THEY DON'T CARE!

 I had a mini revelation today about one of my anti favorite subjects, Trumpanzees.  I've read what others have written about a dynamic but I guess it hadn't penetrated my brain in the form it took today.  That dynamic is how Trumpanzees think.  Because I enjoy exercises in futility, I'd recently engaged with a few right wing looneys on a shooting message board.  Of course, the topic was how Cheeto Face is a traitor.  

When discussing any contentious subject (which is pretty much all of them with this crowd), you must be prepared for the standard MAGA rules of engagement.  Facts contrary to their indoctrination are met with insults, whatabouts, and complete topic changes (within a thread devoted to a particular subject).  For example, the most standard is "you're a communist, Biden lover, who only watches CNN".  Anyone who criticizes their cult leader is automatically all of these things.  And don't forget how Hillary did worse things (she didn't) and fucking Hunter's laptop...Jesus, I'm sick of hearing about that.  Either produce it or let the rest of the trailer park live in peace!

And make no mistake, it is a cult, with all the hallmarks of one.

I digress as usual.  Anyway, I was pointing out to them how damning the evidence was against their Cheeto-faced god, listing various facts that I pulled straight out of court documents as well as Trump's own Truth Social.  It's almost funny how over the course of throwing shit against the wall in his defense, he unintentionally admitted to committing every one of the crimes listed on the search warrant.  (No, I don't have an account; others are kind enough to capture his posts and tweet them.)  

I was full of shit, he didn't do anything wrong, evidence was planted (even Trump's abandoned that argument), he's the most persecuted man on the planet, Biden's a criminal, etc.  And that's when the realization hit me.  They don't care!  Incontrovertible evidence could be presented to them and they'd call it fake.  Trump could be convicted of the crimes he's committed as well as the inevitable new ones that'll be uncovered after tracing who had access to the top secret material.  They wouldn't care...the jury was rigged.  Trump could stop by each of their trailers and admit he sold national secrets to foreign powers* and they would still worship the piece of garbage.

The bottom line is Trumpanzees are so invested in the cult of the Orange Man that it's become part of their identity.  Accepting what anyone with a clear head already knows would be emotionally devastating to them, so they protect their beliefs with every fiber of their being and spew hatred at anyone who disparages their god.  You can't reason with them, you can't shame them, there's literally nothing that can break the hold the grifter has over these poor gullible dolts.  And fucking Trump counts on that.  

It's both sad and disturbing that these people are out there.  Some otherwise decent people have had their lives ruined by the grift.  People who can least afford it are conned into making donations whenever Trump wants money (the fucker was fundraising off his ex-wife's death!!!); and they keep on answering the call.  People are going to prison because they trusted that piece of waste.  But these people have also proven themselves ready to engage in violence for their cult leader, so my sympathy only runs so deep.  I only hope it doesn't happen again.  No, I only hope that Trump finally finds himself where he's belonged for decades, which is behind bars. No, fuck TOC's...we're all better off with him in a shallow unmarked grave somewhere near Fresno.  Fuck him and his fucked up, larcenous family.

*likely the Saudis - what the hell did they pay Jared $2 billion for???

Midterm Elections - This Could Get Ugly

 As regular readers know, I'm a shooter and I occasionally spend time on gun related internet message boards.  Some have "off topic" sections, where pretty much anything goes, and typically contain a ton of right wing looney content, typically in the form of links to right wing looney sources.  Needless to say, no independent thought flows from the posters.  I'll occasionally pop into those areas, to see what lies are being spread and poke fun at the loons by sharing facts.  Lately, I've been seeing a trend in the lies that disturbs me.  Along with the standard messages of "Biden is the Devil" and "Trump is God" I'm beginning to see an alarming number of stories linked about how MAGA / ultra conservative midterm candidates are polling incredibly high, when the truth is these candidates are tanking.  

That's some genuinely scary shit, because there will be a ton of cult members going into the midterms with the expectation of a big fucking red wave.  When the opposite happens, there will be cries of election fraud and potentially worse.  We've already seen what happens when these idiots believe one election was stolen.  What sort of ugliness could be in store if they think they've been screwed a second time?  

The only potential saving grace is their cult leader can't say he was screwed again, which may temper the response.  Of course, he'll have something to say, nonetheless.  

On a side note, this illustrates yet another example of how the harm done to this country by Cheeto Face is incalculable.  Perhaps I'm selectively remembering, but I don't recall any candidates prior to him claiming they'd lost an election due to fraud.  But now, every MAGA candidate who loses (in the primaries) is claiming it was due to fraud, even when the results weren't even close.  

Perfect example below:

Looney Laura Loomer

This could get very ugly, come November.

Oh God, Not More Gun Shit

Now that Biden is on another roll with gun violence, I thought it time to correct a major oversight on my part that would have provided some relevant context.  To recap, there are those who yell and scream about how gun violence has become an epidemic because of how there are so many more guns on the street.  First, as I've previously noted, gun related homicides have remained mostly steady, increasing a percentage point or two one year and decreasing by the same amount for a few years.  Full disclosure - I only have FBI data through 2019 because they recently transitioned to something they call an explorer to view data; I call it an unusable pile of shit.  

Anyway, let's look at what I could find on the last few years, which is gun related homicides by capita (specifically per 100k people).  Before the pandemic (2019), we were in the 4.5 range.  This was down from 7.2 in 1993 (didn't hear about a gun violence epidemic then, did ya?).  Unfortunately, that number's climbed, hitting 6.2 in 2020.

 While I'm on a roll with gun statistics, let me address one that makes me batshit; number of guns in the US versus other countries.  We have so many more guns and thus so many more gun related deaths.  To be clear, too many people die this way; that's not up for debate.  What you're supposed to take away is how dangerous the US with all of its nasty, evil guns.  

However, how have these numbers changed over time?  That's of greater interest to me than a snapshot designed to be outrageous by use of cherry picking and omission.  

With the yelling and screaming from the not so bright, you would think the US has been arming itself to the teeth over time and gun related homicides have skyrocketed.  "It's the guns!!!" 

How has gun ownership changed over time?  In 1977, just over half of American households owned one or more guns.  That number steadily declined from there, ultimately stabilizing at around 30-31%, where it's sat for more than a two decades.  During the pandemic, everyone went out and bought guns, but that only bumped ownership from 30% to 32%; still under a third.  

To summarize, we've seen an increase in gun related homicides of 16% over the past two years versus an increase in gun ownership of 5%.  And remember that despite what the gun grabbers claim, it's more difficult to get a gun than it's ever been.  I'm always a fan of the libs who want to prove how easy it is to buy a gun, only to discover it isn't.  

It's the guns!!!!  Try again, sparky.

Captain Obvious The Good Samaritan

 Yesterday morning, I was taking my dog for her morning constitutional (read "poop walk") and about a hundred yards up my street, there was a car parked at the curb.  I took note of it because parking isn't allowed on that side of the street and because it was occupied.  As I reached the car, I noticed the right rear tire was pretty much flat, so I played Captain Obvious and pointed it out to the drive, who happened to a younger woman.  She indicated she was aware and that was the reason for her being immobile.  She had called for a tow but the wasn't expected to arrive for an hour.  The poor soul had two kids in the car and I knew it was going to be a most unpleasant day for her.  I told her I had an air compressor and if she wanted to back down to my house (after my dog had pooped), I'd see if I could throw enough air in the tire to allow her to reach a tire place.  She gratefully accepted and I went to work.  Fortunately, the leak wasn't catastrophic, so the mission was successful, and she drove off after offering me copious amounts of thank you's.  

To be clear, I'm not looking for pats on the back for doing the right thing.  Honestly, I'm happy I was in a position to help someone in need.  The simple act brightened the rest of my day.  Although, it is disappointing she didn't offer to come back and give me a world class blowjob for getting her out of a jam. 

Trump's Done

 The walls have begun to cave in around Cheeto Face.
Laura Ingraham has abandoned him - "time to turn the page"
Fox News has moved on to DeSatan and hasn't had Trump on for some time, which is no surprise considering Rupert Murdoch has a long history of hating Trump.
Alex Jones has turned his back on Trump for DeSatan.

The smarter lie peddlers on the right seem to have realized that Trump is unelectable, at this point.  Independents have already jumped ship and he's losing moderate republicans by the droves.  Not only have polls shown him losing to pretty much anyone down to my dog, but the most recent data shows the country as a whole preferring Democrats over the GOP in Congress.  The importance of that bit can't be overstated.  

Trumpanzees will (and do) claim Trump is the "most investigated man in history" and remains clean.  Of course, that's completely false.  He escaped impeachment, twice, but only because his little GOP sycophants covered for him.  He's been found liable in civil cases (i.e. stealing from his own charity), but no one seems to pay attention to that tidbit because there was no jail time.  However, the DOJ seems to be working pretty hard on investigating his involvement with the insurrection, not to mention the Georgia election tampering "perfect call".  Those are probably 50/50 in terms of his conviction and potentially depends on whether Meadows flips on him; that dude's in a heap of trouble, himself, so that's not unlikely.  But his bullshit and delay tactics won't fly in these criminal proceedings.  

But Captain Obvious says the big daddy is his stealing classified docs and keeping them at MAL.  Relevant Sidetrack: Despite the lies being fed to the looneys, the President can not declassify anything he wants to.  Neither does he have access to all classified information.  As an example, a friend of mine worked in the facility where they design nuclear weapons.  When President Obama toured the facility, there were areas walled off and otherwise obscured, because he didn't have clearance to see what was going on there.  So, there are clearly limits to the President's authority vis a vis classified information.  Also, there are those who've claimed it wasn't "really that classified".  

The idiot has admitted to doing so, which will make for an easy felony conviction.  He put in writing that he gave everything back, when he didn't, which makes an obstruction of justice conviction a slam dunk.  Plus, the DOJ is reviewing the surveillance footage from MAL to see who came and went from the locked closet.  If they find any foreign actors were granted access to the closet, of which many have visited MAL, that's a treason charge for Cheeto Face.  And you know Trump couldn't resist showing his "secret papers" off to visitors.  The DOJ will pile up the charges on Trump, so he should be convicted of at least one felony, particularly considering his laughable legal team.  I've been reading his posts on Untruth Antisocial, which folks post to Twitter and he's shitting his pants because he knows what everyone else does, he's fucked.  

Should that come to fruition, he'd lose even more of his followers, because, well, treason doesn't play well with his America First MAGA base, many of whom are current, former, or pretend military.  Plus, most of the country hates the guy already.  

As the realization spreads that Trump is no longer the GOP golden boy, what I think you'll see from the right wing media in the coming months, is a gradual pivot toward Ron DeSatan from Cheeto Face.  It may take some time to propagate down through the right wing looney ranks, but it'll happen, because no one wants to put energy into backing a guaranteed loser.  The outlets will support the pivot by actually telling the truth about how horrible Trump is.  Additionally, they'll stop casting aspersions on the DOJ and FBI ("after reviewing all of the information, the process all seems to be by the book") and remove the "liberals weaponizing the DOJ" messaging.  MAGA world is a cult and Trumpanzees see him as a persecuted borderline deity, so the message will need to be gently spoon fed.  They've already vilified Fox just for not having Trump on in several months.  The other outlets will receive the same treatment until the cult members no longer have a source for Cheeto Face adulation and their minds have been changed about him.  Some will remain faithful, but they'll be out in the cold.  I'm looking forward to basking in the regret from these idiots.  

One final item - will the DOJ pursue charges on a former President?  There's an unwritten rule to not do so on a sitting President, but we're in uncharted territory here.  I think they will, because treason.  While that may cause domestic terrorists to bubble a bit, there will be a whole lot more people pissed off if they don't.  And even The Turtle has resigned himself to not retaking the Senate in the mid-terms, so people will go bye bye.

Match - Disruption in the Matrix

 In a momentary lapse of reason, I unhid my profile on Match recently and the oddest thing happened.  A lovely, but not blatant scam lovely woman sent me a "like", which I of course responded to.  Long story short, our compatibility was off the charts.  She was a successful professional in the med space.  I'd been perusing profiles for a week or so, before unhiding my profile and did recall seeing hers.  It seemed genuine, although I considered her just a bit out of my league.  Back to the compatibility thing.

1. She wanted to learn how to shoot to get her CCW - I'll be going through the process in a bit myself.  Like Kansas, damned NC requires an 8 hour course that I could teach, myself; but I digress.

2. She wanted to learn how to be a better cook - I've been seeking someone to cook with / for

2a. She loved Indian food and in particular Tikka Masala - I make a fucking awesome Tikka Masala

3. She was looking for advice on buying a Porsche - I'm a Porsche head

3a. "A bunch of my friends drive Cayennes." - I've been mulling over buying a Cayenne

Obviously, some of my interests are present on my profile; I have pictures of me making pasta, shooting, and working on my previous Porsche.  But the Tikka Masala was just spooky, because I don't mention Indian food at all.

Other red flags:

She was over the top excited about meeting me; really over the top.  Capitalizing YOU over the top.

I asked for her number, to which she agreed, but she didn't give it to me.  After two more requests, she said she wanted my number so she could call me.  My sensors had been pinging in my ears the whole time, but the phone thing caused me to disengage and rehide my profile yesterday.  Today, just for grins, I went to reread our conversation to see if I'd been overly sensitive to red flags and she'd vanished.  

That's fucking weird, man.  

While I'm on the subject of dating, I have mixed feelings there.  There's a very large part of me that's just over the whole meeting someone thing.  Perhaps I don't feel my skin is sufficiently thick anymore or more likely, I'm tired of winding up with really fucked up women.  To be clear, I recognize I'm pretty fucked up, myself due to my intimacy issues that caught fire again while I lived in Kansas.  Not to mention I feel like a fat load at the moment.  I've put on a few pounds and the closest thing to working out I've done has been carrying boxes around.  I figure I have some time to think about it because I'm not bringing anyone over with my house littered in empty boxes full of packing material.  Hopefully, packing will be mostly complete end of next week.  Any longer and the damned boxes will become furniture that I don't notice...

Good Guy With a Gun

You knew I'd take time to comment on the latest mass shooting, even though I'm still working to unpack my kitchen, with the living room and my office barely touched.  

Over the weekend, a good samaritan took out a piece of garbage attempting to kill as many people as he could in an Indiana shopping mall.  This of course, brought out all the right wing idiots pointing out how a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun.  Conversely, the lefties are screaming that one instance proves nothing.  It follows that those who claim to study such things would come out and say how a good guy with a gun almost never stops a bad guy with a gun, based on their data and research.  And these are the people who we shall refer to as hacks.

Let me explain.  Nowhere in their data do they take into consideration whether an armed civilian was present.  I'm ignoring law enforcement because they've proven themselves to be useless with more concern about themselves than the public they're sworn to protect.  If these hacks can't tell me whether an armed civilian was present, then how can they claim any insight into the subject.  In many cases, mass homicides take place where no one has a gun.  Schools, workplaces, etc.  All places you're mostly not allowed to carry.  In addition to the concentration of black folks, the Buffalo shooter admitted he chose the location of his mass homicide because he knew no one would be carrying a weapon.  You know I hate generalities, so I went back and reviewed every mass homicide since the beginning of 2001 to determine whether the venue would have been appropriate for a concealed carry holder.  I went with the Mother Goose database and didn't bother filtering the incidents that didn't meet the four fatality criteria.  Ordinarily I would but no one else is stopping by to help unpack, so I'm busy.  

Of the 16 incidents recorded, only one third could conceivably have a "good guy with a gun" present.  And I'm being a bit liberal with the church potluck case.  All the others either took place either in a venue where guns wouldn't have been allowed (i.e. school, workplace) or in a jurisdiction where getting a concealed carry permit is incredibly difficult.  

HOWEVER, when in a venue where a CCW holder could legally carry, over 42% of incidents ended with bad guy getting shot by good guy civilian.  Source - FBI data.

What the hacks also fail to account for are incidents that were about to become a mass event, but were stopped by an armed citizen before that happened.  There have been a few of these this year, including one where the citizen used an AR-15 to stop a lunatic with another AR-15.  Again, busy unpacking.  

I'll throw some of my own thoughts out before I try to finish unpacking the kitchen.  What would I do, were I in a mass homicide situation?  If the threat was close by and my life was in danger, it's a no brainer that I would engage.  However, if I'm in a WalMart and I hear shooting on the opposite side of the store, I'm hunkering down.  Sounds like I'm being a coward, right?  Well, if you consider that here in NC or previously KS, that it's not unlikely that another patron is legally armed, I don't want to risk getting into a gunfight with that person, because we've mistaken each other for the bad guy.  Furthermore, by the time I make it across the store (damn, out of Pop Tarts again), it's entirely possible the cops have begun to roll in.  More than one good guy with a gun has been shot by nervous cops fresh on the scene.  There was one in I think Memphis as well as one in Wisconsin within the past few years. 

Off to see what surprises lurk in various boxes.