"Our Oil"

 

Trump would never lie his way into a war for oil, like Dick Cheney and his Minion President did, would he?

Unless..."Terrorism", "our oil", and "regime change”, oh, my!

It seems like just yesterday, literally yesterday, when Trump’s ridiculous, unhinged, childish, and outrageously lie-filled “Presidential Walk of Fame” was revealed. (I won't elaborate on his evil smears of cancer victim Joe Biden, but they rank down there with his despicable hate and cruelty towards Rob Reiner.)

The plaque for Bush Jr. reads, "largely defined by the events of Sept. 11, 2001." It also says Bush, "started wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, both of which should not have happened."

On this, I agree. Remember when MAGA enthusiastically embraced Trump as their “man of peace” who wouldn’t start any such war?

Until now. That didn’t age well. As expected, Gabbard will politicize our intelligence assessments and bend them towards one of Trump’s excuses to wage war on Venezuela.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard fired two top officials on the National Intelligence Council in a move aimed at ending the “weaponization and politicization” of the intelligence community, a spokesperson for her office confirmed Wednesday.

Gabbard terminated NIC acting director Mike Collins and his deputy, Maria Langan-Riekhof, weeks after the intelligence body authored an assessment that contradicted President Donald Trump’s claims about Venezuelan gang members.

They’re already feeling a rush of power as Trump murders people and captures an oil tanker on the open seas. It's not murder because Trump says it isn't. It's not theft because Trump says it isn't. Trump’s actions and blockade of Venezuela are acts of war.

Those human beings and boats he’s destroying off Venezuela were never a threat to America and were likely carrying cocaine intended for Europe. 

Obviously, “America first” does not apply here. His war on Venezuela has nothing to do with fentanyl, even though Trump wants to call it a “Weapon of Mass Destruction”. 

Oh, but this is a new kind of “terrorism”, one that Trump invented himself. "Drug Terrorism":

“I hereby designate illicit fentanyl and its core precursor chemicals as Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).”

Authoritarians are notorious for rejecting accepted definitions of words and redefining them in order to fear-monger.

For the record:

Merriam-Webster’s definition of “weapon”:

1 something (such as a club, knife, or gun) used to injure, defeat, or destroy

2 a means of contending against another

"Terrorism", "our oil", and "regime change”.

Ding, ding, ding! That rings a bell. 

It was never about drugs. It’s all a cover for his ambition to steal oil for his fellow oligarchs and force regime change. My prediction is Putin will talk Trump out of it, but only after the ensuing chaos has done its work for the Kremlin.

We know for certain that the Criminal President doesn’t give a damn about public health and the lives of Americans. 

Nearly 47,000 people died of gun-related injuries in the United States in 2023, according to the latest available statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

More than 26,000 Americans die each year due to the lack of health insurance. 

While overdoses are still tragically too frequent, they are on the decline.

For the first time since 2018, the United States has seen a decrease in drug overdose deaths and poisonings, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noting a 14.5 percent decrease in deaths between June 2023 and June 2024. More than 107,000 people lost their lives to a drug overdose in 2023, with nearly 70 percent of those deaths attributed to opioids such as fentanyl.

70,000 opioid overdose deaths are terrible, but opioids are still not the deadliest substance for Americans

If fentanyl is an “WMD”, how about the far more lethal substances?

 About 178,000 people die from excessive drinking each year.

Cigarette smoking causes about one of every five deaths in the United States each year. More than 480,000 deaths annually (including deaths from secondhand smoke).

No worries. When it comes to corporate profits, American lives are expendable. "No blood for oil" is just lame, and so woke. 

Despicable

 

Sometimes there are no words adequate enough to describe such hate, cruelty, and evil in one person. Blaming the victim and boasting about it is part and parcel to his malevolent tyranny. 

I blame everyone who voted for him last year, whether out of ignorance, racism, greed, or stupidity.  

ANYONE who still supports this sociopathic monster is condoning all of his lies, racism, and criminality. They are entirely responsible for what would manifest itself into such hate, cruelty, and evil. They are ALL the soulless accomplices who share his blame for the destruction, dishonor, and division inflicted upon our country and our people. 

And that includes the six so-called "Justices" on the Supreme Court who shielded him from the rule of law. Their betrayal of our Constitution and Republic will be neither forgotten nor forgiven. May their graves be as desecrated as our Capitol was on January 6, 2021.

Whether they will be judged by history or not, I will surely judge them all now. They are not patriots, and he is not my president. He's barely my fellow human being. 

I predict massive and justified celebrations across the country and the world at his ultimate demise.

I'm saving a favorite beverage to sip on that day. 

PSA for Patriots

 

A Public Service Announcement and Friendly Reminder to all Patriots.

Donald Trump is a criminal.

This mob boss has a rap sheet longer than any person he is having deported.

The record of the convicted felon’s criminal offenses against the American people:

34 criminal charges of falsifying business records in the first degree related to payments made to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.

40 criminal charges alleging mishandling of sensitive documents and conspiracy to obstruct the government in retrieving these documents.

4 criminal election Interference charges of conspiring to defraud the government and disenfranchise voters and corruptly obstructing an official proceeding. This case included Trump's involvement in the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack.

8 criminal charges related to alleged attempts to overturn Joe Biden's victory in Georgia, alongside 18 accused co-conspirators.

==

Now the US is overrun by a racist and unaccountable secret police force and illegal military occupation of American cities. Government checks and balances on autocratic power have been practically eliminated. Extrajudicial military executions are rampant on international waters. The racist president is calling Black people "garbage" and accuses them of eating dogs. Echoing every white supremacist he said they should, "Go back to where they came from". The fascist president calls the opposition party "vermin", "communists", and the "enemy within".

This is how democracy ends.

The Criminal President is the number one threat to our national security and to our representative democratic republic.

Our proud heritage and national honor of peaceful transfer of power and equal justice under law have been demolished by the Criminal President, his abettors on the Supreme Court, Republican voters, and the Republican Party.

“Presidential immunity” is NOT in the Constitution. Today Trump's personal team of lawyers on the Supreme Court bench overruled a previous decision that halted Trump's Texas gerrymandering on racial divisions. Of course they did what their mob boss wanted them to do.

The seditious betrayal of our Constitution by a Trump loyalist judge in Florida and the six most corrupt and radical Supreme Court Justices (Four of whom were appointed by the named felon) allows this criminal to be in power. In a just and democratic republican system of government these seven radical right political operatives would be impeached for violating their oath to the Constitution and arrested for obstruction of justice.

===

Jack Smith’s “Final Report of the Special Counsel Under 28 C.F.R. § 600.8” concludes with this statement:

January 7, 2025

The Department's view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a President is categorical and does not tum on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government's proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Office stands fully behind. Indeed, but for Mr. Trump's election and imminent return to the Presidency, the Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.

===

I strongly suggest this message be a core campaign issue for Democrats running to replace the Criminal President’s henchmen. 

They paid the price for failing on this issue in 2024.

DC Shooting

 

Our sympathies go to the National Guardsmen who were shot in Washington, DC. This senseless violence didn't need to happen.

Remember these facts.

The shooter served alongside US forces in Afghanistan and was granted asylum this year. That means UNDER TRUMP'S presidency! 

Trump ORDERED those guardsmen to be there. That political grandstanding is NOT what they signed up for.

A commander is ALWAYS responsible for those he commands, just as the Criminal President alone was responsible for the largest single day crime wave in Washington DC history on January 6, 2021.

The Criminal President is the reason those young West Virginians are in the hospital. The Criminal President is the ONLY reason why they and all their comrades are not home with their families this Thanksgiving. 

A federal judge has determined Trump's deployment of the National Guard in Washington DC is illegal. 

The Democratic veterans and these billboards are triggering the MAGA neo-Nazis into a frothing fascist rage. (None of them suggest disobeying legal orders or not defending themselves.)

Tools of Tyranny

 

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said the number of threats against her exploded after the Criminal Sociopath President posted social media messages targeting Democrats, who are actual veterans, for "seditious behavior" and execution.

Their “crime” was reminding our service members that it is their duty to not follow ILLEGAL orders. Of course, the Stochastic Terrorist President’s henchmen quickly joined their leader’s assault against them by LYING about their message. They accused the veterans of telling the military to disobey orders, conveniently leaving out the word, “illegal”.

Senator Slotkin reported, “We’ve had hundreds and hundreds, if not, you know, closer to 1,000 threats”. 

They will need more police protection now. How’s that for more unnecessary waste, fraud, and abuse of tax dollars?

Tyranny asserted. Hate incited. Violence stoked. Mission accomplished.

The Criminal Sociopath President has used all of these tools of tyranny to intimidate, bully, and threaten free speech and political opposition.

But this authoritarian tactic is only the tip of the iceberg and has been employed out in the open.

Let’s take another peek behind Trump’s curtain of autocracy. 

Remember the number one rule in a dictatorship is loyalty to the Leader. While the Criminal Sociopath can’t publicly demand fealty from the American people, he can, and does, demand it from his staff, Cabinet, agency heads, his party, the military, federal employees, and now, those seeking a job in public service.

Enter the “Merit Hiring Plan” drafted from his executive orders derived from the insidious “Project 2025”.

The American people deserve a Federal workforce dedicated to American values and efficient service. (And just whose “American values” are the standard here?) Yet, Federal hiring criteria long ago abandoned any serious need for technical skills and adherence to the Constitution. Instead, the overly complex Federal hiring system overemphasized discriminatory “equity” quotas and too often resulted in the hiring of unfit, unskilled bureaucrats. The American people, who deserve a government that works for them, have suffered. (The American people who suffer are those who were summarily fired from federal jobs, those whose food stamps and healthcare will be denied, and everyone targeted by MAGA lies and political violence.)

In his January 20, 2025 Executive Order 14170, Reforming the Federal Hiring Process and Restoring Merit to Government Service (“Restoring Merit”) President Trump directed that “recruitment and hiring processes” become “more efficient and focused on serving the Nation” and that hiring be based on “merit, practical skill, and dedication to our Constitution.” (With ample allowance to disobey court orders the Criminal President opposes.) These changes will “ensure that the Federal workforce is prepared to help achieve American greatness, and attract the talent necessary to serve our citizens effectively.” President Trump directed the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy to “develop and send to agency heads a Federal Hiring Plan that brings to the Federal workforce only highly capable Americans dedicated to the furtherance of American ideals, values, and interests.” (Again, read, “American ideals, values, and interests” as dictated by Trump.)

President Trump stated that this Merit Hiring Plan must achieve seven goals: (Let’s focus on the first two.)

1. Prioritize recruitment of individuals committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution; (As we’ve witnessed over the past decade, the “rule of law” is whatever the Criminal President Trump says it is.)

2. Prevent the hiring of individuals based on their race, sex, or religion, and prevent the hiring of individuals who are unwilling to defend the Constitution or to faithfully serve the Executive Branch; (Right. No DEI. And why did “faithfully serve the Executive Branch” replace “dedication to our Constitution”?)

But wait. There’s more. This is where fealty to the Fuhrer is paramount.

III. Improving the Job Application Process

Going forward, to implement Executive Order 14170, all Federal job vacancy announcements graded at GS-05 or above will include four short, free-response essay questions:

(“Free response”, but don’t expect a job if you’re not MAGA and choose not to conform to their loyalty test.)

1. How has your commitment to the Constitution and the founding principles of the United States inspired you to pursue this role within the Federal government? Provide a concrete example from professional, academic, or personal experience. (Ignore that peaceful transfer of power claptrap and make sure your idea of “founding principles” align with the Criminal President’s “principles”.)

2. In this role, how would you use your skills and experience to improve government efficiency and effectiveness? Provide specific examples where you improved processes, reduced costs, or improved outcomes.

(Again, whose standards of “efficiency” and “improved processes and outcomes” are we talking about?)

3. How would you help advance the President’s Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role? Identify one or two relevant Executive Orders or policy initiatives that are significant to you, and explain how you would help implement them if hired.

(There it is. You’re not here to serve the people, the rule of law, or the Constitution. You are to declare your loyalty and pledge to SERVE the Criminal Sociopath President.)

4. How has a strong work ethic contributed to your professional, academic or personal achievements? Provide one or two specific examples, and explain how those qualities would enable you to serve effectively in this position.

(Here the correct answer would be, “My work ethic aligns with Trump’s “ethics” and is the reason why I voted for him. To “serve effectively” I will obey Trump’s orders without hesitation or question.)

 

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Trumped-Up Crises

 

According to the Criminal President, there's a crisis in Chicago that demands military intervention.

There’s a Miracle Mile Shopping Center in Pontiac, Michigan. There’s also one in Monroeville, Pennsylvania. Surely a city as large as Chicago has a Miracle Mile Shopping Center. 

Or not. Like thousands of other falsehoods, a Chicago Miracle Mile Shopping Center exists only in the Criminal President’s demented and delusional brain.

Chicago does have a Magnificent Mile, and it is on the rebound.

Magnificent Mile Recovery Boosts Chicago Retail Revival 

Magnificent Mile rebounds as plunging rents and falling crime spark a retail revival in Chicago’s premier shopping destination.

In addition, the Pedo-President is looking into starting a war with Venezuela. 

Why do people STILL believe that pathological liar?

The Criminal President Trump never lets reality get in the way of his fantasies, bottomless mendacity, and Big Lie that resulted in his criminal insurrection, voter suppression, election rigging, bullying, militarizing Homeland Security, and weaponizing the DOJ with trumped-up indictments for his personal retribution and corrupt political purposes.

Now we have every reason to predict he will attack Venezuela soon. He deployed an aircraft carrier strike force off their coast. 

Maybe he’ll wait until after his corrupt “Soccer Boss” FIFA President Gianni Infantino hands him a freshly minted, shiny new “FIFA Peace Prize”.

Who can stop him? He’s already doing the dictator thing by emulating former Philippine Dictator Duterte’s extrajudicial murders of suspected drug traffickers.

We’ve learned that any imagined scenario for deploying the US military to terrorize and intimidate American civilian populations is good enough for the Tangerine Tyrant.

Will he deploy Marines into Springfield, Ohio to stop them from “eating the dogs” there? I would suppose not, even if his absurd racist lies were true.

The Criminal President Trump, or as Epstein called him, "that dog that hasn't barked", hates dogs anyway, probably due to their ability to sense his fear and loathing of them. Our canine friends are excellent judges of character. They have a better sense of detecting cruelty and malevolence in humans than every single Trump voter.

If only dogs could vote…

Taking a Stand

 

The midterm elections are a year away, but now is the time to focus on winning solutions for Democrats.

Democrats have always been weaker at messaging that Republicans. Nuance takes more effort to convey than bumper sticker slogans.

“Trump betrays America” and “Trump is a CRIMINAL!” would be a good start. “We hate Trump” doesn’t cut it, even though Trump declared he hates them, “I hate my opponent and I don't want the best for them."

Democrats first need to clean up their act by refusing corporate and AIPAC cash like Republicans do.

They need consistent messaging that aligns with Bernie and AOC’s “Fighting Oligarchy”.

They need to TAKE A STAND for the needs of the American people over the demands of the economic and corporate elites. 

They need to hammer on voter and civil rights like it’s1964 again.

They need to repair our campaign finance laws and declare by legislation that corporations are NOT persons entitled to the same rights as human beings.

They need to increase income taxes on the rich. Since they are masters of loopholes and tax-evasion, we need to demand a progressive wealth tax on multimillionaires and billionaire oligarchs.

They need to boost public education and stop tax dollars going to private and religious schools.

They need to go beyond settling for ACA subsidies that just pour more money into insurance companies. They need to demand single payer public healthcare for all Americans, and emergency care for non-citizens, like the rest of the civilized world.

There are plenty of policies and issues for Democrats to propose and defend, while still reminding Americans how bad the Criminal President Trump has been for Americans and the world. 

They need to relentlessly label Trump and his regime for what they are. “The CRIMINAL President” and his mob.

They need to keep saying, and proving, that Trump, his supporters, his cabinet, his appointees, and Mike Johnson are LIARS. Don’t depend on squeamish and appeasing corporate media to say the word, “lie” when what they say is clearly a lie.

They need to call out the constant corruption, crimes, and cruelty by the Criminal Trump Cartel’s secret police. They need to condemn Trump’s politicized DOJ and FBI’s lawfare and persecution of innocent civil servants who investigated his crimes and those of his January 6 thugs. Defunding ICE while expanding Border Patrol security would be better than rounding up peaceful, law abiding working immigrants.

They need to condemn the law firms, news media, universities, institutions, and oligarchs for submitting to Trump’s extortion.

They need remind Americans that Trump’s six corrupt Supreme Court Justices enabled a dictatorship with unconstitutional “presidential immunity”.

Here’s another bumper sticker for them. “Restore Equal Justice Under Law!”

Democrats need to tell Americans that they STAND AGAINST criminals in the White House, AGAINST MAGA, AGAINST racism and bigotry, AGAINST white nationalism, AGAINST secret police thugs, and AGAINST "Project 2025"

And they need to tell Americans they STAND FOR the values, rights, and liberties that have enabled a more perfect union.

Here are a few more policies that Democrats need to emphasize they STAND for.

Democrats stand FOR Ukraine, and AGAINST Putin's war crimes.

Democrats stand for protecting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, public healthcare, public education, and other government services that are CONSTITUTIONAL provisions for the general welfare.

Democrats stand for CONSTITUTIONAL provision for the general welfare by environmental regulations that protect our land, water, and air from corporate pollution.

Democrats stand for government monitoring of banking and corporate crime and abuse of the public trust and for the enforcement of all CONSTITUTIONAL regulation of commerce.

Democrats stand for CONSTITUTIONAL taxes on corporations and the rich.

Democrats stand for an economy that works for EVERYONE.

Democrats stand for public funding of medical research in universities and at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Democrats stand for a FREE press, and against Trump’s far right state media,  extorted established networks, and oligarchs’ propaganda outlets.

Democrats stand for protecting VOTING RIGHTS.

Democrats stand for reproductive RIGHTS for women.

Democrats stand for an independent judicial system and against politicized or personalized law enforcement. 

Democrats stand for the RULE of LAW and against any dictatorship above the law.

How hard can that be?

I’m not writing their platform for them, just offering a few commonsense suggestions.

AND we also can't repeat this enough.

EVERY PERSON who voted for the Criminal President Trump in 2024 CONDONED his Big Lie, and the POLITICAL VIOLENCE by his J6 THUGS. They CONDONED both Trump's PRAISE and PARDONS for them. 

All they need to do is admit they fell for Trump’s lies and denounce his hate and cruelty. 

And how hard can that be? 

Obviously it's beyond the abilities of incurious and unthinking Americans. They will only wake up when it happens to them or those they care about. See Marjorie Taylor Green's support for affordable health insurance, and for the victims of Epstein (and Trump) when the truth is revealed.