Title 28 § 2414 - Trumpbino Family Graft is Legalized

When I heard that Trump had dropped his bogus lawsuit against the IRS, I was suspicious but had no idea how bizarre the results of that would be. Right on the heels of dropping the suit, Trump came away with an IRS promise to never look at his tax returns and they created the $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund"  on  the premise of compensating Americans who have been harmed by their government. The acting US Attorney General, Todd Blanche, did not specifically indicate the money was to compenstae the January 6 insurrectionists for being prosecuted for their treasonous riot at the Capitol; but he did say they could apply for compensation. Bullshit. I know, and by now, anyone who is paying attention knows who will benefit the most from this slush fund. 

This money is to come out of our pockets. We are expected to pay for their crimes that were legally ajudicated. The trials played out in the open so America could see that the bullshit the j6 assholes stirred up would not be tolerated. And now that the Trumbino Family has the country by its short hairs, the plan now, is to reward these despicable traitors.

I was confused how this fund was a legal use of taxpayer monies. It made no sense that criminals found guilty of crimes against America could end up with money in their pockets for being traitors. I dug deeper than usual to find the laws or rules that are allowing this fund to even exist. 

Every government has to deal with lawsuits, foreign and domestic. In order to declutter and streamline the high numbers of suits through the DOJ, various laws and readjustments to those laws created a means to compensate people without clogging the courts. Certain cases were able to be ajudicated at the whim of the DOJ without ever hitting a courtroom. Originally, I understand the law was meant to settle the small dollar suits, $100,000 to $1,000,000. Even though some lawmakers sounded some wimpy alarms at the possibility of abuse should a sleazy administration be in charge, the fund was continually fine tuned to what it is today.

All the different laws and riders to those laws are clustered under an umbrella called the "Judgement Fund". Below are the originating rules and the major adjustements that we have today. These are the meat that make up the fund that eventually gave the power to create a judgement fund to the IRS. And now it is up to the DOJ to do with the fund as they wish.

From Google A.I. :

• Original Enactment (1948): When Title 28 of the United States Code was originally codified, § 2414 governed the payment of final judgments against the United States in federal district courts. It required the General Accounting Office (GAO) to settle payments once certified by the Attorney General.
•  The 1961 Amendment (Addition of Compromise Authority): Congress passed Public Law 87-187 to explicitly expand the scope of § 2414. This amendment added authority for the Attorney General to certify and settle claims from state and foreign courts, and most importantly, established the legal foundation for the government to enter into compromise settlements before a final judgment was reached.
• Interplay with the Judgment Fund: Since its inception, § 2414 has been closely tied to the Judgment Fund (31 U.S.C. § 1304). The Judgment Fund is a permanent, indefinite appropriation designed by Congress to pay legal obligations without requiring an act of Congress for each specific payout. Under § 2414, the Attorney General’s certification that a settlement or compromise is in the "interest of the United States" is the trigger required to authorize the Treasury Department to pull funds from the Judgment Fund.
• Decentralization of Payments (1996): Congress passed the General Accounting Office Act of 1996, which transferred the settlement payment duties from the GAO directly to the Secretary of the Treasury.

Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche has said that this fund is absolutely needed to right the wrongs of the past ( wink wink, he means during Joe Biden's term). He continues with the idea that all Americans are giving their stamp of approval. He mused, "How can any American be against this?"

The lies just never stop. The abuse of the truth and manipulation of the facts is no longer just a problem of Trump and his inner circle. This administration has managed to complettely saturate the government with the same self serving sleaze and lies the orange shit-gibbon has been using since his first term.

I think what we do this mid term election will define where and how long America has to put up with a government quickly losing any veracity, impartiality, and inerest in the public good. They just do not care about America's citizens; they are only interested in their agenda and are more than willing to rob our national coffers and exploit our resources for their personal gain. 

Trump has already made sure the USA will be sucking hind tit to China for the foreseeable future and beyond. He has also managedd to alienate all of our critical allies to the pint, they have given up relying on the USA for anything. How much longer the madness continues can be mitigated to a degree if the Democrats win both houses in Congress this mid-term election. Anything less will insure that our fall from the top picks up speed.

Don't be apathetic or feel helpless. Fight for our country,  and at the least, make the time to vote.

Later ......................................

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"For What It's Worth" is a protest song that waas written by Stephen Stills and recorded by Buffalo Springfield in 1966. Meant at the time as a critical look at the protests of the Vietnam War, Civil Rights struggles of the  1960s and 70s. It is one of those songs with a type of fit all size anti- movement of any kind. There is criticism in the song that can be applied to both sides of an issue. Maybe that is why it is one of the favorite songs to cover. The original version is excellent. Many of the covers are also.

This cover uses most of the lyrics, but includes new ones also to bring the song up to date to a specific issue we are dealing with today........ The Reign of Donald Trump and his band of evil assholes. I assume the folks who came up with this cover retained permssion from Stephen to change the lyrics. After all these years, I am told Stills is still a left leaning liberal.

Iconic Cinema Moments

I first saw "Cool Hand Luke" in the theaters when it first came out in 1967. It was so great I sat through it a second time. To say it is a long time favorite of mine would be a serious understatement. Paul Newman at his best. He should have won an Oscar, but well, he didn't mesh well with the politics of Hollywood back in the day.

I watched again for the umpteenth time a few nights ago. The movie is chock full of wonderful cinematic moments and acting, but the one moment that stands out and the scene I think of first was when the prison captain of the work camp says:

"What We've Got Here Is Failure to Communicate"

He is justifying beating Luke for being an uncooperative prisoner. Definitely a cinema nugget that has been immortalized as one of the great ones.

There were so many iconic moments in my quiver of iconic cinema moments, I could write about them ad nauseam. But I won't. Here is two more.

The the image of King Kong on top of the Empire State building in the original 1933 film is the iconic moment most people mention. The scene in the film I remember though is when King Kong kills the Tyrannosaurus Rex he is battling by prying his jaws apart. Still gives me the willies when I think about it.

It was the first and only movie that ever gave me nightmares that I remember. I was age seven or so and living on Augusta Street in Bethesda, Maryland. My parents told me it was the last time I asked to sleep in their bed. The only reason they ever brought it up was because they refused my request. It was one of those forced "grow up moments". I returned to my bed and laid wide awake for quite awhile. That I still remember it now 67 years later tells me that night was a tough one to get through.

Another cinema nugget I remember regularly is from the film, "Schindler's List". Being shot in Black and White makes the horror of the Holocaust stand out so much more vividly than shooting it in color would have.

The point is driven home and singled out as a little Jewish girl shows up in quite a few scenes wearing a red coat; the only color in the whole film. Understanding the point of the red jacket puzzeled me at first, until towards the end of the film. As the Ghetto is emptied by Hitler's troops and the Jews are processed to be shipped to the concentration camps, a handcart carrying bodies enters the scene. One of the bodies is wearing a red coat. That scene is on the loop of cinema memories I carry around to this day.

I have many other cinema moments. These three are ones that came to mind when I decided to write about the power of the arts. I have similar memories from books I have read, art I have looked at and music I have listened to. The Arts should always be free to expose the good and bad of Humanity. To censor any of it is to cut out parts of our souls.

Take care and please, Beware. .............................

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I googled "music from Cool Hand Luke and found Paul's version of "Plastic Jesus".

I did the same for King Kong and found this. It is called "Main Page". I call it an overture.

And finally,from Schindler's List, this wonderful piece performed by Itzhak Perlman and conducted by John Williams.

The Cigar Aficionado

I spotted a recent issue of "Cigar Aficionado" sitting at the kitchen table this morning while savoring my second cup of coffee. The name on the label was my wife's accounting business in Springvale, but with our home address under the name. How she came to have a subscription to "Cigar Aficionado" delivered to our house is one of the many modern mysteries directly associated to our new high tech existence. 

It appears that the publisher decided to reach out to accountants. Reach out? Why would a magazine devoted to smoking cigars reach out to an lady accountant in Maine?  My wife claims she does not smoke cigars. I have no memory of ever seeing her chewing on the butt of a 50 cent cigar. I will have to take her word on that. 

It must have been through gee whiz computer wizardry, the cigar market analysts discovered there are millions of accountants out there. It would follow, that most accountants must be men, what with crunching numbers being only slighlty less macho than ropin steers out on the Range. Accountants are most likely not poor. And because they wear suits, they are probably not fans of Chawin Tobacca.

Accountants often have offices with waiting areas. What do we find in most waiting areas besides chairs and small tables? Magazines. Clients who need accountants on a regular basis usually have deeper pockets. While the clients sit waiting, they might just pick up the "Cigar Aficionado" and be sucked into the world of cigars, bitches in bikinis, and guys wearing pork pie hats with names like Longshot Louie.

Using these assumptions, they must have thought they had a chance of landing more fans. There is a reasonable chance there are enough stogie smoking accountants to support the expense of sending them gratis, an obviously expensive to publish magazine. I am also guessing that a manly mag that supports the cigar smoking culture would be ecstatic to win over some these awesome examples of maledom who roll up their sleeves and fight the good fight, using nothing but their large brains and a calculator.

As I pondered all this and sipped that second cup of coffee, I noticed that the person on the cover was none other than one of my favorite Wingers to hate, Ronald Dion DeSantis, lame duck governor of Florida, the Sunshine State. And lying next to "Cigar Aficionado" was a black sharpie. 

Old men, no matter how old, never really grow up. Well, I know I haven't. I can think like an 8th grader in a heartbeat. Matter of fact, the older I get, the more fun it is for me to remember the silly fun and stupid games I created at that age; not really out of childhood and not exactly a teenager yet either. 

I picked up that sharpie and my awesome artistic talent took over. While I drew my masterpiece, I remembered how much fun it was sometimes to be a boneheaded 8th grader.

I looked at what I had done and laughed and laughed.

Ya'll keep it 'tween the ditches..Hear?

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I promise. I had a tune picked out not 1/2 hour ago. Just right now at this moment, I have misplaced that thought. It is understandable, given how much garbage I have shoved into my brain over the years. There's not a lot of room anymore for any more garbage. And because I am a hoarder of things physical, apparently my afliction includes stashing my thought waves also. Instead of a garbage in, garbage out scenario, in my case it's garbage in, nothing out. And before I know it, my short term memory quiver is so full, it makes the 3000 emails I have ignored look like chump change.

I have never heard of Steve Earl . He is a musician I am not familar with. I was caught by his tune, "City of Immigrants". It is excellent. A real foot tapper with great lyrics. One play and I am hooked.

Not sure how I missed Steve Earle. He was born in 1955. He began his career as a songwriter in Nashville, Tennessee. His first abum debuted in 1986. He didn't look back I am sure. As of 2026, he has recorded or been part of 21 studio albums. He plays Country, rock, folk and most likely a slew of other genre's. The man is a talent. I can't wait to taste all of his music.

2000 Years Does Not Wash Away Their Sins

I find it ironical that the Roman Catholic Church would fault any institution for using conversion therapy of any kind. Pot / Kettle comes to mind. Conversion Therapy has been been the bread and butter of the the Church since its inception almost 2000 years ago. Their early methods often included brutality and violence we can only imagine today.

The LBGTQ+ community is only one group of a multitude of groups who have suffered under the harsh use of "Conversion Therapy". There are still many, many heathens out there in need of converting. At least now, the Church seems to have retired their more zealous methods of "Conversion". But when they get on their Holier Than Thou high horse, all I can think of is the death and destruction they either abetted or were directly responsible for over the last two milleniums.

The Catholic Church will have to do more than issue a report to wash away their many sins and disguise their hipocrisy. The Roman Catholic Church is a business. Everything they do is for the Church first and the faithful second. They were my first example of why I hate organized religion. They were the model upon which the big religions of today also built their empires. They have a lot to answer for.

I have been criticized for my harsh opinion of organized religion, especially my disdain for the Catholic Church. The defenders claim stuff like The Church was a mirror of the times they were living through. Okay, but does that forgive the institution for the many blind eyes they turned away from the ugly brutal times they existed in. They are supposed to be the protector of our moral codes.The church is supposed to look over us. They are supposed to be our guides, not our exploiters.

LBGTQA+

The whole Gay thing started with a word chosen by the homosexual world to give them a designation that was positive, not degrading like Fag, Puffboy, blah, blah, blah. The word "Gay" kept it simple and I understood it. 

Since Gayness was of no real interest to me, I moved on with my life, having found a satisfactory moniker for the predilection. What happens? Today, the Gay community has blossomed, or maybe ballooned is a better word to describe how big the Gay tent has become.

The next time I noticed gays had changed their preferred designation, was when Gay splintered into LBG. Okay, that was fine, they wanted to give each deviation of Gay their place on the marquee. Before I could catch my breath, it became LBGTQ. I had to ask my daughter what the T and the Q were for. She explained the differences to me in very simple easy to understand words, though I am sure she wanted to use the big words tha are always on the tip of her big brain.

Once I got my head around what the new mini-group's letter stood for, they went ahead and added a plus sign. ......... WTF? So this morning when I looked up what the + was all about, I noticed there is also a new letter tacked on, giving us ..... LBGTQA+.

They added the plus sign(+) initially to cover all the residual groups who fall outside the social norrms of today. The Plus sign should have covered it. But no. the Asexuals wanted their letter on the marquee also.

I dunno. It seems like more trouble than it is worth and at the same time causes confusion among all the dumasses of the straight world who won't be bothered to try to understand the nuances of the non straight world.

I have a solution. Can we just go back a few years , like maybe 50 years back . I remember the polite way to designate sexual identity was heterosexuals were called "Straight" and gays were called "Not Straight". Ambivalent, Innocuous, and mostly non confrontational perfection.

The marginalized of this country want a home and the LBTGQA+ community is open for business. What makes me sad is that any group feels marginalized. What makes me sad is the waste of time, energy, and resources spent on hating each other. Damn humans can be so fucking stupid.

Later gators ........................................

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How do I come up with a tune that ties in with the Catholic Church and the LBGTQA+ world? Worrying about either is a waste of time and energy. I'll pick the first song I like and be done with it.

Well, I got into the weeds again. I found a group, a trio of women to be exact, who perform Neo Rock Christian. Their sound is more of a Neo Metal Christian sound, but what do I know? Anyway, combine some AI trickery and visuals and what we have is a Christian Metalhead's wet dream. 3 hot women sportin football black under their eyes, cowboy boots and braided hair. They go by the name, Shunned at a Funeral.

There is no doubtng their righteousness. "Lay the Hammer Down" is all about driving the nails into Jesus' body parts and pressing down his crown of thorns. Here's a fragmented taste:

I was the Hammer, I was the Thorn

He Took It Tattered and Torn

But now I Temble, Grace Won't Let Go

He Wore My Death So I Could Know

Nailed Again, I Drove it in

But He Turned Rath Into a Win

The Blood I Spilled Has Made Me Whole

The Cross I Cursed Now Claims My Soul

There's quite a bit to unpack in this song. If I had one word to describe it, that word would be "creepy". First of all, Heavy Metal is not a musical genre I associate with Religion. But then with the Christian Nationalists frothing at the bit to remake America in their image, I could see how this song would work for them.

It's metal, play it loud.

The Arrogance of Their Ignorance

The Republican Party of the 2020's

The Arrogance of Their Ignorance Has Convinced Them They Are Infallible

Recently, I have been doing a pretty good job of ignoring the daily stupidity Trump and his clown show come up with. At some point though, I do need to relieve the built up pressure inside my cranium. I don't want to blow a gasket, right? While I think I have a head big enough to handle whatever comes down, Trump and his shitshow have managed to irritate my last nerve with their constant onslaught, 24 - 7, of the worst performance of any administration in my lifetime. Trump is incompetent and a sleazy crook. It would follow that he chose people of similar mindset to do his bidding. Their focus is mostly on pilliaging everything they can while at the same time, working hard to destroy the bedrock ideals we founded this country on

The image I threw together at the top, in one sentence, sums up in a nutshell what the MAGA/Christian Nationalist movement is based on; willful ignorance comprised of an immoral ethical base fraught with rampant hypocrisy. Christian Nationalists are not a sect of Christianity, they are a political movement that has hijacked Christianity to use as their cover. The theocratic givernment they seek is not based on any god's will. It is based on their own self serving will.

Their version of "Holier Than Thou" might work in a few muslim nations, but it will never be completely successful here in the USA. Entirely too many of us remember the better days from not that long ago. Unforgiving rigid rule does not a good citizen make...... 

Just a short post to reset my tolerance levels. Not sure how much more of Trump I/we can take. What a complete waste of a human being he is. An even bigger failure than he was in his first term. It only took him a year into his second term to secure the title of the worst presdient the USA has ever had. 

I feel better now. Ya'll have a good day ...............

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This was the first song I sampled and was my initial choice. But I never make it easy on myself. I had to check out some other tunes. An hour later, here I am back at this cover of "Higher Ground", written and recorded by Stevie Wonder in 1973. The folks at "Playing for Change" produce some great covers. Add to that that they are a charity dedicated to spreading goodwill and highlighting musicians from around the world. Afterall, the planet isn't as big as it used to be. 

Enjoy.

Who is Really Smarter?

My mom was sure women were smarter than men. My father never contradicted her unless he was drunk. Not just drunk, but stupid drunk. As a functional alcoholic his whole adult life, he crossed the line into the stupid drunk zone quite often. When he was sober or just at the functioning drunk peak while drinking, he was usually the smartest person in any room he walked into.

So, I was raised to accept that women were smarter than men, if only to get along better with them. My father never really believed women were smarter. He did believe however they were sneakier and much better than men at laying evil plans. Of course, his record of three marriages would indicate they were smarter. At least the ones he married were. Each marriage cost him an arm and a leg that meant his General officer paygrade only elicited the pay rate of a First Lieutenant after the alimony had been paid. 

My mom also thought that while women were considered second class citizens by men, she felt the effort to lift them up should have been done with better planning. Her favorite example was that living with low expectaions actually made women more powerful. She was sure women and their higher IQ's, and men's tendency to think with their genitals made manipulating men easy peasy. Coming at them like they were equals did not often work out; where "yes dearing" them often kept their men on the path they wanted their men on. Too many great men had wives who made them greater. Mom had little sympathy for the women in her circles who did not use their superior intellect to get what they wanted out of the relationship.

I love and admire my mom. But I hated her ability to twist me and my father around her little finger. My dad was a genius. But my mom? Well, my mom was an evil genius.

Which brings me to my point; a point I reached many many years ago. Women are smarter and tougher than men. Men are fighting a losing battle trying to get them back in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant. If we men were smart ( it is apparent we are not); If we were smart, we'd hand over the keys to the Kingdom to women. The male species has proven that under the Male ego guidance, Humanity's growth has been hit or miss. We have survived in spite of the patriarchy's hamfisted way of running things.

Later Gators ...............................

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This post is the result of my wanting some words written to accompany a song I was humming in my head when I woke up this morning. Here is a cover of "Man Smart. Woman Smarter", by the Grateful Dead. Harry Belafonte made this Calypso tune and many others famous back in the 1950s. I always liked Harry's versions, but then I remembered the Dead performed it quite often. The number of their renditions on Youtube is impressive. 

Burying Cats

There is no better place to stash bodies than in a freezer in the basement.

Hmm. ..... How's that for an opening line?

That thought crossed my mind a couple of days ago when I remembered, that in my freezer, I had stashed three cat bodies. At the time of their demise, each one was placed in the freezer with loving grief. Each one died during the Great Cat Die Off that occurred over a three year period starting in 2019 I think. My excuse was they all died during the cold months and the ground was too hard to dig. But really? 

Two of them had been raised together and had lived to double digit plus years. Lil Asshole was a bit younger, but he lived at least 10 years. I think I put off burying them because I knew it would painful. It always was. Never a pleasant moment when a fur member of the family dies.

Five years is a long time to wait just to delay the sadness I knew I would have to deal with. The freezer needed to be de-frosted and we could use the room that removing three cats from their frozen purgatory would give us. The ground was thawed. The spot was chosen. I dug them out of the freezer and placed them in the ground. Some tears and fond memories flowed. 

First to die was Fernando El Magnifico. He died in his sleep, laying on the coffee table while I slept on the couch next to him. Freaked me out when I woke up and found my buddy dead like that. He was a great friend. And he loved me. Fernando never really stopped being a kitten. 

Next in line came Eyeleen, a contrary cat, who took her sweet time to accept me and become my friend. Again, another cat I loved, even if at times it was hard to do. Towards the end of her life, she gravitated in my direction and we became a cuddling duo. She was never very healthy; all skin and bones.

Finally, Felix, AKA, "Lil Asshole" went into the great beyond by dying in his sleep on the the same coffee table Fernando chose to die on. One cat passing next to me is one thing, but a second one in three years in the exact same way.... well, I felt cursed. Lil Asshole was a tough little shit. He was a ninja cat. He'd attack feet on occasion and often decided that a hand was a chew toy. Loved that little shit.

Our home has been been a pet sanctuary for many, many years. I have never  gotten used to their deaths or disappearances. We solved the disappearance issues when we stopped letting the cats out. But dying, well, the little fur buddies do that all the time on their own. We have double digit graves scattered here and there in the yard. Usually I picked a site that was not buried in the pucker brush, but close by. 

I thought burying them would be tough. But nothing is tougher than writing about my dead buddies as I look through all the Kodak moments I took of them. They were missed when they died, they are more missed now.

RIP Fernando, Eyeleen, and Lil Asshole. You guys brought joy into my life and I will never forget you.

Keep it 'tween the ditches ..............................................

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Again, only one song came to mind. The genre of Primus' music is defined by some audiophile expert as "Alternative Metal". .... Now we're getting into the weeds. "Metal "has sub-genres now. I guess it had to happen once the anal retentive, everything in its place folks got a hold of it. Okay, Primus is just another group I like.Their bass player kicks ass. Their songs are unique and clever. Their music would have also driven my parents crazy. That, by itself, makes them worthy of listening to. ........... Enjoy .........or Don't. Here is "Tommy the Cat".