As George Carlin noted in the video below, we tend to use language that separates us from the punishing blows of harsh realities, and as time  passes, our use of euphemisms grows ever more intense. (more…)

Tagged with:

From Senior Contributor to Forbes Robert Rapier:

The announcement (that President Biden is releasing one million barrels of crude oil per day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower gas prices) prompted an odd response from former President Trump. Through his spokesperson, President Trump claimed:

“So after 50 years of being virtually empty, I built up our oil reserves during my administration, and low energy prices, to 100% full. It’s called the Strategic National Reserves, and it hasn’t been full for many decades. In fact, it’s been mostly empty.”

There’s just nothing about that statement that is true. As you can see in the graphic below, the SPR levels have never fallen below 500,000 thousand (i.e., 500 million) barrels of crude oil since the 1980s.

After all this time and all the familiarity we’ve gained with Trump, the world should be used to his brazen lies, but it’s still shocking to hear something akin to “Colorado is on the East Coast.”

If you want to lie about a certain subject, make the assertion something that can’t be disproved in a matter of a few seconds.

Tagged with: , ,

An EV skeptic writes as follows, with my comments in italics:

What do they think will happen if they succeed in making the entirety of the US transition to electric cars? (more…)

Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,

Sorry, but I don’t get this.

Clarence Thomas voted to block evidence of his wife’s criminality.  Please don’t tell me we need a “binding code of ethics” to cover something so obviously illegal and corrupt.

The Due Process clauses of the United States Constitution require (emphasis mine) judges to recuse themselves from cases in which there is a strong possibility that the judge’s decision will be biased.

Do we need a new law that makes it illegal to kill someone with a spear-gun?  Of course not.  The deliberate and unlawful killing of another person is always called “murder.”

Tagged with:

I like every single point being made here.  Outside of extremely stupid and delusional people, to whom does the Republican platform appeal?

There is one more tiny little issue facing the GOP, that just might be on the minds of a few, and that’s

TREASON.

The evidence is growing on a daily basis that the 45th president and his team attempted to overturn the 2020 election, thus overthrowing the U.S. government.  True Americans are not onboard for this.

Tagged with:

On a discussion of the merits of EVs, Reader A notes:
I’ll keep my V8s gas hogs over electric, to which Reader B replies:
Have you driven an EV yet? I could never go back to louder, slower, more expensive fuel and nasty environmental/war footprint.
Reader B is a good guy, but talk about a waste of breath.  Reader A is an ignoramus, and he’s goddamn proud of it.
Using reason to address the anti-vaxxers, climate deniers, QAnoners, Trump supporters, and so forth, is like trying to teach your dog to play the violin.
Tagged with: , , , ,

When we think about the Maldives, we do well to leave conventional wisdom behind.

From Reuters: The Maldivian president and ministers held the world’s first underwater cabinet meeting on Saturday, in a symbolic cry for help over rising sea levels that threaten the tropical archipelago’s existence.

That’s thinking outside the boardroom/box, to be sure.

Then you have this young virtuoso guitarist, playing his instrument with a unique insouciance.

Tagged with:

Re: the meme here, wait a second.

An authoritarian regime really is illegally invading a democratic republic and slaughtering its civilians.  A bunch of people really are trying to overthrow the U.S. government. Anti-vaxxers really are making it harder to control the pandemic, and people are suffering agonizing deaths as a result. Climate change really is ruining our planet. (more…)

Tagged with: , , ,

From his Wikipedia page:

John Wesley Dean III (born October 14, 1938) is a former attorney who served as White House Counsel for United States President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. Dean is known for his role in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal and his subsequent testimony to Congress as a witness. His guilty plea to a single felony in exchange for becoming a key witness for the prosecution ultimately resulted in a reduced sentence.

All I can say here is that it’s not too late for a new John Dean to emerge; in fact, it will be rather surprising if one doesn’t, for two different reasons:

The worst crime that Nixon committed was obstruction of justice.  Here, we’re talking about treason, which, until recently, resulted in the death penalty.  Once this comes to head, it’s hard to imagine that top Trump aides won’t flip.

Nixon was not a good person, but he wasn’t a criminal sociopath either, nor was he a traitor to his country.  For many of these people, loyalty to Trump wasn’t something they took on willingly, but because it was forced upon them; some of them may regard testifying against him as a good deed.

Tagged with: , , , , ,

Most Americans are concerned that there will be no justice for the true architects of the January 6th insurrection.

From what I have been reading recently, that seems highly unlikely; it seems more probable that people fail to understand the enormity of the task associated with developing solid cases against people like Bannon, Eastman, Navarro, Meadows, and Trump.

The federal judge’s order here appears to be an important step in moving this all forward.

Tagged with: , , , ,