The Devil's Share: Fauz Republicans Pay Their Dues to Subvert Democracy

The devil always gets his share when dealing with humans.

In the case of MAGA morons the price is selling their souls to defeat democracy. 

It brings to mind the classic fantasy about a simple New England farmer (Jabez Stone) who made a deal with the devil in exchange for wealth and power for seven years. At the end of that period the devil would get his soul. 

For those who have read the book, The Devil and Danield Webster, it was a warning about the consequences of consorting with the devil.

Farmer Stone came to regret his deal and turned to the greatest legal and oratorical mind of his day. Daniel Webster. 

Webster challenged the devil to put his contract with Stone away and to the test in a fair trial. In case you never read the book I won't give the ending away.

In the 21st century version of the story Trump is the devil and his minions have signed contracts selling their souls to the former twice impeached and convicted sexual abuser.

Unlike farmer Stone who regretted his decision to sell his soul MAGA cult members (aka faux Republicans) are enjoying their newfound clout in our society. 

But a time of reckoning is coming. The signs are in the news every day as criminal investigations against Trump continue to bloom and come to fruition. 

As for Trump's cult members they have been getting steadily kicked under the bus to protect him in the numerous investigations, scandals and conspiracies he's involved with.

As it stands, the last seven years with Trump polluting politics and promoting conspiracies has tested the souls of all Americans.

Chimpanzee Study Reveals Why Republicans Speak in a Different Language Than Most Americans

A fascinating study published by the journal Nature Communications has opened the door to understanding why Republicans speak a different language than the rest of Americans.

They apparently have something in common with chimps. Researchers report that the chimps can communicate using specific nouns or verbs to refer to present dangers.

This breakthrough research led to diagnosing Republican's motivated by fear using key words (usually out of context) like woke.

The scientists in the study pranked some wild chimps by throwing fake snakes into the middle of their territory. Then they recorded the sounds the monkeys made and concluded they were using a crude form of communication.

In the same way social scientists in America have discovered that Republican rants have key words that only means something to them.

Another key finding is that the chimps responded to a specific combination of calls that motivated them. Likewise, Republicans are motivated by a specific word salad that keeps them in a constant state of fear and anger.

As it stands, I encourage studies that help me understand the threat within: Republicans.

Seditionist GOP Lawmakers Are Shredding American's Rights

They're embedded in Congress and states like parasites draining away American's rights.

Republicans, or more accurately the MAGA cult, have been busy suppressing voters, taking away women's rights to their own bodies, and promoting AR-15s with little badges on the suits.

We live in two Americas, where in one truth matters and the other where domestic terrorists spread misinformation, lies and conspiracies. 

It's our own fault. Those seditionists have broken into mainstream media and school boards by being voted in. They're sucking the life out of our education system by banning books and rewriting history.

Fact. The majority of Americans don't vote. We trail many of our peers in the developed world in voting-age population turnout. 

The country with the best voter turnout is surprisingly Uruguay with a 94% turnout in their last election for a president.

We have a silent majority that seems content to accept their fate and not participate in our electoral system.

This is how democracy diminishes when a majority of our republic doesn't participate in exercising their right to vote for change.

As it stands, are you a participant or an observer when it comes to voting?

Game #1 in Western Conference Finals Today: Lakers Looking to Upset the Nuggets

The Lakers looked so bad the first half of this season I seriously doubted they were going anywhere but to the cellar.

Let alone to the NBA Finals.

You want an underdog? 

The Purple and Gold would have been your best pick to fail this season. They started out with a miserable 2-10 record and very little mojo.

The fact that they parlayed that start into contending for the Western Conference Championship is amazing.

Today the Lakers play the #1 seed Denver whose been the highest scoring team in the playoffs thus far.

Once again, the Lakers are an underdog and rightly so. They're playing a highly disciplined team coached by Mike Malone, arguably one of the best coaches in the league.

While the Nuggets are #1 in offense in the post season, the Lakers are #1 in defense making for a classic clash.

Did I mention that I love underdogs?

The combo of being a Laker fan for over 60 years and my love for underdogs have come together to form my prediction that the Lakers will win the series in 6 games.

As it stands, whatever happens we can be assured this is going to be a great series for basketball fans.

A Civil War is Not Pending: It's Already Here

The signs of another Civil War are everywhere.

Look around you. Which side do you belong too? There are only two tribes. The Blue and the Red (MAGA cult). 

If you don't belong to either you live in a no-man's zone and are excepted collateral in the battles that are taking place in all 50 states and Washington DC for the soul of America.

Voter suppression and taking away women's freedoms are the 21st century equivalent of slavery in Dixie. 

We have a former twice impeached president and convicted sexual abuser trying to openly overthrow democracy and turn our country into an autocracy.

There are politicians who are supporters of sedition in Congress and in every state legislative body.

There's battles every day - mass shootings that go unchecked by MAGA cultists who encourage racism, antisemitism, and homophobia. 

The 2nd Amendment has been twisted into a pretzel by the NRA and gun lobby who encourage buying weapons of war like the AR-15 turning it into a symbol for cult followers.

When I look around at the violence in this country today, I see a Civil War underway. The battle between truth and lies gets more intense with the toxic rhetoric flooding some media platforms.

Like the Civil War in the 1860s, we have families divided against themselves. Brother against brother. Family units shattered by two different opinions of what America should look like.

As it stands, the only difference between these two wars is the second one is an undeclared war.

Motherhood Misunderstood

There are people in our society who treat mothers like no others expecting them to fill a stereotypical role in life.

Christian White Nationalists believe motherhood is something akin to owning cattle. They expect a woman to forfeit her rights to her body and to breed profusely. 

When they talk about motherhood being sacred and a woman's calling in life, you'd think they would put mothers on a pedestal instead of a cage. But that's not the case.

Right-wing Evangelicals extol the virtues of women while taking away their rights. They want to see women pregnant, barefoot, and at home cleaning the house and preparing supper for her man. Not out in the workplace or in politics.

Many people misunderstand motherhood despite making it a national holiday. Mothers are no more perfect than any other woman or men in our world today.

Moms make mistakes.

Moms are human and shouldn't be judged for the decisions they make. 

Some moms don't care about their offspring.

The best Moms raise their children with love and understanding.

As it stands, Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there.

Underdog Lakers Advance to Conference Finals

They started the season with a 2-10 record and then something happened. 

The Lakers hit paydirt after the trade deadline when they got six new players who have been instrumental in their stunning success. 

Underdogs from the moment they entered into the play-in tournament the Lakers defied the odds and made the playoffs and what they've done there so far is a fan's dream come true.

Here's a link to the Game 6 blow out.

It's only the second time in NBA history a 2-10 team went to the conference finals. Now they face the #1 seed Denver next Tuesday, at Denver.

Like the rest of the teams the Lakers played they do not have home court advantage. They had to earn home court advantage when they played the #2 Grizzlies, and the #6 Golden State Warriors (last year's Champions).

Here's a link to a video, Lakers Are Dangerous.

The same will go for the Nuggets. The Lakers will need to strike fast and first by defeating the Nuggets in at least one of the first two games in Denver.

As it stands, I've been a Laker fan since they came to LA and this year's team is looking like one for the ages.

Another Day Another Act in America's Theatre of the Absurd

Welcome tourists to another day of drama in American society.

Please stay together and don't wander off or you might get shot. 

In our gun-worshipping culture AR-15s have replaced bibles and GOP lawmakers walk around wearing little AR-15 badges to show their loyalty to the gun lobby that supports them.

You've been warned.

Today's act is taking place along the Mexican American border. A law expired that prevented immigrants from applying for asylum. Naturally they're flooding the borders.

It's absolutely absurd that Congress can't address a problem that's been around for over 60 years. Democrats and Republicans have punted the situation from one administration to the next.

The politics are enough to make one vomit as each side puts on passion plays for or against immigrants.

This is not the only example of absurdity I have for you today. Here's another item that will make you shake your heads before you go home.

* McDonalds got sued for a hot chicken nugget that fell on an autistic toddler's lap and gave her a second-degree burn. A jury is now pondering the payout. 

In the first place Mom should not have handed the girl a Happy Meal while she's strapped into a car seat, and she couldn't see what her daughter was doing. 

If she wanted to give her a chicken nugget, she could have pulled one out of the box (testing it for heat) and waited until going home before eating at a table (or any safe place she could monitor).

It was absurd decades ago when a woman sued McDonald's because of how hot their coffee was when she stupidly spilled it all over her lap. She won, by the way. The case was infamous and now we're seeing another one over a chicken nugget.

As it stands, "Life is a theatre set in which there are but few practicable entrances." -Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

Americans Are Drowning in an Endless Sea of Conspiracies

It's an octopus's garden in Congress where sharks swim freely attacking democracy.

Republicans have taken a deep dive on reality and now they've penetrated mainstream medias like CNN.

At last night's terrible town hall meeting Trump was given the big platform he's been so desperately seeking since he announced his bid for re-election.

He was allowed to lie without any rebuttals and was performing before a crowd of New Hampshire Republicans prepared to back him in the presidential primaries.

When asked if he should apologize to Pence for nearly killing him on Jan. 6 Trump said no, he would not, and that Pence did the wrong thing in not cooperating with his coup attempt.

The audience applauded his answer. It was eerie watching people clap like trained seals and gleefully ignoring reality. This is where we are now... people are drowning in a sea of endless conspiracies.

The applause continued when Trump said that when he's the president again he'll pardon the Jan. 6 insurrectionists.

The worst traitor in American history has spawned a cult that is dragging people into the depths of the Mariana Trench of conspiracies that he's nurtured for years starting with lies about President Obama's birth certificate.

We need a coordinated national pushback against the lies and conspiracies that threaten to drown democracy. 

What mainstream media left that still reports facts needs to throw out lifesavers in the form of truth and rebuttal to the massive misinformation attacks by a school of MAGA sea creatures.

As it stands, Trump and minions will continue to plumb new lows in our society until the majority of American voters kick them out of offices they've infected from the federal level to the state level.

This is the GOP Today: A Convicted Sexual Abuser Leads Primary Polls and House Member Charged with 13 Felony Counts

Twice impeached former president Trump once famously said that he could shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue in New York, and no one do anything about it.

It's starting to look like he's right.

Despite being convicted yesterday for sexual abuse and defamation Trump is going on mainstream TV (CNN) tonight with an opportunity to spread more lies to millions of Americans tonight.

How is that even possible? The world has turned upside down. When a mainstream outlet like CNN gives Trump coverage, they are promoting a cult leader for the sake of making money. 

Any moral ground CNN may have had is gone, replaced with the same motivations that Fox News used in promoting lies and disinformation for profit.

This is the GOP today.

Republican House member George Santos was arrested yesterday and charged today with 13 counts including wire fraud and money laundering. He's currently in federal custody.

Meanwhile House Speaker McCarthy is not talking about expelling Santos. The last thing he wants is to lose another sure vote to back him in his legislative agenda.

As a matter of fact, McCarthy doubled down on protecting the serial liar and cheat and told reporters he's not going to ask Santos to resign!

Both McCarthy and Majority leader Steve Scalise have been avoiding questions about Santos, only offering up the well-worn trope "In America today, your innocent until proven guilty."

As it stands, the Republican party has been reduced to a cult that promotes lies and violence in its quest to turn our democracy into an autocracy. 

Warning! Artificial Intelligence Could Eventually Lead to Humans Being Controlled - or Even Wiped Out

When Alex Hern tells you to be concerned about the affect's artificial intelligence could have on humanity, it's a good time to listen to his warnings.

The 75-year-old researcher is known as the Godfather of AI and is responsible for being the first to build neural networking and building computer systems that can learn from data and experience.

Sounds like something straight out of a science fiction story. But it's not. AI may pose the biggest challenge to humans in the 21st century.

Hern's warnings are blunt and to the point.

In an interview with the Guardian's UK technology editor, he laid out why he fears that digital intelligence has some distinct advantages over the human brain.

* We could become controlled by AI.

* We could be wiped out by AI.

Simple and straight to the point. Science fiction writers have talked about the threat's robots and machines with mind control could pose a risk for humanity since the turn of the 19th century.

The Godfather of AI has regrets about what he helped unleash on the world. So, he's issuing warnings like the mythical Dr. Frankenstein did about the monster he created.

He's also talking about things we need to do to advert calamity. Here's an article by Bernard Marr, a world-renowned futurist. He also warns of risks that we should be aware of.

Here's a more detailed history of artifial intelligence and the company who started it all - OpenAI. Elon Musk served as an initial board member for the company.

As it stands, what was once the subject of science fiction has become a very real problem in our world today.