Drunken Van Orden, Wisconsin drinking culture and wedding barns

Disreputable, Despicable, Dishonorable, Derrick

During my Marine Corps days there was nothing like being on base and seeing the line out the px and 7 day store on Friday afternoon.  Young Marines waiting to buy multiple cases of beer.

Since then, working the job, you meet any number of drunks and the mean ones are apparent right away.

Derrick Van Orden is most definitely a mean drunk.  And I have no doubt when weekend liberty came and he and his fellow SEALs went out to party and booze it up, Van Orden was the type who got piss drunk and then engaged in play-fighting which he quickly escalated into an actual fight/wrestling match. 

Drunk Van Orden is the type of abusive alcoholic asshole whom the Department of Defense no longer wants portrayed in movies and tv series but, which are ubiquitous throughout the services.

But, once a mean drunk always a mean drunk.  Drunk Van Orden's childish tantrum and despicable booze-filled outburst at teenage Senate pages shows great disrespect on Naval tradition.  But, one first thing rage filled assholes like Drunk Van Orden (just like other mean drunks) do is justify their actions.  Which we saw Drunk Van Orden do by aping the 'Tell Me you've never been" meme to act as though getting piss-drunk in his Congressional Office and then accosting children is normal behavior in Wisconsin.  NPR predictably ran cover for Drunk Van Orden by euphemistically referring to his "short fuse", because the media exist to justify, mollify, and soften Republican perfidy.

Unfortunately, binge-drinking is a problem in Wisconsin.  Although if you read the chart for worst states you'll notice they are all Northern clime states which have the problem of those long winter nights.  Interestingly, Norway dealt with this problem of heavy drinking/long winter nights by creating the State Monopoly on alcoholic beverages over 5% ABV and to remove the profit motive with making and selling more and more booze.  Wisconsin drinking culture has been written about for decades although various fixes have been promoted throughout the years.

Of course, Squeaker of the House Qevin McCarthy defended Drunk Van Orden because he needs his vote and Republicans don't give a shit how much of an asshole, criminal, drunk, conman, or pervert you are as long as you pull that lever for the Republican agenda of hatred, intolerance, and adulation of the Rich.

The laws governing the manufactures, distribution, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages are a mish-mash of Anti-Monopoly and Temperance movement and have needed to be cleaned up and streamlined for the 21st century reality.  Earlier this Summer, the Wisconsin legislature did pass a comprehensive reworking of the State's alcohol laws.  Sadly, this matters very little to drunks like Van Orden who revel in slamming a handful of sour Brandy old-fashioned and then engage in favorite well-worn tradition of all abusive alcoholics, berating children. 

It's a Scorcher! Public Pools could help mitigate the heat but.. white people don't want black people in the pools

There was a time when Public Pools served communities across America.  Then starting in the post-World War 2 era of desegregation, white America decided that if they had to have equality, then no one got a public pool.  For instance here is an excerpt from Heather McGhee's book, “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together,”

Built in 1919, the Fairground Park pool in St. Louis, Missouri, was the largest in the country and probably the world, with a sandy beach, an elaborate diving board, and a reported capacity of ten thousand swimmers. When a new city administration changed the parks policy in 1949 to allow Black swimmers, the first integrated swim ended in bloodshed. On June 21, two hundred white residents surrounded the pool with “bats, clubs, bricks and knives” to menace the first thirty or so Black swimmers. Over the course of the day, a white mob that grew to five thousand attacked every Black person in sight around the Fairground Park. After the Fairground Park Riot, as it was known, the city returned to a segregation policy using public safety as a justification, but a successful NAACP lawsuit reopened the pool to all St. Louisans the following summer. On the first day of integrated swimming, July 19, 1950, only seven white swimmers at­tended, joining three brave Black swimmers under the shouts of two hundred white protesters. That first integrated summer, Fairground logged just 10,000 swims—down from 313,000 the previous summer. The city closed the pool for good six years later. Racial hatred led to St. Louis draining one of the most prized public pools in the world.

Draining public swimming pools to avoid integration received the official blessing of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1971. The city council in Jackson, Mississippi, had responded to desegregation de­mands by closing four public pools and leasing the fifth to the YMCA, which operated it for whites only. Black citizens sued, but the Su­preme Court, in Palmer v. Thompson, held that a city could choose not to provide a public facility rather than maintain an integrated one, because by robbing the entire public, the white leaders were spreading equal harm. “There was no evidence of state action affect­ing Negroes differently from white,” wrote Justice Hugo Black. 

As a result, White People were able to have their own private pools in public by just adding privacy "requirements".  For instance, HOA rules.

A video shows police arresting a teenager at a pool at Cambridge Commons in east Charlotte. A woman, who didn’t want to be identified, said a group of underaged kids got into the pool.  A family member of the HOA president said that because there is no lifeguard, the rules are that anybody under 18 must be accompanied by someone who is over 18.  The woman told Counts the kids were asked to leave and they allegedly refused and so someone called the cops.  Several adults told Channel 9 that the kid who was arrested lives in the neighborhood and would have had the right to use the pool if the chaperone policy was followed.

I don't give a fuck if your fucking "HOA rules" are a child needs to have supervision to use your fucking pool.  That's not criminal trespass.  Your fucking HOA rules are not laws.  But, when it comes to black people understand conservatives love to put them under the threat of police violence.

This is far from the first time, white people have called out-of-control white cops to come and remove the black people from the pool.  But, always remember conservatives absolutely support the use of force up to and including extrajudicial killing of black people for any offense real or imagined.

“On July 27, we received a call for a disturbance at Cambridge Commons Drive. During these types of calls, we seek collaboration from all parties involved. Our goal is always to achieve a peaceful resolution in every situation.”

As far as the police response, of course, the Public Relations contact and command staff is not going to correctly point out the dumb ass Officers who responded to the scene unduly escalated the situation and should have simply arrived noted there was no violation of law and left.  At the absolute most you treat this as a civil matter and tell all parties involved that notification of the HOA rules has been made.  But, instead this is what I've come to expect from Law Enforcement during these types of encounters who find it necessary to escalate the situation until an enforcement action, i.e. throwing a black child to the ground and handcuffing them, is required. 

Drunken Derrick Van Orden attacks children in an alcoholic rage in the Halls of Congress

Mean drunk suggests being a 
Mean drunk is the epitome of
Wisconsin

Wisconsin Congressman Derrick Van Orden is not a politician his website for Congress in 2022 will have you know.  But, Van Orden also isn't a stable human being either.

In a booze filled rage, Derrick Van Orden attacked and yelled at Senate congressional pages,

“Wake the fuck up you little shits … What the fuck are you all doing? Get the fuck out of here. You are defiling the space you pieces of shit,” Van Orden said, according to an account of the incident provided to The Hill by a page. 

“Who the fuck are you?” Van Orden asked, to which one person said they were Senate pages. “I don’t give a fuck who you are, get out.” 

“You jackasses, get out,” he added.

I guess this is better behavior than we can normally expect from Republicans towards pages as elected Republicans normally try and have sex with those little boys.  Besides being a drunken rage filled asshole, Van Orden is a treasonous fuck who was part of the January 6th rightwing attack on the United States.

Van Orden's Congressional office is apparently festooned with empty bottles of booze and reports are Van Orden was clearly intoxicated as he accosted these children.  But, Van Orden is a rough and tough Navy SEAL, who now has quite a history of "punching down".  In June 2021, flush off of his invasion of the US Capitol building, Van Orden yelled at a bunch of employees at a Prairie du Chien library over the LGBTQ+ books and display.  Yelling at workers to make themselves feel tough and brave is a classic rightwing maneuver.

These Congressional Pages get these positions after applying with their state's US Senator and are probably 16-17 year olds.  But, Republicans don't actually give a shit about children.  And Van Orden is naught but a mean abusive alcoholic and a shows great disrespect to the US Naval traditions. 

(For further context,  recall how conservatives and Republicans slowed down videos of Nancy Pelosi to make it appear she was drunk? Republicans love lies and hate America. And when confronted with an elected Republican who actually is an abusive alcoholic asshole, they won't do anything...)

Abortion is Healthcare, Republican Abortion Laws are Fascist; and the coming Republican Religious Vice Squads

Republican Religious Vice Squad; Stand by...

A key component of Fascism is issuing vague, confusing, contradictory Laws and relying on good and well-meaning people to take on the burden of figuring out how to implement them.

Abortion laws are purposefully confusing for this very reason.  Republican abortion laws put the fear of prosecution into the minds of Doctors, Lawyers, and other people who don't run afoul of the law.  They use your tendency to want to follow rules to have you overzealously enforce laws on other people.  You unwittingly become a pawn in enforcing Fascism.

This is one of the most powerful tools in the Fascist's toolbox.  Republicans know this but, they also know they must provide their victims a face saving "out".  Like a firing squad being issued one blank round to , Republicans concoct these exception rules, usually the "Life of the Mother" but by making the laws difficult to interpret correctly they know the exceptions will be rarely used, and in many of these Republican dominated states it wouldn't matter anyway as some conservative panties sniffer can bring the Courts in to investigate the abortion anyway.

Women dying, people suffering, and society becoming coarser and coarser are not unfortunate by-products of Republican government, they are the desired and sought after outcome.

The mother of a Nebraska girl obtained abortion pills on-line to terminate her pregnancy and then buried the remains in April 2022.  Reading the news story somebody altered the police that a then 17 year old had given birth to a stillborn and concealed it.  The detectives then poured over hermetical records and social media accounts to discern she had self induced an abortion.  And once you are under investigation, Genital inspectors aren't going to simply not bring charges.  So she was charged with hiding remains and lying to the Cops.

(As an aside always remember Cops are not you're friends don't talk to them.)

Nebraska Right-to-Life group is celebrated the incarceration of a young girl for the her desperate actions as a minor.  And they seek to punish more people;

Nebraska Right to Life, an anti-abortion group, had commended prosecutors for enforcing Nebraska’s 20-week law.

Sandy Danek, the Executive Director, said in 2022 accountability should extend to providers that mail abortion pills to states like Nebraska that require an in-person physician to oversee medication abortions. “This disturbing act may become more commonplace as the abortion industry continues to promote the do-it-yourself abortion where there’s no medical oversight for risks and complications,” she said.

As if they care about medical complications.  Remember Republicans yearn to control you and have to provide a face-saving out to make it seem like their authoritarian impulses, to which you are willingly acceding, are actually for the good of the victim.

Mark Gordon, the Christofascist Governor of Wyoming, ushered in numerous bans on Abortion including allowing legislation to pass into law without his signature.  “I have acted without bias and after extensive prayer, to allow these bills to become law,” Mr. Gordon wrote in a letter to Wyoming’s secretary of state.  As always Wyoming's laws include the phony exceptions;

Wyoming's new abortion laws allow exceptions to save life and for cases of rape or incest that are reported to police. But abortion for other reasons isn't health care under the amendment, Jay Jerde, an attorney for the state, argued.

"It's not restoring a woman's body from pain, injury or physical sickness," Jerde said. "Medical services are involved, but getting an abortion for reasons other than health care, it can't be a medical decision."

Read what Special Assistant to the Attorney General Jay A. Jerde an economics graduate, said again.  Republicans have conferred upon themselves the absolute authority to police sexual conduct, healthcare, bodily autonomy, freedom of association, and basic sexual activity.  Even when it is demonstrated time and time again the Men writing and interpreting these laws have no knowledge and lack basic understanding.  It's part of the rightwing decades long campaign to destroy the concept of expertise and authority.  By constantly attacking knowledge, education, learning and the concept of expertise an idiot like Sean Hannity or any of these podcasting bums, like Tim Pool, Matt Walsh, Steven Crowder to claim they know more about any and all subjects than people who've studied them.  And then by extension any of these psycho rightwingers on social media can do their own research and proclaim that the Covid isn't deadly but the Vaccine is...

Republicans and Rightwingers are in the midst of a 50 year pushback on Roe v. Wade specifically as well as the 1960's, the New Deal, and the progressive gains of the 20th century and mold the United States in the image of a Sharply Divided Religious Ethno-State.  It's why they constantly harp on "The Left" trying to remake America; Every Accusation is a Confession (EAIAC) as the acronym goes...

The final goal for Republicans is clear; their religious edicts are ensconced into Secular Law, and the United States is transformed into a Christofascist Nation-State, run by fear and ignorance.  And Policed by the legions of Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson, and Andrew Tate fans who yearn to act as a Religious Vice Squad. 

ETA:

I tell you these things and normies tell me 'No way! You're making things up!' and then this gets reported on:

An all-male panel of anti-abortion religious leaders from around the country met Friday night to discuss the strategies that should be used to end abortion in every state at any stage of pregnancy, without exceptions for rape and incest, and with criminal punishment for the pregnant person in line with existing criminal penalties for murder, which includes the death penalty.

The Republican Party hates you.  Republicans hate America.  And Republicans are working right... damn... now... to destroy the county and replace it with a Taliban/Nazi style country.

"How is abortion going to end? I don’t know, maybe it’s going to be a civil war, maybe it’s going to be a whole variety of other means.” - Jason Storms Operation Save America

The Panties Sniffing Republican Party believes in exactly two things: Dick Pics and Death Threats

Dick Pic Aficionados 

Another particularly distressing email said: “What’s your home address, we conservative Iowans would like to give you an Iowan welcome you will never forget, kinda like the libtards gave JUDGE KAVANAUGH,” 

Metrologist Chris Gloninger in Des Moines, Iowa retired after he and his family faced numerous death threats for accurately reporting on the out of control Climate catatrasophe engulfing the planet.  Not only do Republicans not denounce this behavior they encourage conservatives to threaten to murder anyone who veers away from the rightwing agenda of oppression, intolerance and adulation of the rich.

Climate change denialism is an article of faith amongst conservatives but, their entire belief system is now naught but, Dick Pics and Death Threats.

The sheer puerile grossness of Major Traitor Greene's entire tenure as an elected Representative to the United States House of Representatives aside, the continuing quest by Republicans to pressure Hunter Biden, a private citizen, is unprecedented in American History. 

The Republicans ghoulish attempt to overwhelm a person suffering from addiction in the hopes he relapses and overdoses thus hurting President Biden, would cause any sane, rational, compassionate person to balk and hang their head in shame.  But, this is the Republican Party we are talking about here and the Republican Party is a full-blown Fascist criminal organization dedicated to destroying the Americans dream and turning the Nation into a Fundamentalist Hellhole powered by bigotry, hatred and slavery.  It should always be mentioned as a stark rejoinder to any claim by any Republican about how they distrust Government Power and Weaponization of Justice that Republicans yearn to turn the FBI, DoJ, and every apparatus of Government into a Full Blown Secret Police and fantasize about rounding-up the people they hate and liquidating them in death camps.

President Joe Biden to his eternal credit, as a man, father, and President, steadfastly loves and supports his son.  But, far, far worse than attempting to kill Hunter Biden is the Republican Plans for Women across the Nation;

19 state attorneys general have signed on to a joint letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, making the case for being able to access out-of-state medical records — not just for abortion, but also for gender-affirming care.

This is Pure Fascism.  And this is happening right now.  I hope you prepared for the next steps; when Republican Judges issue Nationwide arrest warrants for Women Improperly using their Uteruses and for the arrest for any and all people involved in treatment of Trans persons.

Republicans have played footsie with Fascists for so long that those whom they courted as an election ploy are now fully in charge of the Party.

Greg Abbott ordered Texas Troopers to push little children into the River.  A whistleblower Nicholas Wingate (a real one not some Republican operative hired by the House Free Dumb Cockus) revealed under Operation Lone Star orders to push children back into the water, deny women medical treatment, deny water to people, while barrels wrapped in razor wire placed like mines in low water spots, to force people to cross at more dangerous spots.

But, since migrants are "criminals" in rightwing parlance it is acceptable.  And, of course, Republicans are expanding the category of criminals to include LGBTQ or women who cross state lines to receive an abortion...

Just...

Following... 

Orders...

Its a Small Town after all Rightwing Music & Movies continue to signal who Rightwingers are

ETA:  To clarify small town is an implicit call out to "Real America" as opposed to big Democrat run cities which is where all the crime happens and also they were all burned down during BLM Riots but, apparently the lyrics are explicit in reinforcing this to the consumers who cheer this on as a sort of Anti-Virtue Signaling declaration.

Rightwing music and movies continues to be utter dreck.  Inelegant, unartful, vulgar, crude, but more significantly a bullhorn for their deep seated hatred, prejudice, anger, and a chance for them to signal their Ideology.

TJust marvel at these recent songs touted by rightwing artists and politicians (a quickly overlapping Venn diagram):

• MAGA MVP MTG (It's hilarious watching her stand there not knowing what to do with her short Neanderthal arms)
• Let's Go Brandon
• 81 Million Votes, My Ass
• Justice for All - a Jan6th apology song not to be confused with ...And Justice for All
• Real Women Vote Trump
• And now... Try that in a Small Town

Jason Aldean and his toxic spouse are, of course, deeply racist people. But, racism, misgynoist, violence, bigotry, petulance, false bravado, guns and lies are the elements conservatives want in their culture.  

Much conservative "art" is dedicated to bolster the claim that they are in fact the majority on every cultural issue.  Conservatives have long played the game of fluffing their numbers when it came to the New York Times bestseller list.  Every time Bill O'Rally or whomever the rightwing influencer du'jour released a book, rightwing think tanks and media outlets would buy up thousands of copies to push it to the top of the list.  Conservatives would then get a free copy of the book when they signed up for the rightwing website or created a subscription with whatever rightwing media site required a monthly fee.  And with these latest songs, conservatives rush to iTunes to buy them as a Mitzvah to their Fascist overlords and too prove their rightwing piety. 

Conservatives used to be thirsty for approval from Social elites and cultural watchdogs so they would ingratiate themselves, scrape and bow to get accepted, and insert themselves into society whenever they could; recall Traitor Trump getting a cameo appearance as himself in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York 

But, that was 1992, even back then rightwingers had already begun to build their own cultural edifice with AM Talk Radio and the King Bigot Rush Limpballs.  And by the late 1990's, rightwingers had built a media apparatus and began producing and recycling their own truths amongst themselves.  Blogs and social media allowed rightwingers to live in an epistemically closed self-referential, reinforcing zone, in which what they wanted to believe to be the truth was true.  What the Vulgar talking Yam (and many others) realized was this was ripe fruit to be plucked.  Sarah Palin and the rightwing media attacks on President Obama and HRC showed the way but, Trump gave them exactly what they desired; the power to let their most violent, most vile, most ignorant, most destructive, and most hateful beliefs not only be shown but be celebrated and touted as right, correct, and true.

As of right now, conservatives believe they still have to ground their thinly veiled bigotry and murderous yearning behind a patina of "Protecting the Children" and abiding by Law&Order but very soon small cells of Rittenhouse Wannabes are going to 

The best thing about Try this in a Small Town, is Jason Isbell (an actual Southern singer/songwriter) absolutely destroyed Aldean on Twitter over and over.  Isbell also took to task all The White Knights who rushed to Twitter to defend their Lord Bigot No Neck Aldean.

But, it's immaterial to the point of Rightwing Culture.  They have convinced themselves they don't need Hollywood or elitist liberal artists and are readily convincing themselves that the Left (broadly) is engaged in unspeakable crimes which provide them the Casus Belli they need to begin rounding-up and liquidating everyone they hate.

Multi-Millionaire Ron Johnson wants to steal your Social Security and donate that money to his campaign

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel does excellent work covering the perfidy and disingenuousness of Republicans.  Especially, the galling faux folksome populists of obscenely rich Millionaires who pretend to regular hardscrabble joes but are rapacious rich assholes who enrich themselves via taxpayer dollars.

The multi-millionaire Oshkosh Republican on May 3 repaid himself $400,000 for prior loans to his campaigns, according to documents filed with the Federal Elections Commission. Those payments from his campaign account included$210,000 in loans to his 2010 campaign and $190,000 in loans he made to his 2016 campaign.

By the way this is totally legal as the Supremacist Court ruled in Ted Cruz's favor in 2022 that campaign donations belong to the candidate; Russia if you're listening...

Despicably at the same time Ron Johnson is sending out emails begging for campaign donations;

"I’ll get straight to the point: even though we won, my campaign had to take on some debt.  I was hoping I could convince you to chip in now to help me pay off this debt."

He has the utter gall, the absolute temerity to say this, during a July 12 Senate hearing on Social Security,

"When I talk to Wisconsinites, they just have a basic misperception about Social Security. I mean, I think this was originally sold as, okay, we are going to as a nanny state, we're going to make sure that you are gonna have money for retirement. So we're gonna extract wages or taxes from your wages and we're gonna set up an account for you so that we're going to save it for you for your retirement cause we don't trust you to save for yourself. So most people think, well, that's my money, and in fact, a part of it is. But as Senator Grassley was talking about, if you're in a low-income group, you're getting a lot more in return than you ever invested in."

"Again, on the lower end of the income scale, you're getting a lot more than what you paid in, if you're in the high income, you're not getting what you paid in. And wasn't that sort of the deal? This was not a general welfare system.  This was really designed, we're gonna make you save for your retirement and then you're gonna get back what you paid in." 

Rich assholes are absolutely incensed that a meager social safety net exists.  How dare you have the chance to not work yourself to death.  How dare you poor people get a little bit of money to retire and rest.  How dare you get a couple bucks more when you are old.  The! Rich! Want! That Fucking Money!  As soon as Republicans have enough control of the Federal Government they will raise the age for Social Security benefits, reduce the amount the Zoomers and Millenials can draw in their lifetime and ensconce other mechanisms into Law to ensure that one day very soon Social Security will be gone.  House sQueaker and Major Traitor Greene paramour Kevin McCarthy said this himself this week,

“This isn’t the end… We only got to look at 11% of the budget to find these cuts.  It’s Medicare, Social Security, interest on the debt.”

Bemoaning the Corporate Media is such a stupid very on-line hole I've dug myself into and yet here I am again, wondering why President Biden isn't being lauded for using the State of the Union to call out Republican Plans to Swindle Americans out of Social Security and why "Journalists" aren't apologizing for listening to Major Traitor Greene as she screamed "Liar" on the House Floor?

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson is fabulously wealthy.  He and other Rich people are fed up with America.  Republicans are not only coming to steal social security, they are coming for everything won during the last 100 years.  Bodily autonomy, reproductive rights and freedom, worker safety, child labor laws, Republicans are fighting a War on all Americans to End the American Dream and reduce you to wage slavery and perpetual corporate bondage.

The Fascist Florida Project: Ron DeSSantis hates SSI but loves his personal SS

It appears the only thing which is going to save the Untied States from a Fascist Ron DeSSantis Presidency is Ron DeSantis himself.  The stench of dead fish Red Tide wafts not only from Florida beaches but from Ron himself.

The Corporate Media were stepping all over their own dicks to anoint DeSSantis the next Republican candidate for President! back in May, since then the unlikeable smarmy DeSSantis has steadily dropped and as the more the people see of him the less they like.

"So when people say that we're gonna somehow cut seniors—that is totally not true," Talking about making changes for people in their 30s or 40s so that the program's viable —you know, that's a much different thing and that's something that I think that there's going to need to be discussions on," he said.

Republicans are coming for your Social Security.  They absolutely are coming to steal it and slash the social safety net to shreds.  And they brazenly contradict themselves because their brainwashed rightwing drones can't vote for the baby blood drinking Democrats.   Which is as horrible as it is predictable.  But, it's absolutely terrifying DeSSantis has stood up and recreated a Brownshirt Paramilitary Organization;

Rosa Park-ish
Scott Walker the Second
Unnamed Nazi

A Florida state guard established by the rightwing governor, Ron DeSantis, under the guise of a civilian disaster relief force is instead being trained as an armed, combat-ready militia under his personal command, according to military veteran recruits who have quit the program.

• There are multiple frightening takeaways:
• The psychological and abusive physical tactics used against good-meaning people who signed up, including disabled Veterans.
• Getting the Florida Legislature to drop rules adopted in 2022 of using this group as a disaster response force in Florida and changing their mission to "law enforcement", including outside the state and against "illegal immigration".
• Expanding the budget from $10 to $100 million to purchase military equipment.

“The program got hijacked and turned into something that we were trying to stay away from: a militia,” said Brian Newhouse, a retired 20-year Navy veteran who was chosen to lead one of the State Guard’s three divisions. The original leadership team envisioned a disaster response team of veterans and civilians with a variety of practical skills, according to Newhouse. Two other former military veterans, who asked not to be named for fear of potential consequences and later quit, expressed similar concerns over a change in the State Guard’s mission

Oh, this is a militia only in the sense that the SA (Sturmabteilung) were a militia in 1930's Germany.  From Yale University Timothy Snyder's 20 Lessons of fighting Tyranny from the Twentieth Century . 

Be wary of paramilitaries. When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching around with torches and pictures of a Leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the end has come.

This Florida State Guard will end up mimicking the treasonous South Carolina State Militia at Fort Sumter in 1861 if Casey DeSantis has her way.  Understand none of this is concerning whatsoever to millions of conservatives.  Republicans and Rightwingers don't believe in principles of limited government and don't distrust the State.  Republicans yearn to meld the power of their rightwing paramilitary terrorist groups with the legal apparatus of the Department of Justice and mete out "Justice" to the Non-MAGA.  Conservatives jettisoned their so-called beliefs, morals, and ethics long ago, Donald John Traitor Trump merely gave them the green light to let their Fascist Flags Fly.

There is no fundamental difference between today's Republican Party and Apartheid South Africa, the Slave Masters of the Confederacy or Nazi Germany.  The only difference is the power the American GOP wields.

Understand it's not just Pudding Fingers Ron who is determined to make Florida Fascist and Make America Florida.  Recall the things floated and implemented by the Republican Florida Legislature:

• Blog Registration
• Menstrual cycle tracking for all pre-teen and High School girls in the State.
• Arresting black people for voting 
• State interfering with Americans medical care 
• Crushing Pride Month - “First we need to crush Pride Month.  We need to bend our civil rights laws to make it actionable legally for when they do do that because it’s an anti-Christian hate symbol.” - Florida elected Fascist Anthony Sabatini 

These are just some of the egregious overreach by DeSSantis and his pliant Legislature.  A key component of fascist rule is to issue contradictory, confusing, or chaotic rules and to place the onus on well-meaning persons to enforce them.  You then become an unwitting pawn in advancing the rightwing agenda.  Timothy Snyder listed this as his 1st Rule of wannabe Tyrants and authoritarian groups like the Florida Republicans;

Do not obey in advance. Much of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then start to do it without being asked. You’ve already done this, haven’t you? Stop. Anticipatory obedience teaches authorities what is possible and accelerates unfreedom.

Fascist Marge Taylor Greene demands the Secret Service forcibly seize 500 innocent people

"My question to the [Secret Service] was have they drug tested this list of 500 potential suspects that brought an illegal substance, a drug cocaine, into the White House.  Their answer was no and that they're unwilling to do so."- Major Traitor Greene

I don't even know why I'm typing these words...  Greene does these press conferences because the Corporate Media laps up her psychotic bullshit and keeps her front and center for the Republicans.  Kevin McCarthy loves it because he can then go out and repeat the same things Greene said in a slightly less nutty way and be seen as Statesman like.  And yes what this is, is a way for Greene to slander President Sleepy Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

But, there is a lot of false piety surrounding this baggie of cocaine.  Who fucking cares?  The War on Drugs was always rightwing bullshit first to delegitimize the antiwar left and was always a way Republicans could ostracize, target, and destroy minority communities.

Greene pumps out her psychotic tweets in order to keep herself front and center and the lies and shit she spews at President Biden (or Congresswoman AOC or whomever) are specifically designed to upset liberals and rile up her treasonous supporters and keep the money flowing in to her war chest.

But, let's treat what she's saying seriously.  Greene is demanding the Secret Service arrest 500 innocent people, forcibly seize blood without probable cause to supposedly find the 1 guilty one.  As if this shit wasn't planted by some right-winger in the perpetual quest by Republicans to kill Hunter Biden.  

Recall when tubby Ted Cruz demanded all the liberal Supreme Court clerks be arrested and interrogated to find the "leaker" of the Dobbs decision.  As if we didn't know that Sammy Di Puzzi Alito was the leaker back then.

"I think it is a law clerk, and I think it is very likely a law clerk for one of the three liberal justices. That means there are 12 likely suspects".

Absolutely, fascist.  Arrest innocent people as a punishment for being Democrats.  Absolutely, what the Republican Party yearns to do if they regain control of the Federal Government.  And yes Major Traitor Greene stomped around in her cloven hooves as she ham-handedly tired to tie this to arrests of January 6th Insurrectionists.  And the Republican agitprop narrative of Weaponization of the Department of Justice and the double standard facing conservatives.

Understand, a Trump 2024 Presidency will be overtly fascist.  Major Traitor Greene, Gym Jordan, James Comer and hundreds of other elected Republicans are already there.  Thousands of conservatives proved they are already there on January 6th.  The entire MAGA and Trump rally rhetoric revolves around Gitmo executions, military tribunals, arrests...  Fascism is already here it's just a matter of when the Republicans take the next step and get the trains up and running.

Dick Uihlein, Baron U-Line of Wisconsin and Illinois, doesn't believe your rules and regulations should apply to him

Two of the worst Billionaires in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin are Dick and Liz Uihlein.  Last year the Uihlein's gave somewhere north of $12 million dollars to pig-fucker Darren Bailey's buffoonish campaign for Governor of Illinois.  $12 Million!  Like it was nothing!  But, for the past 25 years they've donated hundreds millions to Illinois and Wisconsin conservatives, created rightwing propaganda machines, as well as eagerly funding Donald Trump's Big Lie about a stolen 2020 election.

Like, many Illinois based Billionaires Dick Uihlein loves the money he makes in Illinois but hates having to pay taxes.  Like, the Rightwing Billionaire Class the Uihlein's don't believe in the current U.S. Government.  They want a Federal, State and Local Government which bends to their will and does nothing more than keep the lower classes in line while ensuring they can make as much profit as possible by doing away with regulations, limits, and laws which curb their rapacious capitalist appetite.

So, the Uihlein's were absolutely incensed when the local village board of Lake Bluff, Illinois dared to put restrictions upon them.  Earlier this year Lake Bluff instituted a seasonal ban on gas-powered leaf blowers from May 15th to September 30th.  So, it's not even a total ban on using gas-powered leaf blowers but one designed to limit noise and pollution during the spring/summer months when people want to be outdoors enjoying the weather.  Gas-powered blowers, by the way, are incredibly polluting engines, besides the obnoxious noise pollution and should be banned from communities.

But, the fucking Uihlein's are rich and as such they don't believe that rules should apply to them.  So, they applied for an exemption to the rules for the 22 acre palatial estate in Lake Bluff, which the Village Board after referring the request to the Sustainability and Community Enhancement Ad Hoc Committee, fortunately formally declined.  Like all rightwingers it's rules for thee not for me.  Conservatives hate laws and wish to have an unequal applications of rules and regulations.

"We take great pride in the appearance of this property and would like to continue to maintain its highest standards,” the letter from the Uihleins read. 

"We", as if Dick and Liz are outside mowing their grass, pulling weeds, and blowing leaves.  Landscape work in America is overwhelmingly done by Hispanic/Latino immigrants, an underclass which, conservatives demonize at every opportunity whilst the Rich abuse, mistreat, and take advantage of to crush wages. 

What the Uihlein's and others in the rightwing Billionaire Class want in the United States is a destruction of democracy and a return to the Feudal era, while turning the Nation into gross simulacrum of the Holy Roman Empire.  The Uihlein's, the DeVos family, the Koch's, the Billionaires who wine and dine and ply the Republicans Supreme Court all want to restrict voting to themselves as an imitation of the Electors who were able to choose the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.  The Rich do not believe poor people and non-landowners should be allowed to vote.  And this extends deep into the ranks of conservatives.  Republicans hate voting, hate elections, and hate the Democratic Republic.  What they want is a very tight oligarchy.

J.B. Pritzker is everything the Corporate Media is trying to make Ron DeSantis into

Earlier, this month Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced "Rebuild Illinois", a 40+ Billion Dollar Infrastructure plan for the state.

"Over the next six years, we're investing over $40 billion to improve all modes of transportation across our great state," Gov. JB Pritzker said at a news conference in Springfield. "And that means better roads and bridges, modernized transit and aviation, and expanded and faster passenger rail service. It even extends to improved river ports, new sewers and water infrastructure and a huge upgrade to bicycle and pedestrian accommodations." 

More than half of the plan, $27 billion, will go toward road and bridge projects, including $4.6 billion in the current fiscal year. That will fund repair and reconstruction of 2,866 miles of roadway and 9.8 million square feet of bridge deck on the state highway system, along with another 738 miles of roadway and 1.1 million square feet of bridge deck in systems maintained by local governments.

Governor Pritzker is able to pull this much money because ever since he inherited the Governorship from G-Droppin' Bruce Ruiner,  J.B. has fixed the State's credit, plugged budget gaps, and created a budget surplus and revenue boom.  On top of this Illinois, now stands as a destination for medical care for Women.  J.B. also stands as an ally and protector of the human rights of the LGBTQ community which Republicans are on the cusp of advocating be relocated to concentration camps.  Governor Pritzker's family history makes him especially attuned to the rising rhetoric of violence stemming from conservatives and Republicans across the Nation.

Yet, Governor Pritzker is seldom highlighted on National News.  Instead the Corporate Media so very much wants Ron DeSantis to be the next President.  The Media is fascinated with propping up these talentless rightwing Governors and making them happen.

You may not like it, Lib
Scott W. Walker the next President!

It must be Phony Cowboy Ronnie Raygun nostalgia, as he's the last Republican Governor to actually have charisma.  The Media celebrated a "Victory" by declaring the component and diligent Al Gore boooooring and pushed W as the next Reagan.  And the Media was almost right, because W(orst POTUS Ever) did outdo Reagan's time in office for domestic crimes and war crimes  Since then just look at the dweebs, buffoons, bigots, and villains the Media has latched onto and tried to make into the next Reagan;  Bobby Jindal, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Scott Walker, even Jeb!  I guess the media was able to make Fash Happy Glenn Youngkin seem normal as the Moms 4 Hitler and rightwing media apparatus played up his wholesome red LL Bean fleece image.

Of course, what's true is the so-called Liberal Media works overtime to make Republicans palatable; whitewashing their racism, waving away their authoritarian actions, looking past their incompetence, downplaying their criminal actions, and pretending their pugnacious stupidity is leadership.

Quiet Competence, like from the Obama Presidency or the current Biden one, is so boring.  Remember how crazy those 2017-2021 years were???  You never knew what that Trump was gonna do!!!  And his Covid response?  His fomenting an insurrection?  Wow, what a news bonanza!  Oh and remember how awesome it was to be riding along on Bradley Fighting Vehicles in Iraq blowing away Iraqis after W, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, and that whole cast of DC characters lied us into Two Wars!  Dick Engel and Lara Logan sure do remember and pine for those days of killing and torturing Muslims and other brown people!   So of course the Corporate Media is going to ignore the job J.B. Pritizker is doing in Illinois, or Gretchen Whitmer's job in Michigan or even Governor Gavin Newsome's job in California.

So, that leads us to Ron DeSantis who is on a Nationwide tour to plump up his Presidential aspirations.  The problem is DeSantis is viscerally unlikeable, hasn't actually accomplished anything, and is so fixated on his Anti-Woke villainy, that he can't seem to understand that the more people see of him the less they like and that his Florida Fash-tastic Follies don't appeal to anyone.  And MAGA sees him as nothing more than a tiny twerp imitation of Trump.  DeSantis is beginning to get that unshakeable stench of Loserdom all over his white rubber boots.  Even Faux News anchors are asking DeSantis why he's so unlikeable and so off-putting?

I know well-to-do white women in my town are yearning to vote for DeSantis but, he's currently behind in polling to Trump by 30 points.  His campaign busted out his bigoted wife to try and invigorate his flaccid and failing campaign.  But, it's looking likely DeSantis 24 is Scott Walker Redux.

Republican "witnesses" are Republicans i.e. Liars, crooks, thieves, and traitors

"You deceived me!"

"You let yourself be deceived."

Everything Trump is accusing President Biden of being guilty of is a litany of Trump's own crimes.  Yet, the Corporate Media still can not break the 8 year spell they put themselves under and accurately cover Trump in the proper context; the proper context is Traitor Trump a life-long conman, Russian compromised, serial sexual abuser, thief, racist, Traitor who was impeached twice and attempted to overthrow the United States Government, directing a violent mob of Republicans into the US Capitol, who succeeded in stopping the peaceful transfer of power in this Nation.

At every turn we are faced with the awful truth that Republicans have decided to destroy the United States.  They will rule or Ruin this Nation.

So, it turns out the so-called Whistleblower Gal Luft touted by James Comer, Nancy Mace, Gym Jordan, and every other House Republican is nothing but criminal.  And is charged with everything he has claimed Hunter Biden was doing.  But, Republicans throughout this Nation don't care.  They are, by their own admissions, not interested in the Truth but, in the accusation.  Every Republican Accusation is a Confession.  There is a lot of good reporting about Luft and his crimes which I can't cover in depth here compared to some of the work already done.

The Rightwing Wurlitzer of Lies has been non-stop in going after Hunter Biden.  I will reiterate why; conservatives want to put so much pressure on Hunter Biden that he suffers a relapse in his addiction recovery, begins using again, suffers an overdose, and dies.  Hunter Biden death, of course, would shatter President Joe Biden.

There is almost nothing they won't stop at to bring this about.  And to that effort the Corporate Media will aid them at every step along the way.  That's the most egregious part of this saga.  The Corporate Media again find themselves being used by the unsavory and criminal Republican Party to advance rightwing lies and agitprop.  Instead of used I will point out that the Corporate Media are once again willing accomplices.

Marcy Wheeler over at EmptyWheel wrote this  pretty accurate column on the origin of the Hunter Biden saga and the Republicans mobilization of the their entire media apparatus to Kill Hunter Biden,

I do know this: in 2014, some corrupt oligarchs decided to put Joe Biden’s son in a place where, no matter what he did, they could use it to their future advantage. It was stupid for him to take that offer, but let’s all acknowledge it was a set-up from the start. I know that no later than 2018, other corrupt oligarchs, some with clear ties to Russian spooks, started pitching Hunter Biden as a scandal, all wrapped up for Donald Trump’s personal consumption. I know that ever since, Republicans have been milking the addiction recovery of a private citizen relentlessly. I’m not sure a private figure has ever been scrutinized so closely and relentlessly by Congress, including past mob or union corruption investigations that actually served the public interest. I know that Trump’s own tax scandals, Ivanka and Jared’s influence peddling, Trump’s corrupt oligarch ties, Trump’s pardons — including of far bigger tax cheats than Hunter Biden — have gotten nowhere near this level of scrutiny, and almost no one is making the GOP’s base hypocrisy here the story.

I know that Hunter Biden has made a ton of mistakes in his life, and I admire that he is doing the hard work to turn his life around. I can’t imagine trying to do it at a time when millions of people have made him their personal plaything for scandal.

What I don’t understand is how self-respecting people can so willingly play a part of the effort to rip Hunter Biden to shreds solely because Republicans choose to run on wildly hypocritical scandal-mongering rather than policy. You’re letting half-wit bozos manipulate you like children, and you’re positively gleeful about it! Do you not understand — or care — what a grotesque project you’re playing useful idiots for?

This is the key thing.  The Corporate Media and journalists are not being led astray by bad faith Republicans but, are cooperating in the most disingenuous propaganda efforts willingly.  I think subtly the Biden Administration does recognize this and is actively minimizing the bad faith efforts of the Media.  Won't stop the Corporate Media from speculating about Sleepy Joe's coke habit after a Republican planted cocaine at the White House.

Republicans long march and guerrilla war agains the Media has finally been won.  Republican anger at the Media goes back at least 50 years since Nixon was forced to resign and Republican leaders made it their mission to make sure no Republican would ever face the same thing again.  George Santos continuing to occupy his House seat and being a shoo-in for the 2024 Congressional election illustrates this.

But, Republicans knew they couldn't fix their Media problem overnight so they set about doing what Republicans do best; subverting, infiltrating, and undermining from within.  So, they created their own entire Media apparatus.  Ronnie Raygun eliminated the fairness doctrine.  Republicans perfected the "some people are saying" and where there's smoke there's fire Hearsay method of broadcasting their lies and getting the Corporate Media to then cover their manufactured scandals.  And now, today what do we have;  terrestrial talk radio lead to the proliferation of hundreds of these Rightwing Youtube nincompoops,  Fox News stole Florida in the 2000 election providing the Rightwing Supreme Court the chance to steal the election,  Dick Cheney reported that even the Liberal New York Times confirmed Saddam Hussein has Nukes, the Ultimate Conman Grifter Trump used the Media to breathlessly report on Hillary's Emails.  And those are merely the biggest, most grave illustrations.  The Corporate Media dutifully and without question hears rightwing framing of an issue and uncritically regurgitates it.  For instance, ABC calling the Moms 4 Hitler group "Joyful Warriors" instead of the correct term lying Fascist Barbies.

HRC was absolutely correct about a vast right-wing conspiracy, as well as a great many other things, and the Corporate Media made sure she was destroyed for saying it.

Things haven't changed to this day.  The Corporate Media still loves Donald John Traitor Trump with CNN giving him a Town Hall forum even after Trump tried to overthrow the US Government.  They can't wait to report on the latest nonsense Major Traitor Greene has to say from the House floor.  The Media Bothsides everything, rush out in the rural coffeehouses on Cletus Safari's to find out what Trump supporters think, and rush to report how this or that is bad news for President Biden and the Dems are in Disarray. 

To be absolutely clear this is Pure Fascism.  Republicans have adopted a ridiculous double standard and the unequal application of laws, and because they've done so the GOP desperately needs to Accuse Biden and the Democrats of what the Republicans are doing; i.e. the so-called Weaponization of the Department of Justice.  Be Ready, because Republicans are a fully Fascist Organization now and history always teaches us Fascist Organizations like the Republicans will engage in terrorism and mass murder as soon as they gain enough control of the levers of Government.

Wisconsin Republicans would like you children to die by: Guns, Meningitis, or Heat

The day after Independence Day I recently read the worldwide temperature was the highest ever recorded at 62.9 Fahrenheit.  These records only date to 1940.  So right there Republicans can dismiss evidence of the rapidly warming planet.  Meanwhile, the New England area is experiencing torrential rainfall and a 1-in-a-1000 year flooding event...  Strange how these Once every Thousand year events happen yearly or even more often.

But, not satisfied with environmental catastrophes, Republicans in Wisconsin voted to spread diseases in Junior High,

The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature on Wednesday voted to stop Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ administration from requiring seventh graders to be vaccinated against meningitis.  The Legislature’s vote also makes it easier for parents to get an exemption from a chicken pox vaccine requirement that is in place for all K-6 students. Evers’ administration wanted to require parents seeking a chicken pox vaccination exemption to provide proof that their child has previously been infected.

These are not the dreaded mRNA vaccines which Republicans demonized under the rubric as "the Jab" to fuel their phony propaganda campaign of died suddenly and millions wmore will die soon!  Chicken pox vaccines have been around since the 1970's and meningitis is CDC recommended for 11-12 year olds. 

Part of this is the decades long rightwing effort to undermine and destroy Education in the United States, and more broadly the on-going Republican effort to cause dysfunction in the government while making government totally unresponsive and unavailable to large swaths of American society; as say when the Supremacist Court ruled against Student Debt loan relief or baned Universities from addressing historical inequities in education.  This is why the Betsy DeVos funded Moms 4 Hitler group so lovingly embraced him; conservatives seek nothing less than the destruction of the Department of Education, tight restrictions of higher learning, and the indoctrination of the rest of America into accepting their Totalitarian dictates. 

So, when you couple this with every Republican policy; e.g. the mass proliferation of firearms (guns being the #1 cause of preventable deaths in children and teens), denial of medical care to women, reductions in every facet of the meager social safety net, and the rank climate change denial, it illustrates how much and how viscerally Republicans hate your children.  They really hate your fucking children but, being Republicans they do like fucking your children... over.

It also illustrates how little thought Republicans give to the future.  Crank that AC to 65!  Grow that Sod! Drill Baby Drill!  Drain those Marshlands!  Dump whatever you want into the Great Lakes!  Slash and burn those forests!  Fuck the Future! Republicans know that with Billionaires funding and influencing the Supreme Court and with the Boomer Generation getting older and feeling more and more entitled to draining as much resources as they wish, just like the fvcking Boomers have done their entire pampered lives, they can win enough elections to entrench their political power, until the day comes when Republicans have to use all those Guns they've been stockpiling to take Political Power by force.

From Oklahoma, to Missouri, and Washington DC Republicans celebrate Independence Day by being Free to Lie about everything

The problem w/ quotes on the internet 
is half the time they are made up
- Honest Abraham Lincoln

At all levels of government, Republicans demonstrate over and over again that they love lies and hate America.  This is an incontrovertible fact.  But, they get away with it for two reasons:  The Corporate Media is reticent to call out Republican lies and must always, always, always BothSides everything.  As a corollary the Rise of Rightwing Media allows Republicans to espouse their lies under the guise of News.  And their duped and violent base is primed by 50 years of non-stop agitprop to support Republicans no matter what. 

So here are (some of) the brazen Republican Lies around the 4th of July;

Phony Founding Fathers quotes has been a rightwing cottage industry since the 1950's, as Republicans sought to ground their bigotry, hatred, and christian fascism in historical precedent. 

So, it's no surprise that the Coward Josh Hawley, would use one from a Segregationist group.  After all, most Americans only know Patrick Henry as, "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death."

Hawley is ostensibly an Honors Graduate... from Stanford... in History, and yet he can't see the verbiage in this "quote" is ahistorical and would never have been uttered by someone born and educated in the later 18th century?  Now, it's been pointed out to me that Hawley most assuredly doesn't run his Twitter account and this is, most likely, the work of some low-level 20something staffer but, that feels far too generous for a Coward who fomented insurrection against his own Nation and Government. 

Of course, much worse than these Republicans who invent Dragon's Teeth and other lies about 'An Armed Populace' was the Supreme Court ruling on Fash Colorado Karen's refusal to make a Gay Website.  No one ever requested she make the website.  Instead, the Mom for Hitler Lorrie Smith in Colorado completely made up the story that she received a request to make a gay wedding website in 2017.  But, the bigoted Faux News watching cranks on the Supremacist Court couldn't be bothered to check if the entire edifice they built their Lie upon had no foundation because Fuck You, that's Why and after all the Republican Justices were too busy taking million dollar vacations with their Billionaire benefactors to care.

In Oklahoma, some pencil-dicked dweeb named Ryan Walters won the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State receiving 650,000 votes (57%) of the vote in 2022.  Oklahoma would of course be better off if Walters stuck his thin dick into a pencil sharpener instead of ruining the state.  Asked about the teaching of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, when white conservatives slaughtered dozens of black persons, wounded a thousand more, and burned the black owned and operated Greenwood District of Tulsa, Walters responded that race shouldn't be considered, mentioned, or taught in conjunction with what his fore-bearers did in destroying the "Black Wall Street".

“I would never tell a kid that because of your race, because of the color of your skin, or your gender or anything like that, you are less of a person or are inherently racist. That doesn’t mean you don’t judge the actions of individuals. Oh, you can. Absolutely, historically, you should. ‘This was right. This was wrong. They did this for this reason.’ But to say it was inherent in that because of their skin is where I say that is Critical Race Theory. You’re saying that race defines a person.” 

At least we can tell by the content of Walters character he's a despicable bigot.  As Patrick Henry actually said, 

Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace but there is no peace. The war is actually begun!  

It's all day, everyday, everywhere, all at once.  Republicans have already declared War on the US, Lies are merely one salient in the Republican Plan to destroy the United States.  Unconstitutional SCOTUS ruling are another.  But, the goal of the Republican Party is nothing less than to destroy this Nation and replace it with a NeoConfederate Dominionist Hellscape of Bigotry, Oppression, Hatred, and Rule by the Rich.  We all wish it were not true and many act as though Republicans & Rightwingers won't follow the pattern of all Totalitarian Regimes but, no matter the outcome of 2024, Republicans are primed for violence and awaiting the Orders.