Undoing Lies

The Trump lies at a recent Pennsylvania rally: https://www.factcheck.org/2022/09/trump-distorts-facts-in-pennsylvania-rally/

You are not endanger from an army of IRS agents: Fact check: Will middle-class taxpayers really face an ‘army’ of IRS agents? (yorkdispatch.com)

Sen. Scott overstates tax increase in Inflation Reduction Act: Scott Overstates Tax Increases in Inflation Reduction Act – P7 Tech

Pelosi and Biden have called for the GOP to return to a normal party that cares about things. They have never been a party of the people in my lifetime: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/09/it-didnt-start-with-trump-the-decades-long-saga-of-how-the-gop-went-crazy/

Hillary Clinton was not the most qualified person to ever run for president: Is Hillary Clinton really the most qualified candidate ever? An investigation. – Vox

No Social Security is not going broke: No, Social Security Isn’t Going Bankrupt – Forbes Advisor

Republicans are always looking for another Ronald Reagan. No thank you: 21 Reasons Why Ronald Reagan Was a Terrible President – Soapboxie

Conservatives lie that the planet is not warming: Scientific Consensus | Facts – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet (nasa.gov)

The lie that cold weather disproves the planet is warming: Cold Weather Doesn’t Disprove Global Warming. Global Warming is Why It’s So Damn Cold. – The Daily Banter

The Obama Phone lie: The Obama Phone? – FactCheck.org

“The truth is messy. It’s raw and uncomfortable. You can’t blame people for preferring lies.”
― Holly Black, Red Glove

Fighting Back Against Lies

Recently, I’ve been listening to a few different talk radio stations. I can’t believe the lies I’m hearing from these stations. I want to correct some of the lies.

Lies about migrants and Fentanyl: Sizable numbers of Americans are believing lies about migrants and fentanyl, so-called open borders (dailykos.com)

Lies about undocumented immigrants commiting more crimes: Sizable numbers of Americans are believing lies about migrants and fentanyl, so-called open borders (dailykos.com)

Ten voter fraud lies debunked: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/10-voter-fraud-lies-debunked

Lies about public welfare: https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/ensure-every-american-can-vote/vote-suppression/myth-voter-fraud

The lies from the right about Critical Race Theory: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/many-americans-embrace-falsehoods-about-critical-race-theory-2021-07-15/

Lie about Nancy Pelosi stopping the National Guard from coming on January 6: https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-235651652542

Lie about the FBI spending more time investigatin January 6 than 9/11: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/30/facebook-posts/jan-6-capitol-attack-investigation-nowhere-near-le/

Lie that Monkeypox is fake: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/26/facebook-posts/podcast-host-falsely-claims-monkeypox-governmental/

Lie (heard it just today on KDKA talk radio) that crime is at an all time high: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/23/ben-kral/nc-trooper-wrong-about-violent-crime-hitting-recor/

Dr. Oz lie (heard this lie repeated on KDKA talk radio today) about John Fetterman’s stance on crime: https://www.factcheck.org/2022/08/factchecking-republican-attacks-on-fettermans-crime-stance/

Lie that 96% of climate data is corrupted: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/19/facebook-posts/fact-checking-talking-point-about-corrupted-climat/

Trump lie about President Obama keeping classified documents: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/12/donald-trump/why-trump-wrong-suggest-obama-personally-kept-33-m/

Lie that Pennsylvanis sent out 1,832,148 mail-in ballots and got back 2,589,242: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/11/viral-image/no-pennsylvania-didnt-send-out-more-mail-ballots-w/

Lie about electric cars bought for French civil servants abandoned because battery replacement was too expesive: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/11/viral-image/no-pennsylvania-didnt-send-out-more-mail-ballots-w/

Lie that the Senate Democrat’s reconciliation bill will “strip $300 billion from Medicare”: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/11/viral-image/no-pennsylvania-didnt-send-out-more-mail-ballots-w/

Lie that President Biden wants to give illegals ID cards so they can start collecting American benefits: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/11/viral-image/no-pennsylvania-didnt-send-out-more-mail-ballots-w/

“Politics is the art of promising heaven and delivering purgatory, and claiming hero status for saving your country from hell.”
― Bangambiki Habyarimana, The Great Pearl of Wisdom

Angry Whitemanistan

Collective delusion.

Science deniers,

climate change deniers.

history deniers.

Misogynists, racists,

white nationalist.

Oath Keepers,

Proud Boys,

FOX fascists,

Christian zealots,

MAGA cultist.

Immigrant hatred,

minority hatred,

homophobic hatred.

Handmaid’s Tale.

Orwell’s 1984.

Regressive reactionaries.

Banned books,

forced birth,

formula shortage,

mask shortage,

bleach injections.

Hatred and superiority.

Vicious fascist cruelty.

Kids in cages.

Guns over kids.

Russian bot farms.

Talk radio spin

and alternative facts.

Corporate lobbyists pimps,

owning politician whores.

Wall Street greedheads.

Big pharma monopoly.

Deregulation and pollution.

Mega church hellfire.

Bible thumping hypocrites,

concerned with money

not your salvation.

Stolen state secrets.

A war on pronouns

and Mr. Potato Head.

Corporate funded propaganda.

Dark money groups.

thriving on fear,

grifting the marginalized.

Prejudice exceeding intelligence.

White privilege victim identity.

Kool-Aid drinking insurrectionists.

Trump protects the economy,

by lying about Covid.

Half a million bodies,

stacked in refrigerated trunks,

while Potus busily tweets

about the Bachelor TV show.

The Medical bill solution,

is a go fund me page,

or center console change.

A Supreme Court with an agenda,

supporting corporations not people.

Unscrupulous right-wing pundits,

tell Trumpers to be

proud of their ignorance.

They make it permissible

to now hate aloud.

Racist cops doing beatdowns,

or firing eighty rounds.

Gerrymandering and voter suppression.

Thoughts and prayers answers.

A sad growing need to create,

burn proof books and bullet proof kids.

Welcome to Crazytown USA

Welcome to Angry Whitemanistan.

MAGAts wanted four more

 years of this madness.

Living proof for the need

of a national healthcare plan

that includes mental help.

“Selfishness and greed, individual or national, cause most of our troubles.”
― Harry S. Truman

Lather, Rinse and Repeat Politics

Grover Norquist the anti-tax lobbyist

is called the “billionaire’s best friend.”

He keeps the GOP in line and makes sure

they protect tax breaks for the wealthy

and give billions in federal subsidies

to America’s wealthiest corporations.

He stated, “My goal is to cut government

 and get it down to the size where

we can drown it in the bathtub.”

The GOP uses tax cuts for the rich

 to increase the national deficit.

When the GOP gets us in debt

and tanks the economy, they say

we need to cut social programs.

They want to drown policies like;

Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security

and policies that aid the general welfare

of the needy and the average American.

Norquist and Republicans do not want to drown

government policies benefitting the greedy rich

or their corporate donors.

When the Democrats get in power

they cut the deficit significantly.

The voters then go back and put the GOP

in power and it becomes lather, rinse, and repeat,

all over and the GOP suffers no consequences.

With no consequences we get no change.

The “prosperity gospel” flipped Christ’s teachings.

Now we have the message that greed is good

and that we should blame the poor for their plight.

Many Americans have taken single issue bait

and vote for the party of the wealthy.

A large percent of our citizens don’t bother

to vote in any of our elections.

The GOP looked at that and has decided

we do not care at all about Democracy.

They have decided to make voting

as hard a process as they can.

Will you finally decide to vote,

or let democracy commit suicide?

“The vote is the most nonviolent tool we have.” ~ John Lewis

Choices 2.0

Secret you almost told your neighbor

white nightgown

dawn dabbler

new moon

whisper of parchment on a full moon

harvest of parchment

wheat before harvest

cream of wheat

Jersey cream

butter on toast

toasted marshmallow

hint of vanilla

almond

almond cream

meringue

iced frost

frost before morning

morning dew

dew drops on edelweiss

toasted snow

whisper of snow

snow before it melts

slightly melted snow

total blizzard

white out

eye of the hurricane

swan

swan’s down on newly mown lawn

pinch of white pepper

scrimshaw

sails on the seven seas

baby’s breath

cloud

white you wish you’d never seen

etc.

etc.

I needed white paint, and these were a few of my choices

out of five hundred chips in the “white” section at Sherwin Williams.

Overwhelmed, I struggled for a long time making up my mind.

This is what is referred to as a “first-world problem.”

“Blessed are the poor, for they shall have very few choices.”

I think Jesus said that.

“I think that in modern America, we have far too many options for breakfast cereal and not enough options for president.”
― Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

Black Sky, Blue Thoughts

Possibly wrongly accused

cop killers Mumia and Leonard,

rot in prison after decades.

Cops who kill unarmed minorities

still patrol and accumulate pensions.

You’re entitled to a lawyer

but money buys freedom.

Front page blaring accusation

eighth-page innocent blurb.

Soldier are heroes one minute,

homeless veterans the next.

The huge taxpayer funded,

billionaire football stadium owners,

laugh at those who footed the bill.

Wall Street earnings rise or fall

over the slightest rumors.

It illustrates how fragile

the Capitalist system is.

The nightly sound of gun fire

has replace crickets and frogs.

Political candidates give us,

fast talk and promises.

When the shit hits the fan,

when war is at hand,

when racism is fanned.

when mass shootings fill the land,

when books and history are banned,

we find politician man

has no game plan

and offers up,

thoughts and prayers.

Thoughts and prayers will not

stop a war, stop a bullet, stop racism,

stop an overdose, stop a bankruptcy

from medical bills, stop homelessness

pay the rent or feed a family.

Yet, pray we do.

We pray we don’t get laid off

or lose our job.

Jobs that don’t even keep up with inflation.

We pray that our children will be safe

and have a better life than us.

Only the rich have time to live,

as, the rest of us are too busy praying.

Complacency has replaced voting.

And the electoral college

has replaced the majority vote.

Many say Agent Orange’s stay

in the White House,

poisoned our lives with hate.

But political hate was apparent when

JFK, RFK, MLK and Malcom X,

were stopped in their tracks.

Hate for political opponents

gave Nixon an enemy’s list.

Hate for working people

showed when Reagan busted unions.

His hate for children was apparent

when he declared ketchup a vegetable.

Profits before people was realized,

when the Supreme Court ruled

that corporations are people.

We have, lots of humans but no humanity.

Lots of Christians but no Christianity.

The biggest thieves don’t use a gun

and there ain’t no referees.

It’s always starkest

before the yawn.

Wham bam, time to wake up man

and upset the establishment apple cart.

I’d like to at least see the seeds

of a better world in my lifetime.

 

“To be wealthy and honored in an unjust society is a disgrace.” —Confucius

Mother Nature VS. Human Nature

It looks like Satan had surely won this battle,

is what Joe thought while snapping a photo.

The subject was an abandoned church.

Decades ago, the side walls fell inward.

The roof now filled the red mahogany pews.

Mold was the main worshipper at the altar.

Moss and vines replaced the church’s

framing and stained-glass windows.

Falling down buildings and junk cars

with trees growing right through them,

were Joe’s favorite photography targets.

He saw it as man verses nature

and in the long-term nature wins.

Mother Nature considered Joe’s images

battle damage in an ongoing war zone.

Joe did not realize he was a war photographer.

Man’s news had recently been warning

of killer bees and man was killing off all bees.

The bees are an essential ally to Mother Nature.

Of all the animals on Earth.

sustained by Mother Nature,

man was the only guest.

trying to destroy his host.

Man was now busy dropping explosives

and deadly chemicals into Earth’s inner core.

Fracking is what the oil companies called it.

Rape and torture are how nature saw it.

Nature providing fresh air and clean water

was just not enough for man’s desires.

One of nature’s greatest gifts,

the Amazon Rain Forest was just

considered a lumberyard to humankind.

Mother Nature was using her arsenal against man,

fires, tornados, droughts, hurricanes, and floods.

These are kamikaze suicide weapons of mass destruction,

that also do huge damage to Mother Nature herself.

Perhaps, Joe’s prize-winning photos

would make man finally realize

that Mother Nature will always win in the end.

The boys on Wall Street were betting

on the greed of man to always win.

Joe’s latest subject was the litter that dots

the areas along our highway and byways.

Litter from man, the most disrespectful

 animal on the entire planet.

 Joe’s litter photo collection might get humans

to see how they are destroying the planet.

Mother Nature figured Joe would make a difference

because he would at least pick up

the litter after snapping a photo.

Joe did not clean up any litter at all.

Being an artist, he figured he would leave it there

as a waiting subject for the next photographer.

There is always propaganda of who’s side

in a brutal war, is God really supporting.

God made man as stewards of Earth.

Man replaced stewardship with greed.

Humankind should have an attitude of gratitude,

for all that Mother Nature daily provides.

Instead, nature is just one more thing to exploit.

Mother Nature’s spouse, Father Time

will take care of mankind, one by one.

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” ~ Genesis 2:15

Two Poems

Stealing Time

The best way to save your sanity

is to write some poetry.

And the best place to write

is at your jobsite.

Ignore the workday chime,

steal some company time,

write a rap or a rhyme

and do it on company time.

Jump in and get you feet wet.

Don’t worry about being a poet laureate.

The best environment to write prose

Is right under the boss’s nose.

But for goodness sake.

don’t write on your coffee break.

Roman Revisionist History

Researchers have made

an important new discovery.

They’ve discovered what caused

ancient Rome to fall.

Rome fell because it lost

it’s Greek style democracy.

It was lost because the citizens of Rome

refused to register to vote

because they didn’t want to serve on jury duty.

“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.”
–Anaïs Nin

Dr. Seuss Goes Working Class

I ran across this poem I wrote back when GW was president. I thought it still had something to say.

Get to work on time.

Overtime is mandatory

because the company owns your ass.

Work man, work, toil man, toil.

You’ve become a corporate tool.

Your family no longer recognizes you

because you now live at work.

Work man, work, toil man, toil.

Like all of America,

you’re in debt out the wazoo.

So, you drag your tired ass to work.

You’ve given your

blood, sweat and life

to this company.

Work man, work, toil man, toil.

The US gives tax breaks to companies who move overseas.

President Bush says outsourcing is good.

You wonder why you voted for Bush.

What the hell were you thinking?

Then you remember, your beloved NRA told you to.

Work man, work, toil man, toil.

They moved your company to Mexico,

vamoose without an adios amigo.

You worked man, worked.

You toiled man, toiled.

You’re too old to get another job

and too young to retire

because congress keeps raising the retirement age.

No work man, work, no payday man. 

At least Bush let you keep your gun.

You can use it to hunt or to rob a bank to feed your family.

Worse comes to worst you can

use it to end your misery.

No work man, no payday.

You had that “Lock em up and throw away the key”

conservative Republican mentality.

Now that you’re a have not,

you’re having criminal thoughts.

No work man, no payday.

While you were out hunting, job hunting

an endangered species in these days of globalization,

your family left your broke ass.

Not very sporting is it, sportsman for Bush,

as your bumper sticker declares.

Poverty is bad for family values,

so, you’re fucked man fucked.

Welcome to America’s future poor man,

broke ass man, discarded man

American working class man.

‘”Capitalism cannot survive without a working class, the working class can flourish a lot more freely without capitalism.” ~ Terry Eagleton

Stationary Repetition

Jane chain smokes several packs a day.

She puts on facial cream every night,

expecting miracles for her skin and wrinkles.

After all, the commercials said it would help.

John drives his Hummer getting 7mpg.

At every one of his fill-ups,

he bitches about those damn Arabs,

having our country by the balls.

Bob calls talk radio daily and rants

about problems in the community.

It’s easier than actually putting

shoe leather to pavement

and doing something himself.

People say things have got to change

and pull the lever for another D or R.

In a few years when things still need to change,

they once again pull the lever for another D or R.

In the end we are Sisyphus daily rolling

a huge bolder endlessly up a very steep hill.

That meaningless repetition should not be our obituary.

“The Change we dread most may contain our salvation.” ~ Barbara Kingsolver