Where Have All The Flowers Gone? Onto The Graves Of The Innocent

Here we go again. Just when the hell is this madness going to stop? Well, as long as a person’s right to carry a military style weapon is more important than the lives of the innocent, including children, it won’t stop. It will continue to get worse and worse.

In the latest attack, an Army Reservist shot and killed at least 18 people in two different locations in Lewiston, ME. This incident is a perfect example of just how disjointed Republican arguments against gun control really are. This incident proves beyond a reasonable doubt that these Republican talking points are bogus and outright lies.

The shooter, and I won’t give him credit by naming him, proves just how useless Republican controlled states are at protecting their own citizens from these kinds of people.

Here is what we know so far. The shooter was assigned to support training with the Army Reserve’s 3rd Battalion, 304th Infantry Regiment in West Point, New York, when commanders became concerned about him. He was taken to the Keller Army Community Hospital at West Point for evaluation.

It has been reported that the shooter complained about “hearing voices” and reportedly wanted to “shoot up” the Army facility he was assigned. He was apparently appraised and later released.

Here is where the lies come into place. In Maine there is no Red Flag law. They have instead a Yellow Flag law. This laws says that police must seek medical evaluation of anyone believed to be a danger before trying to take their guns away. Well, this person did have a medical evaluation yet he still had his guns and no one tried to take them away.

That is not all that surprising. Remember in 2017, the very first law passed by Republicans when they took over the government was to make it legal for anyone who is not capable of taking care of themselves or their personal business to own a gun.

There is also a case before the Supreme Court that says a person who threatened several women and was under a protection order from the court, cannot have his weapons removed from him. Several ultra-conservative organizations are supporting this person even though he was arrested for his threats against women.

Republicans love to say that these mass shootings are the result of “mental problems” and not guns. Yet, time after time they pass laws that allow these people with “mental problems” to keep or even purchase guns.

This was the 36th mass shooting in our country this year. Over 200 people have been killed and thousands have been wounded in these shootings. We have seen shootings at movie theaters, concerts, bars, churches and worse schools. Yet nothing is being done to prevent these killings.

As always, Republicans say “this is not the time to talk about legislation” concerning guns because we need to grieve the dead. Then they simply refuse to talk about it later because they apparently want more and more of us to be killed going about our daily lives.

The new Speaker said that it isn’t guns “it is the human heart”. NO!!! It is guns you clown! If we continue to make gun ownership the only “absolute” right in our nation, we will continue to see our neighbors and our children become victims of mass shootings. And, it is this lazy argument that is making this all possible.

Then we have the political violent speech from several Republican officials. Like “looters should be shot and killed on sight”, trump. Or, “anyone crossing the border carrying a backpack should be shot and killed”, DeSantis. Or, “we will place barbed wire below the surface of the Rio Grande river to stop immigrants trying to cross into our country”, Abbott. Of course this barbed wire is really a death trap intended to kill immigrants and it has already.

There is more and more violent rhetoric coming out of the mouths of Republican politicians. Is it any wonder that we are seeing more and more deaths because of this speech? Take that together with super lax gun laws, and the recipe for death increases. In Maine, you do not need a license to own or carry a gun so anyone can get one whenever they want.

Our nation faces an epidemic of gun violence. Allowing everyone to have a weapon is not the answer. We need reasonable gun laws to keep us safer and allow our children to grow up without fear of being shot by someone. The Speaker says that it is “the human heart” that is the cause. Well, there are “human hearts” in the rest of the developed world yet we are the number one leader is mass shootings. No one else even comes close.

Other developed nations allow people to own guns, but they have strict laws concerning the ownership of those guns. As a result, they don’t have the huge numbers of innocent people being killed by a mass shooter. So, it IS THE GUNS that is the real problem.

Did you know that there are more guns on the streets of America than there are people? How is that even possible considering many Americans don’t own a gun? When assault weapons were banned in the 1990s, mass shootings decreased for the ten years the law was in tact. Since Republicans repealed it, the number of mass killings have soared.

As you can see, there is a direct correlation between guns and mass killings. These numbers are confirmed by FBI statistics. We must ban assault weapons mainly because it is the right thing to do but also because they have no purpose but to kill people.

There is an old anti-war song called “Where Have All The Flowers Gone”. In today’s America it is clear where they have gone. They are being placed on the graves of the hundreds upon hundreds of dead innocents who were killed by mass shooters.

NOW is the time to act and do something about these guns. Remember, no one is saying the second amendment should be repealed. All we are asking for is reasonable laws to keep weapons out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them in the first place. The vast majority, about 75 percent, want reasonable gun safety laws, including gun owners.

Republicans claim to be “pro-life” because of their opposition to abortion. You cannot be “pro-life” if you continue to allow mass killing and not doing something to stop it. Once again their lies are exposed for what they are. Mere political talking points without any meaning. All in the name of donations from gun manufacturers for their campaigns. Pathetic!

The One Terrifying Thing Everyone Missed During The CR Fight

Politician liar gives people impossible promises with fingers crossed on his back.

Over the weekend Congress finally passed a continuing resolution to stave off a government shutdown. Leading up to this mess, the Republicans in the House showed America just how they wish to rule over us and not govern with our best interests at heart.

This calamity should have been averted. Except, the Republicans reneged on the deal they struck with President Biden in the spring. That was the deal to lift the debt ceiling. In that deal, the budget numbers were set for the next two years. The bill passed both houses of Congress with bipartisan support.

But, when it came time to finish off the budgets for 2024, Republicans reneged on that deal they struck. They started trying to lower the agreed budget numbers because they wanted to. That led to many fights within the Republican party. But, what you failed to notice is that the Republicans are trying to establish a one-party rule in the House.

If you are old enough, you might remember the Hastert Rule. When Rep. Hastert was the Speaker of the House, a Republican, he put in place a rule that said that he would not bring to the floor of the House any bill that did not have the support of the majority of the majority. In other words, if the majority of Republicans in the House favored legislation, a vote would be held. If a majority of Republicans did not favor legislation, no vote would be held even if Hastert knew the bill would pass the full House.

Today, that rule has changed and it became very apparent in this budget fight. Now, under McCarthy and his MAGA mules, he doesn’t want to bring any bill to the floor that would require any Democrat votes to pass. In other words, he will only bring bills to the floor that will pass solely with Republicans.

This became apparent with the stupid actions of a few MAGA fools who stopped the process completely. They refused to do any compromise bill that would fund the government because they wanted total control over what passed the House.

That is known in plain English as an attempt at one-party rule, which is how autocracies work not democracies. In order to force McCarthy to hold to their bullshit, they said over and over that if he passed any “bipartisan” bill to fund the government for even a short period of time, they would act to remove him from the Speaker’s position.

Since McCarthy finally bucked the crackpots, we are now waiting for them to issue a “vacate” bill to remove McCarthy from the Speaker position. And, they aren’t waiting around either. They said they would bring such action this week.

The other thing to remember is that if this action does happen and McCarthy is removed from the Speaker’s position, NO BUSINESS can be conducted in the House until his replacement is voted into office. That means if this action does take place, the House will not be able to vote on any of the funding bills needed to pass before the next deadline, November 17, until a new Speaker is elected.

I believe that this is the MAGA way to ensure a government shutdown in November. They just don’t care about the military, the government employees, food inspections, or you. All they care about is running to Fox News to complain about everything without offering a single thing that could work for everybody.

In other words, they are intent to ensure that only bills they approve of will be able to pass the House even if they know that it will die in the Senate. They are not interested in governing to make your lives better, they are simply interested in ruling over you.

This is how autocratic governments are formed. One party tries to gain total control over how things run and then disregard all norms, rules and ethics. The only thing that matters is them and their power over you.

This debacle over the budget that should never have happened since they struck a deal with the President in April proves beyond a reasonable doubt the fascist trend of the Republican Party. It is a window as to what will happen to our nation if they ever gain control of our government again.

As you can see, Republicans cannot be trusted to keep their word. They make deals and then renege on those deals quicker than you can say “oh shit”. These Republicans are simple parasites who feed on the fear and hate of the right wing crackpots and look for total control.

In a democracy the majority rules. However, that does not mean that the “majority” is from one party. It is intended to be bipartisan to ensure the people of the nation are served properly. This party has lost all morality, ethics, common decency and cannot be trusted with anything.

We need to ensure these morons are voted out of office from the Federal level right down to the local level. Until they suffer a tremendous defeat, the party will never return to respectability and truth. Next November, we MUST give them that thrashing at the polls. It is the only way to return to a real two-party system that works for us and not their own power. The Democrats learned that lesson back in the 1970s. It is time Republicans are given the same lesson.

Don’t Worry It’s Just A Coincidence – GOP Insanity At Its Best

The cry about fraud and waste in our federal spending is one common thread we hear from Republicans over and over and over. Yet, somehow, that doesn’t seem to resonate with the legislation they are passing in the House.

In 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan Democrats earmarked $2 billion to the Department of Labor. That money was used to implement an important cross-checking system to catch fraudsters who apply for unemployment in one state while receiving income in another.

One of the biggest unemployment schemes is to be paid a salary in one state and receive unemployment insurance in another state. With remote work being a growing part of our economic system, this is probably going to get worse not better.

And, it apparently has worked. Republican House member George Santos was indicted on unemployment insurance fraud for receiving a large salary from a company in Florida while collecting unemployment insurance from New York. Without this program in place, he just might have gotten away with his fraud.

So, in order to make sure we know just how serious Republicans are about waste and fraud, they passed a bill in the House to go after unemployment insurance fraud. This legislation would give prosecutors more time to bring fraud charges against bogus unemployment claimants and create stronger incentives for state workforce agencies to claw back bogus benefits.

Okay, that sounds very good. Except, as with all bills introduced by Republicans, there is a catch. This bill would take back the remaining money from the Department of Labor’s system that is working in order to “pay for” this bill.

In other words, Republicans want to pass a law that basically places everything at the feet of the states and take away money from the Federal Government which proves that intra-state fraud is real and needs to be stopped. They want the federal plan to stop and will ensure that happens by stripping it of all the money they need to continue the program.

The U.S. Labor Department said in a February letter that repealing the money would “throttle essential, ongoing efforts to strengthen and protect the UI program from fraud.” Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) says “nonsense”. He says the bill “should incentivize states to go after more fraud,” not less. Just how that is going to happen without the aid of the federal government is anyone’s guess.

But, we must not forget that this bill was passed just two days after George Santos was indicted on 13 federal and state fraud cases including unemployment insurance fraud. And, here is the ironic part, he was actually one of the co-sponsors of the bill. I guess he figured if he stripped the feds from using money to catch intra-state fraudsters like him, he might get away with it.

And, Smith also said this about the bill and the Santos mess. “It just shows that unemployment fraud is real, and this is why we need to pass this.” That statement could be taken two ways. One way is that we will catch more fraudsters like Santos, or we will catch fewer fraudsters because the feds won’t be able to continue their fraud catching system.

Only Smith can say which way he meant that statement. I am all in favor of catching unemployment insurance fraudsters, whoever they are. These fraud cases take away money from people who really need the help and the fraudsters must be caught.

However, I cannot understand how repealing a federal program that helps states find fraudsters is going to make it easier to catch them. Republicans can’t answer that question either. I guess that is why they refuse to even acknowledge the hypocrisy in their bill.

Chalk up another insane piece of legislation from Republicans intended for headlines not actual action. Sorry, George, despite their efforts to help you, this bill passed the House too late. It probably won’t pass the Senate anyway. So, keep that Champaigne cork in the bottle. You still must face the charges against you.

In GOP’s America More Focus Is On The Right To Kill Than The Right To Live

One Hundred Ninety Nine! That is the number of mass shootings we have suffered in our country this year, so far. It is very easy to allow emotions to take over when these mass shootings happen. On Saturday, eight people were killed and several others were wounded at a mall in Texas. And, we keep hearing the same old bullshit from Republicans.

But, we need to have serious discussions about these shootings. How is it that in the most developed nation in the world, can we possibly have so many mass shootings? Just what can be the cause of these shootings, and more importantly, what can we do to stop them?

There are all sorts of “excuses” by Republicans about why this is happening. According to them it is caused by mental health problems. It is caused by people on anti-depressant medications. It is caused by god. Yes, a Texas congressman says the latest mass shooting was caused by god.

When asked about people not believing that prayer alone will stop the massacres, he said: “Well, those are people that don’t believe in an almighty god who is absolutely in control of our lives. “I’m a Christian. I believe that he is.” Here we have the old stupid concept that it is “god’s will” as an excuse. That simply means that nothing is really anyone’s fault, you can blame it all on god.

But let’s forget this clown and his rants. God is not killing our citizens, people with guns are killing our citizens. We need to look at the reasons and figure out what we need to do in order to stem this senseless violence.

In a Fox News interview yesterday, Governor Abbott of Texas had this to say about gun violence: “And I’ll be going up to Allen later today to begin the process, uh, providing hope and, and healing. But I gotta tell you that there are questions that are lingering that the families want answers to, and that is, why did this happen? Why did the government do this? How did this happen? And I know that those families need an answer as quickly as possible. And then the last thing I’ll tell you, and, and I just wanna reiterate my gratitude and the gratitude of all Texans for the swift response of that police officer — you had just a single police officer who had to confront, uh, that dangerous gunman — and did the right thing by taking swift action to eliminate the gunman. And we are grateful for that officer’s heroism.”

That is what is known as a “meaningless word salad”. Did you notice he asked the question “why did the government do this”? Really?????? Is he saying that the government is responsible for this mass shooting? Well, if he is, I for once agree with him. The lack of reasonable gun control in this nation is a direct cause of these mass shootings and everyone knows it to be true.

The anchor then said this: “Just out from Fox News. When you ask people what they would favor, background checks for guns, enforcing existing gun laws, legal age to 21, requiring mental health checks, flagging people for danger to self, all of those score at more than eighty percent. Are there things that you would consider in Texas or that you think Congress should consider at a federal level along those lines?”

Then Abbott went on another word salad that said nothing by following it up with this: “But, Shannon, we need to, to recognize a reality. What we’ve seen across the United States over the past year or two. And that is a, an increased number of shootings in both red states and blue states. Shannon, we’ve seen an increased number of shootings in states with easy gun laws as well as states with very strict gun laws. I think that the state in which the largest number of victims, uh, have occurred this year is in California where they have very tough gun laws where 11 people died.”

Of course that last part is absolutely false. California does not lead the nation in gun deaths. As a matter of fact, California is ranked 46 in the nation with about 9 deaths by guns per 100,000. On the other hand Texas ranks 26 in gun deaths with roughly 14.2 per 100,000.

The issue is that we cannot afford to continue with individual states making gun laws. This needs to be a national effort. In California where gun laws are very strict, anyone can drive across the state line to Arizona and purchase guns where the laws are much more lax.

MTG claims that gun violence is because so many people are on anti-depressants. But, she is also against making it illegal for those people to purchase a gun. If that is the leading driver of gun violence in our nation, isn’t it reasonable to believe that people on anti-depressants should not be able to own a gun? I don’t necessary agree with that premise, but if that is the major cause, then something should be done to stop it, shouldn’t there?

We know a lot of things come into factor when it comes to gun violence. But, the one common thing that Republicans refuse to address in any manner is the easy access to guns. Republicans say mental health must be addressed, but they cut all of the programs to help those with mental health issues and then refuse to ban people with mental health issues from getting guns or pass red flag laws.

In 2017 they passed a law in Congress that made it legal for someone who is declared by a court to be unfit to handle their own affairs to be allowed to own a gun. That came about because people on Social Security who were declared mentally incompetent to take care of themselves couldn’t buy a gun. So, they made sure that they could buy a gun.

Republicans have all sorts of “solutions” to this gun violence. They think that more guns on the streets will magically make gun violence go away, but instead it has helped increase gun violence. Hell, again in Texas, a State Representative thinks that there should be “bleeding stations” in schools where victims of school shootings can get treatment. And, the law being proposed will “teach children as young a eight years old” to perform this “first aid to shooting victims”. Really? Eight year olds? Obviously this clown never had to deal with life and death situations and has no clue what this trauma would do to children, or just doesn’t care.

Abbott is also right about anger and violence increasing in our nation. But, it is his party that has caused this rise due to their anti-everything laws that they are passing in their states. They are raising the temperature of hate by declaring the Jan. 6 insurrectionists as “political prisoners”. They are feeding the fear of many people with their “great replacement theory” about immigration.

Then they turn around and loosen gun laws in their states. The fact, according to FBI statistics is that red states have far more mass killings than blue states. Look it up. Four of the five top states for gun violence deaths are red states. It was reported that the shooter in Texas was wearing a protective vest. On that vest was a patch that read RWDS.

In case you don’t know, that means “Right Wing Death Squad” and it is worn by right wing extremists and white supremacists and neo-Nazis. Yeah, that is a true sign of hate taking action, again.

When you consider that tens of thousands of people in our country have already died from guns, we must start to do something about it. Prayers will not stop gun violence. God will not stop gun violence. Finger pointing will not stop gun violence. Bitching will not stop gun violence. More guns will not stop gun violence.

The only thing that will stop gun violence is reasonable gun control measures. The only thing that will stop gun violence is a national law that overrides state laws. We can no longer afford a patchwork of laws regarding guns. We can no longer accept a system where one state can have such lax gun laws that anyone can cross the state line to buy guns.

Eighty percent of the people want reasonable gun laws. Republicans always claim to want to do what the American people want. So, why aren’t they doing what we want about guns? Instead of acting, Republicans spend their time “praying”. But, they aren’t praying for the victims or their families. They are praying that the big bucks from the gun lobby keep flowing into their coffers. The American people be damned.

As I said, under the GOP, we have more focus on the right to kill than our right to live. Just look at all of the “stand your ground” laws they have passed to make it easy to legally murder someone. Something is terribly wrong with that thought. Just more reasons Republicans need to be trashed at the polls up and down the ballot next year. Only the future of our children living instead of dying is at stake.

The Most Corrupt Justice I Have Ever Heard Of Is Still Sitting On The Court

This has been one hell of a week. We have the latest job statistics that show over 250,000 new jobs were created in April. We see that the unemployment rate dropped to 3.4 percent which is the lowest in 54 years. This all with the Fed raising rates. Of course all of this good news can come crashing down on us if the crazies in the Republican Party get what they want which is a default on our debt. We will talk more about what that would mean next week.

We saw four members of the Proud Boys convicted on seditious conspiracy crimes for their actions on Jan. 6, 2021. Then we have the ex-president facing all sorts of criminal probes and it really doesn’t look good for him, but since there haven’t been convictions yet, I will reserve judgement until it comes to fruition.

There are other items we could talk about, but the main focus this week has been the ethical issues surrounding Clarence Thomas. He has been shown to be a liar and a fraud. He has failed to report all of the gifts, travel, house purchases, school tuition payments by others and even potential payments to his wife.

If Clarence Thomas was sitting on any court other than the Supreme Court, there would be a lot of investigations into his behavior. The only position that does not have any oversight is the Supreme Court. They are supposed to self-investigate themselves.

The problem is they need a Chief Justice who is willing to actually do what is right. So far, John Roberts hasn’t shown any interest in doing what is right. He even refused to go before the Senate Judicial Committee to even talk about these scandals.

Clarence Thomas has proven his corruption is not some fantasy. This has nothing to do with anything except his corruption. First we heard that he received lavish gifts, paid lavish vacations and did not report any of them. These gifts and vacations are in the millions of dollars that should have been reported over the years. But, Thomas must figure he is above the law and failed to follow the reporting laws.

We then found out that the same billionaire bought the house that his mother owned and still lives in. After the purchase, the billionaire spent more money on “improvements” to the house. It has also been reported that Thomas’ mother is living in the home rent-free.

Next we discovered that this same billionaire paid the tuition for Thomas’ grand-nephew whom Thomas has been raising as “my son”. This amounted to about $150,000 total. Now we have discovered that the vice-president of the Federalist Society paid Ginni Thomas at least $80,000 for “consulting” fees. But, it was also learned that he ordered that “Ginni’s name not be included on the paperwork”.

Thomas did not report any of this on his forms. That alone is a crime. But, we must also ask a series of questions. Did Thomas include any of this on his tax forms? For example, if he is raising the grand-nephew and someone else paid the tuition, that is considered as income on federal tax forms. Did he declare that “income” on his tax forms?

If Ginni Thomas was paid money for “consulting” in a “secret” manner, did they include that money on their taxes? If not to either of those situations, then they are guilty of tax fraud and should be prosecuted for that crime.

There is ample evidence that Thomas lied to the people. In a documentary talking about his vacations he claimed that he preferred “RV parks” and “Walmart parking lots” for his travel. He said: “I come from regular stock, and I prefer that ― I prefer being around that.”

Sorry, but no he doesn’t. I cannot think of a single luxury yacht that has an RV park or Walmart parking lot on it. Nor do any of the luxury resorts this billionaire paid for him and Ginni to stay at while on vacation.

This is a clear case of a Justice on the Supreme Court believing he is above the law. He believes that all of the gifts, vacations, tuition, mortgages and other payoffs are just “perks” of being on the court. Never mind that the two people so far involved with this corruption had business before the court which he did not recuse himself from.

The one mistake that our founding fathers made when drafting our Constitution was not putting in place real codes of ethics for the Justices to follow or be punished for not following. The Supreme Court Justices believe they answer to no one. They can do whatever they want.

Up until now, we didn’t have this kind of corruption. We had ethical people sitting on the bench who would not consider placing themselves in such a position. At least as far as we know. But now we have a new kind of “conservative” judge that believes they are the law and not governed by it. Clarence Thomas is the perfect example of just how corrupt one person can be just because he sits on the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice John Roberts has shown his cowardice in this matter. He should go down to Thomas’ chamber and demand he resign for the good of the court. If Thomas refuses to resign, then Roberts should ask the DOJ to open corruption and tax evasion investigations into the matter. But, so far, Roberts seems to believe the same thing that Thomas does. The Justices answer to no one so why should they worry about being ethical.

If Thomas will not resign immediately, he should be removed however that may be possible. I don’t know how you remove a Justice on the Supreme Court except maybe through impeachment. He is without doubt the most corrupt Justice ever to sit on the bench of the Supreme Court.

However, with Republicans supporting his corruption, the chance he will be forced out is very slim if not impossible. Proving we need to do something to force a code of ethics overseen by an independent agency to enforce it and dole out punishment when needed.

To put it simply, Clarence Thomas has hung out a “Justice For Sale” on the front of the Supreme Court building. Republicans don’t seem to care either.

The Tale Of Two Billionaires And The Different Treatment They Receive From Republicans

One of the major hypocritical moments in our country is on full display right now. This time it is all about our justice system and what conservatives consider fodder for their cause and what they consider as respectable behavior. The thing about it is that it is more about antisemitism than it is about real justice and the rule of law.

On one hand we have the Harlan Crow and Clarence Thomas scandal of corruption. On the other hand we have the George Soros left leaning support. The issues are probably something that needs to be addressed in that Republicans are all in favor of demonizing Soros while giving Thomas a pass on his corruption.

The hatred towards Soros was evident yesterday in the sham hearing that Gym Jordan held in New York. He decided to go after Alvin Bragg for daring to indict the former president and Jordan’s dear leader. He wants to spotlight the “crime out of control” in New York City lie. Except, crime is not “out of control” and is actually falling in New York City unlike someplace like say Mansfield, OH where violent crime is on the uptick and is higher than in New York City according to federal crime statistics.

But, even leaving that aside, we can see the total hypocrisy of the Republicans on this committee when it comes to what is considered as “bad” and “acceptable’. Throughout this sham hearing, we heard more than one Republican talk about the “Soros-ization” of District Attorneys in Democrat controlled cities.

Let’s take a look at this. George Soros is a billionaire who supports Democrat and progressive matters. He donates to organizations like Color Of Change, a progressive criminal justice organization. But, and this is a big but, he never directly gave any money to Alvin Bragg. He gave to Color of Change and they decided who to support and they chose Bragg.

Then we have the other billionaire, Harlan Crow. Crow has directly donated to “conservative” Republicans running for District Attorney as well as other offices. More importantly, he is at the heart of the corruption scandal surrounding Clarence Thomas. He has provided Thomas and his wife with hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and trips and bought a house that Thomas’ mother lives in and does not pay Crow rent while still living in the house. None of these gifts or real estate transaction were reported as they are required by law.

Additionally, Crow has had cases come before the Supreme Court or has made briefs before the court while Thomas was sitting in judgement. Thomas never said anything about his connection with Crow in any of these cases which smells of conflict of interest at the very best.

Soros has not filed any briefs with the Supreme Court as far as I can find. He has never been accused of giving expensive gifts or taking any politician on trips or buying up their property. All he does is speak his mind and donate to groups who he believes is aligned with his ideals. Remember, Soros is a holocaust survivor.

The only difference between the two that I can find is Soros is liberal and Crow is conservative. Soros is Jewish and Crow is Christian. Republicans say Soros is “evil” because he supports liberal ideals and Crow is “just a friend of Thomas”. Soros is evil, while Crow is just a “nice guy”.

The other thing we cannot forget is that the majority of the claims against Soros are antisemitic and intended to be just that. These attacks are coming from people like Matt Gaetz who I believe is an antisemite and white supremacist. They are coming from people like the Republican dear leader.

In 2018, while trump was ramping up his attacks on Soros, he received a bomb in the mail. All of the attacks are of an antisemitic nature. Why? Well, it falls in line with the Nazi belief that “Jews control money and politics”. That all falls in line with all of the other attacks on Jews and people like Soros while all the while turning a blind eye to open corruption being conducted by the Republican side of the aisle.

The Jordan committee, and I won’t give it any print by using its false name, is a pure political move to make Americans afraid of crime and the Justice System. It is a blatant attempt to lump antisemitism with conservativism in a way that they think will make people afraid of anyone else.

Yesterday’s hearing was full of antisemitic attacks against George Soros. In the meantime, Republicans were going all out to claim what Thomas did was a simple mistake and that what Crow was doing was “just supporting a friend”. And, don’t worry, since Thomas got caught in his corrupt practices he will “amend” his disclosure statement. That will make it all okay.

We have two billionaires. One is progressive and one is conservative. The progressive donates to organizations to help elect people to office, the other gives lavish gifts and trips and buys personal property of a Supreme Court Justice. One is Jewish and one is not. Republicans say the one who donates and is Jewish is the enemy and the one who tries to buy a Supreme Court Justice is on “our side”.

If you want to realize just how antisemitic and just how autocratic the Republican Party has become, all you need to do is look at how these two billionaires are treated by the Republicans.

More reasons these clowns need to be trashed at the polls next year. Your children’s freedoms and future are at stake. Republicans want to take those freedoms and future away from them. Don’t let it happen.

The Real “Carnage” Our People Face Is Courtesy Of The NRA And The Republican Party

We keep hearing about the “carnage” that America is going through from Republicans and especially their dear leader. However, there is one thing they won’t tell you. This “carnage” is the direct result of their flawed and dangerous policies over guns.

We continue to suffer with mass shootings and other gun violence. Just this past weekend we saw 4 people killed and 28 injured by a mass shooter at a sweet 16 birthday party. We saw someone open fire in a crowded park. We had a 16 year old shot when he rang the wrong doorbell going to pick up his younger siblings from a friends house.

Every single day we have people being shot and killed in our streets, our parks, our churches, our malls, our theaters and our schools. There is only one common denominator in all of this and that is easy access to guns. I have come to the conclusion that the GOP won’t be satisfied until 1 million people are shot and killed every year.

Over the weekend we also had the group I consider as the most dangerous domestic terrorist organization, the NRA, hold their convention in Indianapolis. At that convention, every person wishing to be the Republican nominee for president bowed down to their new god, the gun. They all promised to make gun ownership easier and easier. Hell, the wacko governor of South Dakota even bragged how her granddaughter who is only 2 years old “already owns two guns”. That comment alone should make everyone take notice. This crazy woman is actually bragging that a 2 year old “owns guns”. A two year old!

We must also understand that easy access to guns is not the only problem. In several states there are laws called “stand your ground”. In these laws Republicans have actually made murder legal. All one needs to say is that they were “afraid and stood my ground” after killing someone. Even if that person didn’t have a gun.

In the case of the teen shot after ringing the wrong doorbell, there is a “stand your ground” law. What happened according to all of the reports is the teen went to pickup his younger siblings from a friend’s house. He went to the wrong address and rang the doorbell.

The owner opened the door and when he saw the teen on the porch shot him in the head. After the teen fell to the ground, he shot him again. We don’t know all of the information about this case yet or if it had anything to do with the fact the teen was black, but the very idea that opening a door to someone you don’t know is a legitimate reason to shoot that person is beyond believable.

Here is a fact that most of you simply don’t know. The NRA used to be a reasonable organization that actually helped write gun control legislation. The NRA used to be a reasonable organization that was all in favor of hunting and shooting for sport, but understood that everyone carrying a gun is a “bad idea”.

Through most of the 20th Century, the NRA promoted gun safety, and gun education. They understood that having the right to have a weapon came with responsibilities and they were willing to work with the government to help ensure only responsible people were allowed to carry weapons.

For example in the 1920s it was the NRA that helped write legislation that required licensing for owning guns especially concealed guns. They even included stricter punishments for anyone who used a gun to commit a crime.

In the 1930s they helped pass legislation that placed heavy taxes and regulation requirements on firearms that were associated with crime, such as machine guns, sawed-off shotguns and silencers. Gun sellers and owners were required to register with the federal government and felons were banned from owning weapons. Karl T. Frederick, the president of the NRA at the time, testified before Congress stating, “I have never believed in the general practice of carrying weapons. I do not believe in the general promiscuous toting of guns. I think it should be sharply restricted and only under licenses.”

In essence, the NRA actually championed gun control legislation that today they consider as “unconstitutional”. They have done a complete 180 on their stances over guns. Instead of following their original motto of “Firearms Safety Education, Marksmanship Training, Shooting for Recreation”, they have morphed into an organization that disregards its original charter.

Instead of continuing to help keep Americans safe from gun violence, they have become a terrorist organization that believes they have the right to shoot and kill anyone they don’t like and if we don’t like that, tough shit. The Republican party has become partners in this terrorism.

This hasn’t been going on for all that long. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the NRA and Republicans started their myth about everyone owning guns. It didn’t start until the ATF raided the home of an NRA member who was accused of “stockpiling” weapons. In the raid, the suspect was shot and paralyzed.

Since that day, the NRA and Republicans have taken up the call of needing guns for “self defense”. It was after this incident that the NRA decided that the second amendment meant that everyone has the right to own a gun. Their tune changed completely and they started donating huge amounts of money to make sure that the very gun control legislation they championed for through most of the 20th century were overturned.

In the last few decades, we started hearing about how only a “bad guy with a gun can be stopped by a good guy with a gun”. Except, there are no definitions of just who is a “good guy” and who is a “bad guy” in their language. And, as a result of this about face by the NRA, Republicans across the country are changing laws to allow concealed weapons to be carried without a license or training.

Additionally, it is extremely rare for any of these “good guys with a gun” stopping any “bad guy with a gun”. Proving once and for all that is a total myth just like the absoluteness they claim for the second amendment.

There is a very simple fact that everyone needs to recognize. The idea that we allow anyone to own a gun and carry it on our streets in inherently dangerous to us and our families. The truth is that as gun ownership grows in our nation, deaths by guns goes up just as fast.

Today more children are killed by guns than by any other reason. How can that be? What is the justification for allowing this kind of carnage to target our children? Just about every day we have mass shootings in our country. Hundreds of thousands of people are being killed by guns just because they can be killed by them.

All it takes is for some stupid argument to break out and suddenly there is gunfire and people die. All it takes is for one nut to see someone they don’t like to pull the trigger and kill that person. If you live in a state that has gun control legislation, all you need do is drive across the state line to one where there are lax or no gun control laws to purchase your gun.

This is not going to decline or end until the Republicans realize that there is something evil in allowing this slaughter of our people to continue. It will continue as long as the NRA stays away from its original goal and help to make reasonable gun control laws possible as they did throughout most of the 20th century.

But don’t hold your breath. The only answer these two groups have is “more guns on our streets”. The only answer to the mass killings of our children in schools is “more guns in the schools”. Their only answer to anything right now is “more guns”. This concept has become totally irrational. It actually borders on the insanity. Yet, we saw Republican candidate after Republican candidate bow down to their real “god” in Indianapolis, the gun.

Instead of encouraging the NRA to return to its roots of safety and education and even gun control, they continue to pound the insane idea that more guns to kill more people is the answer.

The Republican party has joined with the NRA to make up the most dangerous domestic terrorist group in our country. That is a very sad thing to believe, but it is the truth.

The next school shooting, the next mass shooting in a park, the next mass shooting anywhere will be the direct result of Republican and NRA policies. They all have our children’s blood on their hands. The insulting fact is that they are proud of having that blood on their hands. How pathetic can anyone get?

Clarence Thomas Is A Blight On The Supreme Court And Needs To Resign Immediately Or Be Removed

To be honest, sometimes it is difficult to decide what to comment about each day. The far right comes up with so much crap, it is difficult to determine what is important today and what can wait. This week has been a perfect example of that problem.

First we have a Missouri GOP legislator defending child marriage. He said there is “no problem” with 12 year old girls getting married. In his rant, he even declared that “I know a girl that got married at 12 and know what, they are still married”. He made this claim with the caveat that the marriage was with “parental consent” while talking about how trans minors should not get medical treatment even with “parental consent”. In his sick world, a 12 year old girl is “mature enough” to get married, but not “mature enough” to get proper medical treatment.

Then we have the leak of classified documents. Turns out the leaker is apparently a 21 year old National Guardsman. The problem becomes even worse when politicians, who are supposed to ensure our national security, actually call him a hero. Of course the Putin loving MTG chirped in on the subject. She claimed that the person was “white, male, anti-war and Christian” and that made him a hero for leaking sensitive documents that placed countless lives in danger. Let me be clear as someone who protected classified documents. No one who leaks such documents is a hero. That person is a traitor to his nation and should be punished for their crimes.

There are other things we could look at, but the list is growing and growing by the day. However, there is one issue that has hit the headlines, and in my view shows exactly how corrupt some people in our government have become. That corrupt person is Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court.

There has been grumbling about Thomas for years. He has refused to recuse himself from cases before the court even if those cases involved organizations his own wife worked at. The very idea of “conflict of interest” seems to be a badge his is proud to wear.

Now we have reports of Thomas violating the law and just not giving a shit. He has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and vacations from one conservative billionaire. Then yesterday, we learned that same billionaire bought the house his mother lives in. Thomas has never disclosed those actions in accordance with the law.

After the Watergate sandal, a federal law was passed that requires justices and other government officials to disclose real estate sales of over $1,000. Thomas sold the properties involved for over $133,000. That means he was required under this law to report it.

However, Thomas never did report the transaction. In addition, the form he needed to fill out even has a blank where he was to place the name of the person who purchased the property. That was left blank. Now, the law does give a carveout for selling property where you or your spouse is the primary resident. In this case, neither Thomas nor his wife declared it to be their primary resident.

This house is where Thomas’ mother lives. And, as far as we know, she has never moved out of the house and still lives there. Additionally, after the sale of the house, the new owner decided to put over $30,000 additional money into the house to “fix it up”. Furthermore, we don’t know if the owner is charging Thomas’ mother any rent for living in the house. No one will answer that question.

When all of this broke, Thomas put out a statement that he didn’t report any of these gifts because he was advised he need not. He apparently “doesn’t know the law” concerning these disclosures. Okay. Just how the hell can anyone sit on the Supreme Court and not know the laws that regulate the court? How can anyone with a reasonable mind believe that a sitting Justice on the Supreme Court is unable to read the actual law to ensure he is complying with it? Are we to believe that a Justice on the Supreme Court cannot understand the law? If so, just what the hell is he doing serving on it?

There have been calls from Democrats in Congress for Chief Justice Roberts to “hold an investigation and report back on the findings”. That is ridiculous. What Chief Justice Roberts should do, in my opinion, is walk into Thomas’ chambers and place a letter of resignation on his desk and order him to sign it immediately.

Remember, when the leak occurred about the abortion ruling in Dobbs, it was Thomas who whined that we need to “trust our courts” and believe they are not corrupt. So, if that is the case, then he should remove his corrupt ass from the court immediately. As long as he remains on the court, the nation will not be able to “trust the court” that it is making decisions based on the law rather than personal gain of the Justices.

It is also deafening just how silent the Republicans in Congress are over this matter. When the leak of the abortion decision happened, they were all screaming for an “immediate investigation and punishment for whoever leaked it”. That was because they thought it was some “lib” who leaked the information. Now they have a conservative Justice who is being shown to be corrupt sitting on the court, and not a peep out of any of them.

Of course the biggest reason no one on the right wants Thomas to resign in disgrace is because that would mean President Biden would appoint a more left leaning Justice to the court. That would mean the conservatives would be faced with a 5-4 court advantage and one vote against conservative causes by a conservative judge would sink their agenda.

Clarence Thomas has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that he is one of if not the most corrupt person to ever sit on the Supreme Court. If conservatives really believed in ethics, integrity and morality, they would do whatever they need to force this corrupt person off of the court.

But, they don’t believe in ethics, integrity or morality. They believe in power and forcing Thomas off the court would cut into that power. If Clarence Thomas had any decency, integrity or morality, he would resign in shame for his corruption. But, we know that Thomas has no integrity, decency or morals. Just like his friends in Congress he is sitting on the court not for the good of the country, but for his own profit and personal ideological agenda.

In any democracy, the judicial system is critical in order to preserve that democracy and the rule of law. We cannot have a Justice on the Supreme Court behave in a corrupt manner and expect the rule of law to prevail. Clarence Thomas is a blight on our judicial system and the Supreme Court. He must be removed if he won’t resign.

Recent Events Prove It Is Republicans Who Are “Weaponizing” The Government

The possible indictment of trump has brought out all of the crazies. This includes members of the GOP who absolutely are devoted to their dear leader. And, all the while they are showing their support for the failed president, they are actually showing that they are the party that actually is using the government as a weapon against their enemies.

Three chairs of House committees sent a letter to the New York City Attorney General blasting him for the possible indictment of their dear leader. In that letter, they have shown they are the ones who are weaponizing the government against their political opponents.

Reps Jim Jordan, (R-OH), James Comer (R-KY) and Bryan Stell (R-WI) all signed the letter attempting to intimidate Alvin Bragg the attorney general leading the investigation.

In their letter they said: “You are reportedly about to engage in an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority: the indictment of a former President of the United States and current declared candidate for that office.” Although, remember that trump was not a candidate when the investigation began.

According to this letter, these three morons think that if you once held the office of president, you cannot be indicted or charged with any crimes. According to them, being a former president grants a lifetime immunity to being prosecuted for any crimes. Therefore, a former president can commit any crime they desire and get away with it. How’s that for the rule of law?

They further added: “This indictment comes after years of your office searching for a basis ― any basis ― on which to bring charges, ultimately settling on a novel legal theory untested anywhere in the country and one that federal authorities declined to pursue.”

One point here. The Justice Department did pursue the crime in the past. They did not indict trump because of their policy not to indict a sitting president. As a result, trump was named as “person 1” in the indictment against Michael Cohen and listed as the person who “instructed” Cohen to make the payments to the porn star.

They then went on to “demand” answers from Bragg about his investigation. They said he should appear before Congress to testify about the investigation and to hand over all documents he may have received from federal prosecutors. In essence, they are tying to interfere with an on-going investigation in order to quash it before it ends.

Even Kevin McCarthy got into the act declaring that the county Attorney General, Bragg, must declare if any “federal money was used to conduct the investigation”. He claimed that would be “illegal” and possibly cause the attorney general’s office to be “defunded” by the federal government.

Now remember, Gym Jordan is the chair of the sub-committee on the “Weaponization of the Federal Government”. Well, if he and his pals are trying to interfere with a local attorney general’s investigation, isn’t that “weaponizing the federal government”?

On top of all of that. The attorney general leading this investigation is NOT as federal district attorney. He is the county attorney general of the district of Manhattan and was elected by people in his district to his post. He has no obligation to “hand over” anything to Congress and Congress has no authority over him.

It is clear that the ones who are attempting to “weaponize” the federal government are Republicans. They are trying to intimidate local attorney general from doing his job. They are threatening him by saying he must disclose federal money spent on the investigation and threatening to take federal funds away from his office.

They are declaring that an ex-president cannot be indicted for his crimes, especially if that ex-president is a Republican. They are telling America like Nixon said “if a president does it it is not a crime”.

It may be unprecedented that a former president would be charge with a crime. But, as I wrote yesterday that is only because a Republican President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon of “all crimes committed while president”. Nixon should have been prosecuted but wasn’t.

Today, 50 years later, we are seeing the Republicans rallying behind another criminal Republican former president and trying to ensure this criminal president cannot be charged with the crimes he committed. And, they are citing, quietly, the Nixon pardon as proof that you cannot indict a former president for crimes.

This is all just another step in their attempt to destroy our nation from within. They protect a criminal just because he is a Republican and pass laws that take away basic civil rights from groups of people they don’t like.

That is the real definition of “weaponizing” the government. They have become unapologetic masters of it. There is no shame in this. You must have morality and decency to feel shame. None of these GOP clowns have either.

One Million Dead – Republicans Still Call COVID A Hoax And Will Do Nothing To Prevent The Next Pandemic

The pandemic of COVID has been drastically reduced. The vaccinations and the safety measures have worked, at least to a point. It has been over a year since COVID has made the headlines. But, that doesn’t mean we don’t deserve answers.

The Republican controlled House of Representatives have introduced many, many investigations. One of the newest is an investigation into where COVID came from. Well, we already know, and have since the beginning, that it came from China. What we don’t know for sure is whether it was something transmitted by bats or if it was inadvertently leaked from a research lab.

But in order to make sure that China carries the full blame for the pandemic, Republicans are going to hold investigations into the origins of the pandemic. They are going to make sure they can claim in 2024 that it was “all China’s fault”.

On the other hand, they won’t be investigating why over one million Americans died from the pandemic. They won’t be investigating just why it was claimed to be a hoax by the president at the time. They won’t be investigating why so many Republicans openly defied CDC recommendations trying to slow the spread of the disease.

They won’t be investigating the piss poor reaction and response from the president at the time either. They won’t be investigating how medical supply companies were allowed to price gouge hospitals and clinics. They won’t be asking why a mask that cost 80 cents before the pandemic suddenly went to almost $10 when it hit.

They won’t be investigating why there was no action to make companies produce more personal protection equipment for hospitals and all medical workers who were trying to save American’s lives until well into the pandemic.

They won’t be investigating why the president called the pandemic a hoax while he did nothing. They won’t be investigating why their members were fighting against safety precautions while their constituents suffered and died from the disease.

The pandemic that spread across our nation was one of the worst we have ever faced. During the Spanis Flu pandemic, we lost several thousand people. This pandemic caused over 1 million deaths. It placed our entire health care system at risk because hospitals were being overrun with patients suffering from it.

Yet, there are no plans to try to figure out how this was allowed to happen. There are no plans to hold government officials accountable for sitting on their asses while people died. There are no plans to find out why supplies were so short or what we need to do to ensure that never happens again.

Instead, we have people for that party trying to claim “we were right” about the pandemic. People like the Ayatollah DeSantis whose state had one of the highest rates of infection and deaths in the nation. Even using what has become proved to be deliberate faulty and forged data.

Additionally, Republicans are trying to keep the wraps on this so-called investigation. They don’t want the real truth to come out. That truth is that they knew how deadly this pandemic was but made a conscious decision to downplay it in order to “rile up their base” for votes.

In essence, they allowed the pandemic to run rampant in our country and used it to sow more division among our people. They didn’t care if you got sick or died from this horrible disease. So, they are not interested in holding an investigation into all of the wrongs that caused so many deaths. They are afraid that you will learn the truth about their failed response.

As a result of this dereliction of duty by the Republican controlled House, we face the real possibility that another pandemic will be able to run rampant again. We face the real possibility that another deadly disease will sweep across our nation and they will once again sit on their asses and simply complain and divide the nation even further.

The primary duty of our elected officials is to protect us from danger. That danger can be from terrorists, or foreign nations, or diseases that turn into pandemics. The Republicans proved during the COVID pandemic they are not interested in fulfilling that primary duty.

The simple fact that they are unwilling to investigate just what went wrong and what we need to do to ensure it doesn’t happen again, is proof they just don’t care. As far as they are concerned, pandemics that kill over one million of us is just good for their political agenda. They think it will get them more votes.

After all, what else to they offer us to make us think about voting for them? Nothing. In 2024, we need Republicans up and down the ballot to be swept from office. We need them to suffer the same kind of defeat that Democrats suffered in 1972. Maybe then the real Republican party will return and we will all be better off for it.

Remember, oversight does mean reprisal. Yeah, try telling Republicans that.