Tag: news

Daddy Donald Wants You

by earlthepearl137

Donald Trump wants to be sure that this time around, his closest advisors will be people who will always agree with him, kiss his ring, and “kiss the other ring, too.”  So, he is handpicking his cabinet and high-level advisors very carefully.  If you are thinking about applying for a job in this administration, be advised to wear your MAGA hat to the job interview.

He already has his Vice-President, J.D. Vance.

Trump is very much aware that a third assassination attempt might be planned.  The Secret Service and bullet-proof glass will protect him from snipers.  However, he is worried about being poisoned.  So, J.D. Vance’s only duty will be to act as Donald’s official food taster.  In between meals, J.D. will have full access to every room in the White House, except that he will not be allowed on the couches.

His Chief of Staff will be Susie Wilese.

If Trump actually has to run for a third term, just in case he’s not already Dictator-for-Life by then, Trump wants his 2024 Campaign Manager, Susie “The Ice Maiden” Wilese to be ready to hit the ground running.

The Deputy Chief of Staff will be the chrome-domed Stephen Miller.

He would implement the administration’s immigration agenda, by deporting African Americans and anyone with long hair.

The White House Counsel will be Bill McGinley.  Normally this would have been the toughest job in the Trump White House, as he would be in charge of all of Trump’s current and previous lawyers.  Now, though, thanks to Presidential Immunity, his only job will be to caddy for the President when he goes golfing.

The Central Intelligence Agency Director will be John Ratcliffe.

Trump can’t be bothered to read Intelligence Reports, so Ratcliffe’s job will be to get the most recently gathered Intelligence aired on Fox News, where the President will be sure to see it.

The Secretary of State will be Marco Rubio.

Little Marco has joked in the past that President Trump has small hands, and might also have “small crowd sizes.”  So, he will be sent on missions all over the world, never to return to the United States.

The National Security Adviser will be Mike Waltz.

His job will be to get the Chinese to dismantle their Great Wall and send it to our southern border, where we will get Mexicans to reconstruct it brick by brick on their way out of the country.  (If Arizona can have the London Bridge, then surely the U.S. can have the Great Wall of China on our Southern Border.

The “Border czar” will be Tom Homan.

He will be in charge of deporting Latinos and agricultural farm workers, because as President Trump says, “Real Americans don’t eat salad.  We eat hamburgers.”

The U.S. ambassador to Israel will be Mike Huckabee’

Oy vay!  What can I say?

The EPA Administrator will be Former Rep. Lee Zeldin.

To head the soon-to-be-eliminated Environmental Protection Agency, Trump picked a former New York Congressman whose only job will be to deregulate everything and then turn out the lights when the party is over.

The Head of Homeland Security will be Kristi Noem.  We all remember her from the time she shot her dog and goat.  “She will make sure that immigrants don’t eat our pets by shooting them first.”  (It is still unclear whether this means that she will be shooting the immigrants, or the pets, or both.  We are awaiting clarification.)

Will there be any jobs for Liberals and people who voted for Harris? You ask.  Of course, there will be.  The Deportation holding areas will need tens of thousands of “sanitation engineers.”

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

My Bags are Packed. I’m ready to Go

by earlthepearl137

If he is elected President, Donald J. Trump promised to deport people who disagree with him a.k.a. “the enemy within.”  I’m sure that can’t mean all 80 million people who will be voting for Kamala Harris, but it must include the people who openly mocked him on TV, radio, websites, and social media. That would include most of my favorite late-night comedians, especially Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, and Jimmy Fallon. Colin Jost and Michael Che would have to be included, too.  The list is too long to mention, but just about every comedian, with the possible exception of Dennis Miller, would probably be sent to a gulag, while they awaited deportation to someplace else in the world. Tony Hinchcliffe, a.k.a. Kill Tony, the comedian at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally might be spared, too.

Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, Lawrence O’Donnell, Alex Wagner, Ari Melber, Joy Reid, Stephanie Ruhle, Al Sharpton, Ayman Mohyeldin, Jonathan Lemire, and just about everybody else at MSNBC would probably be on the list, too.  I’m sure that plenty of people at CNN, CBS, NBC, and ABC would be deported, too, especially anyone who was a moderator in any of the debates, such as Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, David Muir and Linsey Davis, Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan.  Of course, anyone who works as a fact-checker would go to the head of the list.

Those of us who have mocked Trump on websites and social media, but are lesser known, might have trouble getting seats on the deportation boats.  Complete unknowns like myself, might not even get steerage tickets on the early boats.  If Donald Trump is elected, I would much prefer being deported than remaining in a comedian-deprived country where the majority of its citizens would voluntarily elect a twice impeached, convicted felon and sexual predator, who not only tried to rig a Presidential election, but who, when that didn’t work, led a failed coup attempt to overthrow the government.  So, I want to plead my case for a seat on the deportation boats by offering just some of the anti-Trump cartoons I’ve circulated in recent months.

At a rally, Tucker Carlson creepily  compared Donald Trump to a stern father who would instill good behavior in his “bad girl” daughter by vigorously spanking her.  Instead of being disgusted by this image, the MAGA morons in the audience welcomed Trump to the stage with chants of “Daddy Don.”

By calling Donald Trump, Grandpa Poopie Pants, I was, of course, referring to the time the Donald shit his pants on the golf course.

I have also made fun of him for being the stooge for various dictators around the world.

At his rallies, when he’s not droning on about windmills killing whales, birds, and everything else, he drones on about sharks attacking electric boats.  Now, he’s come up with a new story about how Arnold Palmer was well hung.  So, I countered:

Political cartoonists were soon joining in.

I made fun of his McDonald’s photo op:

The “Stable genius” obviously didn’t know that Hitler’s generals tried to assassinate him.

His court cases and guilty verdicts on 34 felony charges were also worth poking fun at.

He said that nobody leaves his rallies early and proved it by stranding his cult members in the desert.

Hundreds of Trump supporters also found themselves stranded, but this time in prison, after they gleefully accepted Trump’s advocation to storm the Capital and fight like hell.

FILE PHOTO: Tear gas is released into a crowd of protesters, with one wielding a Confederate battle flag that reads “Come and Take It,” during clashes with Capitol police at a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S, January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo

Trump’s teachers were not very impressed by his intellect.

Neither was Nancy Pelosi.

We all know that he has tacky taste.

But decorating his guest bathroom with stolen classified documents was too much.

So, Ol’ Bone Spurs wants to be the Commander-in-chief of the U.S. Armed forces again.

But hundreds of people who worked in his administration have spoken out against him ever being anywhere near the Oval Office again.  I know that his former V.P. Mike Pence won’t be voting for him.

The only thing he is good at is branding.  He managed to squeeze a fortune out of his cult followers with Mug shot merchandise.

But now it’s time to see which way the wind blows on Election Day.

Will I wind up being deported, or will he wind up going to jail?

Peace and Love, and all of the above,

Earl

No Tax on Tips – Misdirection Part II

by earlthepearl137

In my last article, I wrote about how Donald Trump is promising “No taxes on tips” as a means to gain votes and ultimately as an excuse to fire the new IRS auditors who were hired to investigate multi-millionaires and large corporations.

That’s just one of the reasons billionaires like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk are campaigning for Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. Peter Thiel is also in favor of tearing up the Constitution, which Donald Trump is in favor of doing. So, a Trump victory would be a double victory for him. Musk already is one of the richest people in the world, but he also stands to increase his wealth by getting government contracts. So his giving away $1,000,000 a day to people who sign his petition and support Trump is just a misdirection to hide the many billions of dollars he expects Trump to bestow upon him through Government contracts.

I said before that Donald Trump doesn’t care about tip employees.  He’s only working on a plan to make the rich richer.  I did a little more research and found that it’s even worse than I thought.  In 2017, while he was President, the Trump administration proposed a rule that would allow employers to legally take workers’ tips if those workers earned at least minimum wage.

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) reported in 2017 that, if Trump’s proposal became law, Employers would pocket $5.8 billion in tips annually.  The rule would affect not just restaurant workers but all tipped workers (nail salon workers, casino dealers, barbers, etc.) So, under Trump, tipped workers would actually lose $5.8 billion in tips annually. That number could actually be much higher as tips are often under-reported.

Trump wants tipped employees to think he is putting money in their pockets, while, in reality, he would be picking their pockets. He disguises it to look like he cares for others. He really doesn’t.

Don’t let Donald Trump pick your pocket. Make the rich pay their fair share of taxes.

Vote Harris/Walz this November.

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

The Magic of Misdirection

by earlthepearl137

There’s an old joke that goes like this:

Juan comes up to the U.S./Mexican border on his bicycle. He has two very large bags over his shoulders. The American guard stops him and says, “What’s in the bags?”

“Just sand,” answered Juan.

The guard says, “We’ll just see about that. Get off the bike.” The guard takes the bags and rips them apart; he empties them out and finds nothing in them but sand. He detains Juan overnight and has the sand analyzed, only to discover that there is nothing but pure sand in the bags. The guard releases Juan, puts the sand into new bags, hefts them onto the man’s shoulders, and lets him cross the border.

A day later, the same thing happens. The guard asks, “What have you got?”

“More sand,” says Juan.

The guard does his thorough examination and discovers that the bags contain nothing but sand. He gives the sand back to Juan, and Juan crosses the border on his bicycle.

This sequence of events is repeated every day for three years. Finally, one day, Juan doesn’t show up.  It also happens, that this day turns out to be the guard’s last day of work before he retires.  He is frustrated that he never solved this case, and he just has to know what Juan’s been doing all these years, so, after work, he goes to a few bars in Mexico until he finally finds Juan.

“Hey, Buddy,” says the guard, “I retired today, so I won’t do anything to you, but I just know you were smuggling something these last three years. It’s driving me crazy. It’s all I can think about….. I can’t sleep, and I’d like to retire with some peace of mind. Just between you and me, please tell me what you were smuggling.”

Juan took a sip of his beer and casually said, “Bicycles.”

The sandbags in the joke were used for misdirection.  It wasn’t so much smuggling that Juan was doing.  It was magic through misdirection.

Recently, Donald Trump has been running a lot of ads where he pronounces that if he becomes President again, he will eliminate all taxes on tips.  This is good news for waiters, waitresses, barmen, barmaid, bellhops, cabbies, and everyone else who works for low wages and depends upon tips.  I had to ask myself, though, “Why is Trump making so much of this?”  He’s a man who only thinks of himself.  So, what’s in it for him?  I saw the trick, but what was the magic involved?  Where was the misdirection, and, especially, where was his trademark fear?

Trump focuses his campaign on fear.  He says that if Harris wins, there will be World War III, there will be a 1929-style depression, and illegal immigrants will kill you and your family, eat your dog, and take your home and your jobs.  He said the same things would happen if Biden was elected in 2020.  He plays on fear, and fear of non-white immigrants is his specialty.  He got elected in 2016, by promising to build a wall across the entire southern border.  It worked then.  It got him elected, and, since he never actually built the wall, he is still able to campaign on the same issue.  He will say or do anything to make his base fear immigrants.  “They’re eating your pets,” he tells them, and he, and only he, can and will be their protector. 

Where was the “fear factor” in declaring that he will stop taxing tips, though?  It was actually such a popular “concept” that Kamala Harris quickly supported the idea herself, and said her Administration would not tax tips, either.

So, let me play Penn & Teller, who had a television program where they showed you how magic tricks were performed, and I’ll explain the magic trick.

In 2022, Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tiebreaking vote in the Senate to pass a bill that, in part, gave money to the Internal Revenue Service.

Speaking in Las Vegas, Trump told his followers: “Kamala cast the tiebreaking vote to hire 87,000 new I.R.S. agents to go after your tip income.”  Two days later, Trump ran an ad that said, “Harris and Biden have literally unleashed the I.R.S. to harass workers who receive tips.”

Frequently during his rallies, especially when talking about one of his court cases, he tells the audience, “They are coming for YOU, but I am in their way.”  He, and only he, can and will be the great protector for his followers against the evil “Them.”  There’s the fear factor.  He told the multitude of people in Las Vegas, who work for tips, that Kamala Harris cast the deciding vote to bolster the I.R.S. and now the I.R.S. is coming after all those workers who haven’t been declaring all their tips for tax purposes.  He is the only one standing up for his followers against “Them.”  Kamala even wants to increase the number of I.R.S. agents.  If Trump wins the election, he promises to drastically reduce the number of I.R.S. agents.

Ah, there’s the rub. That’s the misdirection.

In 2023, the I.R.S. did use money from the Inflation Reduction Act to pay for 13,661 positions, including 495 for enforcement.  From 2024 to 2030, the agency expects to hire about 32,500 more for enforcement.

That seems to prove Trump’s point.  Magically prove it.  But here’s the tricky part.

The I.R.S. has been focusing on enforcement against large corporations and wealthy taxpayers.  Since the law passed in 2022, the I.R.S. has collected more than $1 billion from high-wealth taxpayers.  They are not targeting the chump change in your tip jar.  They are going after the big bucks, the ultra-rich corporations and the people who refuse to pay their fair share of taxes.  They are not coming after you.  They ARE coming after Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, the chief contributor to J.D. Vance, Rupert Murdock, and the Fortune 500 companies which pay lower income tax rates than the average high-school teacher.

Donald Trump is not your protector.  He is certainly not standing between your tip jar and the I.R.S.  He is trying to get you to protect him.  Vote for him and he will fire half the I.R.S. agents on Day One.  He’ll be glad to do it.  The only thing that will make him happier on Day One is pardoning himself for any and all the crimes he’s committed.

According to the U.S. Constitution, billionaires like Pay Pal founders Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Rupert Murdoch can’t become President, because they were not born in the United States.  Musk was born in South Africa. Thiel was born in Germany, and Murdoch was born in Australia.  They can, however, use their vast media enterprises, social networks, and resources to try to buy the election for a not-so-smart aging white guy who can easily be flattered into tearing up that Constitution and happily cutting taxes for the rich and the restless once again.

We, the People of the United States, need to protect our Constitution and our country.  We need to keep Donald Trump and his ilk as far away from the Oval Office as possible.  We need to elect Harris/Walz in November.

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

Economics 101

by earlthepearl137

There is one advantage to being old.  We, old farts, have been around long enough to have seen a lot.  We can put things in perspective, because at some time in our life, we’ve probably been there, done that, and might even still have the commemorative t-shirt hanging in the back of our closet.

In 1626, a group of Native Americans sold Manhattan Island to the Dutch for approximately $24 in trinkets and jewelry.  If they put that money in the bank and got an annual interest of 6.5% on their money, today that would amount to $1.8 trillion.

Ten years ago, it was estimated that the entire amount of the developable land on Manhattan Island was actually worth approximately $1.74 trillion.  So, the Native Americans weren’t outsmarted, like we’ve been taught to believe.  It was a fair deal for both sides.  Well, it might have been a better deal for the natives, though, since they had no actual deed to the land they sold.  It was like that line in Crocodile Dundy, The Aboriginal people believe that arguing over who owns the land, is like two fleas arguing over who owns the dog.

Many people today are wondering when prices will come down.  I hate to be the one to break the news to you, but the answer is, Never!  Prices only go up.  Real Estate values fluctuate, but, over the long haul, Real Estate has been going up approximately 6.5% a year since 1626.  So, to keep pace, everything else winds up going up in price, too.  That’s what inflation is.  There may be a sale on some items occasionally, but over the years the price always goes up, unless the demand for an item goes down.  I don’t imagine that the cost of buggy whips has risen as steeply as housing.

Real estate is the main driver of inflation.  We all need someplace to live.  We also all need food.

When I was a kid, my mom would tuck a one-dollar bill in my mitten and send me to the store for 3 quarts of milk and a loaf of bread.  A Mom today would have to put a $20 bill in their child’s mitten to get that same grocery order, and she shouldn’t expect to get more than a few dollars back in change, either.

Workers get pay raises but companies insure their own profitability by raising their prices to cover the higher salaries and the higher cost of supplies, and maybe they even give themselves a big bonus for being so smart.  It’s a vicious cycle that has been going on for centuries, and it isn’t going to stop no matter who’s in the White House.

Ten dollars doesn’t buy what it used to, but then again, 50 years ago the minimum wage was $2/hour, and it could take you 5 hours just to earn $10.

Are you better off than you were four years ago?  That’s a trick question you hear very often during an election year.  You nostalgically remember that four years ago everything was cheaper.  You conveniently forget that wages were lower, and worse yet, wages have not been keeping up with the rate of inflation.  So, in terms of spending money, you’re probably worse off.  Companies have switched from honoring employees to honoring shareholders of their stock.  Since the top executives at most companies often own stock in the company, they are far better off today than they were back then, while most of the employees are not.

The problem is not the rising prices.  They’ve been going up in this country for 400 years and will continue to rise forever.  The problem is that wages are not keeping up with rising prices.  When you get a raise, you’re supposed to be able to get ahead, not just get caught up.  You’re not getting the raises you deserve because, like I said, companies care about their shareholders far more than they care about their employees.  To move our economy forward, we need workers to have more clout, and unionizing is how we can do that.  Union Membership is down to only 6%.  In the 50’s it was 35%.  That’s what made those “good old days” so good.  Rising wages for union members resulted in rising wages throughout the industries.  A rising tide lifts all boats.  That was a great time, but union membership declined, and workers lost their clout.  Now, guys like Elon Musk and Donald Trump openly joke on “X” about firing employees who want to join a union.  I don’t think that they know or even care that this is illegal.  They just know that non-union employees are far easier to bully.

You’re never gonna lower the cost of living, but you can demand a living wage by joining a Union.  Together we are very strong.

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

My Take on the Harris-Trump Debate

by earlthepearl137

At the very beginning of the Debate Kamala Harris walked all the way across the stage to shake hands with Donald Trump. He went straight to his podium, but she went in for the handshake, like it was the beginning of a Heavyweight Fight. I think she just wanted to see if his tiny little hands were sweating. If they weren’t sweating then, they sure were over the course of the next 90 minutes as Kamala landed punch after punch, bringing up all the crimes for which he has been indicted or convicted, going all the way back to discrimination in housing when he worked with his father.

Trump told the viewers that he was proud when Viktor Orban told him that other world leaders feared him.  I hate to tell you this, Donald, but you lost the 2020 Presidential election because 80 million Americans were also afraid of you.  We were deeply worried that a madman, who would do anything to line his pockets and remain in power, had access to our nuclear codes.  The whole world was afraid of Donald Trump, and Donald Trump still doesn’t realize that this wasn’t a good thing.  It was a horrible thing.  The world gasped a big sigh of relief when Joe Biden won the Presidency, but they held their breath on January 6th, when Trump tried to use a mob to reverse the results of that election.

Kamala Harris revealed her plan for America, and Donald Trump revealed that he doesn’t have a plan.  His cronies have a plan, it’s called Project 2025, but he denied ever reading it.  That part might be the only honest thing he said all night.  Donald Trump probably didn’t even read the books he is supposed to have written, so I’d have no problem believing that he never read the 900-plus-page report. The ideas contained in Project 2025 were certainly written with him in mind, though.  It also came out that even though Trump tried to kill Obamacare 60 times, he never had a health plan to replace it,  At the debate, Trump finally revealed that nine years later, he still doesn’t have a health plan.  He still only has a “concept of a plan.”

What is his plan for anything?  Probably to put his son-in-law Jared in charge of fixing it, while Trump plays another round of golf. Don’t let that happen. Vote for the Harris/Walz team in November.

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

The Biden Bump

by earlthepearl137

Fans of Stephen Colbert, have long recognized the phenomenon known as “The Colbert Bump,” which is an increase in the popularity of a person (author, musician, politician, etc.) or thing (website, etc.) as a result of appearing as a guest on Stephen Colbert’s show or (in the case of a thing) being mentioned on the show.

Traditionally, Presidential Conventions also have the ability to boost the national recognition and popularity of their speakers and their candidates for President and Vice-President.  So, naturally, the Republicans were hoping that Donald Trump and J.D. Vance would enjoy a bump in popularity following their convention.  There were three things, however, that were working against them.

The first thing was their Presidential candidate.  Ex-President Trump was already the most recognized politician in America.  The convention wasn’t going to be able to introduce him to any new audience.  All they could do was trot him out to the same MAGA Cult followers who have attended dozens of his rallies in the past.  To them, he is a “rock star,” because he had a TV program, and because they know he will publicly say outrageous things.  To everyone else, he is a narcissistic, disgraced, twice-impeached, convicted sex offender and 34-time convicted felon, who stole top secret U.S. documents and tried but failed to overthrow the government on January 6th, 2021.

The second thing was the Republican platform.  They spent four days talking about the problems in America, but didn’t have any suggestions for solving these problems other than mass deportation of minorities and punishing women who didn’t want to be pregnant.  They spent four days suggesting that our problems would go away if our President wasn’t 81 years old.  Of course, they didn’t have any way to explain how 78-year-old Donald Trump was going to remain 78 for the next 4 years if he got back into the White House.

One speaker at the Republican convention ridiculously asked the age-old political question to the conventioneers, “Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?”  The meatheads in the audience gave a resounding “No!”  Apparently, they thought that 2020 was a great year.  I’d like to jar their memory with a montage of how things really were in 2020 when Donald Trump was President.

The third thing was the Biden Bump.  Joe Biden isn’t the most eloquent speaker.  He had to overcome a severe stuttering problem as a child.  He has worked in Government for decades, though.  He knows how to get things done.  Even though they had to deal with a divided Congress, he and Kamala Harris still managed to rescue the economy and change the course of the Pandemic.  He got the infrastructure bill passed and lowered the price of prescription drugs.  He created millions of new jobs and lowered unemployment to the point that more Americans are working now than at any point in American History.

That was only the first part of the Biden Bump.  He listened patiently as Republicans spent four days disparaging his age, and then he dropped the bomb on them.  Just when they were hoping to enjoy a post-convention honeymoon with America, he turned the tables on them.  He suddenly withdrew from the race and immediately threw his support behind Kamala Harris.  This left the Republicans with nothing.  They had spent four days playing the age card, the only weapon they had.  Now, will 78-year-old Trump dare play the age card against 59-year-old Kamala Harris?  I think not.  I don’t think “Fox News” will bring it up, either.  By waiting until after the Republican convention to tag off to his fresh tag-team partner, Biden-Harris pinned Trump, Vance, and Hulk Hogan to the mat.  Like I said, Joe Biden may not be as good a speaker as Donald Trump, but he knows how to get the job done.  One.  Two.  Three.  It’s over.  The winner – American Democracy.

Now all we have to do is turn out in record numbers in November to elect Kamala Harris and a majority of Democratic Senators and Congressmen to kick Trump to the curb one final time.

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

Too Soon?

by earlthepearl137

In his Christian New Testament Epistle to the Galatians, Paul the Apostle wrote: “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” The Bible also says, “For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.”  I’m sure that Donald Trump, the conman Bible salesman is familiar with these quotes, even if he never read them.

Donald Trump has been sowing the seeds of hatred for years, and yesterday there was an alleged assassination attempt against him at a rally in Butler, PA.  News sources reported that the shooter, 20-year-old registered Republican Thomas Matthew Crooks was shot dead by snipers at the scene.

If a Democrat had been shot, Donald Trump and his low-life friends like Steve Bannon would probably call it a False Flag operation.  If a Democrat had been shot, they would have said that Antifa did it, or maybe it was just tourists out for a stroll.

Trump led a bloody insurrection against the country on January 6, 2021, and he promised this country a “bloodbath” if he was not elected in 2024.  Kevin Roberts, the President of the Heritage Foundation, is behind Project 2025, the right-wing’s plan to take over the country.  He threatened the left recently stating, “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”  These guys have been threatening the country with bloodshed for years.  Trump wanted to execute people like Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, for disagreeing with him.  Not happy with just macing peaceful protesters for a photo op with the Bible, he wants to be able to shoot them on sight, something that the First Amendment strongly disallows.  So, he wants to scrap the Constitution, jail his political rivals, and send tens of thousands of Americans into detention camps.  He wants to be a dictator on day one if he gets re-elected.

Unlike draft dodging Trump, there were no bone spurs for this guy, General Millie.

Now the Republicans are shocked that they are reaping the whirlwind, and are shedding a little of their own blood.  Trump is lucky that the bullet only nicked his ear.  If the bullet had been 3 feet lower, it would have gone through his brain.

Republicans and Democrats quickly joined in a rare bi-partisan show of support today.  A poll of politicians would find that 100% of them are opposed to violence against politicians.  Mass shootings in schools, okay.  Violence on the street, okay, but when a citizen attacks a politician, they lose their minds.  They’re always quick to quote the Second Amendment when they fill their pockets with money from the gun lobby, but they forget that the founding fathers encouraged citizens to fight against tyrants.  Thomas Jefferson said that the strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms, is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.  “When governments fear the people, there is liberty.  When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.  Donald Trump wants to be a tyrant.

The Republicans haven’t shown any intention of supporting stronger gun control laws in the wake of this tragedy.  I’m waiting for one of them to declare, “If Trump was armed, he could have shot back.”  Who’s going to tell these a**holes that convicted felons aren’t allowed to carry guns, and Donald Trump has been indicted on 91 felony charges and already convicted of 34 of them.

I, personally, don’t believe that violence is the answer.  I hate Trump as much as anyone, but in this country we have laws against shooting people.  Of course, Donald Trump and the corrupt members of the Supreme Court he appointed believe that Donald Trump is above the law, but the rest of us are still subject to it.  So, I won’t take any violent action against him, but I will wear out my knees if I have to praying that someday soon, Donald Trump will choke to death on a Big Mac.

I refuse to shed crocodile tears for Donald Trump’s bloody ear.  I am truly sorry that innocent people were killed at the rally in Butler, though.  His cult followers may not be too bright, but stupid isn’t a crime.  They are perfectly allowed to support the candidate of their choice and shouldn’t have to worry about being shot for it.  The same goes for Biden supporters who shouldn’t have to be afraid that if they put a Biden sign on their lawn, a rock will come through their window and a family member might get hurt.

Since the shooter is dead, we may never know why Thomas Crooks climbed on that roof and took a shot at Donald Trump and his supporters.  Of course, the Republicans, Q Anon, and Fox News will blame Joe Biden, Barrack Obama, and Hillary Clinton.

If you watched a video of the assassination attempt, you will see that the first words out of Donald Trump’s mouth to his supporters were “Fight.  Fight.  Fight.”  It was just like that January day in 2021, when he told his supporters that if they wanted to hold onto their country they had to go to the Capital and “Fight like hell.”  Donald Trump understands that “Those who live by the sword, die by the sword.”  He just believes that he has enough followers who will “fall on their sword” to protect him.  Don’t allow him to milk this event to attract supporters.  He brought it on himself.  He inherited the Whirlwind, and he deserves to die, not at the hands of an assassin, though, but in a gallows, as the result of a guilty verdict in a court of law for the treason he committed on January 6, 2021.

Too soon?  …or not soon enough?

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

Conversation with Claude

by earlthepearl137

Whenever I want an unbiased opinion, I turn to my AI program, Claude. Here’s our latest conversation.

Me: There is talk today of replacing Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate for President because of his lackluster performance at a recent debate. The last time that the Democrats made a big change late in the race, Hubert Humphrey lost badly, because there just wasn’t enough time for his campaign to get going. Any comments on that election?

Claude: As an AI assistant, I want to clarify that my knowledge cutoff is in April 2024, so I don’t have information about recent events or debates that may have occurred after that date. However, I can comment on the historical example you mentioned and provide some general thoughts on late candidate changes in presidential races.

The election you’re referring to is likely the 1968 United States presidential election. In that race, incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson decided not to seek re-election, which led to a chaotic Democratic primary season. Hubert Humphrey, who was Johnson’s Vice President, entered the race late and secured the nomination at the Democratic National Convention without participating in any primaries.

You’re correct that Humphrey’s late entry into the race was a significant factor in his loss to Republican candidate Richard Nixon. Some key points about that election:

  1. Timing: Humphrey didn’t become the nominee until the Democratic National Convention in late August, leaving him only about two months for his general election campaign.
  2. Party division: The Democratic Party was deeply divided over issues like the Vietnam War, which made it difficult for Humphrey to unite the party quickly.
  3. Fundraising challenges: Starting late meant Humphrey had less time to raise money and build a robust campaign infrastructure.
  4. Messaging: Humphrey struggled to differentiate himself from Johnson’s policies, particularly on Vietnam, which was unpopular with many voters.

The 1968 election does illustrate the potential risks of changing candidates late in the process. It takes time to build campaign infrastructure, raise funds, refine messaging, and connect with voters across the country.

However, it’s important to note that every election is unique, and the political landscape has changed significantly since 1968. Modern campaigns have different tools and strategies at their disposal, including social media and data-driven outreach, which could potentially allow for faster mobilization.

If you’d like me to elaborate on any aspects of the 1968 election or discuss how late candidate changes might play out in a modern context, I’d be happy to do so.

Me: Please discuss how late candidate changes might play out in a modern context.

Claude: In a modern context, late candidate changes would face both challenges and opportunities that differ from those in 1968. Here’s an analysis of how such a scenario might unfold today:

  1. Media landscape: The 24-hour news cycle and social media platforms allow for rapid information dissemination. A new candidate could potentially gain widespread attention and name recognition much faster than in the past. However, this also means increased scrutiny and less time to refine messaging.
  2. Fundraising: Modern campaigns rely heavily on online fundraising. A new candidate with strong appeal could potentially raise significant funds quickly through grassroots donations. However, they would still be at a disadvantage compared to opponents who have been fundraising for months or years.
  3. Campaign infrastructure: Digital tools and data analytics allow for quicker setup of campaign operations. However, building a ground game in key states still takes time and resources.
  4. Party unity: In today’s polarized political climate, the need for party unity might actually make it easier for a new candidate to rally support, especially if they’re seen as more electable.
  5. Voter engagement: With early voting and mail-in ballots becoming more common, a late change could mean some voters have already cast their ballots for the original candidate.
  6. Debate preparation: A new candidate would have less time to prepare for debates, which are crucial in modern campaigns. This could be a significant disadvantage.
  7. Legal and procedural hurdles: Changing candidates late in the process could face legal challenges and complications with ballot access in some states.
  8. Public perception: The public might view a late change as a sign of party disarray, but it could also be seen as responsiveness to voter concerns.
  9. Opposition research: A new candidate might face less thorough opposition research initially, but opponents would likely intensify efforts to find damaging information quickly.
  10. Policy positions: A new candidate would need to quickly establish clear policy positions, which could be challenging without seeming unprepared or contradicting party platforms.

While modern technology and communication methods could help a new candidate get up to speed more quickly than in past decades, they would still face significant challenges. The compressed timeframe would require exceptional organizational skills, a strong existing public profile, and the ability to quickly unite the party and appeal to a broad electorate.

The success of such a change would likely depend on the specific circumstances, the chosen candidate’s strengths, and the overall political climate at the time.

Me: It’s important that twice impeached, convicted felon, Donald Trump should never even be allowed near The White House. Many Democrats would make much better Presidents than Don the Con. Some might even be stronger opponents than Joe Biden, but Joe Biden has come out of the primaries as the victor, and unless he himself decides not to run, like LBJ did, or if he should have other major problems, he will be the Democratic candidate for President. It’s time for the party to unite behind him. A split Democratic Party, and the impact of RFK Jr.’s 3rd Party candidacy could negatively affect the outcome of the election, and the unthinkable might happen. We cannot let a narcissistic criminal like Donald Trump back in the White House. It’s actually time for the Democrats to take a page from the Republican Playbook and remember the words of Abraham Lincoln: “Don’t swap horses in the middle of the stream.”

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

Buyer Beware

by earlthepearl137

The other night, I was happily watching old clips of my favorite late-night hosts mocking Donald Trump’s legal problems.  This particular clip from 8 months ago was from a Seth Meyers segment called “A Closer Look,” and I did take a closer look – at one of Donald Trump’s Lawyers.  Alina Habba had appeared, up until this point, as a lawyer who Donald Trump hired just for her looks.  In this clip, however, I could see the legal wheels turning inside her head, as it dawned on her that her client was incriminating himself.

Trump was outside the courthouse explaining why he couldn’t possibly be guilty of defrauding anyone, because there is a disclaimer at the beginning of all his financial statements that basically says, do your own research, this report is “Worthless.”  Alina Habba, who had been standing dutifully in the background trying not to look bored, suddenly realized that her client was saying something he shouldn’t be saying.  She realized that he was verbally putting a noose around his own neck, and she wondered what she could do to stop him.

She looks over at the other attorneys, with a look that says, You’ve got to stop him, before he digs a hole so deep that we all fall into it.

She was probably thinking about all the lawyers whose careers were ruined because they got involved with Donald Trump.  Rudy Guiliani, who at one time was known as America’s mayor, served as Trump’s personal attorney and is now hawking organic coffee to try to stave off bankruptcy.  The number of lawyers Trump has thrown under the bus to save his own sorry ass is legion, and I’ll bet Alina was thinking that the name Alina Habba was about to be added to the long list of collateral damage that has resulted from an association with Donald Trump.

Trump rambled on and I guess Alina’s mind did, too, as she thought of the people on the list of disgraced Trump lawyers that she would soon be joining.  Kenneth Chesebro, James Troupis, and cute little Jenna Ellis, who we all remember pleading guilty to RICO charges in Georgia with tears pouring down her remorseful face.  Then, of course, there are John Eastman, Christina Bobb, Jeffrey Clark, and Sidney Powell.  Who could forget her?  She threatened to “release the Kraken.”  Instead, she opened up a can of whoop ass that she spilled all over herself.

Michael Cohen went to jail for Trump.  Nowadays, he’s a star witness against Trump.  There were more.  If Alina searched her memory for other lawyers who had been tossed overboard in the wake created by Donald J. Trump cruising through their lives.  In Georgia alone, there were Cleta Mitchell, Ray Smith, and Robert Cheeley.

Maybe she was also thinking about the Trump supporters who went to jail for the insurrection at the Capital on January 6th.  In his current campaign for the Presidency, he’s proclaiming that if elected he will issue pardons to them.  Funny how that thought never occurred to him in his last two weeks in office, when he actually had the power to issue pardons.  Maybe he was just too busy issuing pardons to some of his other criminal associates, like Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Stephen K. Bannon, or George Papadopoulos.  He didn’t think about his “J-6 warriors” in jail, until he got the idea to use them in his run for re-election.

Alina wanted desperately to stop Trump’s rambling speech that day.  Look at that last picture.  She’s not looking at Trump.  She’s looking at her colleagues.  Her eyes were trying to send a message to the other attorneys, “Somebody, please, stop him.”

Of course, she wasn’t able to control him, and, of course, Trump lost another legal case.  Sure, he can get thousands of red hat cult members to attend his rallies, but he just can’t seem to find a single juror, who isn’t convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that he is guilty.  E. Jean Carroll beat him in court twice.  His corporation lost a big fraud case in court.  Then he lost almost a half billion dollars in his own personal fraud case.  He was recently found guilty of 34 felony charges and 10 acts of Contempt of Court.  He has a few more court cases coming up, which look like slam dunks for the Prosecution, which his appointees on the Supreme Court are trying to stall until after the election, so that he may be able to pardon himself.

What Alina’s eyes were saying that day outside the courtroom is exactly what I would like to say to all the people who will be voting in November, “Please, stop him.”  The best way to preserve our Democracy is to use the most powerful tool that Democracy has ever given us to do just that, the ballot box.  The barbarians aren’t at the gate anymore.  They crashed the gate long ago, and they’re gonna try to storm the Capital again.  Please, stop Donald Trump.  Use your vote against him and his ilk, and stop them all.  A grateful country will thank you by flying the flag right-side up.

If you care to judge for yourself what Alina Habba was thinking just watch this clip from A Closer Look  (to save time, you can just need to watch 50 seconds of the 30-minute clip from the 5:36 to the 6:26 mark):

Bing Videos

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl