RAG Perspective: An American Pro-Liberty Conservative

Sunday, August 16, 2026

Post #7810 Social Media Digest

Twitter/X

Protecting, say, domestic metal production does not constitute globally sustainable competitiveness. You have rigged shortages and price hikes at the expense of downstream producers and consumers (domestic and global). Rigging sugar internally favors international expansion.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 9, 2026

The issue with Trump is his economic illiteracy and lunacy. He has misunderstood trade deficits for decades. Picking winners and losers in the domestic economy has spillover effects: concentrated (political) benefit and diffuse costs. His steel and aluminum tariffs hit groceries.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 9, 2026

Worse.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 9, 2026

Obama got a majority vote in both elections, while Trump failed in 3 elections
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 9, 2026

An outhouse.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 9, 2026

Yes. I'm tired f Trump pissing on everything marking his territory.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 10, 2026

No. You have to have charge, conduct investigations, etc. If it happens, it'll take a while. I'm not saying impeachment won't happen, but it is unlikely to result in a Senate conviction, and impeachments can backfire politically.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 10, 2026

Trump doesn't hold that kind of power over me. He's like bird poop on my windshield.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 10, 2026

Congressional Republicans know a POTUS with a 39% approval rating doesn't help them in the midterms. He's basically a lame duck.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 10, 2026

A fish.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 12, 2026

No, but I question her judgment in settling for Trump.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 12, 2026

The dude who once spitballed the use of cleaners in a human body an "idiot"? Yup. His dumbass son who wanted dirt on Clinton from Russians? Say it ain't so.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 12, 2026

Nope. Lincoln and Wilson.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 12, 2026

Hegseth is signaling forTrump to steal another base in Greenland.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 12, 2026

No. Michelle is even less qualified than Barry for POTUS. No public sector executive experience. No track record.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 12, 2026

Fat One
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 12, 2026

Gee. I don't know: maybe a sub-40% job approval?
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 12, 2026

Politically manipulative photo op. He's played the victim card during his whole political career.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 13, 2026

I don't think this pit bull Trumkin persona is effective.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 13, 2026

Vance was an early Trump critic. I think his unprincipled political opportunism undermines his credibility. I thought his role in getting Zelensky thrown out of the White House was reprehensible. pic.twitter.com/j34G6R05P1
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 13, 2026

You underestimate Trumpkin paranoia. In American politics, it's not unusual to see crossover voting to promote a weaker opponent for the general election. pic.twitter.com/1mKoOYg0OR
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 15, 2026

Enough.
— raguillemette (@raguillemette) August 16, 2026

Post #7809 M: Trump Has Weird New Hair, Falls Asleep at Work Again; The Legal Trick That Gutted the 1st Amendment for 140 Years; Powers not delegated, the Feds get no more

Quote of the Day

If one speaks or acts with a cruel mind, misery follows, as the cart follows the horse...

If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows, as a shadow follows its source.

the Dhammapada

Trump Has Weird New Hair, Falls Asleep at Work Again

The Legal Trick That Gutted the 1st Amendment for 140 Years

Powers not delegated, the Feds get no more.

Choose Life

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Milt Prigee via Politico

Musical Interlude: 1965 Top 100 Hits

You Were on My Mind - We Five

Saturday, August 15, 2026

Pos t #7808 J

Endemic Report

The latest CDC weekly stats:

The Sick Times:

Well, the summer wave is in full bloom, with the virus spreading in almost every state, though it's the weakest surge since the pandemic. Over the past week, we've seen an executive order from Trump looking to reduce the childhood vaccination schedule.. The GOP, led by Rand Paul's long-standing antagonism toward Dr. Fauci and seeking his federal prosecution, tried to politically exploit Fauci's private theoretical concerns about possible risk of miscarriage by vaccines, and a few red states sought prosecution beyond Biden's pardon of Fauci. I'm not sure, but I would think Fauci is protected by qualified immunity.

COVID-19 news items include:

"COVID-19 Vaccination Does Not Increase Miscarriage Risk, Studies Show"
"A study in Estonia has found a link between long COVID and chronic diseases"
"US prison guards refusing vaccine despite COVID-19 outbreaks"
:"Mutated COVID-19 variant could be behind surge in SF virus levels"
"IRO-203: a novel intranasal COVID-19 vaccine showing immunogenicity and viral suppression in African green monkey challenge study"
"COVID Excess Deaths Paper Retracted Over Misinformation. Study paid "disproportionate attention" to vaccination as potential cause, investigation finds"
"Study ties COVID vaccine conspiracy theories to distrust of government, mainstream media"
"Prevalence of hypertension in severe vs. non-severe COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis"
"Covid-19 patients with allergic, upper airway diseases face 66% higher asthma risk"
"Students miss over 200M more school days annually since COVID"
"27% of UK health care workers report long COVID symptoms"
COVID relief fraud/other crimes:

"Bergen County man gets two years for $670,000 COVID-19 relief fraud"
"‘Trying to steal every last cent’: Final defendant convicted in $6.8M COVID-19 fraud scheme"
"Feds Allege Lawrence Mayor DePeña Used COVID-19 Aid for Campaign, Taxes, Debt"

Political/legal issues:

"GP guilty of professional misconduct over 'dangerous' Covid-19 social media posts"
"Ted Cruz Exposed Covertly Deleting Dangerous Medical Lies"
"Teen in school stabbing case showed signs of mental condition during Covid, court hears"
"Fact Check: Studies Do NOT Show an 81% or 82% Miscarriage Rate in Women Vaccinated Against COVID-19 in First Trimester"
"Bill Maher blasts Rand Paul for releasing Fauci’s COVID diaries"
"Sen Marshall calls for special counsel investigation into Anthony Fauci after COVID-19 vaccine texts"
"The Case Against Fauci Was Never About the Origins of COVID-19"
"University of Washington Avoids Covid Shot Suit in Ninth Circuit"
"Cam Newton backs Aaron Rodgers, claiming NFL 'players, coaches and executives' used fake COVID vaccine cards"

Other Notes

The blog still attracted a historically high page read rate, though it has tapered down from recent weeks and only showed a teen total for Saturday. I still haven't published an essay this month, but I've started a rant on Rand Paul, and you can see where I'm headed based on my weekly summary above. X/Twitter is still a struggle with my followers dipping below 200 for the first time in months.

It's probably not a good idea to flame the IRS, but I've had a weird experience this year, which is particularly annoying because they made no attempt to contact me and their AI front end repeatedly dropped my calls. They owed me a modest refund, and I directed them to apply it to 2026 taxes. Since I didn't request a refund back to my bank account, I didn't complete that info, although the IRS already has that from prior estimated tax payments. I ended up getting a puzzling notice from the IRS saying either I didn't provide bank info or the bank info was wrong. I had no clue why this was an issue. I reached out to my local congressman. In the weeks that followed, the IRS sent me a notice to the effect that they had recomputed my taxes and determined the IRS owed me more money- and apparently their preference is not to cut a paper check for the residual refund. My Congressional contact implied the IRS might end up cutting me a paper check. At some point, the IRS ombudsman seemed to suggest the relevant IRS employees hadn't accounted for my declared income correctly. Keep in mind I never got an explanation of why the taxes were recomputed. The IRS sent me a notice saying they owed me money, but nothing le like how they would refund me. Then one day I get a paper check. I got back in touch with the aide and said I needed to get feedback from his IRS contact because I was inclined to cash the check. The aide said (this was weeks ago) he expected to hear from the ombudsmen in mid-August, and I should sit on the check. Well, I just got word back that the IRS rolled back these interim findings, and I now owe the IRS the amount of the paper check, so I need to return the voided check.