This has just got to Stop
US Army officer brutalized by police in Virginia. This has just got to stop.
What are we doing?
Someone did a study. It’s one of those things I wish I had written down or ratholed along the way. I knew I would reference it eventually, but these things rarely occur to me until well after the fact. It seems that ignorance really is bliss. That was the study. The scientists involved found some way to measure knowledge in a systematic way and compare that with the brain. Those that knew less really were happier. Go figure.
The more you pay attention to politics the less happy you become. Eventually, I’m going to come up with a catchy name for it, but there is an ever growing gap between what the public wants and what the government delivers. Some of this is due to representation and the nature of how our government is set up. Democrats in the Senate represent nearly 40 million more Americans than the Republicans and yet they are split 50/50.
The same phenomenon is true in the House to a lesser extent. Of course, they don’t have the same procedural issues as the Senate. That’s the other problem that gets thrown on top of the whole thing. So, you look up to see issues where the vast majority of the country agrees on both sides and yet nothing seems to be done.
At the center of it all is West Virginia senator Joe Manchin. Manchin is a Democrat officially, but the proof of his membership is sometimes difficult to pinpoint. He has been particularly hostile towards gun control and now is at the center of the controversy over the filibuster. Most Democrats either want it eliminated or severely curtailed. He is standing in the way. Considering the Senate is 50/50 that’s a particularly formidable threat.
Rumor has it that Manchin will not be running for reelection. So, the threat of primarying him is all but gone. His seat will be up in 2022. I don’t know that I would ever trust a politician to keep his or her word. The threat of retirement is always effective when someone becomes unpopular within their own party.
The proof of the pudding in terms of the gap can be seen in the overwhelming amount of legislation that the House has passed that has been stuck on the Senate’s desk. Before 2021, that could be blamed on one man. Unfortunately, that won’t fly as much as it did before. All people know is that they want stuff to be done and that stuff isn’t done. They don’t know whether to blame Mitch McConnell, Joe Manchin, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, or the tooth fairy.
This is why we see the yo-yoing in representation in Congress. One side gains control and nothing seems to change. So, they vote for the other side. Yet, one side has never been interested in passing popular measures. They really don’t want infrastructure. They really don’t want common sense gun control. They REALLY don’t want to expand voting rights and access. They don’t want to remove money from the political process and they don’t want to remove gerrymandering either.
So, voting for them only accomplishes that goal. Who in the heck knows why Manchin does what he does. Maybe he sees West Virginia as more conservative than other states. Maybe he’s a dedicated centrist that doesn’t like the progressive agenda. Maybe he’s desperate to keep some of these Republican senators as friends. It could be that he just likes the idea that people have to listen to him now. Whatever the case, I think he would find that even West Virginians are in favor of many of the aims of the legislative agenda. In that case, if their senator can’t find a way to get that agenda moving then they need a new senator.
The Democrats need to craft a strong message. They need to highlight everything the House has passed in the last few years since they have taken control. They need to highlight all of these things and show how the Senate is the one thing standing between Americans and lasting and systemic change. As hard as it will be, they need to explain how Senate works and doesn’t work. Maybe then Manchin will be pressured to move.
Flyin’ Ted Funnels PAC and Campaign Dollars into his Pocket
In a not at all shocking development, Ted Cruz is a grifter who once again did something shady to benefit himself while showing no remorse, respect for the law, or any interest besides enriching his own pockets or getting in front of a TV camera.
I know that’s a hell of a long run-on sentence but I am just so mad that I could spit.
We have all seen this grift before. It’s an absolute cottage industry in the world of Boring Books Conservatives Didn’t Even Write by Themselves. They find a publisher to give them a big advance, and they put out a book. Next, their Super PAC, full of anonymous donations, buys about 50,000 – 100,000 copies of the book. This helps the sumbitch in several ways.
One: For conservatives to believe that their ideas are more mainstream than they actually are by getting the book on some bestseller lists. Fortunately, the New York Times now puts a dagger symbol to denote that the book is only a best seller because of bulk buys like this. Recently, Donny Jr and other conservatives have gotten many social media views with “PROOF THAT NYT IS A LIBERAL RAG THAT HATES CONSERVATIVES.”
Two: The money used to purchase 50,000 -100,000 copies of Fled Cruz’s books has now been laundered. Of course, the publisher has to withhold royalties from these book sales, or they have to at least publicly say that they do. But Ted Cruz is no idiot. A charlatan? Yes. Idiot? No.
Instead, his PAC, using donated funds, purchased “sponsorship advertising” from a company called Reagan Investments, LLC. Reagan Investments, LLC, then purchased his books with those same dollars, netting him his 15% royalties, and effectively laundering political donations into his pocket. How do I know for sure? Well, they wrote “BOOKS” under the “sponsorship advertising” part when transmitting the money. Here’s the full article: Now Ted Cruz may be buying his own books through a mystery company | Salon.com
Are you with me?
Cruz puts out book —-> Voters and Anonymous people give Cruz millions in a PAC ———-> Cruz gives the PAC money to Reagan Investments ———> Reagan Investments buys books, and since they aren’t a PAC the publisher doesn’t have to withhold royalties ——> Cruz personally pockets 15% off the top.
But yall, that isn’t even what this complaint is about. There’s more.
In a completely separate grift, this sumbitch spent campaign dollars on at least $18,000 in Facebook ads urging his supporters to go buy his book. There’s no ability to trace how much campaign money he spent on other ads because that’s not available to the public. So he takes $18,000 in campaign money, runs ads for people to buy his book, and each dupe that buys it nets another 15% back into his pocket which is a violation of FEC rules.
Of course, nothing will happen because he’ll use his campaign money to pay for a big fancy lawyer and his good ole’ boy buddies way up high will get him out of trouble because even though they hate him as much as we do, they all do the same thing and they like the system the way it is.
It’s hard to explain, of course. But do you know what happens when you piss off a broad with a nice tall glass of sweet tea, steel-toed boots and a love for graphic design? Infographics. You get infographics.
Pence’s New Book Deal
Mike Pence just signed a double book deal with Simon and Schuster, announcing that the first one will be an autobiography. The question is, who is going to want to read these? MAGAites hate him and wanted to lynch him for not interfering in the certification of the electoral vote, and normal people think he’s a moron.
All we have to say is that this deal is going to generate a lot of toilet paper.
No, Colorado Voting Laws are Not Like Georgia’s
Latest lie from the GOP and its official networks – “Colorados voting laws are like Georgia’s, so MLB shouldn’t have moved the All Star game there.” As we all know, the controversy began when Georgia Repubs, not liking the results of the 2020 election, rammed through a whole new set of voting restrictions designed to suppress the votes of those they don’t like. They lied that it was about “election integrity”, but we all know that’s pure USDA Grade A bullshit. It’s about voter suppression, though they’re working hard to make it look like what it’s not.
In response to the bill, many large corporations belatedly condemned the law (after their customers and activists protested). MLB announced they were pulling the All Star game from Atlanta and subsequently moved it to Denver. The immediate response of Repubs? Corporations should stay out of politics (except for donating money to us). They also started lying about Colorado’s voting laws, falsely claiming that it’s laws are worse than Georgia’s. Of course, that’s not true, not even close.
Jen Psaki was asked about that lie in the WH press briefing, and she set the record straight –
Boom.
Proud Boy wants out of Jail; Judge, “Nope”.
Christopher Worrell is a Proud Boy member and was at the Capitol on January 6 spraying Capitol Hill Police with bear spray. Oh, and he wasn’t wearing a mask. Turns out that Worrell had been previously treated for lymphoma, and is now worried about contracting Covid 19 while in jail, so his lawyer asked for him to be released pending trial. DC judge says, “You didn’t seem concerned while in a mob without a mask…”, and rejects Worrell’s request. Boom.
OOF: DC judge REJECTS request from accused Proud Boy & Capitol insurrectionist Chris Worrell for release from jail. Worrell has been treated for 14 years for lymphoma and is concerned about COVID. Judge says…You didn’t seem concerned while in “mob” on Jan 6 “without a mask” pic.twitter.com/IUBPTl2j2a
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) April 6, 2021
Thanks to Alan for the heads up.