Bits & Pieces
Articles with unfiltered opinions
Latest Politics
Nice Guys Finish First
At least Joe Biden did in 2020. During the dark days of the George W. Bush Presidency—before the who-knew-it-could-get-so-much-darker days of Donald Trump—pollsters and pundits had an explanation for why voters chose the bumbling Bush over the competent Al Gore (in 2000) and John Kerry (in 2004). Setting aside the debatable issue as to whether...
Fake News at 11
The FCC is allowing your favorite local TV station to become Fox “News,” and you probably haven’t even noticed. “Our government rests in public opinion,” Abraham Lincoln once observed. “Whoever can change public opinion can change the government.” The point made by this nation’s first Republican President is one that today’s GOP has taken to...
Asshole of the Month: Robert Jeffress
Psychologists and mental health professionals have long recognized the role of friends, spouses and relatives in enabling people troubled by alcohol and drug addiction, domestic violence and other bad behavior—they’re called codependents. After four years of Donald Trump, the most incompetent, dishonest buffoon to ever occupy the White House, we have to recognize a new...
Follow the Money
Watergate’s Woodward went wayward as hundreds of thousands of Americans died. You just breathe the air, and that’s how it’s passed,” Donald Trump confided to journalist Bob Woodward way back on February 7, 2020, before most Americans had even heard the word coronavirus for the first time. It’s “more deadly than even your strenuous flus,”...
Asshole of the Month: Mitch McConnell
The USA is 244 years old now. In that long history there have been periods of relative cooperation and mutual respect between the various opposing parties—and periods of cutthroat competition and gridlock, the worst being the bloody Civil War. For the past 15 years or so, we’ve been in one of the cutthroat periods, getting...
Asshole of The Month: Andrew Wheeler
Fans of Trump’s musical-chairs circus over the last four years may remember Scott Pruitt, former head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as one of the most entertainingly corrupt clowns of all time. Pruitt spent $43,000 in taxpayer money to install a soundproof phone booth in his EPA office, had a 24/7 security detail following...
Making a Killing Off COVID
Trump and U.S. Billionaires got richer while high school kids outpaced the federal government’s response to the pandemic. As bad as you may think Donald Trump and his administration’s failed response has been to the coronavirus pandemic, it’s far worse—in blood and treasure. The blood cost in the United States far exceeds that paid by...
Asshole of the Month: Louie Gohmert
There is no question that Donald Trump reigns supreme as the biggest buffoon in the history of the GOP, and that’s saying a lot, considering the stiff competition. Trump’s ginormous ego sucks all the air out of the circus tent, leaving little limelight for the other right-wing bozos on Capitol Hill. So it’s high time...
BlackRock Rises From the Shadows
An unregulated Wall Street investment firm has become so powerful that it now controls the U.S. economy. To most people, if they are familiar with it at all, BlackRock helps pension funds and retirees manage their savings through “passive” investments that track the stock market. But working behind the scenes, it is much more than...
Trump Could Lose but “Legally” Win!
A former U.S. senator and diplomat warns that “survival of our democracy” is now at stake as Election Day nears. It seems unimaginable. But for many it was unimaginable that Donald Trump could become President of the United States in the first place. So ignore this warning at your peril. Former U.S. Senator Timothy Wirth...
Asshole of the Month: Joni Ernst
In the fourth grueling year of Trump’s reign, many Republicans have finally come around to admitting that the man is an idiot and jackass unfit for office. Jeff Flake, Ann Coulter, John Bolton, George Conway and two groups— the Lincoln Project and Republican Voters Against Trump—among others, have made the case recently. But some diehards...
Trump Is a Voter Fraud Criminal
The President, who describes absentee voting as “FRAUDULENT,” would certainly know. What is it about Republicans, Palm Beach and voter fraud? Pretending that there’s systemic voter fraud by Democrats, the Republican Party has gone all out to buttress voting restrictions that actually suppress perfectly lawful—not to mention predominantly Democratic-leaning—voters. I’ve reported on this con for...
Money From Nothing
The federal government’s financial response to the coronavirus proves that “debt and deficit” was always an excuse. For years politicians, pundits and the media told us America was broke. We can’t ensure healthcare to every American as a right, not a privilege. Too expensive! Who do you think we are—every other civilized nation on Earth?...
Asshole of the Month: Rand Paul
Libertarians are a strange lot. If you were to bioengineer a hybrid creature, half elephant and half donkey, that would be the perfect mascot for a true libertarian: about half conservative and half liberal. You might find yourself agreeing with them on a lot of things, but then they do something absolutely batshit crazy. The...
Asshole of the Month: Brian Kemp
The rise of Donald Trump inspired a small army of conservative dimwits and grifters to follow in his footsteps. If such an ignorant buffoon could gain the highest office in the land, then any damn fool could run for higher office with a chance of winning. A prime example is the current Republican governor of...
“A Cancer on the DOJ”
Once the coronavirus and Trump administration have passed, the disease infecting the Justice Department will still linger. When this nightmare ends, and it will, there is going to be a lot to restore beyond the death and economic devastation. Cleanup of the Trump Administration’s American carnage should begin with the rotting core of what was...
Apple’s Noble Fight
The telecom company is resisting demands to make its cell phones accessible to government agencies. Let’s give it up for Apple! It’s not easy to commend a hugely profitable company for simply doing what’s right for its customers and bottom line, but the tech giant is doing something much more praiseworthy. With CEO Tim Cook...
Beware the Ratfuckers
As the presidential race hit the starting gate, were GOP dirty-tricksters behind the caucus-night meltdown in Iowa? The initial nominating contest of the critical 2020 Presidential election—America’s last firewall against full-on authoritarianism—began disastrously for Democrats in Iowa. The voting itself went well enough, but the reporting of publicly witnessed precinct results from some 1,700 caucus...
Asshole of the Month: Virginia Thomas
Some of the most influential movers and shakers in politics are not household names. They don’t hold public office, host a talk show or donate millions to candidate campaigns; they operate more or less in the shadows. This profile fits one of D.C.’s most powerful divas, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the big, bad blond wife of...
Asshole of the Month: Marsha Blackburn
The United States Congress is home to some of the most intelligent, educated, principled public servants in the nation, and also some of the dumbest, most ignorant, dishonest twits on the whole planet. In the former category, members of both parties are to be found, although differing on policies, philosophy and solutions to the country’s...
