General Motors is cutting its workforce 15%. A big reason for this is dramatically increased steel prices due to Trump's idiotic tariffs. A lot of steel goes into cars and trucks. Caterpillar needs to raise prices. GM too, plus they cut jobs. This was very predictable. Trump's lack of knowledge about trade deficits and the effect of tariffs hurts America.
So, what does our I-Never-Ever-Admit-To-A-Mistake president do? He blames someone else. In this case it is the Fed. But it's Trump.
Ignorance combined with a preposterous narcissistic ego becomes a willful ignorance incapable of admitting mistakes and making corrections. We all get hurt by this, but many of those hurt the most are Trump voters as they watch their jobs go away. This is a very sad time in America.
But it will pass and this temporary president will tumble off into the garbage pile of of failures. America will find its spirit and soul once again and become a beacon of hope, freedom, and heart.
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Friday, November 9, 2018
Democrats win back the House while Trump pretends to be triumphant
The Dems won at least 30 seats (some races still to be decided) and the Reps won at least 2 states (some races still to be decided). Trump is pretending that he personally has had a fantastic victory, historical, monumental, historical - did I say historical? Whistling in the dark.
One thing for sure, Trump has screamed at the top of his voice that he is going to make the next two years as ugly as possible. First, he fires the Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, for having recused himself from the Mueller probe into Republican and Trump. Next step, of course, is to appoint someone who will fire Mueller, which will be in itself an obstruction of justice. The target of an investigation firing the investigator is pretty much by definition someone who is obstructing justice. So, I expect justice will actually get done, but it is likely to be more ugly than I can imagine at this point.
And, another thing he rushed off to do is ban a CNN reporter from White House press conferences for daring to ask him a question. Worse yet, his press secretary provided a doctored video that tried to portray the reporter, Jim Acosta, as striking a young woman intern as she tried to take his microphone away. Pure propaganda. Very disturbing.
Trump's attack on the News, calling them the Enemy of the People, is pure authoritarianism. I believe the only thing he ever studied relative to politics is propaganda - Nazi propaganda. Unfortunately, he does it pretty well. For example. Himmler said that whatever you are guilty of accuse the other side of the same thing - Trump (and his Russian enablers) have been flooding the country with actual fake news since early 2016. So, what to do? Accuse real news organizations who report actual news of being Fake News.
Another example is following Goring's admission on the stand at the Nuremburg Trials after WWII where he said "The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the Pacifists for lack of Patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works in any country." Sound familiar?
By the way, there has been absolutely no mention of the terribly frightening Caravan of brown people hundreds of miles away from the U.S. border in Mexico now that the election is over, of course. Just a stunt to terrify the Trumpsters and get them out to vote. Make them fear brown people. Not allow a man with a last name of Acosta to attend press conferences.
The fight against Trump is not left wing against right wing, not liberal against conservative. It is democracy against burgeoning authoritarian tyranny.
Democracy is going to win.
One thing for sure, Trump has screamed at the top of his voice that he is going to make the next two years as ugly as possible. First, he fires the Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, for having recused himself from the Mueller probe into Republican and Trump. Next step, of course, is to appoint someone who will fire Mueller, which will be in itself an obstruction of justice. The target of an investigation firing the investigator is pretty much by definition someone who is obstructing justice. So, I expect justice will actually get done, but it is likely to be more ugly than I can imagine at this point.
And, another thing he rushed off to do is ban a CNN reporter from White House press conferences for daring to ask him a question. Worse yet, his press secretary provided a doctored video that tried to portray the reporter, Jim Acosta, as striking a young woman intern as she tried to take his microphone away. Pure propaganda. Very disturbing.
Trump's attack on the News, calling them the Enemy of the People, is pure authoritarianism. I believe the only thing he ever studied relative to politics is propaganda - Nazi propaganda. Unfortunately, he does it pretty well. For example. Himmler said that whatever you are guilty of accuse the other side of the same thing - Trump (and his Russian enablers) have been flooding the country with actual fake news since early 2016. So, what to do? Accuse real news organizations who report actual news of being Fake News.
Another example is following Goring's admission on the stand at the Nuremburg Trials after WWII where he said "The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the Pacifists for lack of Patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works in any country." Sound familiar?
By the way, there has been absolutely no mention of the terribly frightening Caravan of brown people hundreds of miles away from the U.S. border in Mexico now that the election is over, of course. Just a stunt to terrify the Trumpsters and get them out to vote. Make them fear brown people. Not allow a man with a last name of Acosta to attend press conferences.
The fight against Trump is not left wing against right wing, not liberal against conservative. It is democracy against burgeoning authoritarian tyranny.
Democracy is going to win.
Sunday, November 4, 2018
May the light push back the darkness
I have many conservative friends, and I trust that most of them are not overt racists and I hope they are impervious to the darkest energies coming out of the woodworks in this election - Trump and many Republican candidates are not sending out racist dog whistles that can only be heard and responded to by the racists they are messaging, but rather they are sending out loud trumpet calls of overt racism to play to the hardcore Trump supporters, far too many of which are hard core right wing anti-semites and racists.
The ridiculous false claims that the caravan of refugees fleeing poverty and violence in Central America to seek asylum in America includes Isis and hard core drug criminals is just an overt message to those who fear brown people to vote Republican who also fear brown people.
The astonishing voter suppression in Georgia and Kansas and other Republican strongholds is an echo of voter suppression in the Jim Crow south. There is not even an attempt to hide the racism in these efforts.
When the Republican candidate, Desantis, for governor in Florida says that voters shouldn't "monkey this up" by electing a black man, there is nothing subtle about that racist message to his base. And when Trump's Agriculture secretary says that the Florida governor's race is "cotton picking important" this again is an overt message to anti-black voters.
But, there is so much more to conservatism than racism. I am very saddened that the avid Trump base is so mired in the darkest places of the party - from racist fears to the darkest and most vile conspiracy theories such as Jews like Soros are trying to replace whites with brown people.
I have a fervent desire and hope that the forces of light amongst conservatives, and my conservative friends, will be repulsed by these forces of darkness and push back. As many long term and reputable conservatives have said, the only way to defeat the Trumpster darkness is to vote against it. Indeed, I believe the only way for conservatives to prevail and return the Republican Party to conservatism is to punish this relentless overt racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, isolationist campaign being led by Trump and the Trumpster candidates.
I expect that the forces of light are stronger than the forces of darkness. And I expect that many Republicans appealing to the darkest energies in the conservative movement will be defeated this Tuesday.
I certainly hope so, but even if I am pleased with the outcome of this mid-term election, the forces of darkness will still be there. Perhaps electoral losses can be a wake up call for what used to be called compassionate conservatives, and maybe even a wake up call for those in the thrall of the flim-flam leader of the Republican who is temporarily leading the Republican Party.
America has always been a light in the world, and that light is not going to be extinguished by Trump and his appeals to the darkest corners of America.
The ridiculous false claims that the caravan of refugees fleeing poverty and violence in Central America to seek asylum in America includes Isis and hard core drug criminals is just an overt message to those who fear brown people to vote Republican who also fear brown people.
The astonishing voter suppression in Georgia and Kansas and other Republican strongholds is an echo of voter suppression in the Jim Crow south. There is not even an attempt to hide the racism in these efforts.
When the Republican candidate, Desantis, for governor in Florida says that voters shouldn't "monkey this up" by electing a black man, there is nothing subtle about that racist message to his base. And when Trump's Agriculture secretary says that the Florida governor's race is "cotton picking important" this again is an overt message to anti-black voters.
But, there is so much more to conservatism than racism. I am very saddened that the avid Trump base is so mired in the darkest places of the party - from racist fears to the darkest and most vile conspiracy theories such as Jews like Soros are trying to replace whites with brown people.
I have a fervent desire and hope that the forces of light amongst conservatives, and my conservative friends, will be repulsed by these forces of darkness and push back. As many long term and reputable conservatives have said, the only way to defeat the Trumpster darkness is to vote against it. Indeed, I believe the only way for conservatives to prevail and return the Republican Party to conservatism is to punish this relentless overt racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, isolationist campaign being led by Trump and the Trumpster candidates.
I expect that the forces of light are stronger than the forces of darkness. And I expect that many Republicans appealing to the darkest energies in the conservative movement will be defeated this Tuesday.
I certainly hope so, but even if I am pleased with the outcome of this mid-term election, the forces of darkness will still be there. Perhaps electoral losses can be a wake up call for what used to be called compassionate conservatives, and maybe even a wake up call for those in the thrall of the flim-flam leader of the Republican who is temporarily leading the Republican Party.
America has always been a light in the world, and that light is not going to be extinguished by Trump and his appeals to the darkest corners of America.
Thursday, November 1, 2018
Please vote - against Republicans this election
There are many conservatives who are advocating for voting against today's Republicans because today's Republicans have been captured by Donald Trump, who has been captured by the Alt Right - who are racist, authoritarian, cruel, exploitive, and essentially un-American.
Max Boot, conservative historian, just wrote an article entitled "Vote against Republicans. Every single one."
Conservative columnist George Will wrote an article entitled "Vote against the GOP this November."
Former George W Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson wrote an article entitled "The only way to save the GOP is to defeat it."
There are many many more conservatives who are adamantly against Trump and his subservient Republican Senate and Congress who are all afraid of offending the offensive alt-right base.
As I have written before, I was a Democrat in the '60s and '70s, but a Republican from1980 until the extremism and cynicism of the Tea Party pushed me to register as an independent. Then Trump pushed me to become a Democrat. Today's Republican Party which refuses to stand up to the morally bankrupt Trump is itself morally bankrupt.
My conservative friends think that opposition to Trump is liberal opposition to conservatism. It's not. It's opposition to racism, hatred, violence, and incipient fascism. The Alt Right collection of KKK, neo-Nazis, racists, and torch bearing violence used to be on the fringes under Reagan and the two Bushes. They are in charge now, and a country as great and the United States must just say no to these white nationalists and white supremacists.
We are in a time of the crumbling of old institutions, but that doesn't mean we have to be in a time of domination by a racist and fascist morality.
Max Boot, conservative historian, just wrote an article entitled "Vote against Republicans. Every single one."
Conservative columnist George Will wrote an article entitled "Vote against the GOP this November."
Former George W Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson wrote an article entitled "The only way to save the GOP is to defeat it."
There are many many more conservatives who are adamantly against Trump and his subservient Republican Senate and Congress who are all afraid of offending the offensive alt-right base.
As I have written before, I was a Democrat in the '60s and '70s, but a Republican from1980 until the extremism and cynicism of the Tea Party pushed me to register as an independent. Then Trump pushed me to become a Democrat. Today's Republican Party which refuses to stand up to the morally bankrupt Trump is itself morally bankrupt.
My conservative friends think that opposition to Trump is liberal opposition to conservatism. It's not. It's opposition to racism, hatred, violence, and incipient fascism. The Alt Right collection of KKK, neo-Nazis, racists, and torch bearing violence used to be on the fringes under Reagan and the two Bushes. They are in charge now, and a country as great and the United States must just say no to these white nationalists and white supremacists.
We are in a time of the crumbling of old institutions, but that doesn't mean we have to be in a time of domination by a racist and fascist morality.
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