Now Nominees for State Department Jobs Have to Fill Out Questionaries About 'Wokeness'

Ask any Republican what "wokeness" is and chances are they don't really know, nor do they care, as long as it's a word meant to demean liberal Democrats.

In their quest to tear down the norms in Congress GOP lawmakers are boycotting nominees for military advancement and the state department.

Despite their minority in the Senate, GOP members are obstructing government using tactics like holding up confirmation hearings. It only takes one MAGA minion to jam up the works.

Just look at Republican J.D. Vance who's passing out questionnaires to state department nominees to determine if he thinks their "too woke."

That's interesting. Vance claims he's looking for radical views among the would-be ambassadors. I wonder what he thinks is radical when he's a card-carrying MAGA moron? 

Casting aside precedent, Vance's action was unusual (to say the least) because he doesn't sit on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the main panel that vets State Department nominees.

Backing Trump is as radical as you can get in America today. Trump's efforts to destroy democracy are being pushed back by the courts that will be trying him for being a traitor and attempting to overthrow the 2020 election in the near future.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Vance's little buddy vaccine denier Rand Paul who is involved in the MAGA screening process currently underway.

Usually, career diplomats have an easier time getting conformation than political appointees from outside the foreign service. Not now. The GOP agenda to gum up the functions of Congress has hit an all-time high.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been warning Republicans that by not confirming the military promotions they are undermining our national security. So far, that hasn't moved the partisan sock puppets for Trump.

As for the state department nominees, if they're not confirmed this week, their kids will not be able to enroll in new schools overseas - and diplomatic families will be forced to separate according to Matthew Miller state department spokesman.

I suppose Vance and Paul will consider that a victory. Owning the libs is all they care about, and the country be damned.

As it stands, Republicans in Congress are showing us how destructive they can be right now. Imagine if they win back the Senate and presidency? We'd be living in Amerika - The Land of the Lost!

Whistleblowers or Wackos? House Hearing on UFOs Had 3 'Whistleblowers' Today

            It's the year of whistleblower.

The Republican party is spicing up their hearings in the House lately by parading a line of fake whistleblowers before committees seeking partisan confirmation of their lies and misinformation about the president and his son.

Up until now I've rated the craziest so-called whistleblowers from 1-10. The 10 was an IRS agent who turned out to be a foreign agent for China and an international arms dealer.

I suspect there's a central MAGA clearing house for wannabee whistleblowers that the Crazy Caucus in the House goes to for recruits. Most of the candidates are disgruntled ex-government employees who have an ax to grind. 

The sheer production value of having "blockbuster" whistleblowers is hot stuff for the MAGA universe. 

Speaking of out of this world, the GOP majority used the House Oversight subcommittee on national security to invite a prominent UFO conspiracist David Grusch to testify about the Pentagon's efforts to conceal their discovery of wrecked spacecrafts and alien bodies.

Along with Grusch there were two former Navy pilots who claimed to have seen UFOs on their job (in 2004) - David Fravor and Ryan Graves who answered questions from the representatives.

To be clear, Grusch is the same guy that pushed a conspiracy theory about the Vatican covering up a UFO that the Mussolini government supposedly kept in storage until the end of WWII. Then they shipped it to the United States where it's currently hidden.

Mr. Grusch is a very intelligent person - he received a college scholarship from the Air Force to study physics - and was an intelligence officer at the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, the DOJs UFO research wing.

So, the guy has cred chops. Give him that. The problem is he's never been able to produce proof of his many claims and allegations over the years. But the House decided to give him a huge platform to share his conspiracies because they knew it would be good theatre for the MAGA base.

Meanwhile UFO hopefuls worldwide were rooting for Grusch to shock the world with evidence, but as the sham hearing came to an end, he had none. Instead, he offered up a lot of second-hand conversations with people he couldn't name for security purposes.

His allegations made for some fun moments for the MAGA members. His accusations that there were secret government programs funded by private companies titillated the GOP members.

Despite all that Grusch claims he has evidence to back his story but - alas! - he couldn't share that information with the committee because it's classified. He said that he could debrief the members in a SCIF (sound-proofed room) if they wanted to. At this time there's no plans to do that.

In his opening statement Republican Representative Tim Burchett promised the whistleblowers testimony would "uncover the cover up" by the intelligence community.

As it stands, Where's the beef Mr. Burchett?

How to Play the New Version of the Popular Board Game 'RISK'

     Some games just never go out of style.

One of the most popular board games of all time is RISK which first came out in 1957 and was available to Americans after the Parker Brothers bought it from its inventor Albert Lamorisse, a French filmmaker.

You can still find it in toy stores and other retail outlets today.

What if a new version of RISK's diplomacy, conflict and conquest game came out? Would you play it?

I'll give you a preview while I wait to hear back from someone at Parker Brothers about my offer of a new version of their hoary board game franchise.

RISK 2.0

The goal is to save the United States of America instead of conquering the whole world like the original game. This leaner version features Trump's current criminal indictments and possible new ones.

The object is to keep Trump out of the White House for a second time through the use of the judicial system, thereby saving democracy.

The standard version features 42 territories. My version has 50 states which are equally divided by red and blue territories (little cards saying which state) which are passed out to the players.

Among the many challenges in the blue or red state you own is stopping voter suppression and defending women's freedoms of their own bodies. 

Some of the action... you'll negotiate with other players on handpicking judges for certain trials and locations.  

The highest total from a roll of two dice will decide who gets first pick (roll over if tied) from a list of judges Trump is currently facing in court and a list of possible judges if he gets indicted on more counts.

Players are challenged to find new lawyers for Trump who goes through them like a locust in a wheat field. Searching for new lawyers in districts where Trump will be tried will be one of many challenges decided by the toss of the dice.

To really make the game more interesting I've proposed that an equal number of conservatives and liberals should play. 

Helpful hint, check for weapons at the front door.

Imagine the fun you can have sending out subpoenas, fighting attempts to re-write history, defending reality against the MAGA cult, and the thrill you'll experience when you win in court, and Trump's is sentenced to prison for the rest of his life!

As it stands, I suspect it'll be hard to find MAGA minions who can read, but if you do I guarantee that RISK 2.0 will be a thrilling game to play.

Conservatives Get Their Butts Kicked by a Doll

Barbie proved to be too strong for Sen. Ted Cruz, Rep. Mike Gallagher, Fox News host Rachael Campos-Duffy, Charlie Kirk, Ben Shapiro, and a slew of other conservative extremists trying to cancel her.

The new film Barbie broke box office records and shattered all attempts by conservatives trying to boycott the film because it was woke and somehow brainwashing young girls. This time it wasn't just a beer company being canceled. The loons tried to cancel an icon.

Raking in the most money of any movie made this year; Barbie drove her hot pink sports car right over the conservative culture warriors' pathetic protests of outrage over communism??

Don't ask me what the hell Cruz was talking about. Ask Cruz who went on the senate floor and claimed the pinkos (Barbie's favorite color) are coming and they have invaded Hollywood! With no evidence of course.

Reports that MAGA minions are experiencing temporary blindness after seeing Barbie's all pink world and boyfriend who wears pink throughout the movie. Rachael Campos-Duffy claimed Ken's choice of color emasculated all men.

It looks like these conservative critics have an inflated sense of their importance following their apparent success in targeting Bud Light a few months ago.

Hopefully Barbie's reality check on these cretins attempts to censor communities was a wakeup call for the senseless Republican woke mob. Moviegoers weren't going to be bullied when it came to their entertainment.

Once again, the right-wing critics look foolish. 

The only chance they have of winning some of these cultural wars is if they pick products that skews right. Beer is one example.

One Movieguide, a Christain movie review site, ran warnings that the film included a transgender performer (actor Hari Nef) and presented LGBTQ stories.

That kind of hate propaganda fits in nicely with the Republicans war on trans citizens and the LGBTQ community.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez summed up the situation when she said,

"I love how Republican Congressmen are just now hating on Barbie because she's too woke ...like hello this was a doll made for girls who was a Doctor and an Astronaut before women in the U.S. were even allowed to have credit cards without their husband's permission. Of course, they're mad! They want the good old days back."

Ahh yes, the good old days when white males were in charge of everything.

As it stands, I'm eagerly awaiting to see when new movies start coming out again (after the strike). 

A word of advice to the producers: you might want to call some conservative activists and see if they'll boycott your new release. It might help you break Barbie's record haul!

Malignant Populism is Spreading Across the Planet - Here's Why

One of the deadly aftereffects from the COVID-19 pandemic is the rise of populism across the planet.

Before I go any further allow me to summarize what populism means:

According to the dictionary populism is a political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.

The rollout of populism can be good, bad, and even ugly.

At its root, populism is a belief in the power of regular people, and in their right to have control over the government rather than a small group of political insiders, or wealthy elite.

In America we're seeing echoes of a malignant type of populism from the 1930s (think Hitler and the Nazis) with what is going on right now with Trump's MAGA cult. We're witnessing a minority of Americans who are waging cultural wars against the majority that spill into polarized politics.

I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that another driver of populism is fear. Authoritarians use fear like a maestro striking chords of panic that call for salvation... then promising to cure all ills. Cult members take that tactic up another level where violence is the only recourse to rescue and protect its members.

Trump's MAGA movement has turned out to be the biggest threat our democracy has ever faced. Hardcore lunatic lawmakers who shill for Trump and the MAGA movement are cracking the foundations of our freedoms.

The ugly face of this kind of populism is popping up throughout Europe and other parts of the world that are having economic and political challenges like maggots infesting open wounds.

Americans like other democracies of the world are engaged in a battle between truth and lies everywhere they go. Social media spreads misinformation with impunity that always questions reality.

As it stands, there are more reasons why civilizations are engaged in malignant cultural wars, but I'll save them for another post.

Democracy is Slip Slidin' Away Every Day - What Can We Do to Stop It?

States are slowly slipping under one-party rules that ignores the Constitution and even the Supreme Court's decisions.

States like Alabama (who just rejected a Supreme Court ruling that stopped their gerrymandering) are definitely acting like they're a sovereign nation by promoting MAGA agendas that involve voter suppression, suppressing women's rights, and the rights of minority communities of color and the LGBTQ community rights.

Did the sovereign state of Alabama comply? Hell no! The governor signed a bill that would guarantee blacks wouldn't be fairly represented when it comes time to vote. In essence they flipped the court off.

Look at Tennessee, believe it or not, it was actually a fairly bipartisan state in the last couple of decades but that's changed drastically. It's now totally controlled by the Republican party from governor to the conservative judges and state legislators.

These are just two examples of states metaphorically breaking away from the United States of America and becoming independent fiefdoms pledging allegiance to MAGA Republicans and their foul leader.

Two more states are even more extreme than the two mentioned earlier. Florida and Texas have become vast wastelands of hate and racism. Their governors acting like medieval barons only beholden to the king - Trump.

There's an apparent race to see which state can take the most freedoms away and become an authoritarian enclave in the midst of other states still loyal to America that believe in equality for all, justice, and the Constitution.

It's easy to say, vote them out, when in reality their so insulated by layers of power it's practically impossible in some states. 

It's going to be a long hard fight, basically trench warfare, to meet the challenges these rogue states present to our democracy. It's also going to take lots of education in places like rural communities that are often separated from mainstream America.

The biggest challenge to our freedoms comes from social media spreading lies and misinformation throughout the nation. That won't stop until the billionaires that own social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, clean up their acts.

We must always speak truth to lies when people try to spread them by any method.

I suspect you've heard the phrase; Freedom isn't free. Or even Freedom comes at a price. The point is we can't afford to sit around and wish the MAGA cult will just fade away someday. Remember, they're extremists and bullies who need to be shown the light.

As it stands, sane Americans who believe in true democracy can't afford to sit on the sidelines of our cultural war.

Looks Like Revenge Porn by Republicans in Congress is the New Norm

Please quit saying Republicans have hit a new low in Congress...because they're nowhere near hitting the bottom of the rabbit hole yet.

Once again one of the stupidest (and plain mean) GOP House members, Marjorie Taylor Greene, managed to snatch a headline from the House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing the other day.

As usual another MAGA hearing - aka let's attack the president and his son - wasn't going so well with the two IRS stooges/whistleblowers who were being fact checked on live TV.

So, what could a girl do to stay in the limelight? Easy. Display a nude photo of the president's son in a sex act with a woman taken years ago. 

It was straight up porn for the committee and the world to see. 

A blow up of the photo she cribbed from dark corners on the web, was proudly held high as she grinned like a hyena in heat while accusing Hunter of making pornography.

Okay. Let's just stop right here.

First off, she needs to be prosecuted under revenge porn laws.

Question...

When during the last 117 past congresses has a representative from the House showed an explicit photo of two people having sex in an open hearing?

Answer.

Never. 

Nothing that disgusting and depraved has ever been displayed in the House of Representatives. That tells you right there that MAGA morons will use any tactic to "own the libs" while running interference for Trump's crimes.

For the record, MGT could be sued for her stunt. It was against the rules in Congress and the District of Columbia under defamation and/or revenge porn statutes. 

In fact, when she doubled down and posted her theatrics on her social media accounts, she opened the door to be federally charged with showing child porn because many of her subscribers on social media are underage minors.

That's right. Ms. QAnon who push's child pedophilia conspiracies whenever she has an opportunity, could actually be held to account on several charges; including sharing porn with underage viewers, breaking revenge porn laws in DC, defamation, using a photo without the participants permission... and a few other possibilities.

Don't hold your breath waiting for someone to file a lawsuit, however. The power MTG wields in the House makes her a formidable opponent in court with dark money backing her.

It goes without saying that the Republicans in the committee who witnessed her little porn prank are also complicit. Especially the chairman Gym Jordan who enjoyed every minute of the foul presentation and even let her go over her allotted time.

As it stands, remember these horrific displays in what was once the hallowed halls of Congress when you vote in 2024.

Shame! The Kennedy Legacy Being Shredded by RFK Jr.

I remember how the White House was once referred to as the mystical Camelot by the press and the Kennedy family was revered by the majority of Americans.

John F. Kennedy's charisma endeared him to most Americans. The Kennedy clan in the West Wing was compared to a royal court by the mainstream media.

When he was assassinated, he ascended into democratic legend. When Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, he joined his brother as a democratic demigod.

Now we have his son Robert F. Kennedy Jr. whose legacy will be that of a vaccine denier, liar, racist and antisemitic. 

The Kennedy clan is frankly embarrassed by their black sheep relative.

You'd know why if you saw him testify in Congress this morning. MAGA Republican Gym Jordan who chairs the so-called House Weaponization of the Federal Government Committee, gave RFK Jr. a major platform to spew his conspiracies, and even threw in two disgruntled IRS agents who claimed to be whistleblowers against the DOJ's investigation into Hunter Biden (always a crowd pleaser in the MAGA world).

The whole hearing was another pathetic extremist stunt by MAGA morons to deflect what's happening to their supreme leader Trump who is on the verge of being indicted for more crimes...including insurrection.

Listening to RFK Jr. struggle to speak (his voice is so raspy you can barely make out what he's saying) is difficult. 

His tortured gestures looked comical as he raged against democrats like Debbie Wasserman Schultz when they presented evidence of his misdeeds and lies.

This was no great orator who testified before Congress. Or savior of democracy. Or lover of freedom. 

The man viewers saw during the televised hearings was a cranky old white guy clinging to conspiracies while dragging his families good name into his fever swamp existence.

As it stands, these so-called hearings that are being staged by members of the Crazy Caucus are intended to run interference for the most corrupt president in America's history who (by the way) is getting closer to well-deserved justice every day.

Looking for that 'Big Interview' with an Extraterrestrial Being

                        Don't laugh.

I'm waiting to get an interview with someone from another planet. 

It's just a matter of time if you've been following the news stories about UFOs this year.

I just read about a former Pentagon worker who claimed the government is covering up a captured extraterrestrial craft and the dead inhabitants inside it.

Oh yeah!  A UFO hunter claims a giant spacecraft is being hidden under a major landmark.

Folks from California to New York are reporting close encounters with aliens daily. It seems like the rush is on. Which leads me to wonder who will be the first to encounter an extraterrestrial being?

Let's start off with the premise that aliens would want to speak with our leaders. That seems to be the most common assumption.

Personally, I don't think beings from another universe would give a damn about seeking out our leaders and would be content to communicate with the first human they stumble upon.

A lot of people want to think that aliens would be peaceful, or we would have already had a war of the worlds. Not that they've been observing us for eons and planning on the right moment to take over the earth.

The aliens better make a move soon however if they intend to inhabit the planet because humans have polluted it so badly it's just a matter of time before they die off from their own stupidity, and there's nothing left but wastelands devoid of life.

Just saying.

Back to first contact thoughts. Imagine an alien bumping into Donald Trump and assuming the whole human race is that stupid? 

Meanwhile, I'll be going out on certain nights (aliens always come at night) with my camera and a prepared list of questions to ask if I get nervous. 

I used that method back in the early 90s while interviewing Miss Nude Universe at a nudist camp for a feature story for the group of newspapers I was managing.

But I digress.

As it stands, I'm really looking for that big interview to cap my career as a journalist.

Take this Quiz to Determine Which Politician is the Head of a Crime Family

Let's have some fun today with a simple political quiz. Which politician do you think heads up a crime family?

Joe Biden, or Donald Trump?

----------------------------------------------------

1. Who had mob connections with Anthony "Fat" Tony Salerno and Paul Castellano and is still in touch with mobsters?

a. Biden

b. Trump

2. Whose family business has been convicted of 17 crimes?

a. Biden

b. Trump

3. Whose father was arrested twice for his involvement in a Ku Klux Klan riot in 1927?

a. Biden

b. Trump

4. Whose 3 children have been accused of massive fraud?

a. Biden

b. Trump

5. Which president brought his two children into the White House as his top advisors?

a. Biden

b. Trump

6. Who has 72 federal felony indictments against him with more coming soon?

a. Biden

b. Trump

7. Who was the first US president in American history to try and overthrow a legal election to stay in power?

a. Biden

b. Trump

8. Who was the first US president to be impeached twice while in office?

a. Biden

b. Trump

9. Which president has family financial connections to Saudia Arabia's corrupt regime?

a. Biden

b. Trump  

10. Who was involved in more than 4,000 civil cases in U.S. federal and state courts when he became president?

-----------------------------------------------------

If you came to the same conclusion, I did Trump is truly the head of a crime family. Facts. Evidence. Receipts. Emails. Phone calls. 

Family history and more confirm that.

Trump and his minions are projecting against Biden in a pathetic ruse to turn the tables on truth. Trump's defense team in the House of Representatives are doing their best to further the lie.

As it stands, the MAGA Republicans desperate attempts to protect their supreme leader will ultimately lead to visiting him in prison on weekends

Fair Warning: You Could Be Part of the Next Discriminated Segment in Society

Imagine if you woke up one day and found out that you were now considered a second-hand American because of:

Your race

Your religion

Your ethnicity 

Your sexual preferences

and

Your resistance to the growing fascist movement in America.

Of course, it wouldn't just happen overnight. These things take time. We've allowed white supremacists and other extreme groups to spread their poison in politics to the point we're near a civil war.

Systemic racism has always been an issue in America. Only a clueless idiot would deny that. African Americans have always been discriminated against since they were brought here as slaves.

Religion has always been weaponized in cultures around the world. It depends what religion you are part of and where you live. In America we have white Christain Nationalists who rebuke other religions rights and secular citizens freedoms.

Ethnicity is another longtime challenge when it comes to getting equal rights in the "Land of the Free." The pecking order goes something like this, Caucasians, Asians, Blacks, and Hispanics. You could shuffle the order around, but they are always beneath the whites.

Who you love is a major issue these days. Admittedly it has always been a super charged issue with straight people who demonize the LGBTQ community out of fear and stupidity.

The latest example is the current war on trans people perpetrated by MAGA morons. Over 500 court cases across the country so far have been filed against trans citizens and many are now new laws.

MAGA politicians in Congress are complicit in this attack against trans people because they know it pleases their homophobic base. As I write the corrupt GOP operatives for Trump are pushing this hateful agenda as part of their presidential campaign and the general election in 2024.

Consider this.

What are the chances you could be affected someday by this trend to marginalize Americans who don't support rightwing extremists? 

As it stands, the first step towards saving our democracy is taking back control of the House, maintaining the majority in the Senate and re-electing Joe Biden in 2024.