thriving region, filled with people and life of all kinds.

---

Life imitates art.
—————————

Manipur man converts barren land into 300-acre forest

Meanwhile, Loiya is certain that the task of growing a forest and nurturing it is going to be “a lifelong mission” although he now works in a pharmacy to earn a living and to sustain his family.
Published: 13th November 2022 12:41 PM — Last Updated: 13th November 2022 12:41 PM

IMPHAL: A 47-year-old man in Manipur’s Imphal West district has converted barren land into a 300-acre forest with a wide variety of plant species in 20 years.

Moirangthem Loiya, who hails from

Herschel Walker campaign to Trumpublicans: Stop “deceptive fundraising” in Senate runoff

Why is Herschel Walker surprised?

Seriously… WHY?

The GOP (Grand Old Party, a Republican moniker which emerged c.1854) is no more, and is not even a mere shadow of its former self. It is LITERALLY the FGOP — Formerly Grand Old Party, or OGOP, Once Grand Old Party.

Today, it’s the POT (Party Of Trump) — a natural-born liar, swindler, cheater, chiseler, defrauder, narcissistic, racist, xenophobic, duplicitous, unpatriotic, treasonously treacherous traitor who will LITERALLY DO ANYTHING to get what he wants, everyone and everything else be damned — and his servile sycophantic boot-licking, pablum-puking puerile punks.

They’re ALL ass-kissers — as POS45 (Piece Of Shit 45) described his subservient anointed Ohio Senate candidate J.D.Vance while campaigning with him September 17, 2022 saying, “J.D. is kissing my ass he wants my support so bad“ — and mendaciously monolithic morons.

The last genuine Republican may have very well been the now-late Arizona Senator John McCain who so despised POS45 that, while in his last days on Earth, still in office and dying from glioblastoma, a brain cancer that typically kills its victims within 16 months +/-, that he gave specific orders FORBIDDING PO45 from attending his funeral.

So, for Herschel Walker, that poor fool-as-a-tool used by POS45 and the OGOP — a Black man, at that — it’s just another example of how the worthless scum who fly that elephantine banner treat Americans.

The “I love the poorly-educated” voters who cast their ballots for anything with the letter “R” beside their name (which instead ought to be a “T”), are unthinking “Concrete Block Republicans” who would literally vote for a concrete block instead of anyone in any other party, demonstrating that they’re vacuous prattling imbeciles who neither think, nor attempt to think, and very much vote for anything that flies that modern political jolly roger.

Moreover, it’s ABUNDANTLY CLEAR that PO45 will be VERY MUCH trying to buy his way back into the White House, and continues demonstrating his deliberately deceptive, swindling, chiseling, cheating ways.

It’s just pure putrid MAGA effluvium on the Trump Dump garbage scow.

---

Herschel Walker’s  campaign to Republicans:
Stop〝deceptive fundraising〞in Georgia U.S. Senate runoff

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2022-election/walker-calls-gop-deceptive-fundraising-georgia-race-rcna57136
November 14, 2022, 1814 CST
By Marc Caputo

Republican politicians and associated committees are sending out desperate fundraising emails begging the GOP faithful to help save America by getting behind Herschel Walker in his Dec. 6 runoff against Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in Georgia.

But what’s not immediately clear to recipients is how little of that money is going to Walker’s campaign: just a dime for every dollar given by small donors.

Walker’s campaign, which has trailed Warnock’s in fundraising throughout the election, is asking fellow Republicans to stop their fundraising practices — or at least to start sharing more with the candidate.

Herschel Walker during his Unite Georgia Bus Stop campaign rally in Norcross, GA, September 9, 2022.
Photo by Demetrius Freeman / The WaPo

“We need everyone focused onwinning the Georgia Senate race, and deceptive fundraising tactics by teams that just won their races are siphoning money away from Georgia,” said Walker’s campaign manager Scott Paradise on Monday.

“This is the last fight of 2022, and every dollar will help,” Paradise said. “The companies and consultants raising money off this need to cut it out.”

The campaign said it first noticed the problem Saturday when

States’ Economic Recovery From COVID-19 Pandemic Is Widely Varied

The good people at GoBankingRates.com have compiled a short list of “States Whose Economies Are Failing vs. States Whose Economies Are Thriving,” which was written by Certified Financial Planner and Registered Investment Adviser John Csiszar, who, following his graduation from UCLA with a B.A. in English and a specialization in Business, worked in the financial services industry for 18 years.

Mr. Csiszar also earned the Certified Life Underwriter designation, while simultaneously working for a major, full-service Wall Street broker-dealer, and forming his own investment advisory firm, which managed over $100 million in client assets, in addition to providing investment advisory services, financial planning, and other related services.

His financial specialties include performing financial analysis, risk-avoidance strategies, long-term savings techniques, capital preservation tips, personalized investment advice, and daily budgeting.

In addition to that stellar financial profile, he further demonstrated diverse entrepreneurial skills by opening and managing a boutique travel company, and is a published author of 5 educational books on topics ranging from information technology to the element aluminum which are aimed toward the young adult market. He has also written extensively for numerous renown publications, and has authored several thousands of articles on personal financial planning, and financial services.

In his most recent article for GoBankingRates.com, “States Whose Economies Are Failing vs. States Whose Economies Are Thriving,” he lists 15 states each in 2 categories: States Whose Economies Are Failing, and States Whose Economies Are Thriving. The general purpose of the article and enumeration is to examine how states are faring in their economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. By examining 60% of the 50 states, it provides a relatively decent picture of the overall state of the states, and how they are each faring as individual parts of the greater national economy.

He notes specifically that because “the U.S. is such a large country, with a wide diversity of states and economies, the recovery is

Excerpt from “So Help Me, God” by Former Vice President Mike Pence

Thirteen days after the 2020 election, I had lunch with President Trump. I told him that if his legal challenges came up short, he could simply accept the results, move forward with the transition, and start a political comeback, winning the Senate runoffs in Georgia, the 2021 Virginia governor’s race, and the House and Senate in 2022. Then he could run for president in 2024 and win. He seemed unmoved, even weary: “I don’t know, 2024 is so far off.”

A common housefly alit and remained for several minutes upon Vice President Mike Pence’s head, Wednesday, October 7, during the 2020 Vice Presidential debate at the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City, with Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee.

In a Dec. 5 call, the president for the first time mentioned challenging the election results in Congress. By mid-December, the internet was filled with speculation about my role. An irresponsible TV ad by a group calling itself the Lincoln Project suggested that when I presided over the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress to count the electoral votes, it would prove that I knew “it’s over,” and that by doing my constitutional duty, I would be “putting the final nail in the coffin” of the president’s re-election. To my knowledge, it was the first time anyone implied I might be able to change the outcome. It was designed to annoy the president. It worked. During a December cabinet meeting, President Trump told me the ad “looked bad for you.” I replied that it wasn’t true: I had fully supported the legal challenges to the election and would continue to do so.

On Dec. 19, the president mentioned plans for a rally in Washington on Jan. 6. I thought that would be useful to call attention to the proceedings. I had just spoken with a senator about the importance of vetting concerns about the election before Congress and the American people. At the White House on Dec. 21, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan led lawmakers in a discussion about plans to bring objections. I promised that all properly submitted objections would be recognized and fully debated.

On Dec. 23, my family boarded Air Force Two to spend Christmas with friends. As we flew across America, President Trump retweeted an obscure article titled “Operation Pence Card.” It alluded to the theory that if all else failed, I could alter the outcome of the election on Jan. 6. I showed it to Karen, my wife, and rolled my eyes.

Plainclothes United States Capitol Police behind a barricaded door on the Floor of the House of Representatives, aim at an insurrectionist — one of thousands on January 6, 2021 who ransacked and destroyed government property and offices at the U.S. Capitol Building at the oblique request of then-POTUS Donald Trump in his failed conspiracy attempt to remain in power by providing several slates of falsified Electoral College Electors, then inciting violence during the certification process — following his re-election defeat in the November 2020 General Election to the Democratic Party’s nominee, former long-time U.S. Senator, then Vice President, Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

On Dec. 30, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley announced that he would

Is Charles Grassley REALLY older than the Chocolate Chip cookie?

Yes, it’s TRUE:

Iowa Republican Senator Charles “Chuck” Grassley, now aged 89, (b.1933) was born before the invention of the chocolate chip cookie (late 1930’s).

And — believe it, or else — Iowa voters returned him to the nation’s Capitol to serve warm a seat another six (6) years in the United States Senate.

So, when was the chocolate chip cookie invented?

For that answer, we find this:

“The original recipe was created in the late 1930s by Ruth Wakefield who famously ran the Toll House restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts. The delicious mix of crispy cookie and melted chocolate chunks first appeared in

About Joe “Maserati” Manchin’s Yacht

Soft-pedaling journos who suck up to their subjects (the folks about whom they regularly write), have changed their tone on Joe “Maserati” Manchin III’s yacht, and have taken to calling it a “houseboat.”

That’s just wrong — just plain wrong — on so many levels, and you’re about to understand why.

First, some websites assert that the term “yacht” is superfluous, or supererogatory, that the term is ambiguous, and open to interpretation.

WV Senator Joe “Maserati” Manchin III on his yacht “Almost Heaven” speaks to protesters in kayaks below. The vessel’s name, and its hailing port (home port) are clearly visible.

I demur.

That is most certainly NOT the case.

The United States Coast Guard establishes guidelines for vessels, which are Federal laws and regulations that vessel owners MUST follow, one of which is that if a vessel exceeds a certain length from stem to stern (front to back) it must be registered with the USCG. As well, there is an organization — the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) — that similarly ranks and characterizes vessels, which establishes standards for vessel construction, as well as the standards set by the American Boats & Yacht Council (ABYC).

If a vessel is longer than 26 feet, it MUST be registered with the United States Coast Guard. That is the law. If under 26 feet long, it may, or may not, be required to registered with the USCG, depending on the state or locality of the owner’s residence (home port). In almost every state, boats under 26 feet in length must bear a registration number on the exterior of the hull, typically toward the bow, whereas with USCG-registered vessels, a vessel’s name and hailing port must be marked together on some clearly visible exterior part of the hull. A “hailing port” is the location from which the vessel is typically harbored (parked). In the case of Joe “Maserati” Manchin’s yacht, it’s named “Almost Heaven,” and is from Charleston, WV. When the yacht was previously named “JENNIFER ANNE,” its Hailing Port was ANNAPOLIS, MD.

“Almost Heaven” was formerly owned David and Jennifer DeLancey, who then named the vessel “Jennifer Ann.” An article about the Jennifer Ann was written by Ken Ringle, April 25, 2004 and published in the Washington Post, which described the vessel.

“Today the DeLanceys live afloat on the Jennifer Ann. You could call it a houseboat, but that would be like calling Air Force One a plane. Within the sunny, air-conditioned confines of the custom-built, 65-by-20-foot, three-story steel hull, David has packaged more space and amenities than most apartments and condominiums, and many houses. The 1,500 square feet of interior living space embrace 3 1/2 bedrooms (including a 14-by-20-foot master suite), 3 1/2 bathrooms, and a bright and open living/dining area (complete with a granite dining table) where the DeLanceys have comfortably entertained as many as 50 people to

Joe Manchin III…. blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

The $12 million man who lives on a yacht docked on the Potomac River, the Democratic Senator from West Virginia, Joe “Maserati” Manchin III, should just shut his whiny yap.

When Henry Ford invented the mass-produced Model T, doubtless there were people whining about losing their jobs in the buggy whip factories, including the factories’ owners.

The thing is, however, that Henry Ford paid VERY WELL, much more so than many others at the time. And for that reason, many sought to work in his factories… and did.

So when yacht-living-large Multi-Millionaire Maserati Manchin starts crying about coal, or jobs lost through advancement of scientific technology, it’s hardly worth noting. And yet, if it weren’t for the

Laws That Don’t Apply To Wealthy People

Benjamin felt a nose nuzzling at his shoulder. He looked round. It was Clover. Her old eyes looked dimmer than ever. Without saying anything, she tugged gently at his mane and led him round to the end of the big barn, where the Seven Commandments were written. For a minute or two they stood gazing at the tatted wall with its white lettering.

“My sight is failing,” she said finally. “Even when I was young I could not have read what was written there. But it appears to me that that wall looks different. Are the Seven Commandments the same as they used to be, Benjamin?”

For once Benjamin consented to break his rule, and he read out to her what was written on the wall. There was nothing there now except a single Commandment. It ran:

ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL
BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS

After that it did not seem strange when next day the pigs who were supervising the work of the farm all carried whips in their trotters. It did not seem strange to learn that the pigs had bought themselves a wireless set, were arranging to install a telephone, and had taken out subscriptions to John Bull, TitBits, and the Daily Mirror. It did not seem strange when Napoleon was seen strolling in the farmhouse garden with a pipe in his mouth-no, not even when the pigs took Mr. Jones’s clothes out of the wardrobes and put them on, Napoleon himself appearing in a black coat, ratcatcher breeches, and leather leggings, while his favourite sow appeared in the watered silk dress which Mrs. Jones had been used to wear on Sundays.
— excerpt from Animal Farm (1945), chapter X, George Orwell’s (1903-1950) novel

John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, 2005 Official Portrait

Today, Tuesday, November 1, 2022, United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a temporary order that

A Story of American National Interests… as told by a Piece of Bacon

THIS! is honest to goodness COUNTRY BACON !!😋

THIS! is honest-to-goodness COUNTRY BACON!!😋

NONE of that mass-produced, factory-farmed, Made-in-China, Made-for-China gobbledygook.

This does NOT need refrigeration!

And, these pieces are also cooked, of course.

Oh! And you KNOW, that since 2013, Smithfield Foods, in Smithfield, VA, a formerly-American-based company, has been OWNED BY THE COMMUNIST CHINESE “Shuanghui Group” (now known as “WH Group” because it sounds more “American,” you know) because Smithfield’s Wall$teet corporate owners sold their American birthright for a paltry bowl of porridge — a mere US$4.72B.

You DO recall that China is a Communist nation, don’t you?

WH Group’s “global headquarters is strategically located in Hong Kong, with regional headquarters in China and the U.S.,” while the “Headquarters Shuanghui Development in Luohe, Henan Province,” China, and WH Group’s U.S. Headquarters of their Smithfield Foods division is in Smithfield, Virginia.

WH Group is also one of the LARGEST FOREIGN OWNERS of American farmland, with 146,000 acres, and that separate sale (as part of Smithfield’s holdings) was worth US$500M, according to the USDA.

Put another way, 146,000 acres is 228.1252 square miles… that’s nearly 20% (18.79% exactly) of the entire state of

Liars, Lunatics, and Losers: Today’s Republican Party Not So Grand

Liars, Lunatics, and Losers: Today’s Republican Party

The formerly “Grand Old Party” is now Not So Grand.

Can the once-Grand Old Party survive the onslaught which has filled its rolls with the likes of Donald Trump, Marjorie Taylor Green, Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar, Herschel Walker, J.D. Vance, Tom Cotton, Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell, Matt Gaetz, Kevin McCarthy, et al, and other sycophants?

We’ll see… we’ll see.

“We, in America, have some of the cleanest air and cleanest water of anybody in the world. We don’t control the air. Our good air decided to float over to China’s bad air so when China gets our good air, their bad air has got to move. So it moves over to our good air space. Then, now, we’ve got to clean that back up.”
— Herschel Walker, Georgia GOP U.S. Senate candidate, campaign event, Hall County, GA, Saturday, July 9, 2022

After the Uvalde, Texas school massacre, where 19 students & 2 teachers were slaughtered, Hershel Walker was asked about gun control, and said:

If You Live in Alabama…

You should know this:

IN LESS THAN 90 DAYS, YOUR CHANCE OF BEING KILLED IN ALABAMA WILL INCREASE.

WHY?

 

On March 11 this year (2022), Republican Governess Kay Ivey signed into law House Bill 272, which was proffered, and supported by the state’s GOP legislators, to wantonly arm the citizens, WITHOUT requiring proof of anyone’s ability to demonstrate competency, or properly handle, the concealed firearms they will soon be allowed to carry EVERYWHERE THEY GO. The law will become effective January 2023. 

(see: https://legiscan.com/AL/text/HB272/id/2544995/Alabama-2022-HB272-Enrolled.pdf)

Of the 29 total votes against HB272, 3 were Republican, 2 Democrats did not vote, 2 Republicans were absent, Yeas totaled 70.

 

Even our Armed Forces, at the most fundamental level, MANDATE that EVERY SERVICE MEMBER demonstrate competency with numerous firearms, and other weapons of war.

 

But not in Alabama.

 

Guns… EVERYWHERE YOU GO.

 

EVERYWHERE.

 

Schools.

Hospitals.

Nursing Homes.

Worship Centers.

Grocery Stores.

Birthday Parties.

Libraries.

Pharmacies.

Retail Stores.

Restaurants.

Gas Stations.

Convenience Stores.

Work Places.

Doctors’ offices. 

 

Except for

Elon Musk, Paul Ryan, and Bernie Marcus walk into a bar…

Headlines…

Home Depot Co-Founder Bernie Marcus on President Biden: “What the hell does he know about economics?”
by Brian Sozzi, Anchor, Editor-at-Large
Friday, October 14, 2022 at 12:11 PM

Paul Ryan Makes Bold Prediction About Trump And MAGA Lovers Won’t Like It
by Ron Dicker
Friday, October 14, 2022 at 7:14 AM

Musk: I can’t keep paying for Ukraine’s internet
Reuters News Agency
Friday, October 14, 2022 at 10:03 AM

Journalism these days has sunk to new lows.

Much of what passes for “news” these days very well could have been ripped from

Do NOT feed these foods to your dog!

If you,
your loved ones, or others,
have a canine companion,
there are certain “human” foods that you
MOST DEFINITELY
DO NOT
want to feed to it.

For example, onions, garlic, etc., are Alliums, which is to say that, they’re in the Allium genus. Essentially, that’s ALL onion-type vegetables, which includes leeks, shallots, scallions, chives, wild garlic, wild onions, etc.

They’re TOXIC to dogs.

Here’s another especially potent one: Xylitol. (zy-lih-tall)

Xylitol is a sugar alcohol used as a sweetener in many “human” foods, such as chewing gum, and in some so-called “low cal” foods.

Xylitol is HIGHLY TOXIC to dogs. It’s like fentanyl is for humans — it is SO POTENT even the smallest, teeny tiniest bit can kill.

Here’s another one: Chocolate.

Dogs are not capable of

POTUS BIDEN IDs GOP Hypocrisy & Globalization Failure

Neoliberalism’s Globalization scheme has failed… SPECTACULARLY.

And all it took was 50 years, a global pandemic, the practical decimation via “outsourcing” of the majority of the American domestic economy, an increase in homelessness, deaths of all kinds from all sources, addictions, crime, disease, mass incarceration, increase in preventable deaths from lack of healthcare, all-time high wealth dispartity, increase in poverty rates, tax cuts upon the wealthiest Americans and their corporations, after GOP POTUS Richard Nixon kissed Communist China’s Chairman Mao’s derriere through cozying up to Mao’s successor/henchman Chinese Communist Chairman Chou En-lai.

What is “neoliberalism”?

Well, one thing it’s NOT, is pro-American.

The sequence of events that led to ‘Brexit’ — a moniker referring to the British exit from the European Union — began as part of a neoliberal campaign to deregulate many previously-regulated industries, and create a ‘free market uptopia’ in the UK. They failed at every turn.

The other thing that IT IS, is a primarily a GOP-wielded tool… though, in all fairness, there have been some Democrats (like Bill Clinton) who enthusiastically supported it, along with the so-called “Three Strikes” laws which is a two-part scheme, consisting of a:

1.) School-to-prison pipeline, which then becomes a;
2.) Prison-packing scheme

— which has continuously disproportionately harmed our non-White brothers & sisters, primarily, and in that process turned America into a police state. In the United States, there are MORE TOTAL PEOPLE INCARCERATED than in all the prisons combined in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia, North Korea, China, and other despotically-ruled totalitarian regimes worldwide.

Applying a “Free Market” ideology to that scenario would dictate that capacities of the prisons should not be enlarged (in order to minimize operating costs), and instead, build Wall-$treet-traded PRIVATE FOR-PROFIT PRISONS — which is a very “pro-free market” thing to do, which again, is part and parcel of neoliberal behavior, strategies, and tactics.

Yeah.

But “neoliberalism” is a hard-line “modern spin” on some old ideas, at least as interpreted by an entire cadre of moderns (most of whom are in the current era).

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy writes this about Neoliberalism, stating that neoliberalism is a:

“philosophical view that a society’s political and economic institutions should be robustly liberal and capitalist, but supplemented by a constitutionally limited democracy and a modest welfare state.”

Typically, individuals who subscribe to, and promote, such ideas often do so blindly, and unthinkingly.

Again, most — but, not all — whom have espoused, or supported neoliberal ideas have been (and are) GOPers and Radicalized Republicans.

Recall that it was Ronald Reagan who, in his first Inaugural Address January 20, 1981, stated that “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.“

The preposterous absurdity of that statement is self-evident, because if government is the problem, then the obvious solution to that problem is elimination of it (government); and the absence of government is a state of anarchy, chaos, and lawlessness. Yet, it was at that point in which radicalized Republicans who identified themselves as the “TEA Party” caucus (Taxed Enough Already), began in earnest to slowly dismantle government, bit-by-bit, piece-by-piece, and law-by-law.

POTUS Clinton was also largely sycophantic to the GOP’s destructive objective under the direction of GOP Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, when he proudly proclaimed in his January 23, 1996 State of the Union Address, that “The era of big government is over.” Yet, his go-along-to-get-along strategy proved inadequate when faced with the reality of the failures of Three-Strikes laws, creation of a school-to-prison pipeline as a private-prison-for-profit packing strategy, which incarcerated more non-Whites than Whites, especially through disparate sentencing for crack vs powder cocaine, and cannabis.

Investopedia lists these characteristics of the ideals, principles, and practices often found in neoliberal governments which often

Why does Banana Republican Florida Man U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz, CD-1 vote AGAINST hurricane help?

Partisan politics makes enemies of men & women who would otherwise be friends.

Matt Gaetz is a prime example of that, as is Marjorie Taylor Green, and Colorado High School dropout Lauren Boebert, as is Ted “Canun” Cruz, as are several others. Those individuals exist to serve themselves, and their interests, personally, without respect for their constituency’s wishes, or expressed desires. It is the most egregious example and type of self-seeking, and a callous disregard for the well-being and lives of others.

During Texas’ statewide energy crisis (electrical & NatGas) Ted “Cancun” Cruz and his family fled to Cancun, Mexico, where they partied and vacationed for several days. Then, presumably struck by pangs of conscience, Ted departed earlier than his family — but only by a few days. Of course, the best part was hearing Ted try and justify his actions by saying something about “work,” which for him is warming a seat in the Senate.

That is, if one doesn’t count him as being a constantly-generating bag of hot noxious gas on Capitol Hill whom is known for its enormous volume of putrid output… which, of course, he is.

But Matt Gaetz… don’t you wonder what ever became of the investigation into his behavior with now-plead-guilty sex trafficking pal Joel Greenberg? Seems Federal Prosecutors found that the 2 most central and most important witnesses were “unreliable” — Joel Greenberg, and the then-17-year-old young woman —

Federal Prosecutors were examining whether Greenberg paid women to have sex with Gaetz,
and whether the two shared sexual partners,
including the 17-year-old girl at issue in Greenberg’s case.

— which would hamper any prosecution attempt — and so for that primary reason, declined to prosecute.

KEY BACKGROUND, via Forbes: “Greenberg, who was elected as tax collector in 2016, was arrested last summer on charges of stalking and using social media to impersonate an opponent. An ensuing investigation — including a raid of Greenberg’s home — resulted in him being accused of soliciting a girl between the ages of 14 and 17 for sex, wire fraud, conspiracy to bribe a public official and theft of government property. That probe reportedly found evidence linking him to Gaetz, prompting a Justice Department investigation into whether Greenberg procured women for Gaetz and whether the Florida Republican had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl whom he paid to travel with him.”

Given Greenberg’s case history, Jurors would most likely NOT be inclined to believe sworn testimony from him, who as a politician, fabricated a false story against a schoolteacher who was campaigning against him as Tax Collector. Greenberg anonymously sent letters to the school where the teacher worked, and falsely claimed that the teacher had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student — an allegation similar to the Gaetz case — which was but 1 charge of 6 to which Greenberg plead guilty. The other charges to which Greenberg plead guilty were identity theft, stalking, wire fraud, conspiracy to bribe a public official, and sex trafficking of a minor.

“Nobody’s going to believe anything that Joel Greenberg says by itself. His statements would need to be corroborated by testimony or evidence,” said David Bear, a lawyer for the schoolteacher.

What a lucky strike for Gaetz, eh?

Gaetz Maintains Innocence As Associate Admits Introducing ‘Other Adult Men’ To Minor For Paid Sex In Guilty Plea Deal

— Introduced her to “other adult men” who “engaged in commercial sex acts” with her.

Exactly what are “commercial sex acts”? Is that anything like cattle insemination? What about its collection? Is that also a sex act? And, to the extent that humans are involved with animal sex acts, that makes for a good headline.

Gotta’ sell those papers, don’cha know?

But, what kind of human being would CONTINUOUSLY vote AGAINST helping their own fellowman, especially during time of natural disaster?

By now, you ought to know.

None other than

DEATH: The Great Equalizer

In response to the question in the article linked below, “No. It does NOT absolve them of responsibility for their actions. It merely means “it’s all over but the crying.””

And this is the crying.

Emphasizing particularly that it is important to acknowledge someone akin to a debating partner, rather than a mortal enemy. It is a hallmark of civility.

As long has been said, disagreeing on the finer points of a narrow range of subjects doesn’t mean to be disagreeable, though some have so misinterpreted the aphorism. Everyone is welcome at funerals… save then-POTUS Donald Trump, whom Arizona Republican Senator John McCain specifically excluded by name before he died. Like him, or loathe him (ideologies, not personally), John McCain was a man of integrity and honor.

But, death is THE common denominator from which ALL humanity suffers.

Even at a funeral, the attendees all share a common bond — the deceased.

Funerals are NOT for the deceased; instead, they are for the living, to enable them an opportunity to publicly and collectively express their individual, private, and public, sense of loss and sorrow, at the deceased’s departure.

〝Eulogies, by their very nature, often lionize the dead,
and by so doing,
tend to give a flawed, romanticized picture of the deceased,
one that sometimes is not based in reality.
It paints a portrait of the person
as we WANT to remember them,
rather than how they were.〞

Obituaries, on the other hand, can be, and often are, written by another, sometimes not even a relative, such as with the death of a public figure, where elongated obituaries often become human interest feature articles, and can, and do, also sometimes mention difficulties, losses, struggles, and failures, not just the high-lights, or high points of one’s life.

Thinking forward, one will naturally be curious about who will attend Donald John Trump’s funeral. Naturally, there’ll be the likely suspects, Rudi Giuliani, Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, immediate family (children, their spouses & families), a few business associates, and perhaps a few others. But ‘who would want to attend’ such an event is about what I’m curious. How many extras would be hired to give the (false) appearance of being well-attended — as he did exaggeration at his Inauguration? Clearly, there he did not. The crowd size experts that estimated “numbers” of those attending the event was severally estimated by numerous independent agencies, to be between 300,000 – 600,000.

In stark contrast is the 2009 Obama inauguration’s estimated 1,800,000 attendance. That has to rile him something fierce. Of course, Trump’s obituary will likely lead with something like “he was best known for being the only twice-impeached POTUS, and instigator of the January 6, 2020 Insurrection, when murderous mobs armed with unconventional weapons literally broke into the U.S. Capitol Building, and roamed freely throughout, pillaging as they went…”

---

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They Voted to Overturn an Election.

Did Their Obits Let Them Off the Hook?

By Michael Schaffer
09/09/2022
04:30 AM EDT

When Indiana Congresswoman Jackie Walorski died in a traffic accident last month, readers of the Washington Post write-up had to wait until the final paragraph — below the fulsome tributes from a bipartisan array of colleagues; below the discussions of her anti-abortion politics and her committee assignments — to learn about what may have been the most important vote of her career: On January 6th, 2021, she voted against certifying the results of the 2020 election.

…

It’s not that votes against certifying the election have been universally memory-holed. The New York Times obit for Hagedorn, for instance, led with his election-overturning vote. It’s that the coverage is all over the place. The same vote was mentioned low in the reports of his death offered by the Associated Press and his home-state Star-Tribune, and not at all in the Guardian, a publication that’s generally not especially friendly to baseless conspiracy theories about 2020 fraud.

U.S. Representative Jackie Walorski, R, IN-2 –CENTER– listens during a meeting between President Donald Trump and congressional members in the Cabinet Room of the White House February 13, 2018 in Washington, DC. – Alex Wong/Getty Images

Likewise, Wright’s vote made the last paragraph of the AP obit, but was unmentioned in the lengthy obituary in his hometown Dallas Morning News or the news account of his death in the Texas Tribune. (POLITICO didn’t run traditional obits, but its news accounts of the three deaths — which featured tributes from colleagues but no lengthy resume-recitations — also did not take note of the way they voted on January 6.)

This is all, on the face of it, rather strange. The last few years have featured no shortage of assertions in the media that the preservation of democracy ought to be the profession’s highest calling. The vote on whether or not to certify the election was a seminal one, a moment to pick sides. No less a figure than Mitch McConnell called it “the most important vote I’ve ever cast.” So why not treat it as similarly defining for that vast majority of legislators with careers that have been shorter than McConnell’s?

Part of what’s going on here is our society-wide taboo against speaking ill of the dead and a major-media taboo against appearing biased. The deaths of all three members of Congress were greeted with genuine sorrow by Republican allies and generous aisle-crossing statements by the likes of Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi — warm remembrances attesting to faith and friendship and devotion to public service. Why muck it up by mentioning something controversial?

Rep. Jim Hagedorn addresses a crowd at a campaign rally for President Donald Trump in 2020. — Bruce Kluckhohn/AP Photo

Beyond the fact that mucking things up is what the news media is supposed to do, that speak-no-ill logic assumes that a vote to overturn the election was a bad thing — a statement a substantial minority of Americans disagree with, for better or worse. Presumably, if you believe the election was fatally marred by irregularities, you still agree that the vote to reject it was an important one.

More practically, unexpected deaths of sitting members of Congress are also a place where the measured judgments of people writing for history bump into the reality of

Georgia GOP Signals Difficulty Ahead

Pulitzer prize winning, nationally syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts, who also happens to be a Black man, wrote recently about the moron who the Georgia GOP trotted out to represent their interests — the former footballer, wife beater, philanderer, mentally unstable liar, Herschel Walker.

Pitts’ observations are spot-on.

But moreover, what this matter speaks to, is the wretchedly miserable condition of the Georgia GOP.

The GOP only trotted out that moron because he’s Black.

Now, you tell me…

Is that not pandering to racism, and race-based politics — fielding a candidate EXCLUSIVELY because of skin color?

It’s the very height of arrogant cynicism, and an exemplary model of political “tone deafness,” to obliquely assert, and hold as true, that the only reason Black folks vote, is to vote for Black folks.

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U.S. Senator, Reverend Raphael Warnock, GA-D (wearing tie); Herschel Walker, GOP candidate for Georgia U.S. Senate

—excerpted—

“When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.”
— Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou, meet Herschel Walker, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate.

Here he is on the Inflation Reduction Act:
“A lot of money, it’s going to trees. . . . We’ve got enough trees. Don’t we have enough trees around here?”

And on school shootings:
“What about gettin’ a department that can look at

The stock market retracted 1% yesterday and THE SKY IS FALLING!

 The way some of those clowns write, one would think the sock… er, stock market had crashed, that Mount Vesuvius had become active once again, and that nuclear war had broken out all over.

 

This is just so MUCH BULLSHIT. (Or instead, perhaps that should that be bullshittery?)

 

I mean, seriously… a 1% and a 1.6% decline?

 

Are you kidding me!?!

 

That’s a “plunge”?

It’d be like dipping the very tip of your little finger in a finger bowl moistened with a few drops of water and then claiming that you went swimming in the Pacific Ocean. 

 

If anyone went to any store anywhere and saw a sign reading “HUGE SALE! Up to 1.6% off EVERYTHING!” they’d laugh the store to shame for promoting such an asininely ludicrous bit of blatantly fraudulent puffery and nonsense.

 

The stock market is that store.

And yet,

Crime In Alabama

The reader should bear in mind that, in Alabama, there are:
399 TOTAL Law Enforcement Organizations
297 Municipal PDs
67 Sheriff’s Departments
25 Community College/University PDs
7 Judicial/Drug Task Force
2 Airport PDs
1 Special Investigations (fire/explosion)

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Alabama, like many, or even most, states, likes to crow about how much they appreciate, or even revere, their Law Enforcement Officials (LEOs). And, under a Republican ultra-majority dominated legislature, executive branch, and judiciary, for well over a decade, one would imagine that by now, the controlling party, since 2011, would have gotten a firm grip on problems facing residents — to either resolve, ameliorate, or eliminate them.

They have not.

Consider crime. Often touted as a Republican talking point, e.g. being “tough on crime,” one would imagine that not only the Corrections system would have corrected and reformed those entrusted to its “corrections,” but that Law Enforcement agencies statewide would be supported, strengthened, and improved by the Republicans to protect the public, and uphold the laws, as is their charge. The state’s prison system, like the ignored metaphorical “elephant in the room,” has long teetered on a Federal takeover for overcrowding, violence, inhumane conditions, and corruption, while Alabama’s LEOs and their agencies continue failing their charge of public protection by not arresting offenders, solving crimes, and bringing swift justice for the offended victims.

And that proverbial “three-legged stool” has at least one woefully short leg. And that, is solving crimes.

In law enforcement jargon, crimes are considered “cleared,” or solved, when a suspect is arrested, and sometimes, several crimes can be cleared with one arrest. But not always. That terminology is used nation-wide at all levels of law enforcement, Local, State, and Federal.

ALEA, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, was a creation of