election – BilgeBucket Gazette

Vote ‘D’ For Democracy

It’s only a few more days until the election and to us the choice couldn’t be clearer. Of course, we’ve been saying that since 2016 and yet twice impeached, convicted felon and megalomaniacal man child Donald Trump is somehow running for President instead of being in a jail cell.

Nothing has changed since 2022, or 2020 or 2016 for that matter, so we’re going to just cut and paste text from our post on November 6, 2022. The Republicans are openly embracing white christian nationalism and authoritarian corporate fascism. They are attacking the fundamental principles and laws of our constitution. Under the TFG regime, the GOP dismantled our government giving enormous tax cuts to the plutocrats in our society, which basically gave complete and absolute power to a handful of corporations and the richest of the rich while saddling future generations with debilitating debt. Those greedy CEOs and corporate elite are now the leading cause of inflation in the U.S., grabbing record profits while the American people struggle to just buy food. They have used deceitful shenanigans to stack the Supreme Court with regressive, religious ideologues who have already taking away a woman’s right to make her own reproduction decisions despite saying under oath during their confirmation hearings that they wouldn’t. The extremist Court is setting its sights on voter rights and basic rights for the LGBTQ community. Many Republicans want to end Social Security and Medicare which they call ‘entitlement programs’ but have no problem with entitlement programs for the corporate fat cats who purchase legislation through slimy lobbyists with corrupt donations and other monetary influences. The Republicans have openly suggested civil war and locking up opponents if they don’t get their way. TFG even instigated his rabid MAGA moron followers to mount an insurrection attempt at a coup at the Capitol on January 6th, 2020 because TFG claimed the 2020 election was rigged and stolen despite no evidence of fraud. Now, insane MAGA and QAnon election deniers are poised to win seats in many states including our state of Arizona which would effectively guarantee that Republicans will win all future elections and the will of the people will be ignored thus ending democracy as we know it. As we have said before, under TFG, the Republicans are no longer a party; they are a crime syndicate. Not only that, the objectives of Project 2025 have come to light which for all intents and purposes guarantees the end of our democracy.

If you truly believe in a representative democracy, by the people, for the people, and where every vote counts, there is only one way to vote: vote ‘D’ for Democracy.

Since the Republicans have completely embraced white christian nationalism and authoritarian corporate fascism, the choice in the 2024 elections is clear: vote ‘D’ for Democracy.

Republicans = Fascists

Several former Trump generals have made headlines recently speaking out against their former boss. Former TFG officials and former Trump Chief of Staff General John Kelly have come out and called Trump a fascist – which he is. Retired general and former Joint Chiefs chairman Mark Milley stated that Trump is “fascist to the core”. Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has called Trump the “most dangerous person ever”. Yes, that’s right, folks. Donald Trump is an absolute fascist. He openly admires Hitler and his generals and has used fascist talk when referring to immigrants, his political opponents and anyone who disagrees with him. TFG recently talked of taking retribution against the “enemies within” and yet the corporate media just yawns. Of course, we’ve been saying this since forever. Just peruse our posts from the past nine years. The fact that the Republican party is still defending Trump and have put forth Project 2025 is proof that they are fully on board the fascism train as well.

We’ve posted the following photo-toon meme a couple of times, on September 12, 2022 and originally on December 16,2015. We’re reposting it now because the situation hasn’t changed with the GOP since 2016 or the days of Dubya for that matter. They are still pursuing a christian nationalist corporatist authoritarian agenda – a Holy Corporate Empire or Corporate States of America if you will. The only difference is that the GOP are unabashedly out in the open supporting fascism now. Take a look at our handy dandy checklist and you can plainly see – Republicans are fascist to the core!

The Republican Party has some eerie similarities to a certain right wing conservative fascist party from 20th century Germany.

Trump: The Joker Of Chaos

Back in 2019, the movie The Joker came out starring Joaquin Phoenix as the master of chaos in the DC universe. We did a post on September 7, 2019 comparing the titular sociopath with the one who was in the White House at the time, now twice impeached convicted felon Donald Trump. We commented at the time that Americans seemed to be obsessed with psychotic sociopaths who want to create chaos.

Well, it’s less than one month to the election and nothing seems to have changed. Donald Trump is somehow running for President again despite trying to overthrow the government on Jan 6th, 2021 and promising even more of the same in the months ahead if he doesn’t win. Trump acolytes are stationed in swing states and are prepared to throw wrenches in the electoral process. There are even worries that House Speaker Mike Johnson won’t certify the election. The insurrection back in 2021 gave us every indication that the orange faced megalomaniacal man child will have no problem blowing this country up if he doesn’t get his way. Trump is truly a real life example of a joker who only wants to sow discord, disunity and chaos and yet his evangelical followers liken him to Jesus. Unbelievable!!!

Joker: Not to be outdone by Joaquin Phoenix, American CEO/Dictator and 'stable genius' Donald Trump releases his own Joker movie where he promises law and order but delivers chaos that promotes hatred and violence thus threatening to rip apart the democratic institutions on which the nation was founded. Rated R for Repulsive. — Joker: Not to be outdone by Joaquin Phoenix, American CEO/Dictator and ‘stable genius’ Donald Trump releases his own Joker movie where he promises law and order but delivers chaos that promotes hatred and violence thus threatening to rip apart the democratic institutions on which the nation was founded. Rated R for Repulsive.

RFK Jr.’s Favorite Book

One of the big questions of this election season is what the hell happened to RFK Jr.? We mean WTF!!! He used to be a respected environmental warrior. We even endorsed his book Crimes Against Nature here back in 2004. Now all sorts of strange stories have come out about him and the problem is that most of them are true.

First, there’s the story of doctors revealing that worms had been eating his brains and died. Then there’s the video of Mr. Environment Guy regaling Roseanne about how he stopped and stuffed a dead bear cub – a.k.a roadkill – in his trunk and then leaving it as a prank in Central Park when he remembered he couldn’t bring it home to eat because he had to go to the airport. Then there’s the story about he stopped and chainsawed a dead whale’s head off and strapped it to the top of his vehicle. Then there’s the story of how he dealt drugs in college at Harvard. Again, what the hell happened to him!!!

Back on our February 12, 2012 post, we featured as our Book O’ The Month Daisy June Huneycutt’s epic cookbook Cookin’ Roadkill. Well, the second edition has been released and guess who’s endorsing it? Why RFK, Jr., of course! As a matter of fact, it’s his favorite book.

Daisy June Huneycutt's epic cookbook Cookin' Roadkill is now in its second edition with a special endorsement from roadkill and brain worm aficionado Robert Kennedy Jr., who is also maybe or maybe not running for President. — Daisy June Huneycutt’s epic cookbook **Cookin’ Roadkill** is now in its second edition with a special endorsement from roadkill and brain worm aficionado Robert Kennedy Jr., who is also maybe or maybe not running for President.

Hope, Thy Name Is Kamala Harris

A lot has happened since our last post a month ago. Honestly, folks, the way the election had been panning out was depressing the hell out of us. Joe Biden, despite having one of the best legislative terms in history, was being labeled as too old as compared to an equally old and more unstable and completely dishonest man, the twice impeached convicted felon TFG. The fix was in and it still may be in, we don’t know. But President Biden bowing out of the race and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris completely threw the Republicans for a loop. For once, the Democrats put the screws to the GOP and we’re feeling something we haven’t felt in a while – HOPE!

There are many positive signs for democracy loving citizens. The Democrats have coalesced and galvanized around Harris. The Vice President has raked in millions of dollars and gave a rally to a full house in Atlanta. Her reported nominees for Vice President are all solid candidates. We’re pushing for Arizona Senator Mark Kelly but then again we’re Arizonans and a bit biased. Not only that but Donald Trump gave one his worst interviews ever (and he’s given a zillion awful interviews in the last nine years) at the National Association of Black Journalists this past week. He completely screwed the pooch and probably lost the black vote completely. His flip-flopping VP pick J.D. Vance is not impressing anyone. So far the only things Republicans can complain about Harris is the lame comment that she’s always laughing. So there are plenty reasons to be hopeful.

But we’re sure the corrupt corporate media will do a hit job on Harris they way they did in 2016 against Hillary Clinton once they find something bad, no matter how picayune the issue is, in which to bash her and whoever her running mate ends up being. The media wants drama and Zeus damn it, drama makes lots of MONEY, which is what the greedy corporations and America are all about. So, get ready for a bumpy three months, folks. Things are looking much better for democracy loving Americans, but it ain’t over yet.

The Republican Party is so broken and weird that they are criticizing Democratic candidate, current Vice President Kamala Harris for the unforgivable sin of laughing.

Forecast 2024: Goodbye Women’s Rights?

We’re not going to lie to you, folks. We’ve been thinking of hanging up the old bilge bucket over the last couple years. We don’t like what’s happening with TFG, the GOP or the corporate media. If this were a functioning socity of law and order, he should already be in jail serving a sentence for any of his 91 criminal counts, especially provoking the Jan. 6th insurrection. It’s obvious and if the Republicans were in any way honest, they’d admit their mistake, cut him loose and choose a new standard bearer for their party. But they’re not honest in the slightest despite claiming to be conservative christians. We honestly don’t think if Jesus somehow came back to Earth, he’d be hanging out with Trumpty Dumpty.

We think Biden is doing a great job – a lot better than we thought he would quite frankly. He’s been laser focused on restoring our relationships with our allies, helping spread democracy in Ukraine and improving the economy. His legislative victories (Infrastructure Act, Inflation Reduction Act, Chips Act, Pact Act, etc . . .) are reminiscent of LBJ’s first term. So we absolutely don’t trust polls that say Trump is leading Biden. Moreover, the media is doing an atrocious job of highlighting Biden’s accomplishments. Remember, Trump said the stock market would crash under Biden, but instead, it’s been approaching all-time highs. Not only that, he has hardly spent any time on the golf course unlike a certain orange tub o’ goo.

We’ve decided to go one more election cycle (or Con-a-thons as we like to call them) and then call it quits. We’ll be mostly posting old photo-toons relating to TFG since he’s the same a-hole that he’s been since forever. Plus, we’ll add some new ones on him and the new confederacy of dunces masquerading as GOP congressmen and senators. Plus, to keep our own sanity, we’ll post non-political schtuff to try and get back to our original quest of being a poor man’s Onion. Will it work? Who knows! But let’s see what happens anyway.

Republicans have already taken away reproductive rights from females and are aiming to regress the role of women in America to 19th century status of being just a non-voting baby factory.

Rewind: Pat & Rudy Time Warpin’

2023 marks the 20th anniversary of the BilgeBucket Gazette. Our first issue was on May 19, 2003 and we’ve been shoveling it to the public, just like the corporate media, ever since. We changed our format to a WordPress blog in 2011 so all of our earlier material was archived. We’ve been reposting many of those archived articles, headlines, photo-toons, BilgeBucket Lists and other content over the past twelve years. In honor of our 20th, and because we’re sick of the current state of affairs in the world, we’ll be reposting more items from 2003 through 2009 throughout this year.

Pat Robertson, the uber-evangelical preacher who, together with fellow holy huckster Jerry Falwell, blew hot air into the christian nationalism movement that is threatening to turn our democracy into a theocracy, died last week. We had a very poignant salute to Falwell when he died in 2007 (and repost in 2015) listing all his greatest hates so just visit that page and you’ll be up to date on Robertson’s dubious record. We’ve also had a photo-toon featuring Robertson and his exceptional ability to exaggerate, but then that’s what you should expect from an evangelical con-man. But we found another photo-toon from our November 29, 2007 issue of Robertson endorsing Rudy Giuliani for President in 2008, presumably for his role in helping New York heal after 9/11. We had an article covering that election. But this photo-toon features Robertson with Giuliani dressed in drag ala Rocky Horror Picture Show. In case you’ve forgotten, Giuliani dressed in drag on more than a few occasions including a strange one with megalomaniac man-child Donald Trump. We wonder what ultra-conservative, christian, anti-LGBTQ MAGA Morons and QAnon nutbags would say if they saw this video of Trump motorboating Rudy’s fake boobies.

Ultra-conservative televangelist Pat Robertson endorsed Rudy Giuliani for President in 2008 even though Giuliani had supported abortion and gay rights, two issues which Robertson is vehemently against, and had dressed in drag on several occasions.

Karipatra: Queen Of Denial

If you’re a fan of democracy then the results for the 2022 midterm elections are encouraging. We’ve waited until after the Georgia runoff election, which was fortunately won by Rafael Warnock, to comment because mostly it’s given us time to relax from the non-stop electioneering and also to see how the Republicans would react to the results. But the Democrats managed to not only keep control of the Senate but expand its influence with a 51-49 majority. The Republicans control the House but by only a few seats. The red wave that the main stream corporate media bloviated about before the election never materialized much to the embarrassment of the propagandists at Fox News, a.k.a. the Republican Propaganda Network. It looks like Kevin McCarthy will have his hands full trying to control the House and most pundits are doubting the GOP will do anything except investigate the nothing burger that is Hunter Biden’s laptop.

More importantly, many Trump humping, election denier candidates across the country got beat including the Big Three here in Arizona, Blake Masters, Mark Finchem and Kari Lake. Generally speaking, Democrats performed pretty well here in AZ. One notable exception is the U.S. House of Representatives. Arizona had five democratic Congressional representatives in the 2020 election but thanks to redrawn districts from the census favoring Republicans, the GOP now has six seats compared to three for Democrats. There were some very tight races which have gone into recount, but overall, the Dems held the line. Democracy has been saved . . . for now.

Of course, Ms. Lake, in true Trumpian fashion, has refused to concede and has commenced to whining, promising law suits of election fraud. We’re so sick of this former newsreader. She should just move into Mar-a-lago so she can be with her crush 24/7. We’re sure Melania won’t mind. We saw a funny meme online about the loony Ms. Lake and decided to duplicate it using our own graphics. From now on, Kari Lake will be known as Karipatra, the Queen of Denial.

In true Trumpian fashion, Arizona's failed governor candidate Kari Lake has claimed election fraud and has transformed herself into Karipatra - the Queen of Denial. — In true Trumpian fashion, Arizona’s failed governor candidate Kari Lake has claimed election fraud and has transformed herself into Karipatra – the Queen of Denial.

Save Democracy: Vote ‘D’

The 2022 elections are on Tuesday, November 8th and the choice couldn’t be clearer in our opinion. Of course, we’ve been thinking that for the last twenty years and somehow the Republicans are still not the permanent minority party which they should be.

The Republicans are openly embracing white christian nationalism and authoritarian corporate fascism. They are attacking the fundamental principles and laws of our constitution. Under the TFG regime, the GOP dismantled our government giving enormous tax cuts to the plutocrats in our society, which basically gave complete and absolute power to a handful of corporations and the richest of the rich while saddling future generations with debilitating debt. Those greedy CEOs and corporate elite are now the leading cause of inflation in the U.S., grabbing record profits while the American people struggle to just buy food. They have used deceitful shenanigans to stack the Supreme Court with regressive, religious ideologues who have already taking away a woman’s right to make her own reproduction decisions despite saying under oath during their confirmation hearings that they wouldn’t. The extremist Court is setting its sights on voter rights and basic rights for the LGBTQ community. Many Republicans want to end Social Security and Medicare which they call ‘entitlement programs’ but have no problem with entitlement programs for the corporate fat cats who purchase legislation through slimy lobbyists with corrupt donations and other monetary influences. The Republicans have openly suggested civil war and locking up opponents if they don’t get their way. TFG even instigated his rabid MAGA moron followers to mount an insurrection attempt at a coup at the Capitol on January 6th, 2020 because TFG claimed the 2020 election was rigged and stolen despite no evidence of fraud. Now, insane MAGA and QAnon election deniers are poised to win seats in many states including our state of Arizona which would effectively guarantee that Republicans will win all future elections and the will of the people will be ignored thus ending democracy as we know it. As we have said before, under TFG, the Republicans are no longer a party; they are a crime syndicate.

If you truly believe in a representative democracy, by the people, for the people, and where every vote counts, there is only one way to vote: vote ‘D’ for Democracy.

Since the Republicans have completely embraced white christian nationalism and authoritarian corporate fascism, the choice in the 2020 elections is clear: vote 'D' for Democracy. — Since the Republicans have completely embraced white christian nationalism and authoritarian corporate fascism, the choice in the 2022 elections is clear: vote ‘D’ for Democracy.

Finchem’s Fascist Farce

It’s time to get back to our final review of Arizona GOP whack-a-doodle candidates. We’ve already mentioned fluff-brained gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and plutocrat butt kisser senatorial candidate Blake Masters. We focus in this post on perhaps the most insidious and dangerous of the Trumphumpers, Mark Finchem, who is running for Secretary of State. In Arizona, the Secretary of State is second in command since there is no Lieutenant Governor. The Secretary of State is also in charge of certifying election results and keeping records of campaign finances. This is why Finchem is dangerous – he is an election denier and has openly stated that he would have overturned the 2020 election in favor of TFG despite there being absolutely no evidence of voter fraud. He’s also stated that if he loses the upcoming election he will not concede, just like Trump.

But first, who is Mark Finchem? The way he dresses and acts, you’d think he’s a native Arizonan. But he was born and Michigan and moved to AZ and adopted the garb and persona of a rough and ready, independent Arizonan. Basically, he’s a poser. But the conservative rubes eat it up which is why he was elected as a state representative for Legislative District 11 which represents about 225,000 Arizonans in Pinal and Pima counties which covers the northwestern parts of the Tucson metropolitan area up to Casa Grande and Maricopa. Finchem’s been married four times, so he’s got TFG beat there. Other Arizona Republicans have called Finchem a “political gadfly” and “one of the dumbest” members of the state legislature.

Why is Finchem so dangerous? Wow, where do we start? First of all, Finchem is a QAnon true believer and a 9/11 truther. He attended the Capitol riots on January 6th which should disqualify him completely from running for office. But he stated that he didn’t go inside and was just a witness which apparently makes everything square in his fevered mind. He is an Oath Keeper, which is a far right wing, anti-government, extremist militia group and has kept ‘treason watchlists’. He’s a supporter of TFG’s Big Lie and said fraud was rampant in Arizona despite several audits saying there was no voter fraud. We repeat: NO VOTER FRAUD!!! His opponent in the Sec. of State race Democrat and native Arizonan Adrian Fontes is a former Maricopa County Recorder and lost his re-election race in 2020. We would think if there was fraud Fontes would arranged for his own re-election but that didn’t happen. Even his Republican opponent in the Recorder race Stephen Richer said there was no fraud. But does that matter to these MAGA Morons? Not one bit. They’ve drank the Trump kool-aid and plan to use every one of his vile obstruction tactics including not conceding and contesting any results they don’t like.

Finchem debated Fontes this past week and according to most reviews, Fontes owned the Republican screwball. Finchem acted unhinged for most the thirty minutes doubling down on his debunked conspiracy theories while Fontes remained calm, cool and collected answering in even measured responses. Among his most egregious assertions, Finchem cited the discredited “2000 Mules” movie, which made unproven claims about widespread ballot harvesting in the 2020 election. The two sparred on many issues including mail-in ballots which Finchem wants to eliminate. Finchem is also in favor of letting the state legislature select the Senator instead of letting the people. Apparently, Finchem has conveniently forgotten the Seventeenth Amendment which guarantees the citizens the direct vote of Senators. Like with the mail-in ballots, Fontes pressed Finchem to admit he favors taking away the vote from the people, but the loony wingnut kept hemming and hawing and dodging the question because he knows that his position is colossally undemocratic and would expose him for the fascist he is.

The bottom line is this, folks: Mark Finchem is a bat shit insane, QAnon, Oath Keeper, fascist nutcase and is an absolute danger to Democracy. If he is elected Secretary of State, he will guarantee that only Republicans will win key offices in upcoming elections which is not only undemocratic but out and out fascism. We Arizonans need to make sure to vote him out this November 8th or we will never have fair elections in this state again and it might start an unfortunate trend that goes nationwide.

Update 9/26/22: Here are a couple more links to stories about Finchem.

Finchem Falsely Claims That Then-Vice President Mike Pence “seized power” from President Donald Trump and undertook “a coup” when he called on federal agencies to stop the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Finchem Embraces QAnon and 9/11 Truthers.

Oath Keeper, QAnon whackadoodle and supporter of Trumps Big Lie, Mark Finchem, guarantees that if elected he will ensure fair and balanced elections where no Democrats will ever hold elective office again but is in no way fascist.