I Thank You

I’d like to take this opportunity during this Thanksgiving Week to give thanks for things that make my life better.

First, I want to thank whoever is tracking everything TFG has done since January of 2025, so that it can be reversed once sanity returns to the office. (Assuming the current discontent carries over to next November and the Current Occupant is unable to postpone/cancel the election, spike the results, or overthrow the whole thing.) 

Never has someone been so destructive in so many areas in such a short amount of time. The List will be immense, so the task is daunting. I think it would be easier to obtain all the Infinity Stones, put them into the gauntlet, and snap your fingers for a complete reset than to fix each abomination one by one. We truly have our work cut out for us, but that depends on people keeping copious notes. (Don’t look at me, I have important Retired Guy things to do, like figure out how Medicare works.)

Speaking of retirement, I give thanks that I had the means to step away from the corporate world rather than submit to their insanity, and then survive their final retribution of canning my ass. If I hadn’t been socking money away like a demented hoarder for the last 15 years, I’d be screwed. As I’ve mentioned before, if that had happened to me ten years earlier, I’d have been in dire straits. (That money is NOT for nothing.)

I’m immensely thankful for my wife, Sweetpea, without whom I wouldn’t have survived the COVID Era, let alone the Laid Off Era. When we got together, she brought as much to the table as I did, and has been a steadfast partner through thick and thin. Without her, I’d have spent three years alone in my apartment going stir-crazy. Not that I like being around crowds of people, but it’s good to talk to somebody once in a while. If not for her, I’d have probably caught an early version of COVID from going out to bars, movies, and sports events, before it was really safe to do so. In fact, my liver thanks her as well because I would have become an everyday regular down at the local bar, which would have been my only human contact.

She was the reason I was able to take my mom in for nine months after Dad passed. Even working from home, I could not have done that myself. Our world was tossed upside-down because of my side of the family, a mere three years after getting married, so her understanding made the whole situation possible.

Lastly, I’m thankful to you for stopping by to read my brain droppings. There aren’t many of you left, so I appreciate every click you give me. I think I’m getting more bots than eyeballs anymore. I don’t know if they’re government spook-bots looking for dissention, or AI skimmers wanting to refine their snarky writing capabilities, or just web crawlers looking to monetize, digitize, and serve with fries. I’m thankful for every human who stops by, especially if they have something to add.

I hope you have a safe and peaceful Thanksgiving. See you next week, for the onset of…DAH DAH DAHHHHH… Christmas Season!

(I put the over/under on how many times I hear that plinky-plinky Nutcracker theme in commercials at 350,000.)

 

Director's DVD Commentary: One last thanks to Sam and Dave, and ZZ Top for the post title.

Epstein's Revenge

Don’t be alarmed by that giant crrrracking sound! It’s merely the wall around the Epstein documents crumbling down around the ankles of the current Administration. What started with three single incriminating emails leaked from Democrats in Congress continued with 20,000 emails released from the Epstein estate. It’s only a matter of time before the whole cache is turned over. That’s the thing about information, especially info this sick and tawdry; it will always come out. Nothing remains a secret forever. The only question is whether it comes out in time to do something with the contents.

No matter what the official spin is, this is bad news for the president, because he is literally all over the emails.

It’s funny how the official story has bounced around like an old Super Ball in a crawl space. We’ve seen:

·         Trump running on a platform to release all Epstein files

·         Claiming to release the files with much fanfare, except it’s all material that was already public

·         The Attorney General said the files are on her desk for review

·         The AG then said there is no list, and all material shows there is nothing actionable or illegal

·         The president called the whole thing a “Democrat hoax” (just like every other piece of bad news he’s ever heard).

·         The Speaker of the House refused to swear in a legally elected Representative for over 40 days, solely because she would be the last vote needed to pass a resolution requiring the release of the documents.

·         And now, with a hoard of evidence showing that every preceding statement was a load of rubbish, the AG says what’s in there proves the president hasn’t done anything wrong.

I’m not sure what planet she’s from, but a basic reading of just those first three emails shows that TFG was up to his eyeballs in teenage girls. They show he knew about it, he participated in it, and we can all see from his Administration’s actions, they’re actively covering it up. Additional documents show that there’s a case for financial malfeasance that’s just as serious as all the jailbait rapey stuff. Millions of dollars went in one side and emerged, freshly laundered, from another.

Do you notice how the go-to remark from TFG is that he did “nothing wrong?” He rarely says “I’m innocent,” or “I didn’t do that,” he says he did “nothing wrong.” I think he’s leaning on the famed “Costanza Defense,” where on Seinfeld, George utters the immortal line,

I’m sure that for all of these sexual crimes of which he’s been accused, he really believes he didn’t do anything wrong. Why? Because being him, he deserves the adulation and compliance of any woman he chooses. He only took what was coming to him. Hence, it’s not wrong.

Now, I don’t know how that would hold up in court, but he can try to make the case that he didn’t know such actions were wrong. It would be de facto admitting he doesn’t know how to be a human being, but I don’t think he cares much about that. I’m sure he thinks he’s above human decency.

We also have Russia coming into it, as Epstein apparently lent his expertise to the Russians on how to handle his friend Donald.

So now, the next brainstorm from the White House is to order the Justice Department to investigate the Epstein Files for evidence against the Clintons and other Democratic opponents.

I’m sure that by mentioning the banks, he’s counting on them to finance his defense, if not go on the attack themselves.

Obviously, any Administration with a moral compass would say, “Investigate everything and pursue lawbreakers.” But that’s not how these guys work. They look at Justice as their own personal legal team, obligated to defend all of their wrongdoings and prosecute opponents at every opportunity, including ones they made up out of thin air.

And they keep saying, “What if Clinton or Obama is in there?” They can’t fathom that we Democrats are overwhelmingly on the side of: “If they committed the crime, they can do the time.” We don’t tolerate shit-heels on our side. Where Republicans defend to the death every party leader in legal jeopardy, Democrats vote them off the island.

As for the fabled Congressional Resolution to release the files, it looks like the House will vote Aye, and the Senate may as well. There’s definitely the feel of rats fleeing the Titanic, because when this is eventually over, those defending the pedophiles are going to look very bad for making that possibly career-ending choice.

And if, somehow, both houses of Congress pass the bill, it has to be signed by Exhibit A, who will never do that. At least not without somehow scrubbing and destroying material that implicates him. It may or may not be successful, but he’ll try. He’ll never just cooperate. It’s against his DNA to comply with prosecution or accept blame for this or anything. So the big question will be whether there are enough votes in the Senate to overturn the veto. And again, there just may be, especially if there are continued leaks that condemn the president.

The wild card may be the Epstein estate. There’s a good possibility that they haven’t turned over everything. They may have even more damaging stuff, like photos and videos, showing the Orange Turd in action. Sure, TFG will fight about authenticity, but if the material is real, independent verification will confirm it. AI productions leave tracks and metadata. There would be something visceral about actually seeing a grown-ass man rubbing shoulders (and whatever) with 14-15-year-old girls, who, no matter what Megyn Kelly says, are still children. I think that could erode the support of most of the remaining holdouts, who may then join the rest of the conscience-bearing American people and seek to toss this clown out on his ass.

Midweek Update: Now that the Senate has passed the resolution and TFG says he'll sign it, let's see what gets released. My belief is that there will be nothing released that implicates the president or his biggest supporters. Damning material will have been scrubbed, destroyed, or withheld. OR, they'll claim they can't release some of all of it because of the "ongoing investigation" they just created just to give them an "out."

Retreat and Regroup

I was as surprised as anyone last night when the news came out that the Senate had the votes to end the shutdown. And I’ll admit that I was pretty pissed about it too. I don’t like “rewarding” the Republicans for their reprehensible disregard for non-millionaire-Americans. Again, they counted on the Democrats having a collective conscience about the prolonged suffering thrust upon millions of citizens.

And this came just when Dems had one of the best weeks in recent history:

Eight senators turned our moment of strength into one of weakness. But if you think about it, it was inevitable. Due to their aforementioned lack of empathy, this shutdown could have lasted for months, and they wouldn’t have cared a bit.

They don’t want a functional government in the first place; they’re more than happy to turn all decisions over to a racist cabal of white billionaires. So, instead of having insurance prices spiking, we would have that plus SNAP gone, air traffic controllers on life support, millions of federal workers unpaid, personnel layoffs, and so on. The only real question was how long to extend the misery.

I know I’ve been keen to keep the pressure on, but I have to admit, I’m not suffering any of the consequences. I don’t draw Social Security (yet), I’m not on SNAP, I’m not traveling anywhere, etc. So it’s easy for me to say “keep it going.” It’s no skin off MY ass.

I think it went on long enough to make the point to the American people that the criminal escalation of insurance costs lay firmly in the lap of this Administration and all who support it.

What I worry about now is whether this “promised” vote will ever happen, and if it does, how are the Republicans going to put their thumb on the scales? Adding poison-pill amendments? Raising the threshold for passage? Obtaining guarantees that it will never get put to a vote in the House? (Which is probably a lock.) They have many ways of ensuring that the rate hikes they designed remain in force. Their only concern is how to blame it on the Democrats.

That’s why having the vote is so important; it will put Republicans on record as favoring such insurance prices. And they’ll have to answer for THAT next November, assuming the Democrats can make the case and keep it in the public’s mind. Americans are a forgetful lot, and Fox “News” and the conservative media echo chamber could ensure this whole issue will be long forgotten, shoved to the deep recesses of the collective memory by the next crudely manufactured “crisis.”

Holding the Line

Now that the Great Government Shutdown of 2025 (And Probably 2026) is into its second month, we’re getting into the serious stuff. The Republicans have decided not to fund further SNAP benefits, even though there is money set aside specifically for that purpose. As usual, they want to inflict maximum damage on the American people and rely on Democrats to have the conscience that they lack themselves, and end the suffering.

The Dems so far are standing firm, and the new ACA rates that are rolling out right now show you why. Policies are going from $400-some to $4000-some per month, all over the country, which is causing widespread panic. The Democrats need to do a better job at communicating that THIS is why they won’t help reopen the government, and that the idea that undocumented immigrants are in any way eligible for SNAP is a complete fabrication. Democrats won’t cooperate without movement on the issue and realize that Republican promises to negotiate insurance rates AFTER the government reopens ring hollow. The Republicans created this rate increase deliberately in the Big Ugly Bill; that means it’s what they want. Maybe they’re trying (again) to make the ACA unpalatable so they can find some support for another option. But it’s relevant to note that they have never produced a single alternative, despite 15 years of fighting against it. So they want the Dems to take their word for it that they’ll negotiate in good faith to end something they intentionally created, AFTER an irreversible action is taken to reopen the Fed. Right… Take the word of the lyingest bunch of crooks ever to sully the Capitol building. Maybe they can offer to pinky-swear.

No, Democrats have to hold the line and hope that eventually, enough protest rolls in from Red States to change some minds. It’s one thing to support the team… It’s another thing to have to give up having insurance to do it. Maybe Republicans’ continued resistance to reinstating ACA funding will show some of these MAGAs just how little their leaders actually care about them. And if we ever have a fair election again, maybe some of these cretins get voted out.

Yeah, "Kash is working on it,” right after he gets back from using taxpayer-funded government jets to follow his girlfriend around the country. That is, if he can somehow pause his concern for the plight of those suffering from this shutdown. These fuckers don’t give a single shit about US citizens. You can see, “plane” as day, that they consider themselves to be the proper beneficiary of taxpayer largesse. Sending anything else back to the people would be Socialism.

I’ll be interested to see how they play this week’s handful of elections. I think whatever they do will be a beta test for next year, which will be an even bigger beta test for 2028.

I’m saying it again. They’re not leaving. No one makes this kind of effort to stack the government in their own favor only to walk away from it peacefully because of some silly election. They will influence it, rig it with multiple barriers to registering and voting, and contest and disavow any result they don’t like, counting on their hand-placed judges to back them up.

We need to act like it matters and resist them at every turn, from now until the country is back in the hands of people worthy of running it.