Why do we elect idiots into public office in America?

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thelivyjr
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Why do we elect idiots into public office in America?

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THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR JULY 2, 2023

Op-Ed: Why do we elect idiots into public office in America?


The following Op-Ed was written and submitted by Paul Plante

In what has to be a rare bit of candor and introspection from a noted political hack in American politics, during a Monday conversation at 92nd in New York with David Rubenstein, former congresswoman and Pelosi-ite Witch Hunter Lizzie Cheney said politics in America, at all levels, but especially the federal level, are so broken that we’re electing idiots, which explains how both she and Joe Biden got into office here in America in the first place, and it is rare indeed that a political hack like Lizzie Cheney would come clean as she did about how she ended up in the people’s congress of the United States of America.

In that interview, Lizzie told the interviewer that she thinks that US politics are fundamentally broken at a time when the nation faces critical challenges, and she would know, because as a Pelosi-ite Witch Hunter, she was instrumental in that process.

Then she went on as follows: “What we’ve done in our politics is create a situation where we’re electing idiots,” Cheney told David Rubenstein during a Monday conversation at 92nd in New York.

And right on cue, enter Joe Biden from stage right to fulfill that role today, and if we go back in time to the Congressional Register for 6 January 2021, we see that Lizzie herself was also instrumental in that process of putting the idiot Joe Biden in office, so that when she says “What we’ve done in our politics is create a situation where we’re electing idiots,” she really is talking about herself when she says the word “we,” because she sure as hell is not talking about me!

Going back to the interview, Rubenstein pressed Cheney on if she would run for president as an independent if it meant that she could hurt former President Donald Trump’s chances of retaking the White House, and Lizzie, who has been unsparing in her criticisms of Trump, did not directly address that tantalizing possibility, to wit:

“I don’t look at it through the lens of this is what I should or shouldn’t do, I look through it through the lens of, how do we elect serious people?” she responded.

“Electing serious people can’t be partisan.”

end quotes

And why, pray tell don’t we elect serious people to office?

And that answer is quite simple – because neither political party gives us serious people to vote for, and Joe Biden and Karmela Harris are proof positive of that.

What the parties want are people who exhibit party loyalty, especially the Democrats, and they want people who can raise scads of money, and that pretty much excludes the serious people who are independent thinkers, as opposed to political whores.

Going back to the interview, Lizzie went on as follows:

“Because of the situation we’re in where we have a major party candidate that is trying to undermine our democracy, and I don’t say that lightly, we have to think about the kinds of alliances necessary to defeat him.”

end quotes

And there she is talking about Joe Biden, who is not only trying, but is doing a bang-up job of undermining our democracy with his destructive policies which are intended to divide us as a people, and thereby make us weaker.

Going back to the interview, Lizzie then proclaims her own ignorance of our nation’s fractured political history, to wit:

“We’re at a moment in our country where there is a tectonic shift going on in our politics,” Liz Cheney said.

end quote

A tectonic shift?

Not hardly, people – how about politics as usual, instead, and here, by way of illustration, let’s go to the “History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925” where we have as follows concerning our political history and supposed “tectonic” shifts, to wit:

The defeat of United States Senator Roscoe Conkling of Utica, for the Republican nomination for president in 1876, started influences which affected national politics and American history, during the ensuing fifteen years.

The presidential campaign of 1880 brought on a crisis in National Republican politics, which had previously been largely dominated by Conkling.

His political opponent, James G. Blaine, was the chief aspirant for the nomination.

Senator Conkling probably realized that he could not secure the nomination and so he backed the candidacy of General and ex-President U. S. Grant.

Conkling controlled the New York delegation to the convention and brought about their instruction to “use their most earnest and united efforts to secure the nomination of U. S. Grant.”

Both Grant and Blaine failed of the nomination after a hot fight in which the third term issue was most bitterly fought over — perhaps for all time.

James A. Garfield, of Ohio, was nominated and elected president while Chester A. Arthur of New York became vice-president.

Garfield’s leanings were toward the Blaine element, while Arthur’s affiliations were with the Conkling branch.

One of the most violent partisan struggles, in this history of the United States, now began with Conkling and Blaine as the opposing leaders.

Conkling’s partisans became known as the “Stalwarts” while Blaine’s were called the “Halfbreeds.”

The crisis came when President Garfield nominated State Senator W. H. Robertson, Collector of the Port of New York.

He was opposed by the Conkling party machine of New York.

Vice-President Arthur of New York, the two United States Senators from New York, Roscoe Conkling and Thomas C. Platt, and Postmaster-General Thomas L. James of New York State, joined in a request for the withdrawal of Robertson’s name.

President Garfield refused to bow to this party machine dictation, whereupon Conkling and Platt resigned on May 14, 1881, and left Washington.

President Garfield’s attitude was almost epochal in our politics, marking a change from the machine rule and dictation which had marked Republican presidential policies since Lincoln’s assassination in 1865.

The political situation caused great interest and considerable excitement throughout the country.

Since the Civil War, machine party rule by both political parties, had been accepted as a matter of course by the American people and the new turn of affairs became decidedly interesting.

Conkling and Platt became candidates for re-election in the New York State Legislative session.

Between May 31 and July 17, forty-eight ballots were taken, Warner Miller of Herkimer and Elbridge G. Lapham, being elected United States Senators from New York on that date.

Instead of quieting this bitter controversy this second defeat of Conkling’s machine, made the battle rage even more violently.

On July 2nd, a lunatic named Giteau, made violent by this fury of public opinion, shot and mortally wounded President Garfield, who died on September 19th.

Vice-President Arthur succeeded him, giving Conkling once more national power.

Garfield’s tragic death had no effect in stilling the Republican battle, which was solely caused by the vain ambitions of two individuals, Blaine and Conkling, whose animosities were at a point where they seemingly would have wrecked the country to secure a triumph or revenge.

The Republican machine was triumphant in nominating Judge C. J. Folger for governor of New York in 1882.

Charges of fraud in the convention were made and Grover Cleveland, the Democratic nominee (formerly of Clinton) was elected by the then unprecedented plurality of 193,000 votes.

Cleveland’s triumph of 1882 made him the nominee of his party for president in 1884 and he was elected over James G. Blaine in a very close contest.

The election depended upon New York State and Cleveland carried it by a little over one thousand votes.

Oneida County, home of Roscoe Conkling and a normally Republican county, gave Cleveland over a thousand plurality.

The Republicans called for a recount and the bitterness of partisan feeling is shown by the fact that Conkling became attorney for the Democratic party in the contest.

The recount gave the election to Cleveland.

Grover Cleveland’s election has been called one of the greatest American triumphs for popular government, by a leading Republican statesman (in 1924).

United States Senator Warner Miller of Herkimer was defeated for re-election in 1887, in another bitter fight.

Roscoe Conkling died in 1888.

The partisan battle, in the Republican ranks did not die out until the re-election of President McKinley in 1896.

The bolt of the Progressives from the Republican party in 1912 has been the only partisan struggle comparable with the Stalwart-Half-breed of the years between 1880 and 1888, and the Progressive defection lasted but one or two years and the breach was soon healed.

Senator Conkling’s handsome stone mansion stands in Rutger Park, Utica, while another stone mansion, built by Senator Warner Miller stands on the western edge of the village of Herkimer.

It is difficult to realize, at this time, that these two valley homes were the residences of men who fought in one of the most bitter and senseless partisan affrays which have ever endangered our existence as a nation.

There were no great principles back of this struggle on either side — merely the vain human endeavor to shine, lead and control other men.

It is significant of our advance in politics that present-day political leaders are compelled to advance some reasons of public policy for their election and success, rather than openly appealing to the prejudices and passions of their partisans.

end quotes

Why isn’t Lizzie Cheney aware of any of this?

That answer is quite simple – because she is an idiot.

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thelivyjr
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Re: Why do we elect idiots into public office in America?

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THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR JULY 4, 2023 AT 11:11 AM

Paul R. Plante says:

And since pictures are worth thousands of words, to see what electing idiots to public office in this country, starting with the office of “president,” has done to our standing in the world as a people and as a nation, let’s go to YouTube where we have as follows, to wit:

“Joe Biden’s blunders bring Sky News Australia host to tears”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxXepkdJHko

And from there, let us go to a Washington Examiner story titled “Biden bummer: Confidence in America dragged to ‘lowest’ point” by Paul Bedard on 3 July 2023, where we have as follows on the real-world consequences of electing idiots to public office in America, a trend I don’t see ending any time soon, given the Democrats are firmly behind the pair of idiots in the white house today, to wit:

Confidence in America has been put in a free fall by the presidency of Joe Biden, according to a sobering and critical new Gallup report.

Handed a nation on the rise in 2020 by the former Trump administration, the line tracking the confidence Americans have in their national government has been on non-stop decline.

At 46% in 2020, it now squats at 31%.

“After President Joe Biden took office, confidence in government slipped to 40% in 2021 and again to 31% in 2022.”

“This is on par with the lowest rates of confidence measured in the U.S. government since Gallup started tracking it globally in 2006,” said the pollster.

end quotes

Yes, people, choices have consequences in the real world, and the consequences of electing idiots to high office in America have serious consequences, indeed, as we see by going back to that story, to wit:

It compared the U.S. ratings with others in the G7 club of economic powers and found America at the bottom.

Confidence is twice as high in Germany, which tops the list.

“Roughly one in three adults in the U.K. (33%) and U.S. (31%) say they have confidence in their national governments, putting them at the bottom of the G7 countries,” said Gallup.

In 2006, America was No. 1.

What’s more, foreign confidence in Biden’s leadership is low.

“Declining domestic confidence in the U.S. government has occurred alongside declining approval ratings on the world stage.”

“Median global approval of U.S. leadership slipped to 41% in 2022, down from 45% in 2021 during Biden’s first year in office,” said Gallup.

For perspective, Venezuelans have the same confidence in their government as Americans do in the Biden administration, said Gallup.

end quotes

Yes, people, consequences!

Something to think about on this INDEPENDENCE DAY, 2023!

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Re: Why do we elect idiots into public office in America?

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THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR JULY 11, 2023 AT 8:58 PM

Paul Plante says:

Following up on Stuart Bell’s post, which I find myself in agreement with, we in America today who are capable of thinking are confronted with the question of do civilizations last forever, or more specifically given the title of this particular thread, that being “Why do we elect idiots into public office in America,” is the United States of America somehow special, as hack politicians like the pandering Joe Biden would have us believe, or like Rome, and many Chinese dynasties, capable of and perhaps destined to fail and fall?

And that brings us to a further question which I personally have been pondering since the VEET NAM era in America, a time many people in this degraded and troubled version of America today are totally unaware of, because the “history” they learn about has been altered or edited or amended, so that to them, much of what I lived through never happened, of why do civilizations fail and fall?

Not surprisingly, Wikipedia has a relevant thread on the subject titled “societal collapse,” also known as civilizational collapse, which is defined as the fall of a complex human society characterized by the loss of cultural identity and of social complexity as an adaptive system, including the downfall of government, something we are experiencing in this sick and sorry nation today, as seen in the title of this thread, which comes to us from a failed hack politician named Lizzie Cheney, herself responsible in some large part for the downfall of our government, accompanied by a rise of violence.

According to Wikipedia, and this is not at all new information, possible causes of a societal collapse include natural catastrophe, war, pestilence, famine, economic collapse, population decline or overshoot, mass migration, and sabotage or assimilation by rival civilizations.

And as we are seeing in various American cities like Democrat-controlled San Francisco and Los Angeles, and Portland, Oregon, and Chicago and New York City, to name but a few, a collapsed society may revert to a more primitive state, or completely disappear.

As a study of history makes clear, and each week, the Cape Charles Mirror presents us with evidence of that in the History Notes thread, virtually all civilizations have suffered such a fate, regardless of their size or complexity, although some of them later revived and transformed, such as China, India, and Egypt, while others never recovered, such as the Western and Eastern Roman Empires, the Maya civilization, and the Easter Island civilization.

And as history again informs us, if we bother to consider the subject, which requires thought, something people in America seem incapable of, especially in this age of people TWEETING away quite mindlessly on TWITTER, a “social network” site that promotes gross ignorance, societal collapse is generally quick but rarely abrupt.

With regard to TWEETING mindlessly on TWITTER, according to Wikipedia, anthropologists, (quantitative) historians, and sociologists have proposed a variety of explanations for the collapse of civilizations involving causative factors such as environmental change, depletion of resources, unsustainable complexity, invasion, disease, decay of social cohesion, rising inequality, long-term decline of cognitive abilities, loss of creativity, and misfortune.

And given the title of this thread, and the rise of TWITTER and a competitor from “Zucky” Zuckerberg on the Facebook platform, let’s put our focus on the long-term decline of cognitive abilities in America, which having been around for over three-quarters of a century, I am well aware of, and that takes us to a Fox News article titled “Biden lets American military info slip during live interview, sparking backlash” by Matteo Cina on 9 July 2023, where we have the ignorance prevalent in America today on display, as follows, and keep in mind that this is at our highest levels, which article starts as follows, to wit:

President Biden sat down for a recent interview in which he said the United States is low on 155 mm artillery ammunition rounds, sparking outrage and questions of competency from conservatives on social media.

end quote

Ah, yes, people, “social media,” which in this case, not surprisingly, since it is where all our high level government communications now take place, from the office of the president right on down, means TWITTER.

And as to the US being low on 155 mm artillery ammunition rounds, I distinctly recall posting on that very subject here in the Cape Charles Mirror some time ago, because as we shall see, it has never been a secret, if anyone bothered to keep up with current events, but let us go back to the story to further explore the outrage, to wit:

During the interview, which aired Sunday morning, Biden defended his administration for sending cluster munitions to Ukraine as a “transition period” until more munitions are produced.

“This is a war relating to munitions.”

end quotes

Now, and this is me speaking as a VEET NAM combat veteran, has there ever been a war in the long history of wars that was not a war relating to munitions, which subject includes sling stones, a very deadly weapon, arrows, another deadly weapon as the French at Agincourt learned, spears, bullets and bombs and rockets, as in the words from The Star Spangled Banner, “the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air?”

Going back to the article and the outrage, which is ignorant outrage characteristic of the decline of cognitive abilities in America at our highest levels, it continues as follows:

“And they’re running out of that ammunition, and we’re low on it,” Biden told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.

end quote

And my goodness, what a surprise, given that according to "Facing critical ammunition shortage," a Washington Post story on April 8, 2023, Ukraine was firing about 7,700 shells per day, or roughly one every six seconds, and as I believe I posted here in the CCM, you only get to use them once, because once they go BANG, they can’t be used again, and as to this being no secret, back on September 1, 2022, the Bulgarian Military site had an article posted titled “US Army 155mm projectiles shortage, the level ‘uncomfortably low’” by Boyko Nikolov, wherein was stated as follows, to wit:

WASHINGTON — The US has delivered 806,000 155mm field artillery rounds to Ukraine over the past six months.

The level of these munitions in US warehouses is “uncomfortably low”.

These are the words of a representative of the Pentagon.

The war in Ukraine is gradually depleting and greatly reducing the supplies of the US military.

end quotes

So much for this being a secret, which takes us back to Fox News, and the mindless, ignorant outrage, to wit:

Reactions on social media ranged from confused to outrage as conservative pundits and experts alike wondered why Biden was announcing the U.S. shortage during a nationally televised interview that would be seen by adversaries.

“Love when the president of America goes on CNN to tell everyone we’re low on ammo,” remarked political operative Logan Dobson.

“Joe Biden broadcasting to the world that the US is low on 155mm shells,” conservative communicator Steve Guest tweeted.

“Moron.”

“Does Biden not care that our adversaries in China are listening?”

end quotes

Does this moronic idiot conservative communicator Steve Guest not know that “our adversaries” in China probably already read about this back on September 1, 2022 when the Bulgarian Military site posted the news?

And with that thought stated, let me pause here, and after a station break, and five full hours of your favorite commercials, we will be right back!

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Re: Why do we elect idiots into public office in America?

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THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR JULY 24, 2023 AT 9:11 PM

Paul R Plante, NYSPE says:

“Stupid is as stupid does!”

So said Forrest Gump, meaning that a person should be judged by his actions, which brings us back to Joe Biden and his INSANE GREEN DREAM, and that thought brings us, not all surprisingly, given reality actually exists, even if Joe Biden is totally unaware of it, to a Daily Caller article titled, again, not surprisingly, because we here in the Cape Charles Mirror saw this fiasco coming a long ways back, “Companies Are Abandoning Massive Offshore Wind Projects As Prices Skyrocket” by Nick Pope on 24 July 2023, where we have as follows, to wit”

Billions of dollars in scheduled offshore wind developments in waters of the U.K. and U.S. have been paused or canceled in recent weeks, according to Bloomberg News.

Three major offshore wind-related contracts have fallen through as rising costs and economic concerns have saddled developments off the American and British coasts, according to Bloomberg.

end quotes

And who in their right minds can be surprised by that?

And it is the moronic Biden administration, which has been pouring billions upon billions of our tax-payer dollar into the economy, creating demand for finite resources, something the morons in the incompetent Biden administration are totally clueless about, none of them, starting with Joe himself, never having actually built anything, that has created this situation, which takes us back for more reality, to wit:

While offshore wind proponents remain confident in the long term viability of offshore wind, the recent cancellations may be a sign of more substantial troubles for offshore wind despite strong support from the Biden administration, according to Bloomberg.

end quote

Do ya think?

Going back to the story:

Offshore wind energy is a key pillar of the Biden administration’s massive green energy agenda, as the administration wants offshore wind to produce enough energy to power 10 million American homes by 2030.

end quote

And that is a stupid pipe dream, and always has been, except EL STUPIDO Biden, who thinks his INSANE GREEN DREAM is somehow obtainable because he is the president and presidents should get what they want, with no questions asked and no excuses rendered, will dispute that and deny that til the cows come home from jumping over the moon which Joe thinks is made of green cheese.

Going back to the story, it continues, as follows:

The cancellations and turbulence are partially attributable to increasing costs for steel needed to build the giant turbines and the special ships needed for installation, according to Bloomberg.

Steadily increasing interest rates make the price of debt even riskier for companies to take out to finance their offshore wind projects, according to Bloomberg.

A subsidiary of Iberdrola SA, a Spanish renewables firm, canceled a contract that would have enabled the firm to sell energy produced by an offshore wind farm located off the Massachusetts coast, according to Bloomberg.

The firm agreed to pay nearly $50 million in fines to get out of the contract to sell offshore wind energy, asserting that inflation and rising interest rates no longer make the deal financially sensible, according to Recharge News.

Other companies involved in that particular project, Shell and OceanWind, are reportedly looking to change terms of their respective stakes in the development due to the turbulence, according to Recharge News.

Orsted, a Danish green energy company, lost its bid to generate offshore wind energy off the Rhode Island coast because costs had risen so sharply that the state’s leading utility provider determined the project to be too pricey, according to Bloomberg.

“Price inflation on turbines, cables etc (sic) have gone up sharply,” Mads Nipper, the company’s CEO, wrote in a LinkedIn post regarding the lost bid, adding that “this means that price of renewable energy regrettably must come up temporarily.”

Vattenfall, a state-owned Swedish company specializing in green energy development, paused its construction of an offshore wind farm in British waters, according to Bloomberg.

The firm pointed to inflationary pressures and spiking costs as the reason it has backed off the development, and there is no clear indication of when they may plan to resume construction on the project, according to Bloomberg.

The three canceled projects combined would have generated about 10% of the total fleet already installed in American and British waters, according to Bloomberg.

More than two times that much offshore wind power generation may also be at risk as developers seek to rework or get out of other deals that no longer make as much sense due to cost increases and other market forces, according to Bloomberg.

Orsted, Iberdrola and the White House all did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

end quotes

STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES, people!

And yes, there is a cost to putting idiots into the white house.

And now, the bill is coming due!

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Re: Why do we elect idiots into public office in America?

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THE CAPE CHARLES MIRROR JULY 26, 2023 AT 10:36 AM

Paul R Plante, NYSPE says:

So, having just witnessed reality as it actually exists today, with these massive windmill projects being canceled because of the inflation caused by Joe Biden’s INSANE GREEN DREAM, because they are no longer economically viable, and in truth, and a blind man could have seen this coming, they never were absent massive government subsidies, which massive subsidies have caused the very inflation that has killed them, as opposed to the fantasy world we are told to believe in by the whacked-out Biden administration with its INSANE GREEN DREAM and all of its solar farms and windmill farms that the lost-in-space Bidenistas promise are going to bring us into a glorious new world and a new future where everybody is rich and everybody prospers thanks to BIDE-O-NOMICS, which builds the miracle economy from the bottom up and the middle out as Joe Biden builds back better than ever before, let’s take a moment and drop back in time 163 days to Monday, February 13, 2023, and a Rigzone story by Bloomberg and Jennifer A Dlouhy titled “Despite Economic Hurdles the US Says Climate Crisis Is Opportunity,” where we have as follows concerning the insanity we are seeing today, just 163 days later, to wit:

The US government is moving urgently to nurture new offshore wind and carbon storage industries despite some economic hurdles, according to the nation’s newly minted ocean energy regulator.

end quote

And as we see in the post above here, those “economic hurdles” have been the death blow to the new offshore wind industry the whacked-out Biden administration was trying to nurture with a massive infusion of taxpayer money we are on the hook for, which massive infusion of money caused the inflation that killed those projects, which takes us back to the article, as follows:

The tasks of overseeing the buildout of those nascent industries falls to Liz Klein, an environmental lawyer and clean energy champion just appointed director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

end quote

Yes, people, when you have a massive engineering challenge, which this is, who is the right person to put in charge of it?

An experienced engineer?

In the real world as it used to exist, that would have been the correct answer, but today is clearly no longer yesterday, so today the proper answer, if you voted for Joe Biden anyway, is an environmental lawyer, who from her scant resume knows ****-all about massive engineering projects, and a clean energy champion, which means she is married to her own political propaganda, which makes her unable to see clearly and recognize the forest for the trees blocking her view, as we see in the following sentience, to wit:

“The president has been clear that we are in a climate crisis, we have a responsibility as the federal government to do something about that and we can turn that into an opportunity to transition to cleaner sources of energy,” Klein told Bloomberg in her first interview in the new role.

end quote

So the “something” was to throw gobs of money at building windmills that because of the inflation caused by the gobs of money being thrown won’t be built, and there is going to be further blow-back from that, but that is for a future episode of the Cape Charles Mirror, which brings us back to the Rigzone article, to wit:

At the same time, the focus will be on doing it in a “way that really supports communities” while tapping American smarts and innovation, she added.

end quotes

Yeah, right, Liz!

American “smarts,” indeed!

Going back to the story, it continues, as follows:

Klein is a veteran of the Interior Department, having previously worked in the agency under former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Klein said she remains “aggressively positive” about offshore wind’s potential US buildout, even as mounting supply chain and inflation woes threaten to delay or derail some projects.

Any new energy development can expect challenges, but the US has the tools and innovative chops to work through them, Klein said.

“Very smart engineers and scientists” are “committed to see this happen.”

end quotes

Uh, okay, but this very smart engineer thinks your “very smart” engineers, if in fact they were “very smart,” would have and should have seen this fiasco coming a long time ago, and what they should have done, if they had an ounce of integrity, was told you that this fiasco was going to be the result of the mounting supply chain and inflation woes that now not only threaten to delay or derail some projects, but as we have seen above, have actually done so.

SO WHY DIDN’T THEY?

We American taxpayers who aren’t stupid would like to know.

And yes, people, this is what happens when people in this country elect idiots into high public office!

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