Wednesday, May 31, 2023

QOTD -- Neutering The Nuts

 

"... The deal pretty effectively neuters the Freedom Caucus and limits the damage House Republicans can do between now and Jan. 1, 2025. They can’t take the debt ceiling hostage again in the next year and a half, and they can’t shut down the government by refusing to complete spending bills without doing serious political damage to themselves.

"From a progressive perspective, the bill isn’t great, and most in the Progressive Caucus probably won’t support it. They don’t have to. There will be enough Republican votes and votes from other Democrats to pass the bill. From a political and economic stability perspective, the bill is fantastic. It averts economic catastrophe and neutralizes the Freedom Caucus in one go. In other words, Biden wins in a big way." -- Joan McCarter at Daily Kos, in a pretty fair summation of the debt ceiling deal moving through the full House today, then the Senate on its way to President Biden's desk.


Posted by at
Labels: , ,

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(Dave Granlund, politicalcartoons.com)

(Walt Handelsman, The Times-Picayune, New Orleans)

(Pat Bagley, The Salt Lake Tribune)

(Jimmy Margulies, jimmymargulies.com)

(Andy Marlette, Creators.com)

(John Branch, Houston Chronicle)

(Paul Fell, Artizans.com)

(Jen Sorensen, gocomics.com)

(Patrick Chappatte, Le Temps, Geneva)

(Peter Kuper, The New Yorker)


Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Tweets Of The Day


Ultra MAGAts folding like cheap suits --

 


A MAGA skill set (afflicting the afflicted) --

 

 

 

Not a MAGA skill set --

 

 

The targets (yes)  multiply --

 

 

 

 

A century- old lesson that the "anti- woke" crowd wouldn't want you to learn about --

 


The Malignant Loser turns on a faithful boot- licker ("milktoast"(sic))--

 

 

 

Another boot- licker thinks he's going to shake up the race --


 

Time marches on --

 

 

 

Posted by at
Labels:

Mid-Week Song

 

Amber Mary Bain, better known professionally as The Japanese House, has a second album coming out at the end of June, after a four year hiatus. She chose the name after a Japanese-style house in Cornwall, England, once owned by Kate Winslet,  that she stayed in on vacation with her family. We have a track from her new album as today's song: "Sunshine Baby." Enjoy.



Posted by at
Labels: ,

Sentencing The Insurrectionists -- "Warrior Inside" To Be Inside Prison

 



Another day, another treasonous MAGAt gets their comeuppance:

A Pennsylvania restaurant owner who screamed death threats directed at then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi while storming the U.S. Capitol was sentenced on Tuesday to more than two years in prison.

Pauline Bauer was near Pelosi’s office suite on Jan. 6, 2021, when she yelled at police officers to bring out the California Democrat so the mob of Donald Trump supporters could hang her.

In January, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden convicted Bauer of riot-related charges after hearing trial testimony without a jury. The judge sentenced her to two years and three months of imprisonment, giving her credit for the several months she already has served in jail, court records show.

Prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of six years and six months for Bauer, 55, of Kane, Pennsylvania.

Bauer was part of the mob that forced police officers on the East Plaza to retreat. After forcing her way into the Capitol, she accosted officers who were trying to secure the Rotunda, shoving one of them, and yelled at police to “bring them out or we’re coming in,” according to federal prosecutors.

“They’re criminals. They need to hang,” she screamed. “Bring Nancy Pelosi out here now. We want to hang (her). Bring her out.”

Other rioters shouted threats against Pelosi while they roamed through the Capitol.

“Bauer’s threat to hang Speaker Pelosi was real, imminent, and placed the Speaker of the House in danger,” prosecutor James Peterson wrote in a court filing.  [snip]

McFadden convicted Bauer of all five counts in her indictment, including a felony charge that she obstructed the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress that certified President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

Defense attorney Komron Jon Maknoon said Bauer never intended to interfere with the process of certifying the Electoral College vote. She “genuinely regrets her past actions” and doesn’t pose a threat to the public, her lawyer said.  [Ed., we seriously doubt that -- read on.]

“The international spotlight showcasing her at her worst has deeply affected her,” Maknoon wrote.

Prosecutors said Bauer lied during her trial testimony, giving a bogus explanation for her confrontation with police and claiming she didn’t remember threatening Pelosi.

Bauer has used “sovereign citizen” extremist rhetoric and filed “nonsense” court documents while defending herself, prosecutors said.   [snip]

More than a year before the trial, McFadden ordered Bauer to be jailed for several months for violating conditions of her release. She had claimed the court has no authority over her and told the judge that she doesn’t want “any lawyering from the bench.”...

The unrepentant MAGAt Bauer owns a restaurant named "Bob's Trading Post," which could more appropriately be named "Bob's Traitor Post."

The FBI is still looking for many of the insurrectionist morons.  Check out their web site to see if anyone looks familiar.

(Photo:  "Warrior Inside" Bauer at "Bob's Trading Traitor Post" with fellow thing/ AP photo)


Posted by at
Labels: , ,

North Korea's Spy Satellite Launch Fizzles

 

North Korea's launch of its first spy satellite ended in failure as the rocket plunged into the sea shortly after launch. From the Associated Press:

"The newly developed Chollima-1 rocket was launched at 6:37 a.m. at the North’s Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in the northwest, carrying the Malligyong-1 satellite. The rocket crashed off the Korean Peninsula’s western coast after it lost thrust following the separation of its first and second stages, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.

South Korea’s military said the North Korean rocket had 'an abnormal flight' before it fell in the water. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters that no object was believed to have reached space.

North Korean media said the country’s space agency will investigate what it calls 'the serious defects revealed' by the launch and conduct a second launch as soon as possible." (our emphasis)

You can bet that there will be deadly repercussions for the managers of that defective launch, since it was widely promoted by the regime as a major event. The failed launch also set off alarms in South Korea and Japan, where residents briefly took shelter.

In launching the satellite, North Korea again violated international resolutions that ban use of ballistic technology by the regime. With every launch, North Korea is gaining knowledge of long-range ballistic missile technology of the kind that could enable it to build intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching North America.

 

Posted by at
Labels:

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Biden Accuser Tara Reade Defects To Russia


News item:

Tara Reade, a former Senate aide who accused President Joe Biden of sexual assault, announced Tuesday she defected to Russia.

The shocking confession was made during a Russian state press conference, where Reade was sitting next to alleged Kremlin spy—and pal—Maria Butina. Reade told the pro-Putin press the “very difficult” decision to move came after the realization that she no longer feels safe in Biden's America.

“I'm still kind of in a daze a bit but I feel very good,” Reade told Sputnik. “I feel very surrounded by protection and safety. And I just really so appreciate Maria [Butina] and everyone who's been giving me that at a time when it's been very difficult to know if I'm safe or not.”

“You have U.S. and European citizens looking for safe haven here,” Reade added. “And luckily, the Kremlin is accommodating. So we're lucky.”

This deeply disturbed person is a self- admitted admirer and "supporter" of war criminal Putin.  Some have speculated she was part of a Russian disinformation campaign, wittingly or unwittingly, when she made her debunked claims three years ago about being sexually assaulted by President Biden in 1993 -- a curiously- timed claim likely intended to enable Republicans to "both- sides" that claim with the 20+ claims of sexual assault and rape against the Malignant Loser.

Regardless, she's now made her bed.  Good riddance to bad rubbish.


Posted by at
Labels: ,

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Mike Stanfil, ragingpencils.com)

(Pat Byrnes, caglecartoons.com)

(Dave Whamond, caglecartoons.com)

(John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

(Drew Sheneman, The Star-Ledger, Newark, NJ)

(Michael Ramirez, Las Vegas Review-Journal)

(Tim Campbell, Counterpoint)

(Frank Hansen, caglecartoons.com)

(Clay Jones, claytoonz.com)

(Jeff Darcy, Cleveland Plain Dealer)

(Frank Cotham, The New Yorker)


Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Tweets Of The Day


And the defamation will go on with new lawyers --



Debt limit hostage takers in a lather -- 


 

 


Interested to see what dollar amount Qevin places on "wokeism" --



Bootsie on the "indigestion tour" of Iowa. Will there be pudding? -- 



Marjorie Traitor Green has a fan -- 



Christofascist cancel culture in action --



Chalking up another one of war criminal Putin's miscalculations -- 



Hope they had enough chips and pretzels -- 


 

 

Posted by at
Labels:

Trump Legal Team: Knives Are Out

 

The so-called "legal team" around the Malignant Loser is looking more like the "legal team" of a crime family boss. As the Malignant Loser comes closer to indictments for mishandling classified documents, obstruction, and seditious conspiracy on the Federal side and election fraud and racketeering in Georgia, his legal team is looking around to see if one of them (or more) is providing info on the Malignant Loser to authorities. From Salon.com:

"Five sources with direct knowledge of the situation told the outlet that clashing personalities and the threat that they could face legal jeopardy themselves has 'sown deep divisions that have only worsened in recent months.' Attorney Tim Parlatore left the team earlier this month after throwing another member of Trump's team, Boris Ephsteyn, under the bus — but sources told the outlet his departure may only be the beginning.

'There's a lot of lawyers and a lot of jealousy,' a member of Trump's legal team told The Daily Beast, adding that the number of lawyers representing a single client accused of so many crimes is unprecedented.'

As special counsel Jack Smith's team targets multiple Trump attorneys in his investigations, Trump's lawyers 'seem to be questioning whether their colleagues may actually turn into snitches,' the report added.

Smith's team successfully pierced attorney-client privilege claims invoked by Trump attorney Evan Corcoran after arguing that the former president may have used his services to further a crime. Prosecutors interviewed Corcoran before a grand jury about topics he previously refused to discuss and obtained his notes about discussions with the former president.

Trump's legal team has also groused about Ephsteyn, who has described himself as Trump's in-house counsel, which sources ridiculed and compared it to how mob boss John Gotti's lawyer described his services, according to the report."  (our emphasis) 

Ephsteyn, born in the Soviet Union in 1982, would seem to be the perfect lawyer for the Russia-loving Malignant Loser, seeking to protect both his client and the country of his birth. A hack who often appears on far right media platforms, Ephsteyn has been involved in Republican / Sedition / Shooters party circles, along with the likes of felon Paul Manafort, for decades. As a source cited in this article says:

"'Boris pissed off all the Florida lawyers. People are dropping like flies. Everybody hates him. He's a toxic loser. He's a complete psycho,' a source told The Daily Beast. 'He's got daddy issues, and Trump is his daddy.'"  (our emphasis)

With a "team" like that, why not go right to sentencing?

 

Posted by at
Labels: ,

QOTD -- The Debt Ceiling Ritual

 

"...The biggest win of all, for the nation, is that apparently we get a nearly two-year respite from this ridiculous game. Congress or the president should use that time to eliminate the debt ceiling once and for all.  [snip]

"Democrats should have tried to do away with the debt ceiling when they controlled the White House and both chambers of Congress. After this agreement is signed and sealed, Biden should look for a way to have the Supreme Court decide whether the 14th Amendment makes the debt ceiling unconstitutional, as some legal scholars believe.

"Reasonable people need to stop the madness. One of these times, unreasonable people will miscalculate — and deal the nation a crippling self-inflicted blow."-- Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post on the debt ceiling hostage- taking game, and what needs to be done about it.  Only the U.S. and Denmark have a debt ceiling that's set at an absolute amount rather than as a percentage of GDP.

Where we would depart from Robinson is in entertaining any thought that the Republican Supreme Court would be a venue that could rule favorably on the 14th Amendment issue.  


Posted by at
Labels: , ,

Texas Passes Election Law Targeting Democratic Stronghold

 



ICYMI over the weekend, the anti- democracy yahoos in Texass are continuing their rear guard action to defend Christofascism in their state:

Texas Republicans wound down their regular legislative session Sunday by changing election policies for a single populous Democratic stronghold but not other parts of the state.

The measure gives the secretary of state under certain conditions the power to run elections in Harris County, home to Houston and 4.8 million residents. It follows a bill approved days earlier that shifts the oversight of elections from its appointed elections administrator to the county clerk and county assessor.

Harris County officials at a news conference last week said they would bring a lawsuit challenging the measures as soon as Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signs them into law.

“These bills are not about election reform,” said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the county’s chief executive. “They’re not about improving voters’ experience. They are entirely about suppressing voters’ voices. The reasoning behind these bills is nothing but a cynical charade.”

Also over recent days, the Republican-controlled legislature passed bills increasing penalties for illegal voting and likely setting the stage for the state to withdraw from the Electronic Registration Information Center. The center was formed in 2012 to help states maintain accurate voter rolls, identify instances of potential fraud and contact people so they can register to vote. More than half the states belong to the consortium, but some Republican-run states have bolted from it over the last year as election deniers have spread false information about its work.

The new law seemingly violates the Texass Constitution, not that that would stop the vote suppressors, who are being real clever:

The Texas Constitution, like those in many states, bars the legislature from passing laws that apply only to specific jurisdictions. Harris County officials said they would use that provision of the state constitution to challenge the legislation targeting their county.

Whether they succeed will be up to the courts. The legislation does not mention Harris County by name. Instead, one bill is written to apply to counties of more than 3.5 million and the other to counties of more than 4 million. Harris County is the only county that meets those thresholds.

“We’re suing the state of Texas to protect Harris County, to protect Harris County residents, to protect our public officials and to stop the state from targeting us,” Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee said during last week’s news conference.

We wish them well, but given how the Christofascists have salted the state courts with their own, even having the law and the state Constitution on your side might not be enough.

What's happened in Arizona, Nevada and Georgia, once red states now purple, is what Christofascist Republicans in Texass see coming in the distance.  It might take longer to happen than it did in those other states, but it will happen there, too.

If you want to help Harris County Democrats fight voter suppression, you can make a donation here.

(Photo:  Gabriel C. PΓ©rez / KUT News)

 

Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

Monday, May 29, 2023

Memorial Day 2023

 

 

Today, Memorial Day, we remember and honor the men and women who died serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.  Originally known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day became an official federal holiday in 1971.

We're taking time off today to be with family and to reflect on the service of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.


Posted by at
Labels:

Sunday, May 28, 2023

Across The Universe, Cont. -- Jellyfish Galaxy


(click on image to enlarge)


From NASA/ ESA, May 22, 2023: The jellyfish galaxy JW39 hangs serenely in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This galaxy lies over 900 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices, and is one of several jellyfish galaxies that Hubble has been studying over the past two years.

Despite this jellyfish galaxy’s serene appearance, it is adrift in a ferociously hostile environment; a galaxy cluster. Compared to their more isolated counterparts, the galaxies in galaxy clusters are often distorted by the gravitational pull of larger neighbours, which can twist galaxies into a variety of weird and wonderful shapes. If that was not enough, the space between galaxies in a cluster is also pervaded with a searingly hot plasma known as the intracluster medium. While this plasma is extremely tenuous, galaxies moving through it experience it almost like swimmers fighting against a current, and this interaction can strip galaxies of their star-forming gas.

This interaction between the intracluster medium and the galaxies is called ram-pressure stripping, and is the process responsible for the trailing tendrils of this jellyfish galaxy. As JW39 has moved through the cluster the pressure of the intracluster medium has stripped away gas and dust into long trailing ribbons of star formation that now stretch away from the disc of the galaxy.

Astronomers using Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 studied these trailing tendrils in detail, as they are a particularly extreme environment for star formation. Surprisingly, they found that star formation in the ‘tentacles’ of jellyfish galaxies was not noticeably different from star formation in the galaxy disc.

[Image Description: A spiral galaxy. It is large in the centre with a lot of detail visible. The core glows brightly and is surrounded by concentric rings of dark and light dust. The spiral arms are thick and puffy with grey dust and glowing blue areas of star formation. They wrap around the galaxy to form a ring. Part of the arm is drawn out into a dark thread above the galaxy, and dust from the arm trails off to the right.]

Credit:   ESA/Hubble & NASA, M. Gullieuszik and the GASP team


Posted by at
Labels:

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)


(Robert Ariail, Spartanburg Herald-Journal, SC)

(John Cole, GeorgiaRecorder.com)

(James MacLeod, @MacLToons.com)

(Jeff Stahler, gocomics.com)

(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)


(Rick McKee, caglecartoons.com)

(Mike Smith, Las Vegas Sun)

(Christopher Weyant, Boston Globe)

(David Sipress, @dsipress)


Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , ,

DOJ Going After Donations To January 6 Rioters




After trying to trash our democracy and install a fascist criminal in the Presidency on January 6, many of that day's seditionists have been raising funds allegedly for their defense, and the Justice Department is going after their loot.  Unsurprisingly, the rioters are typically presenting their cause as "political prisoners," instead of the felonious cultists that they are, and are using a Christofascist fundraising site to raise money:

"Most of the fundraising efforts appear on GiveSendGo, which bills itself as “The #1 Free Christian Fundraising Site” and has become a haven for Jan. 6 defendants barred from using mainstream crowdfunding sites, including GoFundMe, to raise money. The rioters often proclaim their innocence and portray themselves as victims of government oppression, even as they cut deals to plead guilty and cooperate with prosecutors.

Their fundraising success suggests that many people in the United States still view Jan. 6 rioters as patriots and cling to the baseless belief that Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election from Donald Trump. The former president himself has fueled that idea, pledging to pardon rioters if he is elected."

As the Justice Department has noted, while many of the rioters are claiming to need the funds for legal expenses, many have Government-funded legal representation. Cases in point:

"Markus Maly, a Virginia man scheduled to be sentenced next month for assaulting police at the Capitol, raised more than $16,000 from an online campaign that described him as a “January 6 P.O.W.” and asked for money for his family. Prosecutors have requested a $16,000-plus fine, noting that Maly had a public defender and did not owe any legal fees." [snip]

More rioters facing the most serious charges and longest prison terms are now being sentenced. They tend to also be the prolific fundraisers, which could help explain the recent surge in fines requests.

Earlier this month, the judge who sentenced Nathaniel DeGrave to more than three years in prison also ordered him to pay a $25,000 fine. Prosecutors noted that the Nevada resident 'incredibly' raised over $120,000 in GiveSendGo fundraising campaigns that referred to him as 'Beijing Biden’s political prisoner' in 'America’s Gitmo' — a reference to the Guantanamo Bay detention center.  

'He did this despite seeking to cooperate with the government and admitting he and his co-conspirators were guilty since at least November 2021,' a prosecutor wrote." (our emphasis)

We hope that the Justice Department takes every penny of the funds raised by these seditious goons and uses it to fund their ongoing investigations into the January 6 attempted coup.

 (photo: Getty Images) 

 

Posted by at
Labels: ,

Sunday Reflection: Dishonesty




"In order to be profoundly dishonest, a person must have one of two qualities: either he is unscrupulously ambitious, or he is unswervingly egocentric. He must believe that for his ends to be served all things and people can justifiably be shifted about, or that he is the center not only of his own world but of the worlds which others inhabit.” -- Poet, civil rights activist Maya Angelou (4-4-1928 - 5-28-2014) in "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" (1969), her autobiographical account of her life from age 3 - 16, describing coming of age in a racist, misogynist world as a talented, precocious Black girl. 

This quote, despite being written over 50 years ago, describes people like the Malignant Loser to a "t", showing Angelou's grasp of human nature and life's realities, and how they manifest themselves from generation to generation. Hers was a wisdom born of experience, pain and joy.

(photo: Lissa Gotwals)

 

Posted by at
Labels: ,

Texas Extremist AG Paxton Impeached




Texas' corrupt, right-wing extremist Attorney General Ken Paxton (Sedition-Trumpland) was impeached yesterday by the overwhelming margin of 121-23 in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. The House followed the report of an investigative committee that showed evidence the Paxton abused his office, along with allegations of bribery and favoritism for sexual favors. The 20 articles of impeachment can be found here.

What makes the impeachment vote interesting is the the Malignant Loser made a last minute appeal on behalf of his cult member Paxton, only to be rejected by dozens of Republican legislators. Paxton led the effort to fight the 2020 election results in four other states on behalf of the Malignant Loser. It also exposes a rift in the Texas Republican Party, with 60 Republican state representatives, including the Speaker, voting to impeach Paxton. As in the case of Federal impeachments, the Republican-controlled Texas Senate will conduct a trial of Paxton based on the 20 articles of impeachment. Meanwhile, Paxton is suspended from his duties as Attorney General.

His record as a right-wing extremist is well known, as the article notes:

"Saturday’s vote temporarily removes a controversial but influential Republican figure in Texas and nationally. He has led an office that initiated lawsuits that overturned or blocked major Biden and Obama administration policies, particularly on immigration; sought to reverse Trump’s electoral defeat in 2020; aggressively pursued voter fraud claims; and targeted hospitals that provided gender care to minors."

Paxton was one of the speakers at the Malignant Loser's coup attempt on January 6, and when you add obstruction of gun control measures and pursuit of the Christofascist culture war and you have an accurate picture of this crooked fascist.

(photo: Felony loves company. Brandon Bell, Getty Images)

 

Posted by at
Labels: ,

Exploring Chicago's Impressive Downtown Architecture

 

Take a walk with architect Lynda Dossey through the downtown River North neighborhood of Chicago ("that toddlin' town") and see French renaissance and neo- Gothic masterpieces, the Hancock building, a building that has its own zip code, and much more.  Lots of fun details and impressive historical background.

Posted by at
Labels: ,

Debt Ceiling Deal?

 


 

The "negotiations" with the hostage takers may have come to a head:

President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reached an “agreement in principle” on Saturday to raise the debt ceiling and cap federal spending, clinching a critical first step toward preventing a government default that could be nine days away.

The agreement offers Congress a road map for averting a fiscal crisis: It preserves the country’s ability to borrow money into 2025, resets the budgets at a broad swath of federal agencies and institutes new work requirements on some Americans who receive federal nutrition assistance known as food stamps.

The full details were not immediately clear Saturday night, as lawmakers had yet to introduce any legislative text. But it arrives more than four months after Republicans assumed control of the House in January and plotted a strategy to leverage the debt ceiling to achieve their policy agenda — ignoring repeated warnings that their brinkmanship could plunge the country into a recession.

The fate of the deal now rests in the hands of a restive Congress, where Democrats and Republicans began raising objections hours before their leaders struck their bargain. The blowback underscores the difficult task Biden and McCarthy face to muscle any legislation through the pitfall-prone, narrowly divided House and Senate with roughly a week to spare... (our emphasis)

We'll withhold final judgement until we see some details, but having gone from a "no negotiating with hostage takers" to "here's the deal, take it," this is going to be a (big or small) shit sandwich under any circumstances and one that will be questioned on policy grounds and as a political tactic for a long time.  But political reality demands Dems support their President, no matter how distasteful the "deal," and live to fight another day.  Let's keep our powder dry for now, Dems.

BONUS:  On a positive note, the coup caucus is apoplectic --

 

 

BONUS II:

 


(Photo:  Hostage taker and ransom payer/ Alex Brandon, AP)


Posted by at
Labels: ,

Saturday, May 27, 2023

Fleecing The MAGA Rubes, Cont.

 


 

For a cohort of the population, if you put the name of the Malignant Loser on something, you can sell it for a tidy profit.  The Malignant Loser himself is a practitioner of this type of grift (see, Trump University, "Stop the Steal," etc.).  Now some enterprising thieves in Colorado have joined in fleecing the MAGA rubes with "Trump Bucks":

In the recesses of the internet where some of Donald Trump’s most fervent supporters stoke conspiracies and plot his return to the White House, suspected con artists have been mining their disappointment over the last presidential election for gold.

They’ve been peddling “Trump Bucks,” which are emblazoned with photos of the former president, and advertising them online as a kind of golden ticket that will help propel Trump’s 2024 bid and make the “real patriots” who support him rich when cashed in.  [snip]

NBC News has identified the Colorado-based companies behind the Trump Bucks as Patriots Dynasty, Patriots Future and USA Patriots and reviewed dozens of social posts, online complaints and hundreds of misleading ads for the products. Additionally, NBC News has found at least a dozen people like Amann who say they invested thousands of dollars after watching the pitches on Telegram and other websites that strongly suggested that Trump himself was endorsing these products.  [snip]

Since 2020, when Joe Biden defeated Trump in the presidential election, internet hucksters have been selling pro-Trump products like coins, checks and cards and marketing them as novelty items.

The fine print on the websites offering these items usually notes that they are memorabilia.

But on social media and in promotional videos — many featuring faked celebrity endorsements — the sellers have tapped an audience that believes Trump’s ouster was part of a great conspiracy and that by investing in the Trump Rebate Banking System, or TRB for short, Trump will reward their loyalty by making them rich. 

Those who buy these items, the ads from Patriots Dynasty, Patriots Future and USA Patriots suggest, will be rewarded when Trump unveils a new monetary system that will turn these products into legal tender worth far more than the purchase price...

The patriots rubes have been trying to cash in their Trump bucks at banks and have found them to be as worthless as their cult leader himself, like this Alabammy (where else!?) geezer:

“I saw all these ads on Telegram that had Trump pushing coins and checks that he endorsed and how you can cash them in after a year and make a profit,” the grandmother, who lives in Mobile, told NBC News. “I was told how you can go to Bank of America or Target or Amazon to cash them in.”

About six months ago, the grandmother said, she gathered up the Trump Bucks and commemorative coins she had purchased and drove 60 miles east to the nearest Bank of America branch she could find in Pensacola, Florida.

There, she said, she was greeted by a teller who told her she’d been scammed.

Of course, we have no sympathy, zero, for these morons. Their endless credulity, coupled with the moral- and- character flaws that attract them to the Malignant Loser, is what got us the present day Republican/ Seditionist/ Shooters Party and their cult leader in the White House for 4 awful years.  We only wonder if the Malignant Loser is also wetting his beak in this grift. 

(Image:  Fool's gold Trump Bucks/ Dan Anderson for NBC News)


Posted by at
Labels: , ,

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)


(Ann Telnaes, Washington Post)

(Chris Britt, gocomics.com)

(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

(David Rowe, Financial Review, Sydney)

(Monte Wolverton, caglecartoons.com)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(Ed Hall, Artizans.com)

(John Auchter, MichiganRadio.org)

(Pedro Molina, Counterpoint)

(Michael de Adder, Washington Post)

(Benjamin Schwartz, @BentSchwartz)


Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)