Laugh. Laugh. Until You Die: Quotes About Congress for the Ages

The United States Congress has been called many things in the last 240 years. 

My favorite reference to that august body is it's a place where politicians go to retire.

Let's see what other offerings there are.

"Congress is so strange. A man gets up to speak and says nothing. Nobody listens - and then everybody disagrees." -Boris Marshalov

"Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress: but I repeat myself." -Mark Twain

"The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets." -Will Rogers

"I don't mind what Congress does, as long as they don't do it in the streets and frighten horses." -Victor Hugo

"In my many years I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress." - John Adams, 2nd US president

"I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress." -Ronald Reagan

"We many not imagine how our lives could be more frustrating and complex - but Congress can." -Cullen Hightower

"Congress consists of one third, more or less, scoundrels; two thirds, more or less, idiots; and three thirds, more or less, poltroons." -H.L. Mencken

"You can lead a man to Congress, but you can't make him think." -Milton Berle

"If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?" -Unknown

That's it for today. I hope I got a smile out of you!

Discussion: Are Republican Politicians and Activists Above the Law?

Let's start with the

 former grifter-in-chief.

Trump has got away with being impeached twice (a feat no other American president has accomplished).

Despite numerous investigations into his political and private life (for decades), Trump is still not behind bars. 

Above the law? Why? How?

Not far down the list there's people like Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who has recently refused a prosecutor's demand for his records of appearances at a pro-Trump rally that preceded the assault on the Capitol.

Paxton has a history of putting himself above the law. In 2020, eight of Paxton's top deputies accused him of bribery, abuse of office and other crimes in the service of a supporter.

Most of the time Paxton has been in office he's faced a separate felony indictment. He pleaded not guilty to three state securities fraud charges but has yet to face trial.

The FBI has been investigating those charges. For two years! Still nothing. Why? Is he above the law? It sure seems like it.

Republican right-wing activists joined at the hip to Republican politicians, are gleefully refusing to answer subpoenas from the Jan. 6 Committee.

Trolls Traitors like Steve Bannon, Alex Jones, Roger Stone, Kevin McCarthy, Mark Meadows, Steven Miller, Kayleigh McEnany, Daniel Scavino, Kashyap Patel, Rudy Giuliani, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Jeffrey Clark, John Eastman, Michael Flynn, Bernard Kerik, Jason Miller, William Stepien and Jeffrey Clark, are bragging and fundraising on their obstruction to respond to the committee's requests and subpoenas.

There're fifty more individuals who haven't responded yet, as many of them are negotiating with the committee.

Only two of the rogue's gallery above have been referred to the DOJ for criminal contempt. Steve Bannon and Jeffrey Clark.

There's still no word (they were turned over to him last year) from Attorney General Merrick Garland on what the two men's fate will be. Does this mean they too are going to get away with their defiance?

The big question is why Trump and his minions have not paid a price for their illegal activities?

It's been a year since the coup attempt at the Capitol and there's still ongoing efforts to rig future elections by the same bad actors listed above.

Thus far, almost all the miscreates are still free to attack our democracy. 

How A One-Time Hero Turned into a Traitor

He was perhaps the most famous law enforcement official in America once. 

He was the bane of New York's organized crime families and Wall Street crooks. In 1989, he stepped down after six years as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York 

He was the hero of 9/11.

They called him America's mayor.

Queen Elizabeth II named him a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for supporting bereaved British families in New York.

The man I'm talking about is Rudy Giuliani, a washed-up lawyer in the 21st century with no moral direction. A drunkard who hitched his destiny to the most corrupt president America has ever seen. 

                 He's also a traitor.

Trump campaign officials, led by Giuliani, oversaw efforts in December 2020 to put forward illegitimate electors from seven states that Trump lost, according to the Jan. 6 Select Committee.

Giuliani and his allies coordinated the nuts and bolts of a plan to overthrow President Biden's victory. 

The scheme involved using fake electors in seven swing states to stop the counting of electoral votes by Vice President Pence on Jan. 6. The real electors were to be thrown out.

It was part of a larger plot that involved churning out reams of misinformation and outright lies about the election being stolen.

His efforts to throw out election results, coupled with right-wing propaganda campaigns like "Stop the Steal" exposed Giuliani for what he's been reduced to ...a stinking traitor. 

You have to wonder what happened to him? How he could have gone so wrong? The answer is, of course, he hooked up with Donald Trump.

You Are Now Entering the Nation of Florida

Welcome!

I'm your guide to the new nation of Florida.

The now alt-right sanctioned state is an authoritarian's dream under the current dictator Ron DeSantis.

You'll be pleased to hear that a bill to protect vulnerable white students was recently introduced by "Lil" Caesar DeSantis. It would prohibit Florida's public schools and private businesses (Say what?) from making people feel uncomfortable or "guilty" based on their race, sex or national origin.

In other words, history classes are going to have to ignore large portions of our American journey because strongman DeSantis can't handle the truth about anything.

The first step was taken last June when DeSantis ordered the Florida Department of Education to say critical race theory (CRT) cannot be taught in schools.

I know. It was never taught in Florida public schools but it's a favorite claim among the alt-right crowd, and you can count on other actions being taken - like banning books for instance. Needless to say, new families are welcome in this authoritarian paradise.

Don't like CDC COVID rules? You've come to the right place. DeSantis and cronies have pushed back on any regulations regarding safety for the public. And get this, you can find a lineup of alternate cures for COVID from bleach to ivermectin in local stores.

Still want to hear more about what we offer in Florida?

Tighten your seatbelt. When it comes to voter suppression you've found the state (a nation of its own) that offers numerous obstacles to disenfranchise black voters.

Shades of Old Dixie! That's what brewing for future elections as DeSantis works on putting together a police force to monitor election activities and to change the ballot results when necessary.

Don't worry. The madman who thinks he's a demi-god has even bigger plans for Florida. His own militia. Who needs the National Guard that abide by state and federal rules? DeSantis's army will only answer to him. 

Pretty exciting, eh?

Imagine living where a jet set of trolls, the who's who of Trump world, and crooked politician's come to vacation year around? You can submerge yourself in new realities where democrats don't exist.

Have a great day and I hope you enjoy your stay.

Dead Bill Walking: Voting Rights Legislation Fails in Senate

It was a bad day for democracy.

The voting rights bill never had a chance. 

Trump Republicans were in lockstep, like zombies mindlessly and viciously overwhelming a school board.

Trump might as well have been sitting in a corner of the senate floor on a throne festooned with the spines of Republican senators.

A debate was held. Kinda. What really happened was a litany of fairytales pushed by Trump's Republicans who all were reading from the same seditious script. 

The Democrats kept pointing out reality. They appealed to their fellow senators by pointing out the days when they had spines and really wanted everyone to be able to vote.

Shame didn't work on the shameless. They hid their embarrassment behind the Big Lie - the only thing that matters now among the once party of conservatives.

The fact that Democrats brought up the vote - despite knowing it was a dead bill walking because of Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema's opposition - was an act of pure desperation.

The progressives in the party wanted to see something done about voting rights now. Not next year, or the year after. 

So, the show went on. As the hours labored away it was like watching a soap opera with each senator trying to give an award-winning speech that would melt the other sides opposition away like molten wax.

There was never a debate. The outcome was all but set in concrete. It was performance art spurred by political calculations on both sides. 

It was an example of the theatre of the absurd where the play focuses on what happens when human existence lacks meaning, or purpose and communications break down.

An effort to protect American's voting rights was squashed by a gaggle of gutless GOP senators who fear Trump more than anything in this world.

The whole thing was high drama performed by politicians who secretly pine to be movie stars.

A Modern-Day Pandora's Box is About to Open and There's Going to be Some Red Faces!

Before getting to the heart of this post I think it might be helpful to explain who Pandora was in Greek mythology.

She was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus.

Basically, what happened is she opened a forbidden box (also described as a jar) releasing all the evils of humanity.

Ghislaine Maxwell who was Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice in sex trafficking with minors, has been convicted and faces up to 65 years in prison.

Up until just recently she has been protecting the identities of seven individuals named in the case.

Her attorney told the court Friday that, "After careful review of the detailed objections submitted by Non-Party Does 17, 53, 54, 55, 73, 93 and 151, we no longer have any objections to publicly naming them."

Oh boy! I wonder who those folks are?

Some of the names I've seen floating around are famous (or infamous). Donald J. Trump. Bill Clinton. Alan Dershowitz, and Prince Andrew. 

At the moment Prince Andrew finds himself being tried for having sex with a minor, as a civilian. Mom pulled all of his royal titles and gently pushed his lying ass out the door to the courts.

What do you want to bet Trump, Clinton, and Dershowitz will be named? Possible trouble lies ahead there.

Frankly, I'm not sure if it'll even faze Teflon Trump's popularity whose known for grabbing pussies anyway. 

But Billy, who still carries around his bad boy creds from his fling with Monica Lewinsky, may face a new round of sex accusations with minors.

As for Dershowitz, he's busy defending "Stop the Stealers" and other Trump minions. I expect he'll just lie and sue if he gets called in for fondling young girls.

As for the remaining "Does" there may be some surprises there yet.

Who knows? As a bonus, Maxwell may even try to cut off years of her sentence by testifying against some of the cretins I mentioned earlier.

What a Strange World We Live In: Here's Some examples

A New Zealand man who went to a local pool and later felt the sensation of blockage in his ear got the surprise of his life.

Not a good one either.

First, he tried some ear drops and went to sleep on the couch, but by the next day his ear was still blocked. So, he went to a doctor and the doc advised him to use a hairdryer to dry up the suspected water in there.

That didn't work.

The next day he went to see an ear, nose and throat specialist and was shocked to find out he had a live cockroach in his ear canal! It took the doctor five minutes to pull the insect out.

The whole encounter left him disgusted the man told a local reporter. He also mentioned a fumigator was coming to his house. (Source UPI)

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The world's largest' cast iron skillet was seen traveling down a Tennessee highway the other day.

The massive pan which measures 18 feet from handle to handle was heading for South Pittsburg Lodge Cast Iron store, the future home of the Lodge Cast Iron Museum. (Source UPI)

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Two men who tried to smuggle cocaine into Britain in cans disguised as baked beans and condensed coconut milk have been sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison, authorities say. (Source UPI)

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Talk about lucky! 

A Pennsylvania man won a $1 million prize from a scratch off lottery ticket -- marking his fourth major lottery jackpot since 1999. Mike Luciano, of Altoona, confirmed he scored a $1 million prize from a $20 scratch-off ticket Jan. 6.

It was the fourth time this guy went to the Pennsylvania Lottery Headquarters to collect cash! (Source UPI)

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That's all for today folks!

I Don't Think It's The End Times: But It Sure the Hell Feels That Way

Selected sentences from Ecclesiastes 31-8

"There is a time for everything,

 a time to be born and a time to die.

There is a time to be silent and to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace,

A time to tear down and a time to build."

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It feels like we're living in biblical times with plagues and rumors of war.

A worldwide pandemic has brought humanity to its knees and economies to the brink of destruction.

Russia and Korea are both spoiling for war as a weary world looks on silently.

The antichrist in the form of Trump is seeking to destroy democracy and spawn an era of kings and tyrants.

Truth faces daily attacks in media platforms that cater to the alt-right.

Americans haven't been this polarized since the Civil War, which by the way, has become a current topic for insurrectionists.

Fear and loathing stalk Congress and paralyze any meaningful legislation on a partisan basis.

Family members are turning against each other because of idiot ideologies spewing from right-wing lunatics bent on ripping society apart.

Our Constitution is on the line. The thus far successful experiment in democracy faces its greatest challenge to date.

The enemy within. The Trump cult is sabotaging freedoms with impunity. Despite being a minority in America, the Trumpies are still wielding a disproportionate amount of power.

In spite of everything mentioned here, and other unmentioned challenges in our lives, I don't think we're in The End Times. But it sure the hell feels like it!

Weenies of the Week Announced

Just so that we're on the same page, weenies come in multiple categories, but all have one thing in common...they're pathetic.

Let's start with Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Trump acolyte. When it comes to attacking businesses in mainland China, he's made a name for himself as a vehement critic of them.

But, surprise surprise... Tuberville has been quietly investing in Alibaba which is a company based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang in the People's Republic of China.

He was outed this week thanks to CNBC's reporter Dan Mangan, who caught the double-dealing hypocrite making purchases as recent as last December.

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Probably the biggest weenie from last week is Ted Cruz. 

In a disgusting display of cowardice, he went on right-wing lunatic Tucker Carlson's show and apologized for - get this - referring to January 6 as a "violent terrorist attack," after his prior remarks about everyone involved in the assault was wrong.

"It was sloppy and frankly dumb," Cruz whimpered to Carlson. I only meant those who attacked police officers were terrorists, not the thousands of peaceful protestors supporting Trump.

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A true weenie since slithering into politics, Florida governor Ron DeSantis has plans to run for president in 2024 but won't outright declare his candidacy for fear of Trump's wrath.

Lately Trump has been pissed off by what he sees as a lack of fealty from his former protege. 

Trump wasn't happy with DeSantis's comments last week when he said one of the biggest mistakes, he made in office was listening to Trump about shutting the state down to slow the fast-spreading coronavirus.

But in all other subjects about Trump, DeSantis cravenly praises him and calls him the leader of the party.

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Shaming veterans everywhere, retired U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Daniel W. Prime was arrested for taking nude photos of his girlfriend's toddler-aged daughter.

The big weenie threatened to kill the federal agent investigating the case, according to the Daily Beast. He's in deep shit now.

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That's enough weenies for the day. I'll check back on them again in a future post. Have a great day!

The Flood Gates Have Opened: DOJ charges 11 individuals With 'Seditious Conspiracy' in Jan. 6 Assault on Capitol

Attorney General Merrick Garland has been under a ton of pressure to file substantial charges against the Jan. 6 rioters, and enablers, who attempted to overthrow the election results in 2020.

That pressure eased up a bit yesterday after the DOJ announced that 11 individuals were charged with seditious conspiracy to oppose the lawful transfer of presidential power by force.

Starting with the leader of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, and other 10 members of the far-right militia, the DOJ sent a clear signal... the perpetrators of the assault on our democracy are going to pay the ultimate price.  

Garland opened the floodgates to others who may also be charged with obstruction of justice, citing their involvement in a seditious conspiracy. 

To be sure, the DOJ rarely uses the charge because it can be politically loaded and has been difficult to prove in the past.

So, this is a big deal. Garland must think he has a solid case.

This announcement comes amid the GOP's desperate efforts to downplay what happened on Jan. 6th. Trump and minions are in a full court press to erase history, or at the very least, re-write it.

It doesn't take too much imagination to see that Trump and his congressional cronies, along with right-wing lawyers and activists, tried their hardest to obstruct the certification of the legal votes.

It's the same thing the Oath Keepers did. But on a more massive scale.

We live in cataclysmic times where norms have shriveled up and it's a brave new world between the forces of tyranny and democracy. 

It Happens Too Often: Media Influencers Working with the Darkside

                        Fair warning.

Follow media influencers at your own risk. There's a dark side to those smiling faces recommending you buy the product they're shilling.

Who hasn't heard of Kim Kardashian? Or Floyd Mayweather one of the greatest boxers' pound-for-pound in history?

The Kardashian brand is well-known, and I presume somewhat trusted. That trust was violated, however. 

She's being sued over allegations that she misled investors when promoting a little-known cryptocurrency called EthereumMax.

A class action lawsuit filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California accuses EthereumMax and its celebrity promoters of working together to artificially inflate the price of the token by making "false or misleading statements" in social media posts.

Boxer Floyd Mayweather was another EthereumMax shill. He endorsed the token in his boxing match with YouTube star Logan Paul. EthereumMax was accepted as payments for tickets to the event, a move that the lawsuit against him claims boosted trading volumes sharply.

Investors call this kind of con a "pump and dump" scheme where scammers attempt to boost the price of an asset through false and misleading statements.

And get this.

It's not the first time these two celebrities have been in hot water for cryptocurrency endorsements.

Mayweather was charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commision with pumping an initial coin offering, a controversial crypto crowdfunding method in 2018.

He had to pay $600,000 in a settlement with the SEC but got away from admitting or denying the regulator's findings.

In September 2021, Charles Randell, chair of the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority, singled out Kim Kardashian's Instagram ad for EthereumMax in a speech warning of crypto scams.

If you take away anything from what you just read let it be exercising caution when listening to social media influencers.

There's a dark side to some of them many people aren't aware of.