Curiouser And Curiouser

Threw The Looking Glass

August 30, 2021

It is always interesting to watch Americans’ minds at work. Probably thousands of people have decided to rely on the internet for medical advice, preferring Uncle Louie’s F&#*book feed to the advice of almost the entire medical community. Or, even worse, many of these people relied on what pro-virus ex-president Donald Turmp has suggested. From “the virus is a hoax” to “it will just disappear like a miracle” to “ingesting disinfectant,” the man who made damn sure this pandemic would survive past his second impeachment and the end of his first term has the ear of a large minority of Americans to this very day.

Studies show that Turmp’s MAGAts are largely responsible for the virus’ continued success, thanks to their continued ignorance-fueled refusal to wear masks and/or get vaccinated, or do anything that might help stop the pandemic. And of course, the Ratpublican Party writ large is loath to do anything that might contribute in any way to the success of Joe Biden and the Democrats. Ratpublicans only love America when it does what they want.

All Those Opposed, Say Neigh

These people have now opted to take medicine designed for livestock rather than risk becoming magnetized, injected with tracking devices (which if true, surely cannot track anyone better than phones, computers, tv sets, cars and other non-injectable technologies already do). Or become “mutants” – this, according to Alex Jones who also opined, “Maybe Trump's actually a dumbass,” for finally quarter-heartedly suggesting that his supporters get vaccinated.

This new red state “designer” drug – Ivermectin, is also used in humans to treat parasites and as part of a COVID cocktail in countries that don’t have access to the vaccine. But since these folks are unable to get an actual prescription, they decided to buy their drugs on the street, or more accurately, from a feed store, or perhaps from a website run by fake doctors.

Not sure if this is where most Ivermectin goes,

or why this image jumped to mind

To be fair, Fux News has been flogging these “alternative cures.” Specifically, Ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, and who-knows-what-else. Barely-lit bulbs like Florida governor Ron DuhSantis continue to disavow the seriousness of the pandemic at the same time his state is experienced more cases and more deaths than at any time during the COVID siege. Even super genius (and doctor who created his own organization so he could claim to be a Fellow of the organization) Sen. Rand Paul has weighed in, albeit oh-so-lightly, The hatred for Trump deranged these people so much, that they're unwilling to objectively study it. So someone like me that's in the middle on it, I can't tell you because they will not study ivermectin. They will not study hydroxychloroquine without the taint of their hatred for Donald Trump.” What has been studied closely for several years now are the veracity and mental acumen of Sen. Rand Paul. The finding are not promising.

These are the same people of course, who believe 3% of scientists on the climate crisis and insist that the other 97% are perpetrating a conspiracy, or some kind of weather witch hunt. Or perhaps nothing more than a bunch of Jewish space lasers hell-bent on world domination.

These are the same people who are scared to death of Afghan refugees – almost all of whom are responsible for saving American lives over the past 20 years – calling them all terrorists, but are desperately attempting to canonize actual terrorists who executed an actual terror attack on the Capitol, a few Capital police officers. And if not for Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd, who shot the unfortunate idiot tourorist Ashli Babbit, there is a good chance Turmp’s minions would have executed some number of legislators.

Now, many of these folks who had been begging the virus to infect them, are finally getting their wish, and ending up in ICUs. I guess they showed us. They insist that this is all in the name of freedom. The only problem is that they are occupying ICU beds that less-stupid people, with non-COVID-related medical emergencies need to survive. Some of these people are now dying due to lack of beds, equipment and personnel being wasted on assholes who refused to take this deadly pandemic seriously. Why didn't they drink their damned disinfectant before it was too late? To these people, freedom’s just another word.

I. Mangrey, reeling.

The White To Vote

Vote First, Ask Questions Later

August 28, 2021

I still vividly recall, as an impatient teen giddily awaiting the aging process to allow me to get my hands on a steering wheel and my foot on an accelerator, learning that driving was not a right but a privilege. This was defined as such in no uncertain terms. This was described in stark contrast to voting, which was in fact a right (once a certain chronological milestone had been reached, which changed during my later teen years), and not a privilege. No one, to my knowledge has ever been denying the privilege to drive based solely on the color of their skin. I may be mistaken in this, thanks to my life-long white privilege (again, not a right, though some might argue this point), but let’s assume this for the sake of argument.

Recent polling revealed that by a 67% to 32% margin Republicans believe that voting is a privilege that can be limited. Huh? The same poll showed that Democrats believe by a 78% to 21% margin that voting is a fundamental right. Here’s another breakdown for you: How do Americans feel about voting being a fundamental right according to their racial profile?

Black                      77%
Asian                      66%
Hispanic                  63%
White                     51%
Native Americans     ??% - apparently, they were not important enough to be asked

Based on the above, it should not surprise anyone that the ultra-white, largely racist, and demonstrably anti-American Ratpublican Party* has been pulling out all the stops to stop the steal. However, the steal they are desperate to stop is not the one their cult leader, a white (albeit comically spray-painted orange) nationalist has been whining about of late. Turmp, who was a sore winner when the obsolete Electoral College (and his Russian benefactors) handed him an ill-gotten victory in 2016, was unsurprisingly an even sorer loser after being clobbered in both the popular and unpopular (Electoral College) votes in 2020.

The real steal, as far as Ratpublicans are concerned, is the electorate stealing power from the corporate ownership of the government. This issue has taken on increasing significance and desperation as the white power structure in America is rapidly waning in favor of a multi-cultural, multi-racial society and leadership. Angry white people are apoplectic that non-white people would dare to insinuate themselves into a country that was stolen from the non-white original inhabitants and literally built on the backs of non-white slaves for more than a century and a half prior to its Declaration of Independence and for most of its first century since the birth of the nation. And since the “ending” of slavery, our very survival has been held aloft on the work-broken backs of underpaid non-white migrant laborers, perpetually disrespected, but no less critical to the nation’s economic survival.

Ratpublicans are not only trying to whitewash history by banning the teaching of anything that might make white children and their parents uncomfortable (guilty conscience much?), like slavery, the real reasons for the Civil War and “States’ Rights,” or Jim Crow, or the new boogie man – Critical Race Theory, they are trying to bleach the ballot box into toxic, likely fatal, whiteness.

Pennsylvania senate candidate Malcolm Kenyatta

White people need to STFU, grow up, wise up, and deal with the fucking fact that this not only is not their country, but not their world.

I have mentioned this idea previously, but it bears repeating – maybe white people, especially white men, should be disenfranchised (or maybe just subject to a literacy test, or a quiz on the Constitution, or having to correctly count the stars in the sky after waiting in line to vote for 12 hours) for a century or so to give them a taste of this very bitter, often fatal medicine.

*To be fair, and there is absolutely no reason to bring fairness into any fight with Ratpublicans, it is entirely possible that they would not try to disenfranchise voters of color if they voted Ratpublican. Not sure if that makes what they are doing better or worse…just kidding, they are utterly disgusting, and working overtime to remain irredeemable.

I. Mangrey resisting.

Broken News

Paying Attention Book Club

August 25, 2021

Book recommendations are nothing new here at Paying Attention. Usually they are books we have published, including such favorites as Good Night Goon, Donald and the Very, Very Large Uh-Brain, Orange Dregs and Scam, and the like. Today we want to alert you to the work of real authors whose books contain more words than pictures. We’re confident that one or both of these fine volumes will end up prominently displayed in your library, on your coffee table, or conspicuously flaunted wherever you invite others into your recently deep-cleaned environs, if not in fact read from cover to cover.

In an unprecedented publishing event, on the one-month anniversary of the release of their second best-seller about the twice-impeached, double-ex (thanks to his recent non-reinstatement) president, I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year, Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker are releasing a sequel/correction, I Alone Can Fuck It Up: Donald J. Turmp’s Catastrophic Four Years.

This is the double album of the printed word: think Really White Album

According to one reviewer: Yes, his final year was a catastrophe, but it took years of “work” to arrange the conditions – mentally, socially and politically – for Donald Turmp’s beyond catastrophic final year of his disgraceful, crime-riddled, twice-impeached, and ultimately deadly single term. Leonnig and Rucker’s follow-up to I Alone Can Fix It paints a much more complete picture of a psychopathic autocrat who could never have done anything different when faced with a deadly pandemic that required a cool head, flexible thinking and empathy – all qualities completely beyond Trump’s horrifyingly miniscule repertoire. As painful as it might be to dredge up the worst presidency in American history, this is and will be an important documenting of the surreal Turmp administration. The racism, the Russian collusion, two fucking serious, legitimate impeachments, the inevitable attempted coup (if it didn’t happen now, it would have happened at the end of his (unthinkable) second term, and of course, the tsunami of grisly details of the perpetual psychosis and staggering stupidity underlying all of it. If you don’t read any books this year, read this one. Don’t wait for the movie to come out.

Donny Goes to School - The President Show

This has been a Paying Attention Special Broken News report.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled hilarity.

Biden’s Folly

Stop Saying It’s So, Joe

August 23, 2021

While Joe Biden struggles to explain and recover from the inexcusably sloppy exit from Afghanistan, the repercussions of which will not be fully known for some time, he still has to keep his eye on the domestic policy ball. With any luck, all Americans will be safely evacuated, and hopefully our Afghan allies wishing to escape the Taliban will be rescued. While Ratpublicans will unsurprisingly exercise their hypocrisy, pretending that Joe Biden was the only president to shit himself in Afghanistan, Biden must still keep them close in order to keep things like infrastructure rescue, the resumption of voting rights, and economic survival on track. Biden must keep one eye on the ball and the other eye on the knife Mitch McConnell is waiting to plunge into Biden’s back at first opportunity.

“With Trump gone, you’re going to see things change. Because these folks know better. They know this isn’t what they’re supposed to be doing.”
                                   President Joseph R. Biden

No, Mr. Biden, they do not know better, and whatever concessions they may appear to have made with the bipartisan infrastructure bill, you can be sure that there is something other than concern for roads, bridges, life or limb hidden within their apparent acquiescence, or at best an abject desperation that they will be exposed for the hateful partisans who are so vehemently and perpetually opposed to helping anyone but the ultra-rich. They are, as a group, not good people. The narcissism and insanity of Donald Turmp over truth and/or country. They have chosen cynicism over reality. They still grovel in spineless, shameless fealty to the Big Liar. Meaning they themselves are – not simply in effect, but in absolute truth – inveterate liars.

Mitch McConnell, beholden to Russia, his wife Elaine Chou, in bed with China,

and Joe Biden, long-time corporate lackey, trying to change his spots, but

still willing to pal around with domestic terrorists (i.e., Ratpublicans)

As Rep. Adam Schiff warned in his closing argument during Turmp’s first impeachment, where Ratpublicans had an exit strategy from Turmp handed to them on a silver platter, “You can’t trust this president will do what’s right for this country. He will do what's right for Donald Trump. The American people deserve a president they can count on to put their interests first.” The very same thing can be said of the Ratpublican Party writ large. You cannot trust them to do the right thing. Rather than take the exit ramp from the sink-hole-ridden Turmp highway-to-nowhere, McConnell and his malignant minions epoxied themselves to the soon-to-be-re-impeached Bloated Orange Lizard. They decided of their own free will, to go full Stockholm Syndrome. Ratpublicans unflinchingly became the Patty Hearst to Turmp’s Symbionese Liberation Army.

In his first Turmp impeachment closing Schiff also said, “If you find him guilty you must find that he must be removed because right matters, the truth matters, otherwise we are lost.” So, now we know, especially as people like Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Biden continue to fantasize about reaching across the aisle and still having a hand at the end of their wrist when they finish reaching, and much of America continues to side with Turmp and the Ratpublicans, we are lost.

I. Mangrey, really.                                                                                                      

                                                                                     

Bush Whacked

Kabul Bobbled

August 20, 2021

I’ve got to stay here, but there's no reason why you folks shouldn't go out into the lobby until this thing blows over.
                                        Groucho Marx, Horse Feathers (1932)

Hey, remember this fuckin’ dummy…and his evil, fucking ventriloquist?

George W. Bush, who some hoped would be, and by all rights should have been, the worst president for a century of American history, beginning with his controversial “election”, his disgraceful appointment by the (seemingly perpetual) conservative Supreme Court, and his historically disastrous time in office, is back in the news.

The horrific blunder that the Bush team perpetrated in Afghanistan in response to 9/11 is finally coming to something vaguely resembling a conclusion. Current, actually-elected President Joe Biden is the third subsequent president to be saddled with Bush’s Blunder since the Idiot-in-Chief left office, and left this country and in many respects the entire world, much worse off than when he found it. And I do mean found it, since Bush was unaware of anything outside the eliminative end of his digestive tract, where he kept his head for so many years.

As it turned out, Bush II, inarguably near the top of the list of the worst presidents in American history, had his record-breaking ineptitude eclipsed just eight years after relinquishing the post he never earned, never really wanted – other than as a way to work through his daddy issues – and certainly never used to promote niceness instead of evil. The dismal nature of the Bush years, as many of you will unfortunately and unsettlingly recall, was absolutely obliterated by the Orange Gas Cloud, whose single term in office we have recently and just barely survived…more or less.

Bush invaded, then quickly abandoned his 9/11 revenge foray into Afghanistan (should have been Saudi Arabia) after allowing Osama bin Laden escape into Pakistan, in favor of instigating an illegal war in Iraq. All of which caused major upheaval in the region and by extension, the world. Bush’s clean-up crew – the Obama administration – floundered in its attempts to extricate us from Bush’s quagmire, but succeeded in finally tracking down and killing bin Laden.

The next administration succeeded in elevating the selectively-Medieval, radical-fundamentalist Taliban by negotiating the release of some 5000 of their brethren (getting nothing in return), including the man who now leads the country formerly known as Afghanistan – now the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and many of whom are now directly involved in the take-over of that country. Turmp also offered up a May 2021 withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan, with – as was the consistent modus operandi of his presidency – no plan whatsoever.

Just six weeks ago, speaking at one of his patently pathetic, pandering pep-rallies, Turmp boasted, “I started the process all the troops are coming back home they couldn’t stop the process. Twenty-one years is enough don’t we think? Twenty-one years. They couldn’t stop the process.” Now Turmp, who also claims that the COVID pandemic was over when he left office, is blaming Biden for pulling out all the troops. Donald, go fuck yourself…I mean, go figure.

Turmp’s secretary of state Mike Pompeo and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar,

who Turmp helped free from prison and who is now a top Taliban official

Enter Joe Biden, who wanted to end the 20-year nightmare regardless. Biden did well to call it quits, though he clearly could have planned the departure and the safe evacuation of Americans and our thousands of Afghan allies while military support remained in country and viable. Each of those Afghans who provided assistance to the Americans has a price on his or her head, not to mention any woman who served in the Afghan government, or any young girl who dared pursue a modern education. USA, USA, USA.

For his two-bit part, Bush II issued a statement, which read in part, “Laura and I have been watching the tragic events unfolding in Afghanistan with deep sadness. Our hearts are heavy for both the Afghan people who have suffered so much and for the Americans and NATO allies who have sacrificed so much.” Too fucking little and way too fucking late.

Unfortunately, just days before the lightning-fast Taliban take-over of the Afghan capital Kabul, Biden insisted, “The Taliban is not the south – the North Vietnamese army. They're not – they're not remotely comparable in terms of capability. There's going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of an embassy in the – of the United States from Afghanistan. It is not at all comparable.”

Kabul embassy 2021                        Saigon embassy 1975

Comparable or not? You make the call.

Biden deserves some level of heat for the unmitigated, inexcusable sloppiness of the long overdue departure, but let us be clear who deserves the lion’s share of the responsibility/blame. The guy who waltzed us into Afghanistan with his fake cowboy boots, his shit-eating smirk and his murderous cabinet. Forgive? Maybe. Probably not. Forget? No fucking way in hell.

As badly, as it appears to the untrained eye, as Biden screwed up the withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan, can you imagine how it would have gone if the last guy had somehow managed to attempt following through on his alleged plan to do the same? Can you imagine Turmp even trying to extract even one Afghan who spent the past 20 years assisting and saving the lives of American troops in their country? No, you cannot imagine. And you do not want to try.

We already out-worsted George W. Bush, but if America ever manages to find someone worse than Donald Turmp to hold the highest office in the land, it will be the last throes of what Benjamin Franklin described as “A republic, if you can keep it.”

I. Mangrey remembering.                                                                                                 

                                                                                        

Fuck Joe Manchin, Redux

I Hate To Be Repetitive Again...

August 18, 2021

Though he has not been plastered all over our tv screens in recent days, West Virginia senator Joe Manchin remains a critically important vote in the Democrats’ plans to build back better after the devastating Turmp administration’s attempts to Make America Dead Again. While Manchin has slipped into the shadows for the moment, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body of scientists convened by the United Nations, has released the newest, most devastating climate report yet. The report is being touted as “terrifying” and “code red for humanity.”

Manchin, speaking to no one in particular, prefers coal to people

According to the NY Times, “We can expect a significant jump in extreme weather over the next 20 or 30 years. Things are unfortunately likely to get worse than they are today.” The Times continued, “Not all is lost, however, and humanity can still prevent the planet from getting even hotter. Doing so would require a coordinated effort among countries to stop adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by around 2050, which would entail a rapid shift away from fossil fuels starting immediately, as well as potentially removing vast amounts of carbon from the air.” In other words, it is fucking hopeless. A large swath of Americans won’t even wear a fucking mask to tamp down a rapidly spreading virus. And fucking Joe Manchin won’t let go of coal. Fuck Joe Manchin.

Climate? He’d Rather Burn It.

Sen. Joe Manchin, who is no less important to Joe Biden and the Democrats’ climate agenda, is on record as being opposed to renewable energy and the move away from the deadly menace of fossil fuel consumption. Not only do 97% of today’s climate scientists agree that man-made climate destruction is a threat to most life on Earth, particularly humans (which is only fair, after all) but back in the 1980s, research by other teams of scientists determined that human activity, specifically the wanton extraction and subsequent unbridled burning of the buried remains prehistoric flora and fauna, were not, shall we say, adding to the health of the planet or its unruly inhabitants.

Studies conducted for and by petroleum-pilfering profiteers Exxon and Shell’s own scientists showed that fossil fuel consumption was catastrophically dangerous. These two giants of environmental devastation determined that the best way to handle this chilling and critical research, was to bury it below the crude oil they were hell-bent on poisoning the planet with.

It’s The Capitalism, Stupid

Manchin, who allegedly works for the people of West Virginia and some would say, by extension, the United States of America, and some might even say he has some responsibility to the human race, made nearly $500,000 from one of the most polluting coal power plants in West Virginia last year alone. The Grant Town Power Plant “is still the dirtiest plant operating in West Virginia today.” The decrease in air pollution could potentially prevent 18 deaths, eight heart attacks, and 169 asthma attacks each year, if the plant were shut down. Ladies and gentlemen, Joe Manchin – the senator from Grant Town Power Plant.

Johnny Cash – 16 Tons

Manchin's daughter Heather Bresch, a pharmaceutical CEO, got a $31 million payout when her company, Mylan merged to form Viatris Pharmaceuticals, which then turned around and shut down their plant in Morgantown, West Virginia. Bresch drew outrage during her time as Mylan’s CEO when the company raised the price of its life-saving EpiPen, used by millions to reverse fatal allergic reactions, when they raised the price by 400%. Now, more than 1,400 workers in West Virginia have already been sent packing as their jobs are being relocated (without them of course) overseas to India and Australia.

Joe Manchin: Lifelong Friend Of The Filibuster

Manchin continues his (probably fake) fantasy that he can work with his fellow corporate whores across the aisle. The West Virginia coal addict continues to lie that the filibuster is what forces the two parties to work together. One teensy, weensy little problem – Ratpublicans have no interest in working together, especially when it comes to voting rights. Ratpublicans do not believe in the concept of voting rights, unless it pertains to white, male, landowners; this is the only issue on which Ratpublicans truly are originalists when it comes to the Constitution. They damn sure are working overtime to bring back the 3/5 of a person doctrine in their own, much less overt way, as red state after red state passes law after law designed to minimize the ability of black voters in particular to access the ballot box.

Working “together” with Ratpublicans on voting rights is like having someone with a knife just barely touching your chest, just slightly to the left of center, and in order to work with them, you push yourself, with hopeful vigor, toward the knife’s haft.

So, whatever else might be going on in that petty little head of his, Joe Manchin is just another of the many self-serving bastards “serving” in Congress. Don’t let his calm demeanor and feigned concern fool you. And don’t turn your back on him. And don’t even get me started on Manchin and voting rights.

Thank you…I mean fuck you, Joe Manchin.

I. Mangrey repeating. Again.

Word For The Day

Tourorists

August 15, 2021

The Jan 6 Commission is charged with uncovering how and why an otherwise fun-loving group of innocent tourists in Washington, DC ended up storming the Capitol, smashing doors and windows, defiling Nancy Pelosi's office, stealing government property, using the Halls of Congress as public restroom, tasing, gassing and pommeling police officers, and erecting a gallows outside the Capitol, during what, for all the world (with the frightening exception of Donald Turmp's Ratpublican Party) was an attempted violent take-over of the government of the United States of America (Remember them?). Surely, thousands of Turmp's very fine people would not have been stomping around the Capitol chanting "Hang Mike Pence!" for hours had not there already been a gallows coincidentally handy.

“I’m not saying you should hang Mike Pence for betraying me in favor of that

thing they call the Constitution, but it’s something you might want to think

about as you lovingly march to the Capitol and tear it to shreds. I’m not saying

to build a gallows, but as the great Donald Rumsfeld once said, “Free people

are free to do bad things.”

Why were these pleasant, loving tourists armed with everything except firearms? Why were they demonically searching for Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence? Were they just going to ask for directions to the bathroom? Or the gift shop? What a comedy of errors.

No one would have ever thought to accuse Donald Turmp of aiding anyone but himself (and ultimately, his record remains intact). And no one – not even Moscow Mitch McConnell or Kevin McCarthy, both of whom are on the record and can be seen on video – can deny (without lying through their teeth) that Turmp did aid…and abet the brutally insane terrorist tourists who stormed the Capitol in his name, often wearing or waving his name.

Naturally, Turmp and his cultists in Congress are lying their asses off trying to Orwell the January 6 attempted coup into a lovefest of patriotic tourists, hugging police and blowing kisses everywhere they went, even while they were literally shitting all over the Capitol Building. One imagines that out of consideration for others, these harmless tourists sprayed copious amounts of air freshener afterwards.

Though for a less righteous reason, George W. Bush made up the term “enemy combatant” in order to imprison people sans trial, sometimes a new term is required for unusual circumstances. We must coin a new term at this time to capture something unique: Tourorists.

Fun-loving tourorist following Capitol Police instructions on how
to enter the Capitol if the doors are locked, of if you don’t
know there are doors, or if you are mentally disturbed and in a
hurry to get your insurrection…I’m sorry, I meant tourism, on

Tourorists are loving, peaceful, violent visitors, particularly to, let’s say the Capitol Building, who attempt to capture and/or kill any number of senators and congresspeople, and perhaps a vice president or two, in order to show their patriotism by perpetrating a very caring, very fine, violent overthrow of the United States government, because their cult leader claimed he won an election, which he clearly lost. And because, you know, black people. Tourorists have been known to lovingly bludgeon police officers with American flags, as well as baseball bats, and possibly apple pies, in order to cover all the quintessential American icon bases.

Why would anyone think these tourorists were Turmp supporters?

This has been your Paying Attention Word For The Day.

The Bigger Lie

It’s His Party And They’ll Lie If He Wants To

August 13, 2021

If you have had the painful misfortune of being conscious for any of the past nine months or so, you are no doubt familiar with the phrase “the Big Lie.” This is how much of the reality-based media refers to Donald Turmp’s perpetual insistence that the 2020 election was stolen from him. There is also an amendment to the Big Lie, championed by, among and above others, My Crackhead Guy Mike Lindell. According the crack-damaged purveyor of pathetic pillows, the twice-impeached, disgraced, insurrectionist ex-president will be reinstated as president today (as previously reported here). 

Despite the fact that there is absolutely no mechanism for such a thing to happen, even if there was some overarching reason, which there is not, Lindell has been relentless in his insistence that this will happen…except when he is vehemently denying that he ever said such a thing, which he clearly did, and still does.

In case you missed Messed-Up Mike’s 72-hour marathon evidence bomb, you are in very good company. This company includes yours truly, so I will not be reporting any of the insanity that certainly transpired. You’re welcome.

A recent survey of 1,552 U.S. adults, conducted between July 30 and August 2, found that 66 percent of Republican voters continue to insist that “the election was rigged and stolen from Turmp.” A worryingly low 18 percent believe “Joe Biden won fair and square.” That is a huge majority of the heavily armed, racist, fascist-loving party of Turmp who still believe this big, stupid lie that their standard bearer continues to flog at every opportunity. Side note: nearly 50 percent of these same mental defectives think they may have to resort to “Second Amendment remedies” to keep “their country” from falling into the wrong (i.e., non-white, non-racist, non-fascist) hands.

In a way, Turmp does have a point. The 2020 election was stolen from the Ratpublican-donor-owned voting machines; it was stolen from the years-long Russian attempts to install and then keep Turmp in office; it was stolen from the decades-long gerrymandering that has successfully kept Ratpublicans – who consistently receive significantly fewer overall votes – either in the majority in Congress, or at least with an inappropriately powerful minority. The 2020 election was stolen by the voting electorate, from the corporate overlords who control so much of what passes for governing. If that is stealing then I am Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

But I digress. I really wanted to talk about the much bigger lie.

The big lie is actually the Ratpublican Party as an entity. They made Turmp their nominee; they then tried to normalize his racist, fascist behavior, embracing and enabling Turmp at every turn. When the had the opportunities to get him gone, thanks to the diligence of House Democrats’ two attempt to impeach They have wholeheartedly embraced Turmp’s 2020 election lie; you will almost never see a Ratpublican admit that Joseph Biden is the legitimately elected president of the United States.

They continue to support the big lie that the COVID virus pandemic is not a big deal, and there is no urgency for people to wear masks in public or to get vaccinated.

Don Winslow Films – Letter to Republicans

Ratpublicans remain wholly unwilling to stop lying about the inconvenient truth of the unrelenting climate crisis.

Climate-crisis-enhanced California wildfires are breaking records

More recently, Ratpublicans are lying about their shameless leader’s attempted coup. They say that the historic assault on the Capitol was just a harmless visit from patriotic tourists, nothing to see here. We’re lucky that these patriots did not “visit” the Capitol in planes. Many Ratpublicans are even lying about having originally not lied, when they said publicly that Turmp was unquestionably responsible for inciting his crazed white mob to stop the stealing of the steal. Now of course, we are learning more each day about the concerted effort Turmp was (and continues) making to overthrow the duly elected government of the United States of America.

Turmp’s January 6 message was clear; his marching

orders – and then some – were carried out to the letter. Turmp of course

did not have the guts to show up; that's a carboard cut-out with the crowd.

One of the other big Ratpublican lies, and they are not the only ones who seem willing to perpetuate this feces-infused fallacy, is that they are “the party of Abraham Lincoln.” This is like saying that Christians and Muslims are Jews because they all trace their roots back to the monotheism initiated by Abraham (Cohen, I assume).

I did not die for the sins of those who claim to

be my political descendants. They are lying cads.

And in the unlikely event that we awaken to a second Turmp term tomorrow, it has been nice knowing you.

I. Mangrey truthing.

It’s Bring Your Reality To Work Day

Fascist Is As Fascist Does

August 11, 2021

“Just say the election is corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republicans in Congress.”*
                        Donald Turmp December 27, 2020, pressuring acting Attorney
                             General Jeffrey Rosen to aid and abet his burgeoning coup attempt

“You guys may not be following the internet the way I do.”*
                            Turmp’s continued attempt to sway Rosen by insisting…
                            wait for it…that he knows more than anyone else

Another perfect phone call as only Turmp can make it

You might by now have forgotten all about the previous White House resident. No doubt you have tried, like Sisyphus, to push the poisonous bulk out of your conscious awareness. Unfortunately, the scars are too deep and too wide, to budge very far. Or, if you are fortunate enough and persistent enough and strong enough to push it some distance toward your goal, you will in time see it roll right back to where it started.

In any event, some things should not be forgotten, lest the possible lessons available also become lost. So it is with the Orange Sickness. The one thing that should, and seems to be on the wane, is Turmp’s malignant influence on the zeitgeist. His blog failed miserably, his Sexual Abuserpalooza tour with Billo Reilley is flopping worse than what was planned for Springtime For Hitler: A Gay Romp With Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden, and the candidates he has backed (with his fat mouth, but none of the funds he has been grifting from his angry, white cult victims, allegedly to help elect pro-Turmp morons), are dropping like flies at a Raid party. For his part, Turmp is back out on the white power rally circuit, testing the waters for raising money for another presidential run, if not in fact for actually running. But wouldn’t that be his third term since he is still president serving his second term? And isn’t that unconstitutional?

Some crowds at recent Turmp rallies have a different feel

Nonetheless, Turmp is doing his best to fight his way back into relevance. And so, we must continue to remind ourselves, however unpleasant and painful, of some of his malfeasance – past and present. So, forgive me this foray back into the dark cloud that has yet to sufficiently dissipate. Lest we forget.

Lock Them Up

As the first wave of COVID patients began to burgeon, Turmp wanted to send them to Guantanamo Bay, “That’s like some kind of resort, right? They’ll love it there. The weather’s beautiful, not as nice a Mor-on Lago, but very good, I hear.” He asked, “Don’t we have an island that we own?”* Adding, “I’m pretty sure we have an island, like one of those surrounded by water, big water, somewhere.”**

They Shoot Black Folks, Don’t They

Turmp also tried to convince the military to shoot peaceful protesters. On multiple occasions inside the White House, Trump reportedly suggested shooting protesters. He also told members of his administration that he wanted the military to “beat the fuck out of” the protesters. When his insane, illegal idea met with displeasure from his human underlings he conceded some ground, “Well, shoot them in the leg — or maybe the foot. That's how you're supposed to handle these people. Crack their skulls!”* adding, “If you won’t do it I’ll do it myself. Nobody will even notice if I shoot somebody. And no one knows more about cracking some skulls than Turmp. I’ve cracked many skulls in my day. Everybody knows that.”**

“How did this weird thing get into my very, very big hands?”

Turmp reportedly wanted to invoke the Insurrection Act on the day of his pathetic Bible-pandering event (as if he has ever opened one), after having the peaceful protesters in Lafayette Park violently cleared for his walk of shame. I guess since he was talked out of invoking the Insurrection Act for peaceful protesters, he decided to lead his own violent insurrection instead. Maybe he just likes the word ‘insurrection.’ He keeps using that word; it does not mean what he thinks it means.

*This one is real.
**Actually, I added this.

I. Mangrey reporting. And making some shit up.

Resignation Day(s) 2021 - Day Two

Those Who Don't Celebrate History Are Doomed To Regret It

August 9, 2021

As the Sun slowly sets on Resignation Day(s) 2021, we continue our look back at Resignation Day(s) past, before presenting the latest stanzas of the iconic tome ‘Twas The Night Before Resignation. 

Just a few more hops down memory lane before the main event:

2013

Pardon me for not forgetting. Pardon me for not letting it go after all these years. Pardon me for dragging you into my obsession. I just can’t seem to quit the man who tarnished America, no easy feat, and then quit rather than face the music. I don’t care if he’s dead, I still want to impeach Nixon. It’s never too late for justice to be done. I know it will never happen in this case, but that doesn’t make it right.

Those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed. Period. And that’s the way it is. Good night and have a pleasant tomorrow.

2014

Thanks Ed, that was a treat as always. I hope you don’t mind if I add a verse or two for today’s holiday season…

Once more it’s that season, now Obama’s the one
New Impeachers are restless, and each has a gun.
They are angry and senseless, and each one is White
No need for good reason, they just want to fight.

So let’s watch in amusement, as they trip o’er their tongues
As they sputter and spew and expel from their lungs
All the hot air and spittle, all the BS and blight,
Keep it up silly Crackers, and to all a good-night!

2016

Tiny hands, tiny brain, tiny what-the-fuck-ever,
You will lose very bigly and be president…NEVER
Go prepare your next bankruptcy, it’s what you do best
You whiny Tweet-aholic, and sanity’s pest

2017

The endless lies and insanity assaulting us all,
By Constitution, our right and our duty - this Chrump thing must fall.
So I say to you all, Power To The People, Out Of Sight,
More Impeachment to all, and to all a good-night!

2018

Impeachment, resigning once more fill the air,
Now dash away blob with your FAKE orange “hair”,
This Chrump works for Putin, and amplifies hate,
He’s racist, he’s fascist; ain’t America great? 

Though mostly Chrump’s tweeting and golfing galore,
He’s doing great damage, let’s show him the door.
Fake “hair”, phony color, his face sphincter speaks,
Let’s vote like we mean it and be rid of this freak. 

Colluding, conspiring, with Russia, oh no!
Won’t tell his own people what he said to our foe.
This treasonous cretin makes us all sick and tired,
Let’s pray the next Congress will tell him, “YOU’RE FIRED.” 

2019

We heard from The Mueller, in a manner of speaking
He said there were crimes, he said there was sneaking
He all but said, “Congress, it’s time to impeach,”
He said indicting and punishing was out of his reach.

Still helping the Russians help him get re-elected,
With his treason, stealing children from their parents and torturing them, denying climate crisis, treating international allies like dirt and generally threatening global stability, we all are infected.
His crimes are innumerable, his racism steady
Impeach The Mother Fucker Already!

2020

‘Twas the night before Resignation

So we had our impeachment, if fell with a squish,
We thought he would go down, did not get our wish.
Chrump escaped, abetted by old Moscow Mitch,
That dastardly, reptilian son-of-a-bitch. 

We just can’t get rid of his Chrumpian flu,
More clingy than dog shit stuck to your shoe.
He whines that this virus will just disappear,
He’s trying to kill us is what many fear. 

Like everything else he fucked up, he screams, “It’s a hoax.
Drink bleach, disinfectant,” then we’re told, “These are jokes.”
No bounds to his ignorance, so much he don’t know,
His psychologist niece says he’s a sadist, a psycho. 

He’s pardoning shitheads and maggots who back him,
But he’ll scream “Fuck them up!” if with words you attack him.
Each day he does things that we think are the worst,
But he tops it each time, like it’s fully rehearsed.

It doesn’t seem possible there’s more we can take,
From this narcissist, racist, maniacal fake.
Chrump’s psychopathology has normal folks stressed,
Even Michelle Obama is feeling depressed.

Only one thing might stop this walking crime ‘gainst humanity,
This shit storm perpetrated by this terrestrial manatee.
A second Chrump term will kill America, no doubt,
So, on November the 3^rd, VOTE HIM THE FUCK OUT!

 

August 9, 1974 revisited: Two great tastes that taste great together
Nixon’s very victorious shameful resignation and
Bush’s equally iconic/ironic MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

How could we have known that at the eleventh hour there would be a second, more dire impeachment for Donnie Dearest? Were two impeachments enough? Apparently not, since his onslaught against democracy continues unabated, and with the continued support of a large, loud, armed and dangerous majority of his party. And make no mistake - it is his party. And anyone who dares to step out of line continues to face dire consequences - even Dick Cheney, Jr. 

So, without further ado, or a don’t, or a maybe, Paying Attention brings you our 2021 installment of the Resignation Day(s) festivities.

‘Twas the night before Resignation
(In 2021 it just gets verse)

Twice, there were Turmp crimes, and all through the House,
There were cries for impeachment, “Get rid of this louse!”*
The crimes were all proved, beyond shadow of doubt,
Witnesses, videos. Throw the bum out.

The country was nestled and nervous and scared,
Of the mad orange man, with the fake orange “hair.”
He bragged about crowd size and hands and whatever,
He promised to fight and stay president forever.

And despite all the evidence, and all the convincing,
Still half the country’s all his, the other half wincing.
It was easy to see that this Turmp was a fascist,
Who put any against him on his miles-long blacklist.

They impeached him not once, they impeached him then twice
The Senate stood by him, we never got to say, “Atsa nice.”
‘Cause he stayed on in office, swore he’d get re-elected,
But the voters said, “Fuck off! Go to hell! You’re rejected!”

The sorest of winners, could not handle such losing,
So he riled up his MAGAts, to believe his delusing,
Go take over the Capitol, it need not make sense,
And while you are at it, try hanging Mike Pence.

Never cared ‘bout America, repeatedly treasonous,
One can’t help but wonder just what the reason is,
Always siding with Putin, and threat’ning Ukraine
To get Hunter Biden? This fucker’s insane.

He whined and he moaned and incited insurrection,
All because he’s psychotic, no one wants his erection.
Turmp still thinks he’s president, or will be reinstated,
His tiny brain and reality are for sure unrelated.

Can the Democrats somehow get brains, spines and balls,
And stop the Turmp Party from having it all?
They unsuccessfully impeached him not once but twice,
There’s nothing left, but to impeach his ass thrice.

*Actually, the cries were “Impeach The Mother Fucker Already!” which didn’t rhyme with house and would have thrown off the rhythm completely.

I imagine having the same sentiment when Turmp is finally gone

From all your unimpeachable sources at Paying Attention: Ed Venture, I. Mangrey, T. Doff, Allison Wundarland, Ann T. Soshal and our intern – Yuno Hoo, we hope you’re enjoying Resignation Day(s) 2021.