A question for any Republican running for the U. S. House or Senate

I saw an ad for Rep. Bresnahan tonight.  Some constituent was testifying about how Rep.Bresnahan cares.  Not he doesn’t.  He spent the last yer and a half supporting Trump’s every move.  Hold his feet to the fire.  

If you are ever at a campaign event with Bresnahan or any other candidate for the House or the Senate and have a chance to ask questions, just ask:

When Trump was tearing down the East Wing for a ballroom, why didn’t you speak up?

Or, when Trump was appointing people like Hegseth and Robert Kennedy Jr., why didn’t you speak up?

Or, when Trump was gutting the Endangered Species Act, why didn’t you speak up?

Notice that you can do this with literally hundreds of things Trump did or did not do.  Greenland, the war in Iran, the tariffs, the tax cuts for the rich, the pardoning of criminals, the claims of voter fraud, and on, and on.  Literally hundreds of bad things, and each one ends with this question:  WHY DIDN’T YOU SPEAK UP?

Watch the cowards squirm.

ICE agents and masks

Judges have now blocked state laws in both California and New York that would have prohibited ICE agents from wearing masks.  In both cases the courts ruled that immigration polices were federal, and that the feds could decide how to conduct their operations.

The question is why ICE agents should wear masks at all.  The claim is that people will harass the agents if they know their identities.  This, of course, is bullshit.  Our local cops don’t wear masks, and many of us know them, know where they live, know their families.  We do not harass our local police officers.  We support them.

There are a number of reasons why ICE agents wear masks:

*  They are harder to identify when they shoot people down in the street or 

conduct illegal search and seizure operations.

*  They look more intimidating when they are hiding their identities.

*  Some of them are actually embarrassed to be in an organization that is frequently compared to the Gestapo.

Our local police should not enter into partnerships with these thugs, no matter how much money ICE dangles in front of our local municipalities.

Our income tax penalties

We’ve been filing a joint income tax return since 1973, the year we got married.  Every year.  I fill out the return.  I don’t know much about tax policies, so we usually end up paying.  One year in the Seventies we had to sell our car to pay the tax.  We also don’t file quarterly.  Sometimes we get a penalty, but the paying the penalty is worth more than going through the rigamarole of filing four times a year.

A week ago I got a penalty of $160.05.  Not too bad.  The letter was addressed just to me.  Linda also received the exact same letter with a penalty of $160.05.  Since we filed a joint return that doesn’t seem right.  And since we don’t have a tax consultant, I must now attempt to call the I.R.S. to find out if a mistake was made.  

A few days after these letters arrived, I read this headline in the New York Times:  “Republicans Let Trump Keep an Unparalleled Benefit: I.R.S. Immunity.”  The article was by Andrew Duehren in the Aug. 6 issue on page A15.  And I find it very irritating.  I’m thinking of simply photocopying it and sending it along with a note that says, “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander” and see what happens.

Congressman Rob Bresnahan donates his salary back

I heard that on a political ad this evening.  And I thought, Wow!  I am very impressed.  He bought himself a congressional seat, and that must have set him back.  His net worth is only a little over #40 million. 

What a sacrifice he is making in donating back his Congressional salary.  His family is probably forced to go to food banks.  I’ll bet he’s wearing clothes he buys at Goodwill.  What a guy.  The main is practically a saint.

Agents Provocateurs and Congressman Ryan Mackenzie

A number of thugs follow 7th PA Congressional District Democratic candidate Bob Brooks to his various campaign events, including his appearance at the Carbon County fair.  They were also at the Democratic candidate debate in Carbon County.  They are “agents provocateurs.”  That is French for “inciting agent.”  Those tactics have an old history, often used in the past by extremist parties like the German Nazi party.  The idea is to stir up trouble and then use the trouble to discredit your opponents.

It is too bad that Republican candidates have resorted to this kind of authoritarian behavior, but it isn’t surprising.  The racial gerrymandering, the dark money, the attempts to subvert mail-in ballots, the constant whining about stolen elections only when they lose, false claims about illegal voting–what has happened to free and fair elections?

Could Ryan Mackenzie, Brooks’s opponent, call off these thugs?  No doubt, but I don’t think he will.

When I searched for “Agent Provocateur” to make sure I spelled it right, I learned it is also a brand of women’s lingerie.  It’s an expression of “confidence, sensuality, and style.”  Could the thugs be wearing it under their clothes?  Something to consider.

Chat GPT Uploads "The Terminator," Begins Hunt for Sarah Connor

This can not be good. 

Jeanine Pirro gives me Schadenfreude

Trump used Fox as a recruiting pool, and now one of his picks has had a problem with a different kind of pool and Trump is angry.  Trump appointed  former Fox “News” legal analyst Jeanine Pirro as federal prosecutor for D.C.  Yesterday she dropped the case against the man accused of vandalizing the reflecting pool.  The evidence was non-existent and the charge was ridiculous.  Pirro really had no choice.

Except that Trump hates–hates–to be contradicted.  Pirro might just be fired.  I hope so.  I love internal squabbles in the Administration.  

Hey, whatever happened to Kristi Noem?