This dichotomy between what conservatives believe and how they act  can be a puzzle sometimes. However, consider what’s at the core of the economic and social thought behind the beliefs. I worked hard. What’s mine is mine and you can’t take what is mine. I need to have the freedom to live my life because my way of life is under assault from all of these other people that have different ways of life. They want to push their way of life onto me. They must be stopped.

This is conservatism in a nutshell. We can rail against the man and I certainly am guilty of that, but what is more bothersome are the sheer number of people willing to carry that water for him. We have Supreme Court justices openly flying stop the steal flags (plural) at their homes (also plural). We have others with spouses that were directly involved in the movement that are still ruling on cases directly involved anyway.

We have Congresspeople and senators gladly pushing wild conspiracy theories and making outlandish statements and pushing policies that would limit our freedom. The problem is that they don’t view it this way. They think they are advancing freedom because they either fundamentally don’t understand the concept or they understand all too well and want to deny that to a group of Americans.

People that are progressive, liberal, leftists, or just caught in the middle want some way to combat all of this. They are looking for a lifeline. A large part of the complaint is that there is just too much. Just imagine the number of news stories that have occurred in the last two weeks that somehow have not made the first page of the major newspapers.

Freedom is a difficult concept. It means allowing people to live lifestyles you would not approve of or want for yourself. In exchange you get to live your life the way you see fit. Harrison Butker can live his life as he sees fit. His wife is free to submit to his will if she is willing to do so. It doesn’t mean than any of us have to do the same thing.

In the same way, anyone in the LGTBQ+ community can live their truth the way they see fit. Conservatives don’t want that. They see freedom differently. Freedom for them means that their lifestyle must be protected and preferred. The others must be suppressed. You can feel free to be gay on your own time, but don’t tell me about it and certainly don’t act on it in public. They believe in freedom if it means agreeing with them. I really don’t think most of the people trumpeting Butker are racist necessarily. They trumpet him and disagreed with Kaepernick because they agree with Butker and disagreed with Kaepernick. It’s really that simple.

The GOP calls themselves the freedom party. The most extreme members of their party call themselves the Freedom Caucus. This election and all future elections rest on this single issue. How do you define freedom? If it means you get to live a conservative lifestyle but others don’t get to live theirs then feel free to vote Republican. Just keep in mind that you are okay as long as no one finds something you do as objectionable. The end game is easy to see here. They will continue to attack people on the fringes and until there is no more fringe. Then, they will attack themselves. There will be one lonely one left and no doubt that dumb son of a bitch will attack the mirror.

You’ve seen it mentioned before here, but there is an as-yet unrevealed endgame to Kristi Noem’s Saga of Cricket (and The Goat). And it comes to us courtesy of Brave Books and social media.

As previously mentioned, Brave Books is a book publisher that specializes in Kid Lit right-wing religious tropes that are designed to indoctrinate today’s youth to detest anyone and anything politically to the left of Atilla The Hun.

They contract with the stars of the constellation MAGA to produce high-dollar paperback children’s books. Stars like Sean Spicer, Lara Trump, General Mike Flynn, and … and … Kimberly Guilfoyle have all authored books under contract with Brave Books.

But here’s a homework assignment: go to the Brave Books website and enter the search term “The Princess & Her Pup” in the Search box. Know what you’ll get?

Bupkis.

Oh yes, you get results, just no Guilfoyle book.

Kimberly Guilfoyle’s kid lit book, entitled “The Princess & Her Pup” is not to be found anywhere on Brave Books website, yet it clearly shows in this screenshot of her announcement from HERE.

But you can still find the Brave Books page that promotes Kim’s book. It’s just that you have to click HERE to do it.

That’s because Brave Books has apparently de-linked the page from the rest of their website. Apparently, because try as you might, you cannot access THIS PAGE from THIS ONE.

“Why?” You might ask.

Answer: Kristi Noem.

For the full explanation you need to see this article from Yahoo News .

That’s right. It’s all in the timing of book release dates.

Kristi Noem’s tell-all – where she admits to killing a poor puppy and a goat – was dropped on May 7th, but not before The Guardian put out an advance review of it on April 26th. Suffice it to say, we now know that offing a puppy for its poor behavior is not a mainstream idea unless you are one of the 1.2% of Americans who identify as farmers.

But guess when The Princess & Her Puppy dropped? April 29th. There is even a live link there at her X (formerly Twitter 😆) page to the de-linked Brave Books page (click on the hypertext KGPup.com).

But try and find it from the Brave Books homepage, and you are outta luck.

Could that be because, as the release of Guilfoyle’s book was announced on “X”, it got entwined with the South Dakota governor’s horrific story?

Or is it because, for another $13.00, you can buy the book in a Biden Chew Toy bundle?

What do Sean Spicer, General Michael Flynn (ret.), Jack Posobiec, Dan Crenshaw, Mike Waltz, Dana Loesch, Dinesh D’Souza, and John Solomon all have in common?

If you guessed they were all January 6th supporters or TFG idolizers, you would be correct, but they also have one basic thing in common: they are all Kid Lit authors.

At least they are now.

All of the above and more belong to the new constellation of stars being offered by Houston-based Brave Books. Brave Books proudly offers “Pro-God, Pro-America children’s books.” They tout their books to be “faith-based children’s books teaching American values for a brighter future.”

Brave Books features such titles as “The Island of Free Ice Cream,” which instructs children “that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is,” and “Fame, Blame and the Raft of Shame,” which teaches children “the dangers of cancel culture.”

I kid you not.

Childrens’ books, especially those thin ones with colorful illustrations, are a must-have for any parent of small impressionable children. Especially children that are still in their formative years before they reach that magical age when they are considered capable of distinguishing between right and wrong: The Age of Reason.

Early indoctrination of children is not a new concept. Early in the Soviet Era, children of the USSR were encouraged to join Little Octobrists (октября́та) in order to become lively, active, healthy, disciplined youngsters who subordinate themselves to the collective.

At about the same time, a similar program was offered in Germany called Deutsches Jungvolk and Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) for older male children.

The difference between then and now, obviously, is that in the present case, the children’s books are offered by a private business, and the earlier indoctrination programs were government run.

Right?

Well, almost. While not government entities themselves, there are three examples of government-related organizations that do participate in indoctrination. In May 2023, the NRCC (National Republican Congressional Committee) purchased $5,193.00 of these books in order to provide gift mementos to its donors. In November 2022, the Michael Waltz Campaign (FL – 06) bought $580.00 worth of books for supporters. In May 2022, the principal campaign committee of Matt Gaetz (FL – 01) purchased $2,555.80 worth for “supporter gifts.”

These books are pretty pricey for paperbacks, at $22.99 each, so I’m guessing small dollar donors did not receive copies.

And it’s a win-win-win scenario: authors get paid for their works, donors get rewarded for donating, and young children are told about the evils of boycotts and getting free stuff (eg., ice cream, EBT, Healthcare, and Social Security).

In this scenario, when you are in a majority, you maintain the majority by early indoctrination of future voters. If you find yourself in a shrinking minority, it is even more important to indoctrinate them.

Otherwise, you end up like the Whig Party.

As if he didn’t have enough to worry about, TFG (The Flatulent Guy) has drawn another opponent in Georgia’s Presidential Election this November.

You might have heard of Him. He’s in a well-read book in…in…what the heck…in The Bible Belt.

Yeshua Jesus Christ.

And here I always thought His middle name started with an H.

It’s all copascetic. He has His own FEC ID number and everything. That number is not to be confused with His inmate number, which is so similar to His Flatulence’s Fulton County inmate number that it’s not funny:
Rumor has it that Yeshua was held for a few days by the Romans, in Rome, Georgia, for consorting with tax collectors and prostitutes, or as Yeshua calls them, publicans and harlots.

Or as they say in Georgia, revenuers and fancy gals.

The Von Shitzenpantz campaign has been mum about this latest obstacle in TFG’s effort to regain his rightful place in The Swamp (as he puts it).

There are two rules to follow in any given election: 1) Ballot Placement, and 2) Name Recognition.

Jeez, I wonder who evangelical voters will notice first.

Right there on the heels of my article last week, Harrison Butker of the Kansas City Chiefs experienced a masters course in what free speech really means. In all fairness, he was asked to speak at a Catholic university and he offered his opinions on women’s role in the home, their community, and the business world. So, it wasn’t unsolicited per se, but we can say that it was an unforced error.

You can feel free to watch the speech on its own. It is available on the YouTubes and is slightly over 20 minutes. I’ll pass. He did come out and clarify those remarks after the fact, but his clarified comments were probably worse than the original comments themselves.

Right on cue, those that defend Butker are forgetting my lesson from the last time we talked about free speech. Free speech means that the government cannot throw you in jail for your speech. Even then, there are some caveats there like hate speech, slander, and libel. Butker isn’t inciting a riot, so he should be fine.

Whether he will continue to be employed or not is a different question. Colin Kaepernick would have a lot to say about that. The NFL is an entertainment business. They have made a ton of progress in attracting female fans and they had a huge assist from Taylor Swift. Allowing this kicker to remain an issue might halt the progress they have made there.

Yet, a ton of the NFL fanbase is conservative. These are the same clowns that threatened to boycott the NFL over Kaepernick. They seemingly have no concept of hypocrisy as they stand up to defend Butker while they openly campaigned for Kaepernick to be blackballed. What it comes down to is that free speech only matters when it is something they agree with. Then it is free speech. When they disagree then it is offensive and needs to be suppressed. This is the party that says they are for freedom folks.

I have no problem with Butker saying or thinking what he thinks. I vehemently disagree with it, but he has every right to say it. He also has to put on his big boy panties and accept the blowback. He’s a kicker. There are probably 100 guys that could do what he does at a reasonable level. Would they hit every field goal he hits or be 100 percent on extra points? Probably not. Would they do what he does without all of the headaches? Absolutely.

For the NFL this is not a free speech issue. This is an economic issue. Do they make more money by standing behind someone that openly has these views because a majority of their male fans might have these views or do they make more money by jettisoning this guy and standing behind a growing number of female fans?

The NFL has already made statements saying they disagree with his comments. Hell, the nuns at the university in question made a similar statement. His words may have been inartfully uttered, but the clarifications were worse. As Twain also said, better to be thought an idiot than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt. Butker has every right to be an idiot. We all also have the right to call him one. Free speech runs both ways and it also doesn’t prevent private businesses from making a business decision. Let’s not conflate the two.