As Trump seems to be doing a speed run to destroy the United States Government and solidify permanent one party rule, it can be easy to gloss over any one particular scandal. That's by design, btw. They're using a blitzkrieg approach, where they overwhelm us all with a continuous stream of ridiculous and egregious moves to the point where it becomes hard to recall any given event. What ends up happening is that the average person (that is, someone who doesn't pay too close attention to politics) may not remember anything of substance - that's the plan. They want it so that it all gets muddy to the point where everything blurs together, to the point where you don't know what's even true anymore.
It's important then for us to focus in on these events and scandals, examine what Trump and his criminal pals actually say and do, educate ourselves and our neighbors. We must not let anything get memory holed.
Anyway, please check out the video, because Trump is a god damned idiot, and it's important that we don't forget how much of a monster this man is.
Hey folks, so if you've been paying attention to politics over the last week you can see the Trump people are using a blitzkrieg-like approach, to overwhelm the media cycle with the stupid and outlandish, and while everyone is too busy being distracted by whatever idiotic thing they're then able to sneak in some truly odious policies. This is literally right out of the fascist playbook, and when I say that I'm not being hyperbolic. Hitler did the same thing after he was elected - one crazy policy change after another in rapid succession - and by May of 1933 he was essentially a dictator for life. The Trump people are going full steam ahead with that gameplan.
It's important then for us to be vigilant and not let anything slip through the cracks, and also to focus in on those policy changes and executive orders which will affect us all in our daily lives. To this end I decided to review some of what I think are the more odious and insane executive orders President Cheeto-face McSphincterMouth signed in his first week.
Jesus, it's only been a week and we're already in chaos.
So the good news is that after more than a year a cease fire has been brokered which will pause the genocide in Gaza. The bad news is that it's a cease fire, and not a peace agreement, and it comes far too late. 46,600 people have already been killed (please keep in mind, this is a lower estimate. The real number is probably several times this.) Will this allow the Palestinians to return home, and to begin rebuilding their lives? Nope. And after forty five days the wonton slaughter will start up all over again.
It's an incredibly shitty for Biden to go out, and it's hugely disappointing. I want to say that Biden is probably the best president I've had in my lifetime, except for how he handled the genocide in Gaza. He blew it so bad the republicans are taking power with a trifecta. Nobody is going to remember the good things that Biden did - the student debt relief, pardoning of non-violent drug offenders, the Afghan withdrawal, rescheduling marijuana, and so on. Now until the end of time whenever anyone looks back on Biden they're going to associate his name with "Genocide." Truly a pathetic end for someone who could have been a great president.
For those of you who voted for Trump and thought Trump was somehow going to end the war in Gaza, you're in for a rude awakening. One doesn't have to have psychic powers to know Trump is going to make everything worse. If you have family or friends in Gaza then it's time to start praying, because that will literally be more effective than trying to get Trump to do the right thing.
Do any of you out there remember Jordan Neely? Don't feel bad if you can't, his was but just another tragedy in the endless stream of shitstorms that have been the last couple of years. Long story short, Jordan Neely was a homeless person who was essentially murdered by yet another white vigilante, strangled to death for the crime of being hungry and shouting at people on the subway.
See, the right wing in this country really likes vigilantes, on two conditions: 1) The Vigilante is white, and 2) The Victim is black, or a "liberal." The first pseudo-example I remember of this was George Zimmerman, the shooter of Trayvon Martin back in 2015. He didn't fit the profile exactly (Zimmerman was a latino after all,) but the next example sure did: Kyle Rittenhouse.
Rittenhouse was the first white vigilante to parlay the death of his victims into a full blown career as a right-wing influencer, and he rode the grifter wave hard. He did all the talk shows, did guest appearances at TP USA events, went on all the right-wing chud grifter podcasts, and even has his own video game FFS. The right wing media machine saw they had a star, and they used Rittenhouse to spread their hateful agenda just as much as Rittenhouse used them for monetary gain. And all he had to do was blow two people away.
But all stars eventually fade. Rittenhouse just doesn't turn heads the way he used to. Sure he's still a Z-grade conservative grifter celebrity - but when was the last time Rittenhouse was in the news? So the right wing hate machine as been trying to create a new white vigilante superstar ever since. A few may-have-beens have come and gone in the last few years - the guy who shot two people to death in Panama for the crime of protesting in the road comes to mind - but nobody has had the same kind of pull that Rittenhouse had, nobody has had that same pizzazz. Nobody except for Daniel Penny.
Daniel Penny has it all - he's young, he's white, he's an ex-marine. He could easily pass for your typical American male, the kind of guy who drives a pickup truck and knows a little too much about football. He also has what Rittenhouse doesn't: He's tall, he's reasonably good looking. He doesn't look like an overgrown child. You don't expect to see his mom show up to bring him his inhaler. He looks tough.
And the right-wing media A-holes have been pushing Daniel Penny over the last few weeks, and pushing him hard. He's been on Fox Nation, been interviewed with that drunken maniac Janine Piro. JD Vance had him as a special guest during the Army-Navy football game. This is only the beginning for Daniel Penny, as it's plain as day his future as a conservative white vigilante Maga Grifter is there for the taking so should he choose. And thus the right-wing hate machine chugs ever onward, exploiting those by whom it is also exploited by, spreading hate and fear and making Republicans rich at the expense of everything else that really matters.
All it took was one hungry man being strangled to death because he made too much noise.
So unless you've been living on a deserted island you know what's been going on with the United Healthcare CEO shooting. And honestly I'm not surprised this has happened, in fact I'm surprised that it doesn't happen more often.
More than anything, I see this whole story as a failure of leadership. Corporate oppression is an issue that cuts across party lines, especially when it comes to health insurance - we ALL get the spikey dildo from the insurance companies, and everyone hates them. But when was the last time you heard anyone talking about it? When was the last time you heard any politician try to take on the health insurance companies? Where are the leaders on the left and in the democratic party on this, what are they doing and what is their plan? And I say "democrat" and "the left" because the conservatives and Republicans have already shown us they could care less if you live or die. Republicans do not give a shit if you have insurance. Trump has had eight years, and he still only has "concepts" of a plan. (Anyone remember when he claimed his healthcare plan would be unveiled in "two weeks?" Those were the days.)
I just wish that it didn't take a rich person getting blown away for us to start talking about the problems in this country.
President Biden has finally done what he should've done two years ago and pardoned his son Hunter, and for some reason this seems to be causing rending of clothing and gnashing of teeth amongst the Democratic establishment. This is mainly because I think the Democrats, as an institution, are not adverse to abusing power, but rather don't like the appearance of doing so. This is very different from the Republicans, who just do whatever they want and dgaf. I think if there's one lesson that the Democrats need to learn about their massive failure in 2024, it's that it really doesn't matter anymore what a president does, what he says, or even what his policies are - all that really matters is how people feel. I mean, Trump does and says the most horrible things and his policies are complete dogshit that ruin people's lives, but somehow people still vote for him - and when he does stuff like pardon Steve Bannon for ripping off his own followers to the tune of a million dollars nobody said a god damn thing. It was barely in the news for more than an afternoon. Maybe the Democrats should learn the lesson and start actually not worrying about optics so much.
Also, if the idea of a president using his power to directly benefit himself and his family enrages you, then get ready because you're really going to hate the next four years. That's what happens when people don't vote.
Back in 2016 when Hillary was the favorite to win the election all the Trump people started threatening a second civil war if he lost. In 2020 when it was clear Biden was going to take it they did the same thing - and then they showed up at the capital in a giant mob and tried to murder Congress and stop the certification on January 6th. Now four years later Trump is finally starting to be held accountable for the crime of trying to steal the election, and the MAGA chud douchebags are threatening violence again. These morons have been screaming for a second civil war now for years, crying like little babies every time they lose an election, coming up with ever more ridiculous conspiracy theories, and blaming everyone but themselves as to why they fail so much. I say bring it assholes.
What really gets me is that these idiots are ready to rip the country apart over Donald Trump, who is quite possibly the most vile, corrupt, and overall selfish human being who's ever been involved in American politics. This is the one man who truly does not give a flying shit about anyone other than himself. His every action is calculated purely for his own gain. He would literally sell each and every one of these red-hat wearing morons out without a second thought, and yet millions of these dupes are ready to destroy their own country to support him. It's truly depressing.
I always thought that the United States would collapse due to something like a world war or some other grand catastrophe. I didn't know all it would take is one piece of shit reality TV star.
Have you guys seen Aquaman yet? It's not a bad movie, if you liked the first one then you'll like this one. It's got lots of action, good creature effects, giant monsters, great fun. Unfortunately it isn't doing too well, with one of the weakest opening weekends in recent history (a paltry 27$ million, which is even worse than the Marvels.) There could be many reasons why this film didn't do too well - of course if you're a Conservative-CHUD-anti-woke-sigma-red-hat-wearing-alpha-male-patriot-MAGA-idiot-culture-warrior type then the only reason anything ever bombs is because of "wokeness."
I mean, I think Aquaman bombed because the character of Aquaman isn't that popular, and like 6 different superhero movies were released in 2023 (Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Ant Man 3, The Marvels, Black Adam, Blue Beetle, and Aquaman 2,) and since it costs like twenty bucks a ticket nowadays (let alone all the popcorn, candy, soda and whatever else) most people are choosing to just skip the movies they're only marginally interested in, and who can blame them? But nope - it must obviously be because there's a pro-environmental message to the movie, and plus some girl is in it that MAGA Chuds don't like or whatever. Such baloney. Please join us while we review one of these low-effort "comicgate" videos as it drives hatred through conservative virtue signaling in order to get clicks. Truly the world we live in is broken.
You know it used to be a criticism that the Republicans and conservatives would lob at the Democrats and progressives that the left wing was "violent." I'm not sure where this criticism came from, but it was a staple in conservative online spaces roughly 15 years ago or so. You'd go to a website or forum or something and there'd be rules of decorum - "no name calling or threats allowed!" "Treat each other with respect!" etc. And it was a standard go-to stereotype among conservatives and christians and such that "leftists" were always rude and devoid of substantive thought, and would instantly revert to name calling, insults, and violence in any given situation. Which was funny because of course these "rules" were typically only enforced against leftists, progressives, liberals, etc.
My how times have changed. Less than a generation later and all pretense of "civility" has gone straight down the toilet. It really is amazing how the character of online conservatives is the complete opposite of what it was just a decade ago.
The case of Craig Robertson is a perfect expaple, a 75 year old man who threatened to assasinate President Biden, and had the tools, training, and equipment to do it. The man seemed to revel in making public threats against Biden, Obama, and many other prominent Democratic public figures - which is illegal. That is to say, it is illegal to threaten anyone, but it's really doubly especially illegal to threaten the President. The Secert Service doesn't just ignore it when some lunatic with a sniper rilfe makes public posts about how he's going to murder the President of the United States.
But it's the conservative reaction to Craig Robertson which really gets me. During the Bush years, in the early days of the web 2.0 days, occasionally a news story would pop up of some insane right-winger making threats, planning a terrorist attack, or going on a mass shooting - and it would get universal condemnation from everyone on the right wing. All of the politicians, pundits, everyone would speak up loudly against it. Not anymore - now the most common reaction from a conservative is to celebrate the violence.
There always was this undercurrent of violence simmering just under the surface of conservative politics, going back as far as I can remember. 7 years of Trumpisim has brought that to a full rolling boil. These people have truly lost their minds to the point where they're defending murderers, criminals, rapits, and traitors. When you start making excuses for why the ex-prresident is allowed to break the law you know the shit is going down soon.
Get out there and vote, Yo. The crazies are just getting crazier every single day, if we don't stop them then no one will.
You know, it seems like we've been talking about Trump in one way or anther every week (sometimes every day) since 2016. He just refuses to go away. It really blows me away how people can see all the ridiculous criminal shenanigans this POS gets up to and still want him to have his finger on the nuclear trigger. Anyway Trump has FINALLY been indicted for his thievery of multiple top secret documents (numbering in the hundreds.) Please remember the story broke about him absconding with this top secret material more than a year ago, and they're just now getting around to charging and arresting him. Just another example of how Trump is quite possibly the most privileged person on the face of the Earth at this moment.
Will he actually go to jail? Who knows. I mean, if it he were a normal person like you or I his ass would've been rotting in Guantanamo five minutes after walking out the door with top secret material, but this is Trump so he gets to get away with literally everything. Then again, if you were to ask me if he would've even been charged with this a year ago I would've speculated no, so maybe there is a god.
Discussing the multiple scandals surrounding Clarence and Ginni Thomas, and how they relate to the repeal of important civil voting rights legislation. This guy has basically been on the grift for years, taking advantage of his position to personally enrich himself at the expense of the American people. It's somehow worse when a government official in a position of authority abuses that power moreso than some other common criminal. We trusted this man to be impartial, to be above the politics and make the correct decisions to guide our country, but his actions have shown anything but. Clarence Thomas has betrayed everything the United States stands for, and he needs to be removed.
I speak a lot about conservative charlatans and grifters, in particular those who use religion to rip people off like evangelical Christian televangelists, corporate-style ministries, and the like. Those people are a huge problem in this country. However it's also worth mentioning that there's an entire industry of new-age grifters and con-artists who prey upon the alternative medicine crowd who can be just as greedy, and sometimes even more dangerous than their TV Preacher counterparts. In this video we discuss the practice of "Sungazing" which is a subset of a group of beliefs called "Inedia," that is a new-age belief derived from traditional Hindu medicine, in which people believe they can live without food or water just by staring at the sun and consuming "prana" (or spiritual energy.) This has lead the to deaths of at least five people since 1999, including most recently a one month year old child.
It's important to remember that just like how your conservative uncle can be vulnerable Qannon type conspiracy theories your super cool liberal/progressive aunt who's into power crystals or aroma therapy candles can be vulnerable to these people. Religious grifters know no race, color, or creed, and all they care about is money no matter who they hurt.
Hello everyone. In this week's stream we do a deep dive into Ron DeSantis' vile "Martha's Vineyard" stunt which is incredibly despicable and also quite possibly illegal. Apparently Texas, Arizona, and Florida have been shipping migrants to blue states for quite some time. Did you know they do this with homeless people also?
With the recent Supreme Court Decision Roe V Wade (and ignoring 50 years of established precedent in favor of blatant partisan politicking in the process) a lot of people out there are turning to "medication abortion" as a safer and more private alternative. This of course would be the Plan C pills, which are a combination of medications taken 24 to 48 hours apart that induce contractions similar to a miscarriage to expel the fetus. The result is virtually indistinguishable from a miscarriage - that is to say, a doctor would not be able to tell that one had taken the pill or had a naturally occurring miscarriage. These pills are generally very safe and (until recently) legal in every state.
This week's stream focuses on bills in several states which are looking to ban the import of Plan C pills, such as Texas, Tennessee, (because conservatives hate freedom,) a bill in Missouri modeled after the Texas abortion ban which would allow randos to sue a woman or anyone who helped her get an abortion outside of the state (because Republicans were lying when they said it was about state's rights, of course) as well as some organizations such as Just the Pill which are working to help women in these oppressive states get access to safe and legal abortions.
Towards the end we discuss Michael Laufer an the Four Thieves Vinegar Collective who put out a video instructing women on how to manufacture their own Plan C pills. While I understand their hearts are in the right place, I want to emphasize how incredibly dangerous this is. Please do not attempt to make and consume your own pharmaceuticals. Videos like this can get people killed, and I find it extremely irresponsible to promote these ideas. Ironically though, this video illustrates just how dangerous abortion bans are. Desperation leads to questionable actions, which leads to harm.
The capability of the right wing to completely miss the point and wear stupidity as a badge of honor will never cease to amaze me. These people truly believe the dumbest fucking shit.
Part three of our discussion on Libertarianism. Today we're covering the libertarian, free market solution to essential government services, with a focus on policing.
Second in a series of livestreams about why libertarianism sucks. Today we're exploring the strange phenomena of the obsessions from libertarians with attempting to weaken or remove the age of consent.
A bit about the underlying philosophy adopted by most libertarians, specifically how human rights are derived from property rights, and why it's friendly to pedophiles
Murry Rothbard's take on the rights of children, and how it should be legal to starve them to death, or sell them.
Why we have age of consent laws in the first place.
Examples of high profile libertarian and libertarian politicians who have made comments to the effect of eliminating the age of consent
Plus we continue with our illustration of the Oompa Loompas invading the Smurf village.
John Nolte is a conservative writer/blogger type person for Brietbart, and is quite possibly one of the worst people ever. A bonafide racist, sexist, warmongering anti-refugee misogynist who seems to only give a shit about himself and no one else, Nolte has sat down, thought really, really, really hard, and come up with quite possibly the dumbest take on Covid vaccines I've ever heard in my life.
Here's this moron's theory: Liberals and progressives are telling Trump supporters to get vaccines because they know the Trump supporters will do the exact opposite, because they want them to get covid and die. This would mean that the evil masterplan that Biden and his tree-hugging compatriots came up with to enact a genocide of conservatives is to spend millions of dollars developing a vaccine to a deadly disease, give said vaccine away for free, and tell people to take it.
Can somebody invent a portal gun, or a Tardis, or a spaceship or something so I can get off of this ridiculous
Hello folks! This week is all about libertarianism and why I think it sucks. Topics include:
Why in the United States "Libertarianism" is nearly exclusively right wing compared to the rest of the world
Common Libertarian beliefs and their shortcomings
Yes, there are pro-war libertarians.
An extremely brief history of libertarians (like, extremely brief)
Why are there so many conspiracy theorists, racists, alternative medicine freaks, anti-vaxxers, MRM people, anti-maskers, Redpill assholes, gun nuts, religious freaks, preppers, sovereign citizens, and other assorted cranks under the Libertarian umbrella?
Some of my favorite wacky libertarian politicians
The libertarian to alt-right pipeline.
Plus we continue our illustration of the Oompa Loompas invading the Smurf village.
