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.

Dissecting MAGA

 

Dissecting MAGA: Part One

It’s always a treat for me when fellow blogger MAGA Darrell sets us straight on “how it is”.

He puts us in our place in his latest delusional but highly self-righteous diatribe, “President Trump and the Leftist Foolishness of the No Kings Rallies” 

Instead of reposting his entire rant, I’ll select a few points worth noting and refuting.

It’s an amusing and ironic coincidence that Darrel quotes Reagan the same week as the Toddler Tyrant threw a tantrum against Canada for QUOTING Reagan on tariffs!

In the words of Elvis Costello, “I used to be disgusted but now I try to be amused”.

Darrell disinforms us with, Leftists today despise this nation and what they erroneously think it now stands for today. 

Yup. Fascists ALWAYS accuse the other side of "hating America". No crazed accusation is too ridiculous.

And how best to demonize the left? Do as Trump does and call Democrats and liberals “communists”. In their mind, anyone to the left of the Democratic Party HAS to “hate America”.

This is what THEY tell themselves, not what “leftists” actually SAY. This is how Darrell came to accuse me of being a “communist who hates America”. Yes, in their deranged and delusional BELIEFS, the "left hates America, murders babies after they're born, are pro-crime (Except for the Criminal President Trump and his thugs), are pro-Hamas, and are essentially terrorists”. After all, those “leftists” are just “Marxist vermin” and the “enemy within”. 

As a man who takes the Criminal President Trump’s word as gospel, Darrell buys completely into this hateful BS. I say this because he stated his differences, but none included Trump’s demonization, lies, and hate. None includes the vast scale of corruption and abuses of power. Our former Navy man is all on board the SS Trump there.

Yes, yes, the endless culture war resentments by the intolerant authoritarian right will never go away. They refuse to mind their own business because they FEEL THREATENED by harmless drag queens and trans people. Real tough guys. Let’s be clear. This is plain BIGOTRY.

We should examine Darrell’s list of resentments he shares with far Right extremists. Why? Because they are uniquely incapable of the self-refection or curiosity to change their minds or learn about people they do not understand. They already KNOW everything they need to “know”, AKA the ideology of radical Right extremism. They “know” who to hate, who to blame, who to smear, who to demonize, and who to accuse of the worst traits they can imagine.

So, they eagerly embrace ALL of Trump’s hate and lies. This unifies them and comforts their false belief system that anyone who opposes the Criminal President Trump or tries to hold him legally accountable “hates America”. Like all cults they have a black and white view of the world. The more one speaks out against their Toddler Tyrant, the more they are accused of being a “communist vermin who hate America”. And if they happen to be Black women, or AOC, Trump will say they are “low IQ”.

The facts that MAGA true believers ignore or dismiss are glaring and beyond count. They are utterly blind to their xenophobia, racism, and bigotry. If you’re not a white Christian nationalist, authoritarian bigoted MAGA Jew, or their toady Uncle Toms, you’re the enemy within. They make that clear every day.

Who needs facts when the Criminal President Trump’s word is your “gospel of patriotism”? Two of Darrell's statements illustrate his conversion into a born again MAGA loyalist. 

This is what Darrell wrote at my blog on January 8, 2021:“Dave, Trump was wrong to give encouragement and a wink and a nod to the protestors and delaying any attempt to rein them back. He was complicit. Sadly this ego maniacal narcissist tarnished the myriad of good things he has done for our country with this latest escapade.”

This is what Darrel wrote at my blog on May 15, 2021: "Trump instigates a riot according to the left and the media, but then I repeat myself. (He didn't.)"

Trump's Big Lie about the 2020 election tore this country apart and his insurrection on J6 was an unpardonable offense against the republic. HE betrayed our Constitution then and is still doing it. If not for his partisan and corrupt Supreme Court defense team, he would have been justly barred from office by the 14^th Amendment and convicted of his many crimes, but they were swept under the un-constitutional fabrication of “presidential immunity”.

Maybe Darrell’s copy of the Constitution is the same as the six corrupt partisan Justices who see “presidential immunity” in their copy? No matter.  Equal justice under law was overturned to elevate their leader above the law. Just don’t compare this to a fascist dictatorship, or you’ll be labeled a commie.

Continuing with Darrell’s grievances.

They are for radical fringe causes and self-identified “oppressed” groups. One can have an intelligent conversation with a liberal and perhaps even find some common ground on which you both can agree.  This is not so with leftists.  They don’t want to debate.  They want to shout down and intimidate anyone that has the temerity to disagree with them.  You know you have won the argument with a leftist when they resort to calling you a Nazi and spouting other ad hominem attacks.

“Oppressed” groups? They’re especially frightened by people of color. Only white people are “oppressed” in the MAGA cult. See Charlie Kirk’s racist rant.

He told them Blacks are out to “replace” them. “The great replacement of white people is far more sinister than any redistricting project. That is at the core of the Democrat project, at the core. And Jasmine Crockett is just some circus act in that entire operation. But it's deathly serious. She — you shouldn't take what she says seriously. It's just a joke. What she represents is very serious, which is the continue attempt to eliminate the white population in this country.”

This racism would certainly draw hearty applause at neo-Nazi gatherings, at Klan meetings, or at a MAGA rally. What’s the difference anymore? The Criminal President Trump essentially told them Democrats are America-hating communists.

One can have an intelligent conversation with a liberal and perhaps even find some common ground on which you both can agree.  This is not so with leftists.  They don’t want to debate.

 “Intelligent conversation” is impossible when dealing with MAGA lies instead of facts. “Common ground”? Stay tuned for where I show how Darrell and I agree.

“They want to shout down and intimidate anyone that has the temerity to disagree with them”.

Tell that to all the professionals at DOJ and FBI who were FIRED for saying the Criminal President Trump’s demand for indicting people who tried to hold him to the rule of law wasn’t supported by evidence. Tell that to the countless other people FIRED for their alleged “disloyalty” to the Criminal President Trump.

Let’s just say, “You know you have won the argument with a fascist when they resort to calling you a communist”.

“mostly peaceful protests” that seldom are

This reflects their LIE about THOUSANDS of peaceful BLM protests. Who needs evidence when they see FOX showing the same images of scattered violence and arson? They will ASSUME that was true of most protests because it makes them FEEL self-righteous in their hate for people protesting racist police brutality. 

Ignore the FACT that the most arrests for any single protest was for Trump’s J6 insurrection. Also ignore the FACT that SEVEN MILLION Americans peacefully protested against Trump with NO violence. No wonder they incessantly PROJECT their violence.

I support free speech – as long as it doesn’t incite vandalism, violence, or the obstruction of other citizens and first responders to go about their tasks.

As do I, but Darrell will tell you otherwise. He just “KNOWS” more of what I think than I do and that violence is mostly from the left. (Kindly disregard the “vandalism, violence, or the obstruction of other citizens and first responders to go about their tasks” on January 6…again.)

 weaponizing lawfare, to curbing and doxing free speech, to stifling the democratic process, these leftists are far more guilty than anything the Trump administration has ever attempted to do; this includes their lawlessness and corruption. 

Never mind how the Trump family has scooped up $billions by leveraging the power of the presidency.

Never mind the Criminal President Trump’s henchman Tom Homan is on video accepting $50,000 in a bribery sting operation.

Never mind about how Leonard Leo instructed the GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway to bill a nonprofit group he advises and use that money to pay Virginia “Ginni” Thomas tens of thousands of dollars.

Never mind why universities and news media are being extorted by bogus lawsuits to fall in line with Trump.

Never mind  the Criminal President Trump threatened and extorted Columbia University out of $221 million and is pressuring Harvard to pay $500 million to settle inflated accusations of campus antisemitism.

Never mind Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, settled a lawsuit with Donald Trump over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris that aired in October 2024, because they EDITED the interview, like almost every TV program does. (It’s entirely OK for FOX to lie and edit all they want in Trump’s favor.) Paramount agreed to pay $16 million as part of the settlement. 

Never mind why the DOJ and FBI have been purged of everyone deemed insufficiently loyal to Trump. Anyone who assisted in bringing the Criminal President Trump's January 6 thugs to justice has been fired.  Law firms such as Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP who represented people Trump hates have been bullied, threatened, and extorted.

Never mind that Former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James were ordered arrested by Trump. This is the tip of the iceberg of the Criminal President Trump’s retribution against justice and its defenders.

Darrell’s projection is up to his eyeballs. No wonder he can’t see the daylight of facts and evidence against the Trump Cartel.

Just ask the "Big Guy".

Never mind the “Big Guy” clearly replied “NO” on speaker with others present when offered a cut of his son’s dealings.

Evidently, they STILL fail to realize that Kamala was appointed the presidential nominee for the Democrat Party without a single solitary vote cast for her in a primary.  And this occurred all the while that these same leftists worked non-stop in some states to try and remove the Republican candidate for president from state ballots. 

Pure bullshit. Many Democrats and all “leftists” were outraged when Biden broke his promise to serve just one term.

Never mind primaries were NOT the norm for most of our history.

“For the presidential contest, however, primaries fell into disfavor and were generally used in fewer than 20 states until the 1970s, after which most states adopted primaries.”

See the 14^th Amendment for why patriotic Americans would “remove the Republican candidate for president from state ballots”.

So, who are the defenders of Democracy? 

I'm glad he asked.

Certainly NOT the traitors who tried to VIOLENTLY overturn the 2020 election!! 

Certainly NOT House and Senate Republicans who voted against his impeachment for his insurrectionist treachery. 

Certainly NOT Trump for ordering red states to gerrymander Black districts out of existence so he can maintain his dictatorial one-party rule.

It's clear who the enemies of democracy really are. I pray more voters realize this and salvage and defend what's left of our democratic republic.

And unlike most leftists, I am able to criticize Trump when I think he has gone astray. 

Hey! Me too! Um, maybe this doesn’t mean what he thinks it means?

“the Biden crime family”

Never mind the unprecedented high number of indictments and convictions of Trump’s J6 mob and other partners in crime.  For that, the Criminal President vowed “retribution” and is proceeding with HIS vicious politicized prosecutions of people who he HATES just for doing their jobs. There’s your real “lawfare”. Again, more PROJECTION.

We can't repeat it 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.

~~~~~~~~~

Dissecting MAGA: Part Two

In “Dissecting MAGA, Part Two” We’ll examine where Darrell disagrees with the Criminal President Trump.

What are the things I disagree upon with President Trump, you ask? (7 points)

This would be a good time to disagree with any of his THOUSANDS of LIES. But sadly, Darrell is a born again true believer MAGA guy.

1. military troops to safeguard some cities and even use it for “training”.  While it is tragically and disgustingly wrong that leftist mayors refuse to fight crime

(I AGREE! But not with the BS lie about mayors. Urban crime rates have gone down.)

2. trade negotiations with China

(I AGREE! TACO tariffs and undiplomatic chaotic impulses don’t make for good trade.)

3, It was foolish to accept the plane from the Qataris. 

(Not to mention criminally corrupt, but I AGREE!)

4. Trump was actually mad that Israel went after the Hamas leaders that orchestrated the October 7th attacks in Qatar.

(Here’s where I disagree with Darrell and AGREE with the Criminal President Trump! It delayed a ceasefire and return of hostages, as well as resulting in more senseless killing.)

5. The Trump administration has or is allowing the exploitation of valuable natural resources in some of our most precious and unique public lands

(Darrell and are in total agreement here.)

6. “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank.”

(Once again, I disagree with Darrell and AGREE with the Criminal President Trump. This is getting weird.)

7(a). Trump’s penchant for childish behavior.  I expect the President of the United States to act with dignity and decorum at all times as he represents us and our nation.

 ( I AGREE 100% with Darrell here.)

7. (b) I understand that the left is just begging to be trolled and put back in their cribs because of their infantile behavior.

( But there he goes, projecting the Criminal President Trump’s infantile behavior onto “the left”. Note Trump is only “childish” but the “left” is “infantile”. Of course, there was nothing foolish or infantile about Trump’s AI meme where he dumps his crap on Americans who don’t like him.)

…doing an overall masterful job of repairing the damage of the socialist dystopia and the soul crushing policies that the leftist regime of the auto-pen Biden administration had championed.  That is the real monarchy. 

What Darrell means by “repairing the damage of the socialist dystopia and the soul crushing policies” is ending foreign aid, terminating without cause thousands of civil servants, cutting congressionally allocated funding for blue states for not voting for him, having their election deniers suppressing voters and rigging future elections, and cutting food and medical care for the poor, while extorting universities, law firms, and media corporations out of millions of dollars to submit to his will, just to mention a few examples. And obviously, giving billionaire oligarchs more tax cuts makes America “great”, amirite?

I’ll tell you what they really hate, besides Democrats, minorities, and other people who oppose the Criminal President Trump. 

They despise our Constitutional guidelines for taxes, regulation of commerce, and provision for the general welfare, AKA the “socialist dystopia and the soul crushing policies” of the “Marxist Founders”...er… I mean the “America-hating communist Left”. 

The Abraham Accords in particular have been a stupendous success and undoubtedly would have garnered a Nobel Prize

(The Abraham Accords are a set of agreements that established diplomatic normalization between Israel the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. A good thing, but not so “stupendous” considering none of the parties were ever at war, or threatening war, with each other.)

Trump has also started curbing the Biden inflation rates and is restoring our economy.

(We can show Darrell the evidence, but he won’t acknowledge it.)

Inflation rates:

July 2023: 3.0%

January 2025: 3.0%

September 2025: 3.0%

 

Dow Jones Industrial Averages

Trump: November 3, 2020, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 26,925.05. 

Biden: On January 20, 2021, the Dow Jones Industrial Average 31,188.38

(+ 4,263.33)

Biden: November 5, 2024: Dow Jones Industrial Average 42,221.88.

Trump: January 20, 2025: The Dow Jones Industrial Average 43,487.83.

 (+ 1,265.95) 

Remember when Stephen Colbert joked that "Reality has a well-known liberal bias"? Now it seems "numbers also have a liberal bias".

I guess we can understand why MAGA hates higher education, reality, and math so much. 

To the MAGA mentality, reality and math are somehow "Rigged!" and "Not fair!" This explains why the Criminal President Trump said, "I love the poorly educated", and "Smart people don't like me".

It's no wonder common ground, good faith debate, rational discussion, and shared reality are next to impossible with them. With the exceptions where I agree with Darrell, of course. Thank you, Darrell. We did it! We found common ground.

OK. Fun time is over and it's time to get to the core of the matter.

This is how we should respond to their disinformation about political violence being mainly, or always, from the left. We can't repeat it 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. 

 

 

No Kings

 

Language Warning. (MAGA words, not mine.)

 

First we were warned.

Since only Trump supporters are “true patriots”, the “enemy within” would be out in force at No Kings demonstrations, terrorizing, looting, and burning their swath of insurrectionist violence across the nation.

The neo-Nazi MAGA Party prepared the country for the looming “No Kings” protests with their typical dire demonization.

Mike Johnson: "We call it the Hate America Rally that will happen Saturday. Let's see who shows up for that. I bet you you'll see Hamas supporters, I bet you'll see antifa types, I bet you'll see Marxists on full display, people who don't want to stand and defend the foundational truths of this republic"

Chip Roy: "The truth is the Marxist, radicals, and Islamists the Democratic Party promoted this weekend, they cannot handle the truth. The truth is that there is a king and that king is Jesus. And the president has been willing to say it, & Charlie Kirk was willing to say it & he got killed for it."

How consistent of them to wrap the words, “foundational truths” and “Jesus” in their own hateful lies. I’m reminded of their mentor and role model wrapping his hate and lies in religion: "The National Government.. will preserve and defend those basic principles on which our nation has been built. It regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national life." - Adolf Hitler, February 1, 1933

But hey, at least the Republicanazis didn’t include pedophiles and Nazis among the protesters. Hmm. Maybe invoking them would cut too close to their bone.

In the real world we saw approximately 2,500 No Kings rallies with more than 7,000,000 PEACEFUL participants.

Let’s compare this to Trump’s original, and actual, “Hate America” rally on January 6, 2021.

DC J6: 1.500 arrests

DC No Kings: zero

And:

24,000 in attendance.

No Arrests in Phoenix.

In fact all across the country we had similar reports from police departments.

 

It turned out nearly all the people arrested that day were Trump supporters. How about that? Surely this will be called “fake news”.

A few examples:

MYRTLEBEACH, SC (WMBF) - The Myrtle Beach police Department says a woman was arrested at the No Kings protest Saturday.

Mary Moriarty, 59 years old, of Surfside Beach, was charged with pointing and presenting a firearm.

 

 A Kent, Ohio Trumper charged into the No Kings rally, throwing punches, assaulted a woman. He was armed. The crowd tackled him.

MAGA Man taken into custody at Wilkes-Barre ‘No Kings’ Protest… witnesses claim a man in a red Jeep with Trump flags pointed a gun Saturday afternoon.

A No Kings Day protester in Jackson Township Ohio was injured by hit-and-run driver. 

But breathe easier, America. A woman in a penis costume was tackled and arrested.

A friend informed me of this incident in Michigan. 

“My sister was out in West Bloomfield.  They were harassed by a group of young guys in a pickup truck shouting ‘Fuck Niggers’.  I guess they can't tell the difference between West Bloomfield Jews and Blacks.”

We may as well get around to understanding this. To the racist neo-Nazi MAGA cult, every American who doesn’t support Trump is equivalent to a “commie nigger” who “hates America”.

Tell me again which side is violent? Which side tolerates racism? Which side is full of hate and lies?

And now we have the King whose mob desecrated our Capitol ordering the East Wing of the People's House to be demolished so he can have a gilded ballroom for his favorite oligarchs, criminals, and special guests like Putin.

If Tsars and Putin can have one, why can't OUR tyrant king have one?

Maybe next time the protests should be called "No Tsars"?

What Happened

 

A friend recently lamented the state of our nation. “We’re all fucked. I never expected it all to end this way.”

 

I don’t think my response cheered him up.

 

What happened to the United States of America? In two words, authoritarianism and greed. From those most negative of human traits, malevolence and cruelty inevitably ensue.

 

The growing darkness under a criminal president and MAGA evil has been painful and draining to witness.

 

Women have lost their reproductive freedom. The CDC has been gutted and medical research has been shut down. Americans will pay more for health insurance and Medicaid patients will be out of luck.

Regurgitating Trump’s Big Lie about “massive voter fraud” as their justification, Republican states are enacting sweeping voter suppression laws and targeting minority districts for gerrymandering. They know they must cheat to win so they’re doing everything they can to dismantle what we have left of a representative democracy.

 

Out of sheer spite tens of thousands of Americans have been summarily fired from their jobs without cause. Pretending to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, the Criminal president decided to have the taxpayers build him an ostentatious ballroom. Yeah, just what the country needed, an exclusive private club for oligarchs and autocrats at our expense.

 

Universities, law firms, media corporations, billionaires, and even museums are being bullied, bribed, and blackmailed into submitting to the Criminal President Trump’s dictates.

 

Secret police are unleashed into communities, abducting and incarcerating non-violent immigrants, while terrorizing citizens, non-citizens, and zip-tied children. Even American citizens have been scooped up in their fascist frenzy. Remember their LIE about just going after the “worst of the worst”?

 

Tens of thousands of non-violent immigrants are suffering the severe and intentional cruelties of detention and family separation.

 

The Criminal President is deploying the military to occupy cities over the objections of mayors and governors. They are justifiably concerned that the secret police and troops will be used for election monitoring and voter intimidation.

 

The Criminal President has ordered extra-judicial killings on the open sea, as only dictators would do.

 

The insurrectionist Criminal President follows Hitler’s playbook, demonizing all who oppose him politically or ideologically as “communists” and the “enemy within”.

 

How did this despotism take hold of our country?

 

Some of us have been watching the erosion of our democracy since Ronald Reagan told us, “Government is the problem”. Anarchists, swindlers, corrupt capitalists, oligarchs, and gangsters would agree. He ended the fairness doctrine in media and brought in Rupert Murdoch.

 

Murdoch became the Republicans’ first corporate media propagandist and America’s first foreign oligarch.

 

Their war on truth has been relentless and expanding ever since. They understood from the history of Nazi Germany that Big Lies, fearmongering, and scapegoating works. They never appeal to reason because emotional manipulation is far easier and more effective.

 

Cheney and Bush Jr. proved Americans could be lied into invading a country that had nothing to do with al-Qaeda or 9-11. We remember Dick Cheney’s fearmongering just before the 2004 election. “It‘s absolutely essential that eight weeks from today on November 2, we make the right choice, because, if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we‘ll get hit again.”

 

It worked. The Lying President installed by conservatives on the Supreme Court and who invaded Iraq on false pretenses was reelected. The radical Right was now on top of their game.

 

Then the US military got bogged down in the inevitable quagmire of occupation. The American people finally had enough when they saw thousands of Americans returned home in body bags.

 

After Republicans deregulated the insatiable greedy bankers on Wall Street the subprime mortgage crisis trigged the Bush Recession.

 

In 2008 Americans finally voted for change. For just winning, Obama enraged the white Christian nationalists, who proceeded to build their racist Tea Party movement that eventually empowered the Criminal President Trump.

 

The constant firehose of disinformation, with added contributions from Russia, flooded the country’s TV, radio, and internet, as the increasingly fascist Republican propaganda network eventually duped enough Americans once again.

 

Criminals, racists and oligarchs finally rejoiced in their Triumph of the Will. The Biden Presidency was merely a temporary restraint for them. By breaking his promise to serve one term and bungling an important debate, Biden gave them their next opening.

 

In 2016 the American Axis of Evil prevailed by exploiting our flawed and antiquated Electoral College, (Affirmative action for rural white people) the undemocratic and unrepresentative Senate, and a gerrymandered House. By 2024 the Republican campaign of disinformation paid off in winning a rare popular vote for president.

 

But America’s “final judgment” was made before the 2024 election. Would justice prevail over a criminal president?

 

No.

 

The six most corrupt and partisan Supreme Court Justices nullified the 14th Amendment that disqualifies the insurrectionist Criminal Trump and granted him unconstitutional and dictatorial “presidential immunity”. This assured the dominance of the Criminal Trump and his military police state over our country. The Court is actively facilitating a Trump dictatorship and Republican one-party rule.

 

And that’s how the American experiment in democracy failed.

 

The ONLY way out, or through this, is for the Criminal President to finally face justice and for enough Americans to wake up and vote Republicans completely out of power for at least the next 12 years. 2026 is the next test. The final test will be 2028.

 

After that, I’ll just be grateful for being old enough to remember when America was at least marginally great. 

No Nobel for Tyrants

 

President Jimmy Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development” 

Hmm. There seems to be a characteristic in Nobel Peace Prize winners that the Criminal President Trump is utterly lacking. 

NPR reports:

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has won this year's Nobel Peace Prize for "her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy."

The announcement of Machado as winner of the prestigious award came as a surprise after intense speculation that President Trump could be a wildcard winner after negotiating a Gaza ceasefire this week.

But the Norwegian Nobel Committee said on Friday that Machado's tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela was "one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times."

A Venezuelan! And a woman! The Great White Criminal President LOST to a Venezuelan woman! I bet that really stung his delicate racist ego.

President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. President Obama showed himself to be a strong spokesman for human rights and democracy, and as a constructive supporter of the work being done to put effective measures in place to combat the climate crisis."

This annoys the Criminal President Trump like a burr up his butt which explains his absurd boasting about "ending seven wars". Bombing Iran counts, apparently. Unlike María Corina Machado, President Obama, and Jimmy Carter, Trump never was, and never will be, "a strong spokesman for human rights and democracy".

This is why Trump didn't win the Nobel Peace Prize this year and never will.

I’m fairly confident that we may reasonably doubt the fraudulent, multiple indicted, convicted felon, obsessively vengeful, insurrectionist, and Criminal President Trump will be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. Also, it’s not lost on the Nobel Committee that he praises dictators, pardons thugs, orders extrajudicial killings on the open sea, sends the military to occupy Democratic cities over the objections of mayors and governors, accuses the political opposition of being the “communist, terrorist enemy within”, orders Black representative districts to be eradicated by racist gerrymandering, and weaponizes the Justice Department for his personal retribution against public servants who honorably performed their jobs.

Also, Trump's LIE that climate change is a "hoax" won't win any Nobel prizes either. History will judge him for that alone.

The list just keeps getting longer.

Of course, the Criminal Crybaby President was distressed about not being chosen, despite endorsements from his fans Netanyahu and Putin. "Thank you to President Putin!" Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday alongside a video of Putin saying, "this award has lost credibility".

Well, there you go. When it comes to credibility, none take a back seat to Netanyahu, Putin, and Trump, amirite?

The Nobel Committee awards the Peace Prize to leaders who champion "arms control and disarmament, peace negotiation, democracy and human rights, and work aimed at creating a better organized and more peaceful world," according to its website.

Tyrants do NOT deserve the prize, and the Nobel Committee knows it:

“Democracy is a precondition for lasting peace. However, we live in a world where democracy is in retreat, where more and more authoritarian regimes are challenging norms and resorting to violence.”