The Way the Wind Blows

It Can Come From Any Direction

There’s a foul wind blowing in America these days. The stench of corruption and criminality and incompetence emanating from Washington threatens to suffocate us all. I can imagine someone out there saying, “Come on, Norm, aren’t you exaggerating just a bit?”

I don’t believe I am. What other response could there reasonably be to having a dangerous fascist narcissistic criminal in the White House who is doing what criminals do? Which is: commit crimes. I hate having a criminal President who commits crimes.

Here’s an incomplete, but informative listing of a few of the illegal things the Criminal President has done since January 20th, courtesy of Dan Froomkin of Press Watch, who wrote:

Cutting congressionally-mandated departments? Illegal. Firing federal workers without cause? Illegal. Kidnapping people off the streets and sending them to torture prisons without due process? Illegal. Asserting emergency powers to raise tariffs? Illegal. Siccing the IRS on political enemies? Illegal. Extorting research universities because they respect diversity? Illegal. Denying government access to law firms he doesn’t like? Illegal. Violating court orders? Illegal.

It doesn’t seem like this is ever going to happen, does it?

Sadly, there are more illegalities Froomkin could have mentioned. Thank goodness we have a strong Congress and an independent Supreme Court that will stand up to such criminality - oh, wait, about that . . .

Has there ever been a more weak, useless legislative branch of government in our nation’s history? Is it really necessary to remind the Congress that the Constitution of the United States provides for three, co-equal branches of government? That the executive branch is not an all-powerful monarchy? That executive orders spewing from the Criminal-in-Chief are not actual laws of the land?

Here’s another question - Why can’t our elected representatives do their fucking jobs? It should not be too much to expect from members of Congress, but apparently it is. The legislative branch is supposed to provide checks and balances on the executive branch, not be a rubber stamp for it.

What is happening now is what happens when elected officials choose party over country, and money over duty. The stink of cowardice and corruption coming from the White House and Capitol Hill is overwhelming. And, we’re having a hell of a time getting upwind of it.

Somebody should remind the people who work here that democracy doesn’t work if they won’t do their jobs.

How does the Supreme Court of the United States respond to this whirlwind of criminality? Well, from the Court’s point of view, no response is necessary since they have already declared Presidents have immunity for acts committed as part of their “official” duties. The fact that the convicted felon in the White House chose three of the justices and a compliant gaggle of Republicans in the Senate confirmed them was just a coincidence, I guess.

Somebody should remind the people who work here that democracy doesn’t work if they won’t do their jobs.

No one should be surprised President Zero decided to fan the winds of war by sending bombers to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities, despite all the lies to put America first and to keep us out of wars. It’s almost funny that some of the MAGAs have their undies all bunched up over this. Their guy is a pathological liar, always has been and always will be, and I suspect deep down inside, some of the cultists know that lies, lies, and more lies are what they should they have expected.

You know, to be fair, the Criminal-in-Chief is not the first president to put Americans in harm’s way by sending them on a military mission without a formal declaration of war by Congress. Presidents have routinely exercised their power as commander of the armed forces. Rarely has anything been done about it. So, when I heard about the Iran bombing, I was concerned, but not surprised.

Then, after it was over, President Bone Spurs crowed about how Iran’s nuclear facilities were obliterated by the strike, like he had won some sort of video game. Of course, a few days later, reports started leaking out, claiming that the nuclear facilities were not obliterated after all, and that Iran’s nuclear program may have been set back for only a few months.

Whether the reports are true or not, the public statements by President Bone Spurs did sound exactly like the braggy, exaggerated lies he constantly tells. Time will tell, I guess, what the truth is, but we all should have learned by now not to believe a single damn thing he says.

Elderly golf cheater.

Look, there may have been valid reasons for attacking Iran. Many countries around the world believe an Iran in possession of a nuclear weapon would be a catastrophic threat to world peace. That’s why, during Barack Obama’s administration, a deal was struck with Iran to limit their nuclear capability. As Kinsey Crowley recently wrote in USA Today:

By 2015, Obama entered into an agreement with the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, Germany and the European Union in which Iran agreed to give up the means to make nuclear weapons and promised not to conduct any covert nuclear operations. In exchange, U.S. and other world powers lifted trade and economic sanctions against Iran.

The Idiot-in-Chief pulled out of the agreement in 2018 during his disastrous first term. Why? Because he wanted to undo as many of Obama’s policies as he could. It didn’t matter if they were good policies or not. What did the Idiot think the Iranians would do after pulling the US out of the agreement? Looks kind of like they went back to working on their nuclear program. So, it is not too much of a stretch to tie the recent attacks on Iran to the blunder the Idiot made in 2018. Nice going, Dumbass.

I’m sure most folks believe the United States should be very careful about getting in the middle of a volatile conflict between Israel and Iran. But, the real problem I have with this act of war against the Iranians is that the order was not given by an intelligent and informed chief executive, or a world-respected statesman who worked around the clock to determine the best course of action for the United States of America and its allies.

Unfortunately, the attack order was given by an addlebrained narcissist, whose feelings were hurt by the whole TACO thing, and who may have been desperate to prove he doesn’t always chicken out, and who was looking for an opportunity to show he is not lacking in manhood, despite evidence to the contrary. (Five Vietnam deferments? For bone spurs?) Those are terrible and pathetic reasons to be sucked into another Middle East tornado of violence.

This is who is giving the orders? Oh man . . .

The lily-livered weaklings in Congress apparently do not care if this country dries up and blows away. They passed that monstrosity called the “Big Beautiful Bill”. A more fitting name would have been “Big Ugly Festering Piece of Shit Bill”. I dare say it would be a more pleasant experience for average Americans to live downwind of a pig farm than to have this bill pass.

Full disclosure: I have not read the BUFPOSB. However, people I whose opinion I value have researched it and helped me form my opinion. And anyway, if the Liar-in-Chief and his goons are for it, I know it has to be a piece of shit.

Why are they giving yet another tax cut to rich people and taking money away from programs that actually help those in need? How many times does the idiotic “trickle down theory” have to be disproven? Anybody who says this country is trillions of dollars in debt because we spend way too much money helping the middle class and the poor, is saying something stupid. The budget deficit will still continue to climb, even after kicking people off of Medicaid, and ending free lunches for poor school kids, and shredding the social safety net. There will be more money to spread amongst the rich, that’s all.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Big Ugly Bill, over a ten year period, will increase the deficit by 3.3 trillion dollars! That’s $3,300,000,000,000. Why is it that the national debt only matters to Republicans when a Democrat is in the White House? What a shameful bunch of hypocrites. Not that shame and hypocrisy matter anymore.

Nobody wants their tax dollars to go an able-bodied scammer who lives in his mother’s basement and plays Call of Duty all day, collecting Medicaid or Social Security or some other program designed to help the truly needy. But there are bigger fish to fry.

You want to reduce the deficit? Stop giving welfare to the wealthy! Close up the loopholes that allow them to rake in many millions of dollars and pay little to no income tax. Make millionaires and billionaires pay at least something to the IRS. Go after the big fish first, where the real money is, then ferret out the small-timers who are scamming Medicaid or abusing food stamps.

Will any of that ever happen? I’m not holding my breath. Our weak-ass elected officials are un-bloody-likely to bite the wealthy hands that feed them.

But, who knows? The swirling winds of change can move swiftly in Washington.

Here’s hoping for a cleansing midterm breeze.

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