The Bay of Pigs Award - is fake. It is actually a present from Brigade 2506 survivors for visiting their museum

 

      The Bay of Pigs Award is not the name of the item Donald Trump is holding here. Members of the Veterans of Brigade 2506 have given him a reproduction of the badge they carried into battle as thanks for his expressed opposition to Human Rights abuses and fighting Totalitarian Regimes. It was a gift from them when he visited the Brigade 2506 Museum in Little Havana Miami in October 2016 when he feared losing Florida during the campaign.

       Trump was fishing for Hispanic votes, which is why his handlers had him visit the museum. A couple of Brigade 2506 veterans gave him a plaque as a way of thanking him for coming. They didn't present it to him with great fanfare saying "Here is our Bay of Pigs Award because you're a great man." They gave him the plaque because he made a suitable condemnation of Fidel Castro, even though earlier - before the embargo was lifted - Trump circumvented the law searching for real estate in Cuba in the 1990s which would have helped the Castro regime. Do you think they knew that? They should now.

        And there has never been a "Bay of Pigs Award". Only a complete idiot would repeatedly call that plaque of the Brigade's badge by the name of the battle they fought and lost. 

All Donald Trump knows is that the men who presented him with the plaque were at a place called the Bay of Pigs...and they were thanking him for something he assumed had to do with that place and that he somehow improved it by coming to their museum. 

If at this point you're wondering WTF is the “Bay of Pigs Award” that Donald Trump proudly owns, then you have to wonder - does that mean Trump himself can be defeated in 3 days after he launches an ill-advised, ill-prepared, poorly-armed mission? Does the CIA receive it along with Trump? Why would Cuban-Americans award anything to someone associated with the U.S. government when it was government officials, primarily in the CIA, who misled, lied to, and ultimately stabbed in the back Brigade 2506? 

It was not John F. Kennedy. He was bamboozled by the CIA but took the fall by accepting responsibility as president. He then arranged and bought the survivor's freedom out of Castro's jails for roughly $53 million where most of the CIA preferred to let the prisoners rot. The Brigade 2506 survivors were released by the Castro government and returned to the U.S. in December 1962.

But the CIA has done a stellar job of ducking responsibility for their failures to the Brigade, misdirecting, and successfully pinning the blame on the assassinated president. Such CIA bravery.

Trump actually believes Cuban-Americans will flock to him if he gives himself a fictitious award named after the only military mission he knows that involved Cubans. He couldn’t tell you any details about the invasion at Playa Giron, Playa Largo, or Brigade 2506. Hell, he couldn’t tell you what year it happened. Those would be revealing questions to ask Trump. Why was the Cuban invasion force called Brigade 2506, or when did the invasion occur? Trump?  

He is renaming that plaque in order to gain - unearned - the loyalty of what he assumes are low-information Cuban-American voters who recognize the English words Bay of Pigs (Trump couldn’t pronounce Bahia Cochinos if his life depended on it). Plus, he hopes low-information American voters will be suitably impressed with a fake military operation-named presentation like "The Bay of Pigs Award" from Cubans who were there. The bogus award would show how others see him as honoring, not just American soldiers, but foreign soldiers who fight for the same principles. Trump is counting on them being suckers enough to fall for his falsely-named award targeted at the Latino community, and more importantly at history-ignorant American voters. 

 This is the Brigade's Flag. It was returned to them by John F. Kennedy.

C’mon, what else do Spanish-speaking people need? Trump has done more for Latinos – by simply claiming this Bay of Pigs Award – than any other president. They have to realize that Trump is honoring Cuban-Americans, (and by extension all Hispanics) by showing solidarity with them through a falsely-named shoulder patch plaque. Why wouldn’t they be stupid enough to vote for the guy who doesn’t give a damn about them except to usurp the name of a battle they bled in, lost hundreds of fellow soldiers during, then were defeated by Castro’s forces, and claim it as an award from the survivors? 

Since receiving that tribute plaque of the Brigade's shoulder patch, how has Trump helped Cuban-Americans? Why should any Cuban-American vote for a man who makes up names of awards to puff up his image simply to pander for their votes?

Donald Trump doesn't give a damn about American soldiers. How much less of a damn do you think he gives about Cuban-American soldiers? The fact that he uses the name of the battle they lost, rather than naming the award after the fighting Brigade itself, tells you everything you need to know about how Trump sees Cuban-Americans.

Trump is on the hunt for suckers and losers who buy into whatever lie he makes up. Here is hoping Brigade 2506 members and their families are smarter than that. 

Brigade 2506 survivors were returned to the U.S Christmas Eve 1962. Many met with and most forgave John Kennedy for the failed mission. Here they greet the president and Jackie at the Orange Bowl in Miami the day they were freed.

Pennsylvania Driver Proves Religion Poisoned Her

When the late Christopher Hitchens penned one of his best selling and most controversial books “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything” he said the title was meant to sound as brutal as it did. Because religious poison is at the bottom of some of the most idiotic things humans do when they let Bronze Age stories written by semi-literate goat herders dictate how they should live their lives. And when they believe they are under 24-hour surveillance by a supernatural agent who they think they can manipulate, it gets even worse.

Here is just the latest example of why religion is dangerous.

On January 7, 2020, near Weatherly, PA, Nadejda Reilly decided just reading the bible, praying, and going to church was not enough. She needed to put God to a test. The end result was nearly catastrophic when she deliberately drove into oncoming traffic and rammed another car with three people in it. She injured two of them as “a test” of her faith in that God. And it convinced her God passed her test with flying colors. 
Law enforcement authorities revealed that she showed no empathy for the injured people and no regret for her actions. When interrogated, the 31-year-old woman told investigator Trooper Bruce Balliet that she drove around the area ‘for several hours’ so this was premeditated. She claimed she was waiting for a sign or a calling from God but when she received nothing she decided to take matters into her own hands.

"Reilly related that God took care of her by not having her injured," wrote the investigator in an arrest affidavit. "Reilly expressed no concerns or remorse for the victims and stated she did not care if the other people were injured because "God would have taken care of them."

The injured were taken to the hospital for treatment. Reilly was charged with aggravated assault and other offenses and her $50,000 bail was also revoked as it was deemed she would do it again if given an opportunity.

While a verdict on Reilly is yet to be announced, her actions have been strongly criticized and Church leaders opined that her actions were not faith-based, but were delusional.

That begs the question: how can anyone say her actions were not faith-based? Do they know her mind? Do they know the depth of her faith and how she believes God works in her life? They immediately go to a “she’s delusional” excuse. They are correct about that - but she is delusional because of her faith, not in spite of it. She honestly "believes" -  because she has been indoctrinated since the time she was a young child to accept some adult's insistence that there is a sky daddy somewhere up there who performs magic. That is delusional. She believed some supernatural power would take control of her vehicle and guide it safely through traffic if she just had enough faith. That thinking almost got four people killed (Reilly and the three people in the car she rammed). Notice the woman never has to provide any evidence that those who survived were protected by a God. She just asserts it. That should not fly in any court in this country.

This is how religion, particularly Christianity in the United States, infects people to the point of trying to kill others and not caring about the end result because some God will take care of the collateral damage. It’s another version of the old blood-thirsty “Kill ‘em all...let God sort ‘em out” slogan.

This woman injured two people and didn’t give a damn because she believed that God would protect those she almost killed - if God loved them enough - so it wasn’t her problem. God saw to it she wasn’t injured, thus proving to her that God exists - in her mind. Obviously, God kept the others from being killed so what's the problem? There's no harm done.

Why is it religion seems to inflict stupidity on its believers? People do dumb things all the time but this woman's belief in her religion convinced her that ramming another car and walking away means God loves her. So the material and physical costs don't factor into how much love she just experienced. Nor, apparently, can she figure out a less destructive or less harmful way to test her faith. We can expect her to do this every time she drives, to see if God still loves her. (I wonder...what if God doesn’t care about the people she rams into next time? Should it be her call that they die that day all because she wants to test her faith in God?) Is this how God expects his flock to perform, by testing whether he’s paying any attention to them each moment? A God that ignores people is indistinguishable from a god that is imaginary.

Trump Sucks at Being President

TRUMP CAVES IN

The longest government shutdown in history has ended.

It lasted this long because...

Trump sucks at negotiating.

Trump announced his 'short-term' end to the shutdown - but gets no wall-funding. He gets NOTHING! So 800,000 federal workers had to be financially harmed and our nation's safety jeopardized...for Trump's NOTHING!
Remember how well he negotiated with Russia? Neither do I. But Russia has notes on every meeting Putin has had with Trump. Putin can say whatever he wants about what is in them and what Trump agreed to.
Remember what a detailed and thorough deal Trump signed with Kim Jong Un? Me either. Trump claimed he had ended the North Korean nuclear threat, then last week the Defense Dept. released new information that the Kim regime has opened at least 20 new nuclear missile launch sites since June 2018. Satellite photos confirm their existence.

Trump sucks at press briefings.

That’s why he now does them within a few yards of running helicopter engines, shouts answers to questions he hasn’t been asked, repeats himself, and walks away every time he’s asked for his source material or details about something.

Trump sucks at military matters, too.

The loss of General Jim Mattis and Gen. H. R. McMaster. The disgust of reputable retired military people like General McChrystal and Admiral McRaven.

Six days into his presidency, with little thought about the mission and what was to be accomplished, Trump ordered the SEAL team attack on Yemen in Jan. 2017 that killed CPO Owens, wounded at least three others, a $75 million dollar aircraft was destroyed and the mission yielded absolutely nothing according to the Defense Dept.

Four Green Berets are killed in Niger Oct. 4, 2017. Chadian troops fighting ISIS sympathizers pulled out of Niger after Trump arbitrarily included Chad in his Muslim travel ban. ISIS floods back into Niger, where lightly armed US troops are sent along with Niger soldiers into an ambush. No directive is issued on what the mission is to accomplish, there is no backup, no air support, and no extraction plan. And Trump couldn't bother telling the public for 12 days then he lied about contacting the families of those KIA when he hadn’t done any such thing.

Trump ordering the pull-out of US troops in Syria without consulting the Pentagon, the Dept. of Defense, or any of the generals. 
And remember, on Veterans Day, Trump sat in the White House and did absolutely nothing, no visit to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, no laying a wreath, no visit to Arlington, no visit to Veterans hospitals or even a VFW hall. But to be fair, I guess those bone spurs can act up and prevented him from doing stuff at the most inopportune times.

Trump sucks at choosing “the best people”.

Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Scott Pruitt, Tom Price, Ryan Zinke, Jeff Sessions, David Shulkin, Rob Porter, John Kelly, Roy Moore, Scaramucci, and all the “fine people” on the side of the Nazis and the KKK in Charlottesville, Va. Can Trump pick them or what?

Trump sucks at running the government

To date, over 3,000 positions within the government have still not been filled because Trump has not submitted or approved any names.

He ‘works’ barely 3 hours a day…if that. His own time schedule shows he arrives in the Oval Office at the earliest around 11:00, and is out of there by 4…with an hour for lunch and another hour or two of ‘executive' (meaning TV) time included.
He's never read the Constitution all the way through, so it's no wonder he doesn't understand the office of the presidency.

When he couldn’t get Mexico to honor his campaign pledge to pay for the wall, he decided American taxpayers should cough up the money. When the answer was no, he threw a fit and shut down the government. Let's face it...

Trump sucks at being president.

In Trump's America - Who Needs that Pesky First Amendment?

Apparently, free speech in America is only that which is approved by Donald Trump. Trump thinks people should be punished and even deported for showing a "lack of patriotism" by refusing to do something that has always been voluntary in our country regarding the flag. Where was all of Trump’s patriotism when he invented that bone spur in his foot to avoid military service during the fighting in Vietnam? Shouldn’t that be a punishable or deporting offense? How about it, Trump?

When the First Amendment was adopted in 1791, our Founding Father’s apparently needed to include “This article is not subject to re-interpretation by any future president or official” to protect coming generations from the whims of some dictator who managed to attain the White House. One of its provisions was to allow unpopular views to be spoken or written…like, say, when writers in the mid-1700s vented about King George III or British actions. The writers and speakers were to be allowed and encouraged to disagree with mainstream thought so public debate could determine what course of action was best for the colonies. That’s why we had people arguing in favor of, and against, the British. It’s why we allowed many different religious practices (although hindsight has shown that the tolerance was primarily limited to Christian-style religions). It’s why newspapers were not subject to censorship by the government. It protects you from the government punishing or censoring or oppressing your speech. Symbolic speech is protected by the constitution, too. Simply put, you have the right to not speak. You have the right to silence. So if you were to be fined or punished by your employer for not standing during the national anthem, that’s a major First Amendment issue. But now, Trump has redefined what that amendment really means. Stand, or get out of the country.

Here we are trying to contend with major issues around the nation and the world, including powerful hurricanes, earthquakes, erupting volcanoes, unprecedented flooding, rising sectarian violence, record droughts, suicide bombings, health care, tax reform, and threats of nuclear war (thanks to our president acting like a third grader taunting the second grade bully in North Korea, and then unzipping his pants and flipping out his tiny member at Iran to taunt them as well)...and what does Trump want to address? He decides to escalate a non-issue by attacking the NFL, calling on fans to boycott NFL games until players who refuse to stand for the national anthem are suspended or cut from the team.

So which is it...do fans stop going to games, or are the team owners supposed to fire the players? 

On ABC TV’s “This Week,” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin defended Trump’s attack on NFL players. “You know, the NFL has all different types of rules.You can’t have stickers on your helmet. You have to have your jerseys tucked in. I think what the president is saying (Mnuchin doesn't really know, he just made this up on the spot) is that the owners should have a rule that players should have to stand in respect for the national anthem. This isn’t about Democrats, it’s not about Republicans, it’s not about race, it’s not about free speech. They can do free speech on their own time.”

Mnuchin (who never served in the military or as a first responder) needs a thorough lesson on the creation of the First Amendment. He makes the same mistake so many others do about the intent of the amendment - and what the NFL players kneeling represents - by erroneously claiming “This is about respect for the military and so many people who put their lives at risk and what the country stands for, and the owners should meet and they should decide on this rule the way they decide on any other rule.”

Incredulous, ABC’s Martha Raddatz immediately asked: “Is it not about their first amendment rights? Is it not about the first amendment?”

“No, it’s not,” Mnuchin replied. “They have the right to have the first amendment off the field.”

Free speech is only to be enjoyed in private, on your own time, away from everyone and everything. So voluntary standing, voluntary putting a hand over your heart, voluntary singing of the anthem is no longer acceptable. Now it must be coerced and if the NFL players don’t like it, they should be penalized or thrown out of work - or out of the country.

When former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick initially knelt rather than stand at games in 2016, He was NOT disrespecting the flag, the military, or our nation. He was protesting racial injustice and police brutality. That’s all.  He recognized the U.S. as his country too and he knew his First Amendment rights. In his display, he was calling attention to the increase in the number of police shootings of unarmed blacks as well as more overt discrimination against non-whites - yet there seemed to be no concern for it by government officials. There's even less under the Trump administration.

Thanks to Trump’s ignorant tweet and Mnuchin’s failure to understand what was the intent of the First Amendment, protest events and comments were commonplace at NFL games this weekend. At the day’s very first contest, a London showdown between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Baltimore Ravens, more than two dozen players knelt, as did Ravens owner Ray Lewis. Jaguars’ owner Shad Khan, who had been a Trump supporter, locked arms with his team in a show of unity. So did Ravens coach John Harbaugh. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers posted a photo on Instagram of him kneeling with several of his teammates. The Pittsburgh Steelers sidestepped the anthem entirely by staying in their locker room to demonstrate unity. (Only Alejandro Villanueva broke with them and went out to stand on the field.) LA Rams owner Stan Kroenke, a Trump supporter, released a statement affirming the players’ “freedom to peacefully express themselves”  as did the Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner. Over half of the Denver Broncos kneeled on the sideline at their game while numerous members of the New Orleans Saints remained sitting. The Houston Texans locked arms in a show of unity...the New York Giants locked arms too as several players took a knee. Yes, there were boos from the stands, but that is the fan’s First Amendment right. No one said they can’t do it because it might offend someone.

What Trump is calling for is a new interpretation of the First Amendment. If you live or work in the U.S., you must stand when the national anthem is played. You must stand and face the flag. You must show respect no matter what. And only Trump gets to interpret what “respect” means. When just one man gets that kind of power, it’s called a dictatorship.

So what the hell have we become?

Welcome to Mississippi: The Jesus State

Desperate times call for desperate measures, at least if you’re a bible-thumping Mississippi politician. When it appears no one is taking your religion seriously, rub it in everyone’s face by introducing legislation to make your holy book a permanent part of the state’s heritage.

A bill has been placed before Mississippi’s legislature to make the bible the state’s official book. Precisely which version has still not been determined. Will it be the Catholic, King James, Coptic, New Standard, Greek Orthodox, New International, Jehovah’s Witness, Mormon, or some other translation? This is an important point since you don’t want the people of the state reading the wrong account. As any True Christian ® will tell you, only their version is the right version, all others will lead you to hell, so this issue will need to be addressed.

Tom Miles and Mike Evans

One of the bill’s sponsors, Democratic State Representative Tom Miles, claims that the Bible “provides a good role model on how to treat people. They could read in there about love and compassion” which proves Representative Miles hasn’t read it yet, or is encouraging people to just cherry-pick from it. Does he mean the good role models provided by: God as he deals with Adam and Eve, Lot and his two daughters, Jehoram of Judah, King David, Abraham, Saul, or just about anybody in Deuteronomy? And that love and compassion business; is it the love shown for Jephthah’s daughter, Job’s family, the Amalekites, the Midianites, the Canaanites, the first-born of the Egyptians, all the children aged two and under in Palestine when Jesus is born, or everything down to the fish and insects in God’s worldwide flood? Nowhere does the bible say why every living thing was sentenced to death. What did the chinchillas do to piss God off? Neither love nor compassion seem high on God’s list.

But a bigger issue is, why pick the bible? Why immortalize a book that divides people and treats woman as property, a book that is laced with genocide, blood sacrifice, slavery, misogyny, fables, inaccuracies, and submission to a celestial tyrant?  And that’s just in the first two chapters. Why not choose William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, Willie Morris’ My Mississippi, or Shelby Foote’s Follow Me Down? These writers were all born in the Magnolia State and their books drew heavily on their experiences of growing up there. Larry Wells, whose wife is a descendant of Faulkner, said of the bill, “It’s impossible to conceive of a state abandoning its literary heritage like that...what would Faulkner, Welty, Shelby Foote and Richard Wright think? I think they would collectively link arms and say, ‘Go back to kindergarten, Legislature.’” What an insidious thing to say…about kindergartners. They usually display greater common sense than these members of the state legislature. The bible was written by semi-literate men in a small area of the Middle East and was intended strictly for the Hebrew people. Very few of their descendants live in Mississippi, so it doesn’t make sense to propose the bible, unless you have a sneaky agenda to coerce people into following your religion.

In an effort to evade the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution, the bill’s other sponsor, Democratic Representative Michael Evans says, "the bill doesn't force anyone to read it.” No one is forced to use U.S. currency which includes “In God We Trust” on it, but what alternative is there? Evans is more up front when he admits “the bill will encourage people to pick up the Bible.” Encourage. How long before encourage becomes compulsory? There’s the real reason people like him want it declared the ‘state book’. He wants everyone to remember him as Mississippi’s Numero-Uno-Christian and the guy who made recognition of his religion obligatory. Because what’s good for Mike Evans has to be good for the rest of the state, otherwise, why else would God have given him the idea to push this bill when it is clearly unconstitutional? The separation of church and state? Not in his state. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof? Mr. Evans or Miles would retort “Well, it ain’t a law now…see here…people’s jus’ ‘posed ta see the bible is highly regarded by people lahk me at the govumint level, an’ take it more serious-like, read it, an’ put it ta use in they’s lives.” I don’t live in that state, but I do have a bible, and I've found an excellent use for it.

There may be a bible in most Mississippi homes but few of the residents there have actually sat down and read all the way through it, even Mr. Miles and Mr. Evans. I would bet the people in Mississippi have read more of the Harry Potter series of books. They are much better reads, too.

Mississippi has been ranked as the most religious state in the country but it also ranks dead last of all 50 states and the District of Columbia…in areas such as health, educational attainment, seat belt use, and median household income. Is it any surprise? This idiotic bill isn't going to help Myth-iss-ippi-ans improve their reading rank either. They are listed last in that category too.

Faithfully Dumb

What is it about the Republican mindset that causes the men in that party to abandon common sense when it comes to pregnancy and rape?

Last month, Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock became the latest in a collage of Republican dimwits to say something astonishingly idiotic regarding women and rape. In a debate with his Democratic opponent Joe Donnelly, Mourdock explained his abortion stance saying that “even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that is something that God intended to happen.” There you have it…God intended it to happen. God knew the rape was going to occur and did nothing to stop it…which means rape should be taken off the books as a crime, since it is something God foresees and wants. Following biblical law, maybe Mourdock should also introduce legislation demanding that the victim then marry her rapist and he must pay the woman’s father fifty pieces of silver. After all, that’s precisely what it says in Deuteronomy 22:28-29. God’s law is great, isn’t it?

God often sneaks over to watch down on some of his "intended" rapes as they occur

Prior to Mourdock stuffing both feet in his mouth, we had Tom Smith, a candidate for the Pennsylvania state senate comparing rape to having a baby out of wedlock. Smith said if you “put yourself in a father’s situation”, it’s a similar kind of thing. So guys, when you rape a woman, look at it as though she’s having your baby without the hassle and inconvenience of a wedding. The whole point of rape is just recreational procreation, right?

Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan, on August 23^rd during an interview on WJHL in Roanoke, VA stated  "I'm very proud of my pro-life record, and I've always adopted the idea that, the position that the method of conception doesn't change the definition of life." What he is referring to is rape as a "method of conception" when asked if it should it be legal for a woman to be able to get an abortion if she's raped. If that sperm makes into you, the method is acceptable for obtaining protection from the government and it is now your responsibility to see it through to its 21^st birthday. The rape victim’s health, mental and otherwise, isn’t up for consideration in Ryan’s view. Only that of the newly engaged sperm and egg. They must now be federally protected and the 'method of conception' carried to full term. The Republicans don't really give a damn about what happens after the birth of the baby though.

                And lest we forget (although, much to his chagrin, I doubt most people will), there was Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin in an August interview stating, “if it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” Leaving aside what exactly constitutes ‘legitimate rape’ (maybe that’s Paul Ryan’s definition as well), not one Medical School I know of teaches that a woman’s body can shut down the consequence of a rape. The implication behind his statement is; if the victim is not really being raped but just fooling around with her rapist and enjoying the ‘sex’ involved, then any conception is automatically intentional, should have the full protection of the federal government, and the woman must carry the result full term. Republican logic isn’t baffling, it can be completely understood from the viewpoint of an alternate universe where only men understand a woman's reproductive capabilities.

                         Mourdock, Ryan, Smith, and Akin…a Mount Rushmore of Republican stupidity.

What do all these poor excuses for XY chromosomes have in common, aside from the fact that they are arch-conservative right-wing GOP standard-bearers? To one degree or another, they are Christian fundamentalists. That can’t be stressed enough; they are all Christian fundamentalists. Why should that be the emphasis? Because it is that bible-infected influence resulting in narrow-minded (or rather brainless) thinking that leads them to make such asinine and morally-bankrupt remarks. When rape is thought of as nothing more than a method of conception, can be legitimized through some magical process, or that the Christian God intended it to happen, I have to wonder why ANY female would vote for a Republican…or attend a Christian church. (Who knows, maybe God rounded up a few rapists with ‘intent’ on their minds and are now lurking behind the altar.) Don’t be concerned ladies, following God’s law, your dad will be bribed with a token amount of money, and you’ll get a guaranteed husband out of the deal. Oh, and most likely that unplanned baby too!