As much as I despise Donald Trump and his infestation of the White House, he’s actually not the problem.  As much as I opposed Hillary Clinton’s candidacy (twice), she’s actually not the problem.  Barack Obama’s presidency being blocked from greater accomplishments is actually not the problem.  All of the screaming heads on cable TeeVee are not actually the problem.  The idiots in state houses all over the country trying to strip people of their rights and places to go to the restroom are not actually the problem.  All the other nonsense going on in politics around the US is not actually the problem.

The actual problem?  It’s the Did Not Vote vote.  Did Not Vote wins most every election.  Have a look at this map:

Of eligible votes in 2016, Clinton received 28.43% (65,845,063) of all votes compared to Trump’s 27.20% (62,980,160) and Did Not Vote received 44.37%(102,731,399).  Did not vote won, and the American people lost.  Again.  This is how you get nut jobs like Dan Patrick, Sid Miller, Greg Abbott, and Rick Perry elected to statewide office.  When half of eligible voters can’t be bothered, this is what you get.  If voters actually voted, Russian hacking wouldn’t matter.  Gerrymandering would have much less effect.  Politicians would be driven toward compromise and making government work, rather than barricading themselves in their extreme corners heaving molotov cocktails at the opposition.  They would stop holding Americans hostage over budget squabbles, healthcare, Social Security, and energy policy.

If the majority of Americans actually voted, we would have a government that actually worked.  As it is today, while people sit around watching America’s Got Talent eating their Cheetos and drinking their Diet Coke, evil and/or crazy people make decisions that damage our democracy, threaten Americans’ lives, and make us the laughing stock of the world.

This is the actual problem.  This is what actually needs to get fixed.

Okay, if you’re not following Louise Mensch’s blog and twitter account, you are missing what is either the scoop of the century or the best James Bond thriller ever.  I don’t know which but its worth your time.

Sources with links to the intelligence community say it is believed that Carter Page went to Moscow in early July carrying with him a pre-recorded tape of Donald Trump offering to change American policy if he were to be elected, to make it more favorable to Putin. In exchange, Page was authorized directly by Trump to request the help of the Russian government in hacking the election.

If she’s right (more about her here), then this thing’s gonna blow like Miles Davis with a two ton trumpet.

Ya’ll remember James Comey, that really nice FBI director who’s letter to Congress about Hillary’s emails 11 days before the election hung over her campaign like a fart in church?  (sorry, Momma) Then remember how he said, “NNNNEEEEVVVVEERRRRR MMMIIIINNNDDDD” several days later? Well.  Looks like Mr. Letter Writer might just get his.  He’s being investigated by the Justice Department for possible political motivation (oh, say it ain’t so, Joe; say it ain’t so); AND, it turns out that his deputy director is also in deep doo-doo because, as he was investigating Hillary, his wife was running for Virginia State Senate.  Apparently he should have recused himself.  They’re also investigating whether someone leaked the info to Hillary’s campaign.  I wonder if they’re going to investigate why Rudy Giuliani knew about the email letter weeks before it hit?

Yesterday, both Google and Facebook announced they were updating their policies and algorithms in an attempt to stem the rising tide of crappola posing as real news on their websites.  That would have been a really good idea – LAST YEAR.  As we all witnessed, fake news sites that were intentionally mis-informing voters exploded on social media during this election cycle peddling fake stories that likely swayed voters, especially the ones sparking outrage over controversies that didn’t actually occur.  The two social media companies are attempting to limit the proliferation of fake news by banning ads for those sites.  The new policies will not affect viral growth of falsehoods, so this is only a partial step.

I find it very interesting that these steps are being taken after the damage has already been done, giving a lift to Cheeto Jesus, the worst presidential candidate in US history.  This has been a problem obvious to even the most casual observer in recent years, and, in fact, the New York Times reported on how Facebook content pushers were making serious money on sponsored posts last July. So it’s certainly no surprise this has been going on for some time.

I’m certain the delay in implementing this policy after the election had nothing to do with the profits pouring into Google and Facebook from all these ads peddling BS, right?

Yeah, right.

New Appointments to Lead White House Staff

Yesterday, Cheeto Jesus appointed his two top strategists for the coming January 20th Apocalypse.  What was striking about these appointments was not only their similarity – they’re both well known pigs; but also their differences – outside pig versus inside pig.  The outside pig is Steve Bannon, CEO of that den of serial liars called Breitbart “News”; the inside pig is RNC chairman and serial loudmouth, Reince Priebus.  Cheeto Jesus couldn’t have chosen a worse pair to run the White House except for maybe someone like Hannibal Lector or Freddy Krueger.  The choice of these two characters is shocking, but not surprising.

(more…)