Early to bed, Early to rise, Time isn't on your side

"8:58, first time I’ve ever been early for work. Except for all those daylight savings days. Lousy farmers." -Homer Simpson

Sure, I'm late to write a post about Daylight Savings Time (huh huh huh! See what I did there???) but, Benjamin Franklin's bullshit aphorism aside, the fetishiszation of getting up or being early has its roots in historical propaganda designed to make people into obedient workers.

The two greatest conspiracies Protestant conspiracies are Daylight Savings Time and Hops in Beer.

Hops weren't always a standard ingredient of beer.  You see after the Duke of Bavaria issued the Reinheitsgebot, the famous German Beer Purity law, in 1516 it was right in time for Martin Luther's break with the 95 Theses in 1517 and the nascent Protestant communities found a drink to put their followers quickly to bed at night; No Funny Business!  You see good Protestants were expected to get up early, work all day, read the Bible, then drink "a couple beers" and go to bed and do it all over again the next day, except Sunday when they were expected to go to church all day.

Getting back to Daylight Savings Time, having done night shift work for years I know how flipping your sleep schedule, working in the dark, or driving to and from work in the dark is physically and mentally exhausting.  And I applaud when everyone sees the one hour time changes in Spring and Fall have similar effects.  I don't know if Daylight Savings Time or Standard Time is the better option but, it's time to stop this silly flipping but, it's time to also stop working ourselves to death anyway.

Waking up early became a sign of a good worker and what American business has always wanted is workers willing to over exert themselves without being paid for their labor.  It became de rigueur to basically work without pay...  Because Real hard-workin' Muricans love to get to office before the boss to show their go-getter spirit and middle management potential.  There has never been a more insidious turn-of-phrase than; Early is on time, Ontime is late, and Late is Unacceptable.'

Work won't love you back.  And getting up early has taken more for man than it give us;  According to Bertrand Russell monumental tome The History of Western Philosophy (1945),

Queen Christina of Sweden, a passionate and learned lady who thought that, as a sovereign, she had a right to waste the time of great men. It turned out that she wanted daily lessons from him, but could not spare the time except at five in the morning. This unaccustomed early rising, in the cold of a Scandinavian winter, was not the best thing for a delicate man. Moreover, Chanut became dangerously ill, and Descartes looked after him. The ambassador recovered, but Descartes fell ill and died in February, 1650.

Rene Descartes was the first person to invent a new systematic process of philosophy since Aristotle.  Descartes monumental Cogito is a philosophical question which all modern thinkers must address.

For 7 hours and 37 minutes...

Trump the Arch-Traitor tried to overthrow the United States government.  After planning to disrupt and invalidate the recognition of President Biden's crushing victory Trump and his cadre of conservative criminals, Trump hid communications for 7 hours and 37 minutes during the Coup Attempt. 

There is one thing, and one thing only, the Democrats need to do; respond to every question with, "For 7 hours and 37 minutes..."

Every hearing should include, "For 7 hours and 37 minutes..."

Every disingenuous utterance of CRT, Transphobia, Jessie Smollett, Afghanistan withdrawl, gas prices, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson should be answered with, "Well for 7 hours and 37 minutes..."

Arch-Traitor Trump, multiple elected Republicans, high-level conservatives, and a gaggle of rightwing criminals hatched, planned, coordinated, and executed a Coup to end the United States of America.  Republicans tried to destroy the government and end the American dream and Nation as a concept.

Because the Media isn't going to do it.  They aren't going to suddenly abandon the Narrative.  Because that would require evaluating the Eternal BothSides spin they needs must adopt.

Trump spent 7 hours and 37 minutes in communication with various known and unknown nefarious actors, while the Capitol was besieged, trying to ensure his Putsch would succeed. 

But, as the Coup of January 6th recedes and the precious Narrative analyzing the 2022 midterms, the facts of the Janurary 6th Sedition simply become part of the Democrats and Republicans disagree about what happened that day and conservatives are allowed and encouraged to disavow the day claim it was the actions of Antifa while agreeing with what almost happened and planning their next violent Insurrection. 

Clarence Thomas may not be dead. But, Ginni Thomas fomented Insurrection and is a loony traitor and criminal.

Yes Your Honor I would like to
arrest your wife in defense of Freedom

This guys a Supreme Court Justice 
His real name's Clarence 
And Clarence's got a real good marriage

Well, looks like having access to top-notch healthcare, sparing no expense, has won again.  Clarence Thomas was recently discharged from his mysterious hospital stay.  And while "Justice" Thomas voted repeatedly to ensure you should not have adequate healthcare, since He's Wealthy, He gets to be Healthy. 

Meanwhile, an incredible avalanche of sedition and conspiracy emerged from the bloated bowels of Clarence's "better half" Ginni Thomas.

When the notorious drunk Ginni Thomas seemingly came out of nowhere a few weeks ago to admit she was at the January 6th Insurrection but, claimed she never inhaled, it was clear to me someone let Ginni know that Authorities (and probably members of the Congressional committee) had secured evidence of her presence, planning, and coordination of the attempted Trumputsch.

There's a lot of good coverage of Ginni's criminal conspiracy; New Yorker, EmptyWheel, Lawyers, Guns, & Money, for instance. There's much more.

We are facing the most serious threat since the last time conservatives attacked the Nation.

Clarence Thomas isn't going to recuse himself, he isn't going to stop his unethical behavior, and he isn't going to stop his judicial perfidy. "Justice" Thomas has spent 30 years laying the groundwork for the GOP Fascist takeover. So we are left with the vain hope Attorney General Garland and the DOJ can bring a case against Ginni Thomas.

High level Republican conspirators planned & aided the Insurrection.  The amount of perfidy, subterfuge, chicanery, and sedition which we know happened and which we know multiple Republicans were fully part of is overwhelming.  We are in trouble because it's so brazen.

But, I think there is a great reluctance, by the Elite Media, by Democratic Party officials, by elected Democrats, to admit where we are as a Nation; i.e. past the Fascist Inflection Point and on the cusp of something truly terrible.  I think they know but, admitting it and naming it openly feels like the first punch and breaking the last barrier.  Plus, after all rightwing media has spent decades claiming all Democrats are corrupt and airs non-stop programming abut "scandals" and "crimes" those dastardly Dems get away so that Normie society will just shrug or dismiss it as politics or "both sides" are too blame. 

So, while Mark Meadows phone is everything conservatives claimed Hunter Biden's laptop was, and the evidence of the GOP major crimes (collaboration with Russia, funneling of foreign money into American politics, funding a seditious conspiracy to overthrow of the United States government, to say nothing of the thousands of minor infractions and ethical violations) become more clear, right-wingers will stoke the But, Hillary or Hunter Biden or Ketanji Brown Jackson or whomever the current rightwing whipping post is at the moment, for the precise reason the Republicans have been caught and are guilty of everything they say the Democrats are doing.

In Utah, Conservatives and Republicans demand you offer up your children's genitals for their perusal

I told you Republicans were coming for us.

I told you the GOP had crossed the fascist threshold.

Well, the Grand Old Pedophile Party is back at it.  Everywhere.

Last year rightwing terrorist and frequent Faux News liar Matt Walsh demanded conservatives be able to set up video cameras in every classroom and digitally record children for them to watch whenever they please thus creating a Predatory Pedophile Panopticon.

Earlier this month, Missouri State Senator Elaine Gannon, during an open hearing on the euphemistically titled "Save Woman's Sports Act",  grilled a 14 year old trans student about their genitals, "I don't know what your genitals are" and demanded "Are you gonna go through the procedure?"

Well, Utah Republicans are going to show the Show Me State and their recalcitrant Governor, Republicans will examine, inspect, and otherwise eyeball the genitals of any child whenever the fuck they pleases.  The genital inspectors will have full authority and immunity to grope the genitals of any child.

Every over-wrought accusation by Hawley, Cruz, Blackburn, and any other Rape-publican at the Supreme Court hearings is projection and cover for the Gross Old Pedophiles to engage in the most invasive and vile panty sniffing raids of the 21st century.

Conservatives are diseased Hobbesian's, as such they conceive liberty as having dominion over others.  Therefore, true liberty is achieved when those whom conservatives hate or target are contained, controlled, and curtailed.  Hobbes political philosophy and description of the state of man as Force and Fraud fits in with the Fascist March of the GOP.  Also during Hobbes time, Witchfinders were active throughout Europe and the American Colonies, they accomplished finding witches by inspecting women's genitals for "Devil's Marks".  Transpersons are the new witches whom Republicans can whip society up into a frenzy to torture and terrorize.

Republicans clearly see demonizing and terrorizing the Trans Community as a pathway to gaining political power.

Meanwhile:

While Hawley and other rightwing liars go on and on about Child Porn, #QAnon failed to find yet another rightwing Republican child rapist, as former Maine GOP Governor candidate Eliot Cutler was arrested for child porn.

Trump and Conservatives killed a Million Americans

While despicable Republicans are busy being racists*, preening for the cameras, and slandering Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the United States just passed The Second Anniversary of Covid-19 reaching mainstream attention.  The United States also reached and surpassed the grim milestone of 1,000,000 official American deaths.  

Sadly, Covid deaths have been vastly undercounted and it's probable we reached a million dead from Covid months ago...  It's also testament to the conservative efforts to present a contrafactual version of history and the rightwing propaganda efforts to undermine mitigation and vaccination efforts.

To this day Trump, powerful rightwing voices, and elected Republicans do all they can to obfuscate and undermine efforts to combat Covid and to convince Americans to do things ineffective and often times harmful instead.  The GOP is unquestionably the Pro-Covid Party.

The odious Rand Paul is beaming about having forced the Senate to vote on a repeal of the travel mask mandate, chortling in his March 15th press release about defeating the "unelected bureaucrats imposing an ineffective mask mandate".  Conservatives social media accounts are festooned with the same collection of Fauci=Jim Jones memes, Candeath Owens quotes, "Communism" fear-mongering, ivermectin/hydroxychloroquine/vitamin C/immune system nonsense, and sadly pitiable pleas for thoughts & prayers when the duped and misled American succumbed to the conservative campaign of misinformation, contracted Covid and ended up dying a terrible death on a ventilator system.

So, at this point most rational people have given up trying to convince the Anti-Vaxx cadre and have become resigned to the conservative efforts to undo all sensible and necessary precautions.  Take care of yourselves and loved ones, because if Republicans are back in charge of the government when the next Pandemic hits you will be on your own.

*- Remember Republicans are all Reactionaries, so in response to the Civil Rights Era and successful anti-Racism campaigns the GOP has decided to be overtly racist and bigoted while accusing black people, white liberals, and Democrats of being the real racists.  Clearly, Cruz, Hawley et al see much more value in appealing to the overt racism conservatives enjoy than making a ham-handed show of diversity in an attempt to peel off some black voters to them.

Ukraine Quagmire convinces conservatives to consider invading Canada

The Pentagon estimates the now stalled Russian invasion of Ukraine has suffered a 10% degradation of forces and the attack itself has clearly failed to achieve whatever unrealistic timetables the Von Putin Plan called for.

Even during the darkest days of Iraq and Afghanistan, the US didn't have a disaster like this on their hands.

While facing losses and reversals on the actual battlefield, Russia and Putin continue to enjoy a sizable advantage in the United States on the virtual front of the War since the Republican Party continues to gleefully "catapult the propaganda" and to actively support Vladimir Putin and his war crimes.

All of this of course stems from the fact the Republicans entire brand of politics has been inexorably tied into that of Russia; first as erstwhile foes, now as ardent allies.  Republicans have more in common with Putin and his murderous Neo-Fascism than they do with the United States and American people. 

For decades, conservatives have broadcast, on open source platforms, that their true enemy; that they hate, that they yearn to be unleashed to round-up and murder, are Liberals.  It was easy for foreign adversaries to read, watch, and listen to conservatives year after year propound their ardent desire to "Lock'em up" and kill the non-MAGA and then craft and hone propaganda dissemination machines (rapidly assisted by the advent of social media) which amplified and now create rightwing outrages which conservatives dutifully absorb and re-transmit.

It has become a core tenet of the Republican worldview to consider the Democratic party as not simply a political opponent, but an enemy pursuing an “un-American” project of turning what is supposed to be a white Christian patriarchal nation into a land of godless multiracial pluralism. Conversely, Republicans see themselves as the sole proponents of “real” America, defending the country from the forces of radical leftism, liberalism and wokeism. - Professor Thomas Zimmer Georgetown University.

But, the Russian Invasion of Ukraine (besides being a war crime and sparking a humanitarian crisis) has shown the utter buffoonery of conservatives in the United States.  In response to the invasion of Ukraine conservatives called for the invasion of Canada,

Ha ha ha... perhaps you think this is more of that droll rightwing sense of humor?  Or this is more of the conservative need to be more and more outrageous to attract clicks and attention (and $$$) and they must be joking or can't be serious?  Well... stop it.  American Conservatives funded the fascist convoy in Canada and it morphed into an earnest attempt to topple the Trudeau Administration.  Conservatives are ideologically aligned with Putin and would love to emulate his actions in the United States and Canada. 

Fascism is on the March folks.  Stop ignoring it.  Stop whining that the Democratic Party isn't taking it seriously.  The Corporate and Rightwing Media will eviscerate any Democrat who points out what's obvious; the Republican Party and millions of their supporters are hoping and planning on ensconcing a Fundamentalist Fascist Ethno-State with the trappings of democracy, with violence meted out to non-MAGA at whim and backed with the awesome power of the State.

Republicans are Fascist Goons who have already declared War on the United States

Now, understand... this is not hyperbole.  Also this is not just about January 6 2021.  They are coming for you.  Republicans are passing laws in States they control allowing them to target you in adjoining States.  Republicans are coming for Roe v. Wade,  Republicans are coming for birth control.  Republicans are coming for it all.  

Republicans are gunning for transpeople first and they are doing it right damn now.  Republicans have been demonizing the Trans community for the past several years now that Gay People are no longer a shunned out-group.  Transpersons are especially vulnerable and finding a lightning rod, like Lia Thomas, to use as a rightwing cause célèbre to harden the base and to galvanize normies into active conservative collaborators, is their most valuable agitprop tool. 

But, Republicans won't stop with destroying transpeople.  Every rightwing victory fuels further rightwing spite and vitriol.  After creating a panty-sniffing panel of genital inspectors, Republicans will turn back to eliminating gay marriage.  Then interracial marriage.  Then having cosigned those people to the flames.  Republicans will begin targeting the rest of Us.

Quit pretending the Republicans haven't begun using Force with their passage of so-called anti-abortion "laws"; such legislation grants conservatives access to the awesome power of the State, the power they always decry, the power they always claim to seek to limit, the power they can not wait to unleash on a whole host of their "enemies".  

While the rightwing January 6th Fascist attempt, funded and attended by Ginni Thomas, to overthrow the election of Democratic President Joe Biden continues to reverberate across the Nation, Republicans have crafted legislation giving them power over states they don't control.  And it won't stop with abortion.  No, Republicans are coming for contraception next.  And they are openly admitting it.  After that will come for sex outside marriage.  And understand marriage won't be an option for you non-Fundamentalists. 

Republicans have already declared War and if we do manage to get together enough votes to overcome the structural advantages Republicans enjoy, and overcome the voter suppression and intimidation and survive the Use of Force by the Election Police in Florida, well then it'll just be time for more Republican "Legitimate Political Discourse" ala the sequel to January 6th, only this time with far more planning and far more determination to execute Speaker Pelosi, Congresswoman AOC and the Squad. 

Republican are coming for Us all.  In Missouri... In Tennessee... In Texas... In North Carloina... In Indiana... In Florida...  Everywhere...  They are coming.

Tulsi Gabbard, Glenn Greenwald, Tucker Carlson, Nikki Haley, Candace Owens and millions of conservatives walk into a Biolab

In Russia, Biolab Propaganda walk into you!

Well, after flirting with the idea of leaving Pooty Poot, the Republican Party has run back into the loving arms of the KGB Colonel.  Conservatives hate Ukraine because President Zelenskiyy would not enter into a criminal conspiracy to manufacture a controversy for Trump and the Corporate Media to use to derail President Biden's successful campaign.

But, of course conservatives can't say that!

Aaargh! What-a-boot the laptop! 

And no matter how many times Glenn Greenwald went onto Tucker Kremlinson errr Carlson's show to flog the lies about Hunter Biden's Ukrainian Laptop located in a Jersey pawnshop, the But His Laptop didn't stick like But Her Emails.  Enter an old rightwing favorite: Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs)!

The latest two-pronged attack launched by Republicans, against Ukraine and the American People, is the preposterous lie that US funded Biolabs with WMDs are littered all throughout Ukraine.  Even worse, is the despicable adoption of an Abuser framing that Ukraine forced Russia to attack because of their dalliance with NATO and therefore Russia is merely defending itself from Obama funded Biolabs!

Candeath Owens took time out of her busy schedule convincing white goatee sporting conservative men to off themselves by not getting vaccinated to blame the United States and push the claim the US and USSR reached an agreement about NATO expansion back in 1990, and the Biden White House is violating that agreement.  Owens despicably blames America for Russia warmongering and maintains #RussianLivesMatter. 

Putin's Democrat Tulsi Gabbard, who you may recall voted Present for Impeachment over Trump's Ukrainian Conspiracy, also pushed the Kremlin's newest claim of 25-30 US funded Biolabs in Ukraine which forced Putin's hand to invade. 

Nikki Haley who still has unrealistic aspirations of running for the GOP nomination for President or, most likely, Vice President, is running around with the typical disingenuous, self-serving, why does anyone listen to her bullshit about the Russian Invasion, tv and alt-right media appearances.

After an initial push of why should we care about Russia/Ukraine by J. D. Vance and Tucker Kremlinson, the Republicans pivoted to Joe Biden's weakness invited Russia to attack, back to Vlad Putin was 100% right to attack because of WMDs.  Traitor Trump has been predictably insane and all over the map with his declaration of how savvy Putin was in attacking to false claims Trump and his Organization of Criminals *ackshullay* armed the Ukrainian people with Javelin missiles.

All of this is a goldmine for MAGA which is now able to tie Ukraine into the Wuhan Labs, Dr. Anthony Fauci Gain-of-Function, the US Special Forces raid on CIA computer server facility in Germany, and Hunter Biden and the Worldwide Rigged Election of 2020.

But, more importantly it's been clear for a long, long time when the next disaster struck, the American people would not be able to count on Republicans and MAGA to stand with the Nation and help.  This achieved deadly clarity during the past 2 years of Covid as conservatives not only didn't help but, sought to harm and did everything they could to undermine mitigation.  Now in Ukraine as Russia commits war crimes and atrocities, conservatives are clearly indicating they are on the side of Putin and Russian Fascism (and have been for a while) and against Democracy and The American People.

The Revenge of the Thin Blue Line 17: Orange you glad Dirty John Catanzara is the FOP President?

One of the absolutely, mind-boggling, infuriating things about Corporate Media is their seeming inability to google someone before they invite them on air to spout rightwing propaganda and lies.  Enter Dirty John Catanzara, President of the Chicago FOP Lodge 7.  After the shooting of Adam Toledo last year, Catanzara was contacted by numerous media outlets for his view of the shooting.  At the time Catanzara hadn't been a cop for over a year.  Because Dirty John Catanzara was relieved of Police powers and duties in May 2020.  Then facing termination last year, Dirty John was allowed to officially retire.  Sadly, the shitbag refused to step down as President of his Lodge, intending to stay on until his term expires in 2023. 

The Orange shirt barely fits his gut
but those pants are almost worse

So, yesterday at the Northwest Irish Parade John Catanzara wore an orange shirt.  (Note the Northside not the Southside).  This is a deliberate provocation and unlike when Catanzara posted "Let's Go Brandon!!!" or expressed his admiration and support for the January 6th terrorists, this insulting action isn't going to gain him many fans amongst the old school Chicago Police community and the historical Irish community in Chicago.

In case anyone doesn't know, wearing Orange on or about Saint Patrick's Day isn't an accidental move but, an insulting declaration and incitement to most people of Irish ancestry.  But, this is America!  And the joy of being a right-winger in America is having No Memory.

Then you can claim there's no systemic racism.  You can deny societal impacts of Republican policies.  You can ignore the history of the American Petroleum Institute and blame President Biden for gas prices.  Because everything just happens Ex Nihilo.

Catanzara got away with a career of misconduct because people forget or don't care to know.  Of course, Catanzara could be claiming to be a Loyalist to the British Crown... as Dirty John is definitely a traitor.

Update:

Incidentally, the candidate's shirt Dirty John is wearing is Chicago Police Detective Erin Jones who's challenging incumbent Robert Martwick for Illinois 10th district State Senate as a Democrat.  Detective Erin Jones doesn't have any sustained police misconduct allegations.  But, Jones was involved in some racially charged kerfuffle with former Chicago Alderman Arena over Jones' alleged racist social media comments in 2018. 

Of course, Erin Jones is one of those bad faith Chicago conservative who, despite being a 2018 Republican precinct captain and posting in 2020 the Democratic Party is a worse enemy than China, North Korea, or Russia pretends to be a Democrat to try and win an election.

FSB asset Maddy Cawthorn and the Goonish Republicans are siding with Vladimir Putin because Putin and the GOP are Allies

Noted Liar, sexual abuser, and Nazi Goon Madison Cawthorn lost the use of his legs when his drunk friend crashed as the two drove back drunk from a week long bender of drug use in Florida.

Cawthorn likes to lie and claim the accident derailed his Naval Academy acceptance and military career.  But, Cawthorn never wanted to serve in the Navy, not the USN anyway, maybe the Kriegsmarine,

Since then Cawthorn admitted he was recruited and made an asset by his ex-wife an FSB agent.  So naturally he's flinging Putin's propaganda war here in the United States. 

Maddy Cawthorn wore his best Brown Shirt for Jan6th

Indeed in some of his first public acts, was to incite the riotous Jan6th rightwing mob to disrupted the transition of power and "lightly threaten members of Congress" into overthrowing the US government. 

North Carolina residents unhappy with having Nazi Goon Cawthorn in office, filed an objection and attempted to have him removed from a ballot for his sedition and insurrection but were told by Trump Judge Dick Myers the Second that removing Mad Nazi Cawthorn meant Trump supporters would be justified in shooting Democrats to win elections, 

"The federal court is tasked with protecting the soap box, the ballot box and the jury box.  And when these fail, people proceed to the ammunition box."

It is incomprehensible to me that a Federal Judge would use such language in a ruling.  But, Fascism is on the March and Authoritarians are more and more willing to be open about their goals.

So, it should come with no surprise in this video obtained of FSB asset Mad Nazi Cawthorn willingly pumping Putin's propaganda directly into a Tarheel town hall, 

“Zelenskyy is a thug. Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies.”

The GOP aren't a Fifth Column or Useful Idiots for Vlad Putin, they are a fully fascist death-cult which is not satisfied until they've ground down the American people into pliant docile servants, while millions of Others are reduced to Second Class Citizens living on a knife's edge of fear that an agent of the State or a firearm packing white rightwinger will visit violence upon them at a whim.

Conservatives see a valuable ally in Putin in their agenda to destroy liberal democracies across the Globe, Nightly Fucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham et al craft shows which repeat Vladimir Putin's attacks liberalism, Multiculturalism and human rights or Viktor Orban's call to destroy and replace western-style democracy with Authoritarianism, and thousands of right-wingers online cut-and-paste, propagate, and absorb, across every social media forum they infect, this Fascist Revival.

They want an authoritarian ethno-state in bed with the American church that will let them steal everything not nailed down while putting the iron boot firmly on the people they hate. Old Man Shadow

The Revenge of the Thin Blue Line 16: Police Misconduct? What a Buncha Joey Baloney!

Hey! Remember Philadelphia Police Lt. Joseph Bologna? Old Joey was emblematic of the Police response to public protests over excessive police violence and brutality... i.e. he subjected people to excessive police violence!

But, despite the non-stop lies propagated by Andy Ngo and the rightwing provocateurs about who perpetrated violence in the 2020 protests (unfortunately it appears overwhelmingly it was the Police themselves and outside rightwing agitators).

But, that's what makes protests so enticing for the nascent ground-up fascist movement which is consuming the Right.  Throughout, American history any protest or agitation which has a socialist or left-wing flavor is met with overwhelming force from the Police and the Government with the tactic approval of the norm public.  Examples range from Haymarket Square in 1886 (which created the false sobriquet "Bomb-Throwing Anarchist") to Kent State in 1970, when Nixon and the National Guard opened fire on Anti-War protesters (4 Dead in Ohio).

But, rightwing violence is coddled and encouraged in the United States; one need look no further than the Attempted Republican overthrow of the Government on Jan 6 2021, when elected Republican officials encouraged violence and cheered the crowd of conservative criminals to take over the Capitol and murder Democratic Representatives. 

But, back to Bologna.  In June 2020, Bologna beat a Temple University Evan Gorski on video 

"Bologna turned to Gorski and raised his baton, Gorski backed away and briefly covered his own face with his hand. Bologna then struck him forcefully with the baton."

Gorski recquired 10 staples for his head wound.  Bologna then fabricated a case against Gorski and arrested him for "Battery to PO" and maintained Gorski's injury, after having attacked Officers, was the result of his fall.  Too bad for Joey the video was widely spread.  And while Lt. Bologna is facing charges simple assault and a weapons charge, what he did was deadly force as any Police Department anywhere will have a Use of Force policy which indicates strikes to the head or aimed at the head are deadly force.

Now, of course, right-wingers, despite maintaining one should never trust the government, 100% backed Joey Bologna, accepted his version of events, castigated Gorski and every other person assaulted by Bologna, and wore t-shirts defending his violence.  Well, as the wheels of justice grind slowly former Lt. Bologna is finally facing charges this month from several of his latest victims.

Jumpin' Gas Prices! It's a Flash! Flash! Flash!

Too cold to start a fire

I'm burning diesel, burning dinosaur bones - Rusty Cage, Soundgarden 1991

In 1973, the bloated, complacent, and backwards thinking U.S. Automotive industry took a wallop when OPEC introduced an Oil embargo and took steps to wrest control of the oil market from US and European backed oil companies.

American cars of the 1970's were ridiculous monstrosities and American automakers weren't invested in the type of innovation and design investment necessary to stay competitive.  The 30 years after WW2 had led to a malaise of over-confidence.  German and especially Japanese car makers were ready to pounce on the small car market, with advanced vehicles that not only were far more efficient and better cars but, also what a large segment of the customer base in the United States wanted.

Of course, since then the sad truth is the American car industry has still not learned the lessons of 1973.  Today, gas prices across the country are reaching the highest real cost as well as the highest relative price ever.  And are drivers in the United States equipped to handle this? 

Nope.

You see American car shopper sucks or to be fairer, consistently makes the bad vehicle choice, especially when given the chance to make that choice.  Every time gas prices relax a little bit, Americans go out and buy giant gas guzzling monster vehicles.  Now maybe it's a symbiotic relationship between car makers and consumer.  As the giant land yachts of the 1970's didn't go away they were simply jacked up and retitled Sport Utility Vehicles and Trucks.  Everyone wants a big truck.  Even so-called midsized trucks like the Ford Ranger, Honda Ridgeline, or Chevy Colorado would be big trucks in an earlier era.  Of course, some really small Utes have just been reintroduced; the Hyundai Santa Cruz and Ford Maverick (also as a hybrid) but, it's way late to finally introduce these smaller more efficient models.

Additionally, while the hyper car market is tiny and geared towards the super rich, it's moving to electric vehicles.  But, the "affordable" luxury and performance market isn't getting great gas mileage either.

Brazilian Fascists love TrumPutin 
and hate President Biden and Trudeau
I guess Glenn Greenwald is having
a real impact!

So, thanks to Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, energy prices are spiking across the globe.  And Americans are once again moaning about paying at the pump.

Unbelievable.  Or... in reality it isn't... because the American dream of cheap energy derived from fossil fuels is yet again another cornerstone of the endless Republican assault on the United States.   

43 years ago President Jimmy Carter, a good and decent and deeply religious man put solar panels on the White House.  President Carter called for 20% of American power to be procured from solar In Year 2000.

This was a smart, forward-thinking plan and one which would have helped usher in the electric car revolution far earlier as well as combat what executives and scientists working for the fossil fuels industry  already knew in the 1970's; that climate change was going to destroy the planet and kill millions (or more) people.

Instead, what we got in 1979 was an Iranian Revolution because the Shah of Iran, whom the United States and British had placed into power in 1953 to help the oil from Persia flow, was a brutal dictator and murderer.  The Hostage Crisis opened the doors to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave for the villainous Republican Party. 

And in 1981, Ronnie Raygun stepped into the White House with his oil-drenched hairdo, phony cowboy demeanor, and chickenhawk warmonger swagger and promptly took the solar panels off the roof and declared the United States would never break its' addiction to fossil fuels or foreign entanglements.  Reagan was already a brain-addled fraud in the pocket of Big Oil, before being shot and suffering brain damage.

So Reagan's handlers told him to open areas of the United States to exploitation and ruin and in 1986, Raygun gave a speech "crowing" about how "freedom", "the marketplace", "the entrepreneurs and businessmen and women of America" performed miracles after he decontrolled Oil from The Government.

No Eternal Allies only
Eternal Interest in Middle East Oil

What a fucking asshole.  Reagan's fraudulence set the course to tie the United States to the Middle East and for the next 40 years the American people have suffered because of it.  Reagan incited and assured Saddam Hussein the US would support him and Iraq against Iran.  Well that led to 30 years of violence in Iraq and Iran didn't it? 

And opening the United States to haphazard oil drilling ushered in disastrous oil spills via the Exxon Valdez (1989), BP Deepwater Horizon (2010), too say nothing of all the lesser spills you've never heard about, and the monstrously destructive 21st century fracking boom with all it's accompanying environmental destruction.

But, this post is already too long and I've barely touched the disastrous W(orst President Ever) Maladministration drilling policies or Former Republican Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and all his associated crimes*, misappropriation of funds, and abuse of authority.  And that's the problem; it takes a lot of reading and the acknowledgment of background information which bad actors on the Right are unwilling to engage in because they've mastered the art of the Meme and the bumper sticker and conservatives have entered an Era of having their own facts.  

They simply assert High Gas Prices Biden Fault shorthand.  So, instead of getting a fuel efficient vehicle or investing in an electric vehicle, a whole bunch of Americans who asserted it was their right to get the gaudiest, biggest, least practical, non-efficient Truck are now crying about high gas prices and petulantly pouting that mean Pete Buttigieg said they should buy an electric vehicle  

*- Career Criminal Traitor Trump showed Republicans they had been a bunch of "Suckers and Losers", when you have authority you commit crimes and you keep committing crimes non-stop because the media isn't interested in following them all up.

Two US Navy Ships : Two different Presidents : Two different Reactions to Covid

Back in March 2020, US Navy Captain Brett Crozier complained about the US Government response to the Covid outbreak.  Capt. Crozier commanded the USS Teddy Roosevelt, an aircraft carrier and thus the Capital ship in the Navy.

A Rapist of All Things

Well that was the Trump government and while Traitor Trump knows nothing about anything, he does know PR, and while Trump will gladly hump a flag he wasn't going to let anyone sully his image of being loved by the military.  Trump imitator, in more ways than one, Thomas Modly* flew out to the Teddy Roosevelt and told the Ships' crew Crozier had to be fired because... reasons...  Trump Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braitwaite** then laughably declared Crozier did not do enough to stop the spread of Covid amongst his crew.  So, on April 2, 2020 Crozier was sacked by Trump sycophants.  Fortunately, Crozier is retiring this month after 30 years service a career conservatives lustily spit upon for Trump.

Now it's 2022, and Joe Biden is President.  So, let's remember the dynamic; conservatives have draped themselves in the flag and assumed the mantle of Real America for a long, long time.  As a corollary, conservatives have long cloaked their cowardice in the patriotism of others and assume the military is staunchly rightwing.  

So, when an unnamed Commander of a missile destroyer declared he wasn't going to have anything to do with this Covid Vaccination, a rightwing Federal Judge could not rule quick enough that the US Navy can't touch him.

In a 48 page ruling, Judge Steven Douglass Merryday ruled USN Commander John Doe 'harbors' a sincere Religious Exemption to vaccination and the US Navy are enjoined from any adverse or retaliatory action against the Commander (a Lt Colonel also involved in this suit).

So, is President Joe Biden the CinC or not?  

During, the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress (abetted by several Gentlemen who sought Washington's command and were friendly with the British) hamstrung, micromanaged, and interfered with operations until the crucible of Valley Forge and Washingotn's determination enabled him to get breathing room and push for Nathanael Greene to be assigned Quartermaster General.

But, once again we see how deep the rot of rightwing propaganda has seeped.  Judge Merryday was appointed in 1992 and 30 years on the bench has no doubt convinced him his not opinion only is better than the US Navy but, especially when a DemocRAT President is trying to enforce unlawful orders on the Military... like vaccination...  

In court declarations two US Navy Officers testified the following about Commander Doe,

Vice Admiral D.W. Dwyer and Captain Frank Brandon explained that Doe’s anti-vax beliefs are part of a broader pattern of insubordination. Brandon testified that last November, he spoke with Doe on Doe’s ship one day before its scheduled departure. Doe was experiencing multiple symptoms of COVID, and appeared to have a relatively severe case; he could, Brandon recalled, “barely speak.” Yet Doe refused to get tested—a clear violation of protocol—and attended a briefing in a cramped room with about 60 other people. Brandon ordered Doe to get a test, which revealed that he did, indeed, have COVID, and exposed dozens of others to the virus.

Doe engaged in other deceptive behavior. For instance, when requesting leave, he concealed the fact that he was flying to another state, which would have triggered a mandatory risk assessment. After Brandon discovered this subterfuge, he learned that Doe had traveled to a high-risk area, requiring five days’ quarantine upon return.

But, of course IOKIYAR.  Because conservatives have turned the United States into a Nation of Men*** not Laws. 

I am certain rightwing Media and Judge Merryday would love to have Biden intervene and order the recalcitrant Navy Commander to take a hike, they would have another 'bloody shirt' to wave.  As when, Marine Corps jack wagon Stuart Scheller, who "inexplicably", placed the whole blame for Afghanistan upon the shoulders of President Biden and then was feted and treated to the time-worn rightwing media parade, USN Commander Doe would be lauded for his convictions while Tucker Carlson and all the other conservative chickenhawk couch-borne commandoes cast fie**** upon Joe Biden...

*- Moldy with trump inspired hair??? really the screenwriters have gotten so lazy.  Modly had to resign after he flew onto "The Big Stick" to address the crew about firing Crozier and stated Crozier, "is either too naive or too stupid to be a commanding officer of a ship like this [or] he did this on purpose."

**- Braithwaite, like all rightwing grifters, stole huge amounts of money from the government.  Braithwaite spent over $2 million traipsing the globe during his 8 month appointment.  But, Fraud, Waste and Abuse never really matters to conservatives if a Republican Champion who "Owns the Libs" does it.  Nah, holiday junkets to Norway, Greece, Italy, Wake Island, Hawaii by Braithwaite are payment for a job well done...

***- as long as those men are right-wingers and not antiwar squishes like Lt. Col Alexander Vindman 

****-  as evidenced in the fetid and rancid comment sections of news stories, Fashbook, the Twitter cesspool, or any platform deplorable conservatives hurl all sorts of invectives at Presidents when they are Democrats (and at all officials associated with Democratic Presidents) 

Will the Corporate Media push the Rightwing Trucker Boogaloo

In a repeat of the Tea Party nonsense, I see the Corporate Media is back to amplifying and providing undue coverage to minuscule conservative propaganda campaigns.  Even the slenderest of rightwing tantrums is treated as though it's a spontaneous uprising of the Great Masses of Real America!  E.g. Mom's for Liberty! Enter the non-stop coverage of Truckers fighting Covid Tyranny! 

For years rightwing media has known if they constantly and consistently repeat their talking points, the Corporate Media world will be forced to (or willingly) cover the nonsense and often just regurgitates the framing crafted by right-wingers.  

For weeks, Rightwing media hyped the Canadian Convoy (funded primarily by American conservatives and comprised mainly of Canadian Fascists) as an expression of "freedom".  Conservative luminaries, like Candeath Owens and Dilbert Scott Adams, proposed seriously that Prime Minister Trudeau should be forcibly removed by U.S. Armed Forces and rightwingers across the Nation, from he lowliest Alex Jones troglodyte to Arch-Traitor Donald John Trump himself declared Trudeau was far more of a dictator than Vladimir Putin, 

"The tyranny we have witnessed in Canada in recent weeks should shock and dismay people all over the world," Trump said.

Such statements wholly divorced from reality and of sheer buffoonery only makes sense when you understand The Right lives in a completely sealed media bubble, breathing in and regurgitating the same noxious nonsense to each other over and over again, until it becomes concentrated bullshit.  But, it would be nice if outside the bubble the media would focus more on what these rightwing temper tantrums almost always turn out to be; i.e. huge opportunities for grifters to fleece MAGA morons.

Illinois Governor candidate Gary Rabine (Nazi Party) who's slated to get 5% of the vote in the coming primary attached himself to the Convoy in a feeble attempt to jump-start his flaccid campaign.  Even Illinois Republicans, who flirt with fascism, probably won't be excited about Gary's performative assholery. 

Nothing about conservatives should shock or surprise anymore.  The Republican Party is dead.  Conservative political thought long ago morphed into "Own the Libs" and abandoned their so-called principles, ethics, values, morals, and beliefs.  Conservatives live on hatred and a fanatical desire to punish those they hate; We, the American People.

But, the Corporate Media can not acknowledge this stark truth because to do so would be to cast doubt on their rhetoric since Ronnie Raygun.  And worse yet, it would illustrate how they have helped the fascist beast grow and thrive... 

And so when despicable Ron DeSantis was ignoring Covid spikes which have thus far killed upwards of 100,000 Florida residents, the Corporate Media couldn't get enough of his terse press conferences and his pugnacious attitude.  When rightwing media declared Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has won the Pandemic over and over, the Corporate Media world adopted their framing (as they always do).  

So, what's happening since the Media adopted him? DeSantis has pushed bills criminalizing children and their parents for their biology.  Florida is crafting and passing laws making it illegal to vote Republicans out of office and setting up a law enforcement agency to track down those who vote the wrong way, DeSantis brazenly berates children at his press conferences because their wearing masks irritates him. 

Like Youngkin and every other Republican Governor, DeSantis didn't run on a campaign of Nazi Assholery (unlike Gary Rabine in Illinois) because that doesn't win.  But once in office DeSantis dropped any pretense of equanimity and simply let his rank assholishness and deplorable vile temper rule the state while subverting good governance and enshrining fascism into law.

I fear come 2024 the Corporate Media will push DeSantis the way they always push GOP Assholes as he runs for President...

A Couple of Republican Qunts embarrass themselves at the SOTU as conservatives continue to piss on Veterans

Two Qunts and One Cool Cat 

Of all the despicable actions by Republicans, and the list is expansive and all-encompassing, the most shocking and shameless is the the ease Republicans cloak themselves in the mantle of Veterans sacrifices.

Major Traitor Greene and Lauren 'Dick Flasher' Boebert are vile trolls.  And both decided to scream and heckle at President Biden during the State of the Union (SOTU) last night.  As I pointed out in my return to blogging back about the 13 last servicemembers to die in Afghanistan; Republicans only care about Veterans, the fallen, and active duty service members whom they can shamelessly use to advance the rightwing agenda of hatred, intolerance and the oppression of the working class.  Republicans don't give a shit about about the military.

The Qunt outburst is unsurprising but long before Greene and Boebert slithered into Congress the GOP had taken to misappropriation of Veterans Sacrifice and assumed they are the Party of Veterans when they are not.  

12 years ago at the ridiculous CPAC 2010 I wrote up a short description of every Republican chickenhawk who spoke.

Going back further Post World War 2, the most famous Republicans Ronnie Raygun and John Wayne both became hyper-jingoistic "patriots" because both eschewed military service during the war.

William F. Buckley Jr. claimed for years to have been a front line Infantry solider fighting the Nazis, but as Gore Vidal correctly pointed out in 1968 the truth was Buckley was a crypto-nazi who exaggerated his wartime service.

Even Mitt Romney, whom reporters have warmed to again as a wonderful strong daddy Republican figure,  led pro-Vietnam war protests while he himself had no intention of serving.  Although Romney did manage to get to France instead of French-Indochina in the late 1960's.

Republicans have cloaked themselves in the bravery of others for so long, they feel no shame in pretending they get to speak for Veterans and that Veterans are ipso facto automatically conservatives.  They don't.  More Veterans and Active Duty voted for Joe Biden than Traitor Trump. 

What is also disappointing but not unexpected are those Republicans who did serve, aid and abet the chickenhawks, and allow them to sully Veterans who have different political views than right-wingers.  Conservatives don't "Support the Troops" unless those Troops can be used to advance whatever the conservative political position is that day.

Back in 2005, when the Bush DoD was lying about his death, Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity refused to believe Pat Tillman, who rightwingers had elevated the living legend status, supported John Kerry, liked Noam Chomsky, and was against the Iraq War, "I don't believe it" and "I don't believe it either" the two warmongers told each other from the safety of the Faux News Studio.

That same Ann Coulter stated Pennsylvania Congressman Jack Murtha was the "reason fragging was invented".  In 2005, Republican Mean Jean Schmidt decided to insult Murtha on the floor of the House, by saying "cowards cut and run and Marines never do".  Btw, the reason Coulter and Schmidt were attacking Murtha for his call to withdraw troops from Iraq, a position these days Republicans claim Trump smartly made.

Trump is a whole hefty bag of chickenshit false bravado himself.  The litany of his faux bravery, unearned swagger, and juvenile concepts of patriotism would fill another whole post.  So, I'll just point out at CPAC 2022 Trump intimated he'd be braver than Volodymr Zelenskyy if he had too.  The man who hid in the White House basement. 

Republicans got very comfortable claiming the mantles of Patriotism and the Flag and Support our Troops while doing none of it.  So Greene and Boebert will pay no price for their actions because conservatives piss on Veterans.

Eta:

I nearly forgot... last August, conservatives spread a despicable lie that no one from the Biden White House was present when the plane carrying back the 13 last servicemembers arrived at Dover AFB.  This monstrous rightwing lie gathered steam in the early hours of Twitter and numerous rightwingers began embellishing the lie with fictitious images, fake White House daily schedules, and eyewitness verifications.  Even after the propaganda campaign failed conservatives paid no price and simply moved on to their next fabricated smear job.

Revenge of the Thin Blue Line 15: DCFS, Pepper Spray, the Social Safety Net

The Illinois Department of Child and Family Services is overworked and underfunded.  DCFS case workers are also put into dangerous situations.  In January an Illinois DCFS case worker was stabbed to death while conducting a welfare check in Sangamon County.  A bill to provide them with the ability to carry OC spray or Mace passed the Illinois Senate unanimously.

In the current world of guns everywhere and the NRA forcing the passage of laws to allowing wanton and reckless concealed and open carry I'm surprised more case workers haven't been murdered.  Of course, guns are most often used by domestic abusers to murder their families before turning the guns on themselves. 

As a mandated reporter, by law, I must report suspected child abuse or neglect.  I've accompanied DCFS case workers to calls but, unfortunately where I work mission creep has settled in and I've been required to call the DCFS hotline in almost every incident involving a juvenile.  This is not what the system was designed for, nor a good allocation of limited state resources, even if the DCFS call taker puts the incident into a no response category.

One of the problems with the modern 911 system is Police respond to every type of call; be it a village ordinance violation, medical emergency, child custody exchange, or a customer upset over a bill and poor service.  Many times these are not police issues, sometimes they require a mediator to keep things civil but, don't more often than not it's not a Police matter and I have to refer the matter to the proper authority or department.  Even worse some police officers don't want to or are terrible at handling these issues; because of a variety of factors like training and education but also annoyance and boredom.  And when they show up they make matters worse, ratchet up the tension, and sometimes this can be fatal.

So, what's a solution?  Well, multiple services from a fully functioning municipal, county and state bureaucracy staffed with dedicated workers.  But, that type of functioning apparatus has been demonized and attacked by Republicans and conservatives as SOCIALISM! Nanny State!!! for decades, and most importantly a functioning Social Safety Net costs money (i.e Taxes).

Everybody in America wants services and Nobody in America wants to pay taxes.  Now many think taxes suck because you don't have kids but, taxes are the price of civilization.  Of course, when you are struggling with low wages and hellish working conditions at the Amazon Fulfillment Center, seeing money come out of your slender paycheck does hit hard but, of course it is the very rich who have caused this problem by shirking their responsibility.

The Capitalist Class and Very Rich don't see much use in a viable, working Social Safety Net because they don't need it.  The 1% can hire security so they don't need a police force for themselves (the rich do want a violent racist police force keeping the poor and the Other in check), they don't need state funded child support, they sometimes don't need public water, they don't need public defenders, they don't need snow plows.  The Rich see little ROI (return on investment) on a fully funded, comprehensive, liberal democracy.  They never signed the Social Contract.  The Rich have only need of a domestic police force to quell dissent at home and a war machine to open up foreign markets for exploration.  Everything else the government spends money on is superfluous and wasteful.