Tag: politics

Rest in Peace, Thou Shalt Not Kill

by earlthepearl137

Napoleon Bonaparte said: “Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich,” suggesting that religion serves as a societal control mechanism, providing the poor with a reason to accept their situation and not revolt against the wealthy.

I find this statement to be somewhat true, even if one of the first Bible stories is about Cain murdering his brother Abel, but I find it ironic that this line was spoken by Napoleon.  He rose to prominence during the French Revolution.  He was only a boy at the beginning, but he knew that it was a time when the poor were merrily sending the rich off to the Guillotine, and he was on the side of the people.  Those mass murders, however, only proved to be a temporary band-aid for the serious problem of income inequality.  We still face it today, and it’s only getting worse.

A recent story in the news reminds me of the TV show Leverage, which centers around a prominent Insurance investigator, Nate Ford, who is played by Timothy Hutton.  Nate has saved his company millions of dollars by recovering stolen artwork. His son, Sam Ford, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and Nate fought tirelessly to get the insurance company to cover the experimental treatment his son needed. However, the company refused to pay for the treatment, and Sam tragically passed away. This devastating loss led Nate to leave his job, get divorced, and spiral into alcoholism.

Then, Nate decides that he will dedicate his life to helping others who are facing overwhelming odds. The show follows a five-person team of thieves, led by Ford, who use their skills to carry out heists to help ordinary people fight against the rich and powerful, to correct corporate and governmental injustices.  It’s a modern-day Robin Hood story, except that his team does not murder anyone.  Eliot Spencer, the muscle on his team, will beat up bad guys left and right, but he doesn’t kill anyone.  They are not vigilantes like Batman.  They only provide “Leverage.”

They’re not like Paul Kersey, the character played by Charles Bronson in the 1974 film Death Wish. Paul Kersey was an architect who became a vigilante after his wife was murdered and his daughter was raped during a home invasion. That film follows his journey as he takes the law into his own hands to fight crime in New York City.

New York City is a hot spot for real-life vigilantes.   Bernhard Goetz, known as the “Subway Vigilante,” was famous back in 1984.  The Guardian Angels founded by Curtis Sliwa still patrol neighborhoods of New York.  In a recent case, Daniel Penny, a former Marine, was acquitted of murder in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway.  And now, we have the intriguing December 2024 case of Luigi Mangione who is accused of killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, an insurance company.  This is the case that reminds me of the show Leverage, even though the TV Leverage cast members never resorted to murdering anyone.

Mangione, who was not insured by UnitedHealthcare, targeted Thompson possibly because of the company’s size, record of denying claims, and his own painful back injury. This incident has reignited discussions about healthcare and insurance, much like the issues Nate Ford faced in “Leverage.”

Luigi, I assume will plead Not guilty, even though he has said, “I do apologize for any strife or traumas, but it had to be done.  Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming.”

That reminds me of a terrific scene from the play Chicago.  Cell Block Tango, where the six accused murderesses sing, “He had it coming.”

Cell block tango (Chicago, 2002) + Sub (Eng, Rus)

As of this moment, it looks like Luigi has quite a growing following, as almost everyone knows somebody who has been screwed over by an Insurance Company.  It is highly likely that somebody will start a Go Fund Me page for him, and it is also likely that the good-looking man with the washboard abs will receive a few marriage proposals from his fans. 

I, of course, do not promote murder, but I do feel that those who have been screwed over by the system do deserve some form of justice.  As long as the top 1% own about 26% of the total wealth, and the bottom 50% of households own only 2.5% of the total wealth, income inequality will lead to problems similar to those that sparked the French to revolt against the Aristocracy back when Napoleon was just a boy.

The weekly massacres of school children in this country have done little to bring about reform in our nation’s gun-control laws.  Will the murder of one CEO have any effect? 

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

That Was The Year That Was

by earlthepearl137

Back in 1962, the British had a TV show called, That Was the Week that Was, which starred David Frost, who also starred in the American spin-off of the show in 1964.  It satirized the news of the week and influenced later comedic shows like Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live.  It was a forerunner of fake-news programs like The Daily Show.

Well, now it’s December and this long year is finally about to end, so I thought I’d take a look back at 2024, and oh what a year it was.  The U.S. Presidential election was held in 2024, but I’m going to ignore that here.  I promised some friends that I would lay off politics for the rest of December, as an early Christmas present to them.

Politics may have dominated the news in 2024, but, fortunately for me, it wasn’t the only thing.  Artificial Intelligence (AI) was the most talked about development in computing.  Like politics, though, it also had people divided.  AI had strong supporters who see it as a tool on par with the first use of fire and the invention of the wheel. It also had strong detractors who saw it as a weapon that would eventually eliminate humans from the planet, or make us slaves or pets to our robot overlords.

Originally, most AI programs available to the public just dealt with text.  You could type a prompt into your computer and the AI would type back a response.  Sometimes it was very accurate and at other times it was caught “hallucinating” an answer that it made up out of thin air, with no actual connection to reality (kinda like Fox News).  Ooops, it’s not easy for me to go off politics cold turkey.

AI now gives us images, such as the one above, where I asked AI to show Old Man 2024 staggering at the finish line on New Year’s Day.  I had to reword my description several times before the AI finally created an Old Man 2024 who didn’t look and dress like Santa Claus.

My AI photo problem was nothing compared to the Pandora’s Box of fake images that were generated by AI in 2024.  Every scandal seemed to find itself accompanied by dozens of fake images that supposedly “proved” the false claims.  I found it odd that AI’s photo creator doesn’t seem sure about the number of fingers people are supposed to have.  In addition to everything else, AI’s training input must have included hundreds of thousands of pictures from cartoons.

Space was also a big tech topic of 2024, with various companies offering customers a taste of what it was like to be an astronaut by taking them on short flights into upper space.  Elon Musk even started touting journeys to Mars. I can’t wait for the day when science can send Elon to Mars.  (Ooops, I’m slipping.)

Combining big tech with AI, the concept of self-driving cars was another big topic in 2024.  As usual, it had its proponents and detractors.  The proponents celebrated its convenience.  The detractors screamed that self-driving cars were not 100% perfected and could lead to traffic fatalities.  Of course, the proponents showed data that even if a few cars did kill a few people, they were still a whole lot safer than human drivers, especially ones who had been drinking. I wondered if self-driving car companies would be held responsible for vehicular deaths since gun manufacturers are not responsible for gun deaths. I’m sure that Elon Musk’s new Department of Government Efficiency will figure that one out.

One item that made the news this year in Europe, but was ignored by American media was the reverse art theft at a German art museum.  The “reverse museum heist” took place at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, Germany. An employee, who was also an aspiring artist, decided to hang one of his own paintings in the museum’s modern art collection.

He managed to do this unnoticed because he was carrying tools for an installation project and had access to the gallery outside of opening hours. The painting, which was about 45 inches wide and 25 inches tall, hung on the wall for several hours before museum staff discovered it.

The museum staff decided to leave the painting up until closing time before taking it down. The employee was later fired and banned from visiting the museum. The German police are investigating him on charges of property damage because he drilled two small holes in the wall to hang his painting.

In January of this year, the airlines were also in the news, when an Alaska Airlines flight experienced a door flying off mid-flight.  Remember that?  I’ll bet they do. For the rest of their lives, too.

As this year comes to an end, the manhunt for the man who murdered an insurance company CEO, seems also to be ending with the apprehension of Luigi Mangione in a MacDonalds restaurant in Altoona, PA.  One of the employees recognized him from his photo and called the cops.  McDonalds, if the e-coli doesn’t get you, our employees will. 

As usual, even this case had people on both sides of the fence. It seemed that people who had previous problems with their insurance companies saw a silver lining in the enormous black cloud.  They (secretly, if not openly) hoped that the murder might lead to insurance companies lowering their rates and denying fewer claims.  We really do need universal health care in the U.S.  (Ooops, I don’t want to slip into politics again.  So, I’ll let the late great Barry White do it for me.)

Somebody’s Gonna Off The Man – Barry White and Love Unlimited Orchestra (1974) – YouTube

What intrigued me most about the CEO murder case, though, was the fact that a “ghost gun” was used.  A “ghost gun” is a weapon that you can make at home using a 3-D printer.  “Alexa, make me an untraceable gun.”

We’re worried about what AI can do…Heck, anything bad AI can do, we can already do better (or should that be worser?)  I wonder how Congress will react to a do-it-yourself gun.  Will they spring into action and outlaw the machine code that enables a 3-D printer to make such a weapon, or just blame “Tik Tok,” social media, and video games?  I bet they just sit on their thumbs until somebody actually prints out an “assault ghost gun” at home and takes it to school, or to the Capital.  (Ooops, I can’t seem to avoid that slippery slope into Politics.)

Don’t get me wrong.  All the gun news wasn’t bad this year, though.  We did all get to enjoy clip after clip of Australia’s Olympic answer to the Jamaican Bobsled Team, Rachael “Raygun” Gunn doing her now world-famous break-dancing routine. Here’s one more clip for you. I got a kick out of this short video that Terry Moore compiled for YouTube.

Raygun

So, that was just a bit of the year that was.  Last year, I didn’t make any New Year’s Resolutions, but this year I do have one.  Stop making promises to not write about Politics and You-know-who, the orange guy, because that appears to be a harder resolution for me to keep than my usual failed-resolution of trying to lose 25 pounds.

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl

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

His Lies are Marching on…

by earlthepearl137

Since 1912, Pravda has been the official newspaper of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union/Russia.  Pravda is a Russian word that means “truth.”  If you’re going to spread lies and propaganda, of course, the first step is to choose a name that will make the public, at least subconsciously, think you are telling the truth.

This is a lesson that Putin taught his prize student very well.  So, when Donald Trump, a renowned serial liar started his social media platform, he, of course, called it Truth Social.

Donald Trump has learned from Vladimir Putin, because he admires the man who has controlled Russia with an iron fist for the past 25 years.  Donald Trump wants to be the Putin President.

Before Donald Trump ran for President he was interested in building a Trump Tower in Moscow.  Part of his plan to get that tower approved, included offering to give the top floor to Putin.  It was just another in a series of business deals that Trump made with Russia, as American banks shied away from dealing with the man who bankrupted two Atlantic City casinos and four other businesses.  His partners in the 2006 Trump Soho project in New York included a former official of the Soviet Union, who had previously confessed to felony fraud involving organized crime, Felix Henry Sater born Felix Mikhailovich Sheferovsky.

In 2008, Donald Trump Jr. admitted that money was pouring in from Russia for Trump properties, as Russian Oligarchs invested in and bought Trump properties.  In 2013 Eric Trump said that Russians provided financing that American Banks would not.

Then, in 2013, in another attempt to curry favor with Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump took his Miss Universe pageant to Moscow.

Donald Trump, a wannabe dictator himself, lies when he says that he cares about the American people.  He cares more about pleasing Vladimir Putin.

Four days ago, Donald Trump had a photo opportunity driving around in a garbage truck.  Tomorrow is election day, and we the people can finally put an end to Donald Trump’s lies and his political career.  It’s time for America to take out the trash, and dump Trump into the dustbin of history.  The truth will set you free.

Vote for Harris/Walz.

Edith Ann – “And thats the truth”

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

Roe, Roe, Roe – and What’s Next

by earlthepearl137

On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court issued its landmark 7–2 decision in Roe v. Wade, protecting a woman’s constitutional right to choose.

The Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, made by the US Supreme Court on June 24, 2022, overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, and removed the constitutional right to abortion in the United States. The decision gave states the power to regulate abortion access, and it has led to significant changes in abortion access across the country.

In the case of Engel v. Vitale, The Supreme Court ruled in 1962 that school-sponsored prayer in public schools is unconstitutional. 

I think that this will be the next thing that Evangelical Christians will use this Supreme Court to try to overturn.

Why?  It’s the same reason that Evangelical Christians overthrew Roe v Wade.  It’s because they’re losing, and they’re scared.

Losing?  They’re winning, you might say.  They got what they wanted, but I ask you, for how long?

We like to say that our country was founded by people who came here to promote religious freedom.  That’s just not true.  The country was founded by people who were not welcomed in Europe because their religious beliefs were not accepted by the ruling majority.  The Pilgrims came here because Europe didn’t want them.  They didn’t come here to promote all religious freedom.  They came here for the freedom to practice their religion.

Other religious groups came here for the same reason, for the freedom to practice their religion, not to promote religious freedom for everyone.  Some groups, like the Mormons, sprung up with new, unpopular religions, and they migrated to Utah, to have a place where they could freely practice a religion that the majority of the country thought was weird.

So, while many of the first settlers came here to be able to openly practice their religious beliefs, not all of their descendants continued to practice that religion.  Some converted to other religions, and some even stopped believing in God.  There are now dozens of different religions being practiced in the United States, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, Baha’i, Wicca, Native American religions, and many others.

And then came Communism, an ideology that included Atheism.  With that, came the Cold War.  Good God-fearing people of the U.S. vs the godless Russians.  We had to win the Cold War, because we had God on our side.  We were, therefore, morally superior.  To further our cause, the phrase “one nation under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance in the United States on June 14, 1954, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill into law. 

On July 30, 1956, the 84th Congress passed a joint resolution “declaring ‘IN GOD WE TRUST’ the national motto of the United States.” The resolution passed both the House and the Senate unanimously and without debate. It replaced E pluribus unum, (Out of many, one.) which had existed before as a de facto official motto.  Take that you godless Ruskies.  We had God on our side, and we could prove it.  It said so right on our money.

Then The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991.  We didn’t need to invoke the alliance of an almighty God to defeat the Russians, anymore.  We won.

But like the song says, “Something’s lost when something’s gained.”  When we faced the Soviet Union only 2% of Americans called themselves Atheists.  Since the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, however, those numbers are growing steadily.  Today, about 28% of U.S. adults are religiously unaffiliated, describing themselves as atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular” when asked about their religion.  A growing percentage of Americans want freedom of religion to now also include freedom from religion.

This is why religious organizations are getting scared.  Church attendance is way down.  32% of Americans attended church weekly in 2000. Now, according to Gallup, only 20% of Americans attend church every week, while only 41% attend at least once a month.  The percentage of Americans who never or seldom attend religious services is 57%.  That translates to fewer people tossing their money into the collection plate, which is a major concern for all religions.  God may be all-powerful, but He still needs money to carry on His work.

So, the Religious Right is leading the charge to bring back religion, but deep down they know it is a losing battle.  While they still have the numbers, though, they are doing everything in their power to legislate religion.  In Louisiana, they recently passed a law to display the Ten Commandments in every public school.  They are threatening doctors who perform abortions with jail time, and they are screaming that all the school shootings are not caused by assault weapons, but by the assault on religion.  They don’t want to get rid of the guns. Their answer is to bring back mandatory prayers in school.

White groups are also worried about losing their grip on America.  With less than 61% of the population representing as White, they are afraid that soon they will be the minority.  They’ve already seen the country elect a mixed-race President.  So, they are trying to limit the number of non-whites who can enter this country and become citizens.  They want to limit immigration to only the “good countries,” meaning, of course, the white countries.

White Nationalists and Christian Fundamentalists are combining in a futile effort to bring back “the good old days” when only white men became President and God was on our side.  They won’t do anything  about assault weapons in the schools, but they will be down on their knees praying for the overturning of Engel v. Vitale, and a return to the “good old days.”

To quote Kamala Harris. “We’re not going back.”

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