Week of 03/29/2021

Random Thoughts on the Trump/Q Party
– by David Matthews 2

I have often talked about how there is no “GOP” or “Republicans” anymore.  The party itself had seceded any claim to being “Republicans” for a while now, especially following the events of 9/11.  But they formally gave up the “GOP” part during their party’s convention in 2020, when they turned their party platform into an outright fealty pledge.  Since then they have become an out-and-out subsidiary of one Narcissist Donald Trump, which is why this commentator rightly refers to the party I used to be a member of as the Trump Party.

But to even refer to this party as simply the “Trump Party” is a misnomer, because running alongside him are the followers of QAnon, and some of them have infested the halls of government all the way up to Congress.

That’s why, instead of it being the “TOP” (Trump is Our Party) or “GQP”, it really should be called the “TQP” for the Trump/Q Party.  That’s really what it has been turned into.

Having said that… I have a few random thoughts for this TQP and their recent antics.

COVID Credit: You demand that your narcissist cult leader get credit for the COVID vaccine rollout, but both you and he refuse to accept the responsibility for the over 500,000 Americans dying because of the vocal opposition to masks and social distancing and the insistence spread among your cult followers, with more than a third of those deaths could have been prevented.

You have to own the statements made by your narcissist cult leader that the virus was supposedly “non-existent”, that it would “magically go away”, and that it was a “Democratic hoax”.  All made even as your cult leader was telling Bob Woodward that the virus was just as dangerous as others said it was.  You have to own up to the various ways that virus information was being suppressed, as well as the various ways essential medical supplies such as masks and ventilators were not going to where they needed to be.   You have to own up to the super-spreader events that risked and cost the lives of thousands just so your messiah can get his ego fellated on a regular basis.

Let’s not forget as well that the first vaccine, from Pfizer, was not made in America, despite the lies from your TQP idiots in the Senate.  And even then, your savior and his cronies bungled the initial acquisition of that vaccine as well as the rollout.

Speaking of which, maybe someone in that group should fess up about spreading those text messages and emails that led to the panic hoarding of paper products and food and milk.  Someone started the rumor that martial law was about to be declared a year ago.  Did you ever try to find out who?

You want “credit” for your so-called savior, TQP?  Own up to the 500,000 deaths and the super-spreader events and the lies and the mismanagement first.

Bailout Credit: Speaking about taking credit for something you didn’t do... what the hell are the TQP hypocrites doing trying to take credit for the COVID relief act?

Let’s connect the dots here: the Dems pushed for the COVID relief.  They knew it would not get past the TQP in the Senate because they would filibuster it, so they used the same trick the TQP flakes pulled a few years back to get their tax cuts passed.  They went with the reconciliation program.  It passed the House and the Senate directly along “party” lines and then signed into law by a Democrat.

Not one TQP member voted for the bill.  Not a single one.

And yet they want to take credit for a supposed “bipartisan effort” that did not exist?

What sort of drugs are they taking?  What delusional doublespeak reality do they come from where voting no for a bill means it’s a “bipartisan effort”?

No means no!  It does *not* mean “bipartisan cooperation”!

Consequence, not Cancelled: The TQP snowflakes are whining about so-called “cancel culture” when their loony members, including their lord-and-savior, get banned on Twitter and Facebook and other forms of social media.  It has been an ongoing conflict when it comes to social media, with these fascists falsely claiming a “conservative bias” when their lies and violent messages are muted.

Let’s get brutally honest here… if you’re able to bitch on Fox News, OAN, and Newsmax (aka “Buy these books”) about being blocked on Twitter for spreading lies and insurrection, then you’re not being “cancelled.”  You’re just a spoiled bitch and held to Twitter’s “terms of service”.

I have seen plenty of people who ended up being banned from TikTok and Twitter and Instagram because they called you flakes names, or because they happen to have breasts and wear a tight sweater or bikini.  And all because some Karen claimed a TOS violation that didn’t exist.

You want to know what being “cancelled” really is?  Go back to the Dixie Chicks, who were actually cancelled because they spoke harshly about being in the same state as President George W. Bush.  They were banned from country music stations, their albums destroyed in public displays of fake patriotism.  Even today if you bring up their names, you flakes throw temper tantrums.  That is being truly cancelled. 

Talk to Colin Kaepernick lately?  Yeah, you fascist flakes were really passionate about burning your Nike shoes when they decided to hire him for a few commercials.  Even today, he is blackballed from playing football.  That is truly being cancelled!

Hear too much from former U.S. Senator and former TV comedian Al Frankin lately?  Not since Fox News rode his cancellation out of office and into obscurity.

And to hell with your plea to get my generation – Generation X - involved with this!  We remember your cancelling of “The Last Temptation of Christ” and 2 Live Crew and Pepsi and Twisted Sister and Cyndi Lauper and all of the others.  We’re not on your side on this, TQP!  Never have, never will.  Go screw yourselves.

No… what you’re going through is *not* cancellation, but consequence.

“Words have meaning.”  Remember that quote?  That’s from your patron saint of talk radio, the late Rush Limbaugh.  If you spread lies and misinformation and encourage insurrection, then there are consequences.  It means you don’t get to do that on that medium anymore.  Go find one that will allow it.  They’re out there.

Finally...

Voting Suppression: This commentator was not the least surprised that this would come up. 

This is political payback, plain and simple.

The TQP failed to get back the House, they lost the Senate, and they lost the White House... and they couldn’t overthrow it.  So now they’re going after all our rights to vote so it will never happen again.  It’s payback.  It’s revenge on the voters who had the audacity to actually vote!

But perhaps the most blatant efforts was here in Georgia, where the governor who campaigned as a Narcissist Trump stooge, had a closed-door signing ceremony complete with a painting of an old slavery-era plantation in the background, and surrounded by pasty-white male legislators, while a black female legislator was arrested and carried out by white police officers for the “crime” of knocking on the door.  Yeah, not racist at all... all sarcasm intended.

This isn’t about “security”.  It’s about grabbing power and preventing people from voting them out of office.  In true spirit of fascism, they want one party in charge of everything.  *Their* party.

What this means is simple.  It means the Dems and anyone... and I mean any one... who believes in democracy, in bringing change through the ballot box instead of armed insurrections, have to make it their mission in life to use that ballot box to end the careers of those politicians with that fake letter “R” next to their names.  Whatever hurdle exists to get there, hop through it.  You did it this past November and Georgians did it again this past January.  Now you need to keep doing it.

The president in the movie “The American President” said it best... “America is advanced citizenship.  You gotta want it bad, ‘cause it’ll put up a fight.”  Well, here are the combatants.  Your friends, your neighbors, your coworkers, your bosses, and even your family members.  Ready for the next round?  It’s already begun.

Week of 03/22/2021

The Q Con
– by David Matthews 2

I remember the days when “The Illuminati” was the name of the secret evil cabal that would run everything in the world.  A group of the richest of richest families all hiding out in a cave on a remote island somewhere giving their orders to the other countries and corporations.  Wars, economic booms and busts, expansions, these were all supposedly done at the behest of “The Illuminati”.  The late George Carlin referred to them as “The Owners”, and while people laughed at it, thinking it was part of his sketch, he was serious about it.  It wasn’t just part of his standup sketch, but something he would bring up in serious discussions.

Fun fact: there really was a group called “The Illuminati”.  It existed in 19^th Century Bavaria, back in the day when “secret societies” were all the rage among the elite and the effete in Europe.  It was like joining a book club.  They’d talk, they’d dream, they’d fantasize, but that was really it.  Then they were outlawed and most folks sort of went back to brooding in their homes.

Some people think the Masons or Freemasons are “The Illuminati”.  As the son of a mason, I can’t really say it’s as “all powerful” as described, even though a lot of the foundation of America came from them.  I’m more concerned with the actions the U.S. Chamber of Commerce than I would with the local masonic group.

But, truth be told, the “Illuminati” is a better group for fiction than in real life.  And this comes from a published writer who used fictional groups similar to the “Illuminati” in my comics.

That brings us to the latest in conspiracy groups... QAnon, or Q Anonymous, or whatever you want to call it other than Coocoo for Cocoa Puffs.

The story is this: there is this guy “in the know” that refers to himself as “Q”.  He claims that there is this evil cabal of pedophiles in positions of power in both politics and entertainment – all liberals, mind you – and they abduct children as slaves, and there’s something to do with drinking blood because the people in these cabals are lizard people or they just want to be immortal.

Oh but wait, there’s more.  According to this group, their lord and savior, Narcissist Donald Trump, was actually working to uncover this evil cabal and bring them all down in something they refer to as “The Storm”.  All he supposedly needed was time.  Until then, believers of “Q” are supposed to put up with Narcissist Trump’s antics because they were all part of his “undercover work”.  And they also believe that President Joe Biden is really not the president, but a puppet for Narcissist Trump, who will supposedly “unleash The Storm” and then he will resume his “rightful” place in the White House after arresting Biden and the rest of the supposed cabal members.

Like I said... Coocoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Now this “Q” thing didn’t just pop up overnight.  Much like the Salem Witch Trials of the 17^th Century and the Day Care witch-hunt of the 1980’s, this thing took a life all its own the more and more it was discussed among these little discussion groups.  In 2016, it was about Hillary Clinton and those alleged emails.  Then it involved a pizza place.  Then it became a “secret child sex slave dungeon” in the basement of said pizza place... that had no basement.  Then it became the “cabal” of all of the conservative enemies.  Then Narcissist Trump as the bringer of “The Storm”.  Somewhere the lizard thing and drinking blood got brought in.

Now if some of this sounds familiar, then, congratulations, you’ve seen at least a few episodes of “South Park”!  The “secret cabal”, the sex slaves, the dungeons, the pedophilia, the green alien people... those all came from “South Park”.  Maybe Trey Parker and Matt Stone should sue them for copyright infringement.

Isn’t it funny that the alleged cabal compose entirely of the conservative “enemies list”?  Liberals, Hollywood, academic elites, reporters, the so-called “Deep State” (aka anyone not blindly loyal to the narcissist), but you don’t see any actual conservatives in that alleged mix.

And the goalposts... the much-promised “Storm”.  You notice that date keeps changing once the narcissist lost the election.  Used to be after the election, then the certification day, then January 6^th, then Inauguration Day, then the supposed “real Inauguration Day” on March 4^th, then this past Saturday, and then... well who knows?  But the date of this promised “Storm” keeps on changing.  That’s not how storms work.

Let’s get brutally honest here, folks... this isn’t just some wacky conspiracy.  It’s more than just a cult. 

This is a con-job.

It has all the trapping of a con-game.  A “Great Secret”, a demand for blind loyalty, a promised payoff, goal posts that continually get changed, and, oh, yeah, a financial element through the “campaign donations”, even after Narcissist Trump left the White House.  All that is missing is Stacy Keach narrating the play-by-play on CNBC’s “American Greed”.

Now for those of you who think that this whack-a-doodle con is “harmless”, I want you to think back to 2016.  Remember Pizzagate?  That’s what “Q” used to be.  In December of 2016, a man drove from North Carolina to Washington DC and stopped at the Comet Ping Pong pizza place.  He showed up with assault weapons and claimed he was there to “rescue the children” that were supposedly being held in the basement of the pizzeria... which has no basement.  A domestic terrorist who showed up at a restaurant full of people, claiming to look for a basement that did not exist.  And all because of a Facebook post from that past October claimed it existed.

Harmless?  Bullshit.

Remember the insurrection of this past January 6^th?  Many of the people who stormed the Capital Building were “Q” followers.  Hell, one of the most noticeable people leading the insurrection was a guy who called himself the “QAnon Shaman”!  That insurrection and acts of sedition resulted in the death and assault of police officers.

Harmless?  Bullshit!

And now this... on March 3^rd, right before the supposed “real Inauguration Day”, a QAnon follower drove from Wisconsin to Washington DC in a vehicle full of QAnon symbols and a fully-loaded AR-15 with armor-piercing ammunition.  He told the Capital Police – still on high alert because of the insurrection – that he was there to “test” the National Guard troops the next day.  He said he wanted to “test” the soldiers there to see where their “loyalties” were.  If he was shot and possibly killed, then he would know the soldiers were loyal to President Biden.  And if they didn’t shoot him, then he would supposedly “unite” them along with what he claimed would be eight billion followers.

Harmless?  Bull-Effing-Shit!

It would be one thing if the whole “Q” thing dissolved after Inauguration Day, when that promised “Storm” didn’t happen.  But it didn’t.  Just like many other failed prophecies, the ringleaders just keep moving the goal posts.  Just like the con-artists running Ponzi schemes, or “The Great Disappointment” of 1844 which ended up being a full-blown religious following.  They keep going until they either go bust or until a government entity shuts them down.

But this is not some financial racket, or a religious following telling people to pray and to sell all their belongings and prepare for the rapture.  This is a dangerous following with people carrying weapons and are willing to kill others. They should be regarded as a domestic terrorist group, not a social circle for the self-entitled.

The original Illuminati was disbanded because the government deemed secret societies “harmful”.  Not that they really tried to overthrow governments.  They were simply too ambitious.  They were all talk and no action.  These “Q” folks are nothing like that, and that should make the rest of us concerned.

Week of 03/15/2021

Coronavirus Plus One Year and The Biggest Lie Told
– by David Matthews 2

As of this column’s posting, it has been a little over one year since the COVID-19 novel coronavirus was officially declared a global pandemic.  And since everyone else is fixated on going down Misery Memory Lane, this commentator had might as well chime in.

One whole year of hell, complete with all four horsemen of the Apocalypse - War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death - prancing around America like the whole country is their personal horse show.  Disease, supply shortages, economic collapse, riots, police murdering people, protest leaders getting snatched off the street by secret police… in America no less, jackbooted thugs starting a riot just for a presidential photo op, cancelled sporting events, millions hospitalized, millions dead, wildfires, natural disasters gone crazy, social isolation, elderly people dying alone, and an insane election that ends with a bloody insurrection and a failed coup whose enablers want us all to believe never happened.

There were plenty of lies as well for this year of hell.  Lies about how bad it was… “it’s no different than the flu.”  Lies about the scope of the outbreak… “it’s just a few people and soon it will do down to zero.”  Lies about how far it will reach… “it’ll never come to America!  We have oceans separating us.”  Lies that it even exists… “it’s the new Democratic hoax.  This hoax from China… it’s all a hoax!”  Lies about how to treat it… “they have the bleach that you can inject. This thing that will kill it in fifteen minutes.”  Lies about how long it will last… “Once the weather gets warmer, you’ll see the number of infections go down.”  Lies about wearing masks… “they don’t work.  I can’t breathe in them.  They just keep putting the toxins back in our lungs.  I have a medical condition.”

But the biggest lie told this past year is the one that is still being regurgitated today all around us.

“We’re all in this together.”

Bullshit.

Bullshit!  We are *not* “all in this together”!  We’re not even close to being that!  You know it and I know it.

We have a significant part of America that to this day refuse to wear masks or socially distance.  Not only will they not do those, but they will violently confront anyone who challenges them on it.  And I mean violently.  They have assaulted people numerous times.  They’ve had throwdown fights in the WalMart like children.  They have “mask burning” parties like they used to have “book burning” rallies, and teach their kids to join in.  They’ve even assaulted others simply because they were wearing masks. 

We sure as hell are not “in this together” when you have aggressive and violent people like that.

This same faction has been following a certain orange-skinned con artist who spread a lot of the other lies about the pandemic.  They’ve been gathering at rallies and conventions, booing at the notion of either wearing a mask or socially distance and then dismissing the outbreaks resulting from such super-spreader events.  People get sick?  People dying?  Not from them!  Not from those events!

I’ve seen people who actually get COVID and end up in the hospital for weeks, and yet their co-workers refuse to wear masks, refuse to maintain social distancing, and continue to regurgitate lies about wearing masks, betting their lives that they’ll get the vaccine soon and then everything will instantly be back to normal.  And this is not some recent delusion, but one they’ve been chanting for almost as long as the pandemic.

The problem is this… as long as we have these COVIDiots around carrying on with their obstinate delusions and lies, this pandemic will continue to haunt us.  And not just for a few weeks or months, like our current President optimistically believes, but for as much as five more years.  Five more years of being told to wear masks and socially distance while still hoping to get enough people vaccinated to reach hypothetical herd immunity.

As of this article posting, almost 30 million Americans have been infected with COVID.  Over 500,000 Americans have died from COVID or COVID-related ailments.  It is speculated that as many as forty-percent of them did not have to die.  How many family members, how many friends, how many neighbors and co-workers could still be alive today if we did the bare minimum of what was needed and wore masks and socially distanced?  How many of those people would be with us today if not for the lies on top of lies on top of lies regurgitated by that faction that hate masks?

Let’s get brutally honest here… as long as we have that faction of COVIDiots running around not doing what is the bare minimum necessary, we will never be “all in this together”.  We will always have a faction working against us, against ending this pandemic, and all so they won’t be “inconvenienced” or “live in fear”.  That *will* affect all of us, because it means that this one-year milestone of the global pandemic will most likely be one of many.  And all for a bunch of lies.

Week of 03/08/2021

Lessons Learned From “American Greed”
– by David Matthews 2

Probably one of the best shows to ever come from NBC’s financial network CNBC is “American Greed”.  Hosted by 80’s “tough guy” Stacy Keach, this ongoing series that started in 2007 deals with all of the ways people are screwed over by schemers and manipulators and corporations and outright con-artists. 

Now these are not dramatic recreations using fictional names in fictional circumstances based on current headlines like certain crime drama shows, i.e. “Law & Order”.  No, these are real crimes with real criminals and real victims that happened in the real world.  Some you may have heard of in the news, and others that were only infamous for a certain part of the country.  You may have heard of Marty Shkreli and WorldCom, but probably not about the comptroller in a little town in Illinois who pilfered the local government revenue for her horse-breeding empire.

I’ve made references to this series in my column for years because I believe that knowing that these things happened and knowing the details of these crimes can help spot other criminal activities.  If you find out the hard way that the “sweepstakes” you won was really a scam and you’re out money, sure, you may or may not learn something.  But if you see it on a show like “American Greed” first, then you’d know not to fall for the con and you end up saving yourself endless grief and misery, not to mention your money.

Back in October of 2020, I did an article called “Beware the Con”, which talked about my experiences with grifters, as well as my effort to sway a certain family member from being conned as well.  Well, she wasn’t the only person who fell victim to grifters.  One of my late grandmothers got caught up in a sweepstakes con that started draining money from her late in her life.  It was hard to convince her that there was no jackpot waiting for her and that the money she already gave the grifter was long gone.  My family knew it was a scam because we saw it too many times on TV.

Sadly, those are the relatively easy ones.

Shows like “American Greed” go the full gambit of cons and manipulations and corruption.  And, even though the circumstances vary, many of the criminals follow similar patterns.

Overpromise – A certain former president and former TV reality show host would start his reality show talking about his new “venture” and how this product would be the “finest, best, greatest, ever” in whatever the subject was.  Didn’t matter if it was steaks, bottled water, peanut butter, an airline, or one of “his” buildings, it would always be “the best”.  Of course, they often weren’t what was promised, but that is the trait of a con artist to overpromise, overestimate, and oversell.  It’s just this particular malignant narcissist did it with wanton abandon to an absurd cartoonish degree.

But then there are the financial “experts” who promise a greater return than average on an investment.  If the average rate of return is in the single digits, these “experts” will promise ten or twenty percent or even higher.  If you give them $10,000, they promise you’ll get back $12,000.  Then they sucker you in to give them $100,000, thinking you’ll get back $120,000.  You get something back for a while and they soon convince you to give them everything you have.  Eventually, of course, what you get back is peanuts compared to what you lose, which is everything else.

Money is not like peanut butter or bottled water or steaks.  It’s relatively boring.  Most people don’t want anything to do with it other than to know how much they have and how much they will get.  That allows the con artists to sell their game, because they know that you won’t be interested in the details.

Overly Generous – The guy that takes all his business clients to the best restaurant in town and always picks up the check no matter how expensive the meals are; the guy that gives overly-generously to charities; the “player” who shows up at the strip club and “makes it rain”, not just once or twice, but every time.  These are people trying really hard to impress.

Yes, if you won the lottery, you may be tempted to go to your favorite bar and yell out “drinks are on me” once or twice.  But not every night, because eventually you run out of money fast.  And the people who legitimately are “money masters” know you that don’t throw your money away like that.

In the 2020 movie “Wonder Woman 1984”, con artist Maxwell Lord was able to worm his way into the Smithsonian by making a overly generous donation that gave him VIP treatment and tours.  Then we find out that his “winning business” that he promoted on TV and had a catchphrase was on the verge of insolvency.  That’s someone trying really hard to “prove” something to others.

Overly “Successful” – There’s a saying that you should never trust an accountant who has a bigger house than you.  Just like the con artist will be overly “generous”, they will often also be overly “successful”.  Or at least they will give the illusion that they are.

These are the people that buy… not lease… their own Gulfstream jet.  And sometimes not just one.  They’ve got multiple luxury cars in their garage.  They got multiple homes.  They wear the finest clothes and the most expensive accessories, and they’re not afraid to show it off to their marks.  It’s all part of the sales pitch.

I know this part first-hand.  Every multi-level marketing company that tried to lure me in always started with flashing the wealth.  One person showed off his expensive clothes.  Another dropped a huge wad of cash on the table and said everyone in the room could make that much money in a day.  Every sales video they showed would always start out with a yacht, a private jet, money, gold, diamonds, a stretch limousine, and women in bikinis.  You know what else they all had in common?  You’d never hear about that business after a few weeks. Oh, the “celebrity” pitch people would be back with the same hook, but for a different company.  That itself should tell you something about this supposed “successful enterprise”.  If it’s the same game but with a different name, then it’s still a con game.

Overly Secretive – It’s really simple… if you have a method to actual success, you should be able to share it with others, especially those in your own business.  But if you’re the only one with the books, the only one that can “make the trades”, the only one that can “cut the checks”, then that’s a huge red flag that something isn’t right.

You know what exposed the local comptroller in Illinois who pilfered tax revenue for her horse breeding business?  She went on vacation and a temp had access to the books. 

Remember that certain malignant narcissist and former reality TV show host?  He has spent years fighting to keep people from seeing his financial books.  He would always say he’s “under audit” or “under investigation”, and it would take not one but two Supreme Court decisions to finally let the authorities see those books.  But, then again, that’s been his thing.  He wants to see your books but keep his hidden.  Demand birth certificates while locking up his own.  Demand school transcripts but bury his own. That’s the game he plays.

Overly Lies – Again, it’s really simple… if you claim to flip houses or flip businesses, anyone should be able to go to any of those buildings and see for themselves and talk to the people involved.  If they don’t know you, if the buildings you claim to have “flipped” are still crap, if you don’t even own them, then all you are selling are lies.

Lies also include lying about forms and financial statements.  And these can be tricky, because people can be really creative when it comes to forging documents or keeping duplicate books.  But consider this: if the country is in the midst of an economic recession or depression, and businesses are going under, and money is being lost hand over fist, but somehow your little corner of investment is still churning out record growth like nothing ever happened, wouldn’t you wonder if the documents you’re getting aren’t honest?

Overly Aggressive – So you’re offering a “way out” for people who are on the verge of losing their homes.  A way for people to keep living in their homes… but they have to agree to it right away.  Oh, and they don’t need a lawyer to look things over, right?  Just sign their names on the dotted lines of the forms that don’t look like the forms they originally were supposed to sign.  Hurry up.  Just do it.  Time’s a wasting.

Remember the housing bubble of the 2000’s?  All those “NINJA” loans?  Loans that were secretly re-worked?  Not everything was a matter of people “taking loans they can’t afford”.  In fact, many of those people were convinced they could afford the loans, not realizing the fine print and deceitful manipulation would screw them over.  And, yes, there was pressure for people to get homes.  This commentator felt it from different corners during that time; not just from bankers or realtors.  Thankfully I didn’t fall into that trap.

If you’re not being permitted to think it over, if you’re not allowed to let other people look it over for you, then it’s probably not a deal you want to take.  Especially if it involves the biggest part of your life.

Let’s get brutally honest here… knowledge is power, especially when it comes to defending against con artists.  That’s why there’s programs like “American Greed”.  Not every grifter will show these traits, or at least not readily.  But there is a reason why the word “con artist” was created.  It’s short for “confidence man”, as in how they get to worm their way into your life and take away your trust, sense of security, and most importantly your money.  Pay attention to the signs, and you won’t lose those.