It's the impulsive ignoramous, stupid

In keeping with the motto of the Clinton victory in his first campaign - "It's the economy, stupid", I have suggested a few mottos for this mid-term - "It's the corruption, stupid", "It's the incompetence and neglect, stupid", and "It's the cruelty, stupid."  Here is another....

"It's the impulsive ignoramus, stupid."

I mean Trump, of course, but Republicans are too timid to challenge his ignorance. 

Nothing wrong with being ignorant, we are all ignorant - that is just not knowing something.  All presidents are ignorant about many things.  But, they have the decency and character to explore, ask, listen, learn----learn----learn. 

But an ignoramus is one who is ignorant and refuses to learn, one who is ignorant and thinks he knows it all, one who is ignorant and thinks it is not necessary to learn or be informed.  That pretty well summarizes the TV star who is playing the president on TV, Mr Trump.

A few top of the head examples - trade - he thinks a trade deficit with a country means the country is taking advantage of us, even though it has been explained to him over and over that this is not true.

Trade war - he thinks the way to grow the economy is via a trade war.  Caterpillar today announced that the price of their very heavy products will have to rise because of the increased price of steel, and the stock market dropped 608 points, culminating a bad week and wiping out all the gains of the year.

The economy - I caution against keeping investments in the stock market while this ignorant loose canon is president - between his ignorance of economics, ignorance of diplomacy, and ignorance of actual news rather than just the right wing propaganda he is slave to his impulses are likely to have pretty drastic damage on the economy.

Taxes - he thinks lowering taxes will have no consequences other than getting him votes, and thinks increasing the deficit is of no importance.  Of course, the Reps in Congress are happy to go along because they can use the frightening deficit to cut social programs, which they hate because it helps the people they try to ignore - the poor and middle class, especially those of color.

The Middle East - he has sided with the murderous Saudi Arabia against the murderous Iran.  Hard to imagine anything dumber than to pick a side in the Middle East.  You break it, you own it, and now he owns Mohammed bin Salman who just dismembered a critical media person, Kashoggi, while he was still alive - took him 7 minutes to die.  But, what the heck, they buy weapons from us - to ....

Immigrants - he is whipping up a paranoid frenzy about 5000 desperate people fleeing Latin American countries from poverty, despotism, and cruelty.  All bad folks, he says.  What nonsense. Terrified people needing a refuge.  But that would take compassion, which he and too many of his followers can't muster.  And that would mean abandoning his number one campaign strategy - whipping up fear of brown people.

The list is endless, but this is as much as I can bring myself to remember right now.

It's the impulsive ignoramus, stupid - and his supine Republican politicians running as close to him as they can - the ignoramus caucus.

It's the cruelty, stupid

Another suggestion for Democrat strategy this election - "It's the cruelty, stupid". 


Carville said "It's the economy, stupid" to help elect Clinton.  I've suggested "It's the corruption, stupid" and "It's the incompetence and neglect, stupid".  But cruelty seems to be a feature of Republicans these days.


Where is the cruelty?  Here are a few examples:


After redistributing wealth from the middle class and poor to the wealthy with the Republican tax cut last year which increased the deficit, just as planned, the Senate Republican leader has announced that they will just have to be forced to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.  Just as I predicted the day after the tax cut.  Disempower the middle classes to make them more dependent upon the ruling oligarchy. Cruelty.


Another example?  separating children from their parents if the cross the border as a way of deterring undocumented immigration.  Cruelty.


Deporting Dreamers?  Children brought to American by their parents and undocumented, even though they are students and soldiers? Cruelty.


What else?  Defend the police whenever an unarmed black man or youth is killed.  Keep the people of color in line, don't cha know?  With - cruelty.


And, how about reduce environmental regulations on drinking water in poor neighborhoods?  Cruelty.


Cutting food stamps to the elderly, children, disabled veterans?  Cruelty.


Promoting violence against the critical press, including refusing to condemn Saudi Arabia for the torture and killing of an opposition journalist?  Cruelty.


Mocking a reporter with a congenital disorder? Cruelty.


Mocking the appearance of women politicians and reporters that are critical? Cruelty.


Paying scant attention to the horrific effects of the hurricane in Puerto Rico? Cruelty.


These are just what comes off the top of my head.  There are examples of Trump and Republican cruelty weekly, and sometimes daily.


It's the cruelty, stupid.

It's the incompetence and neglect, stupid

On a previous post I suggested that Democrats focus on a theme - "It's the corruption, stupid".  This is a take off on James Carville's famous "It's the economy, Stupid" which was the focus that helped elect Clinton.  Here is a second idea - "It's the incompetence and neglect, stupid".

We now have a crisis with Saudi Arabia where there seems to be evidence that the Saudi leader tortured and killed and dismembered a critical journalist.  But, guess what, America does not have an ambassador to Saudi Arabia.  This is one example of the unbelievable level of incompetence and neglect of this administration.

Michael Lewis is a writer who is a national treasure.  His book "The Big Short" was the best written book on the financial collapse of 2008.  I just finished his newest - "The Fifth Risk".  What is the fifth risk? it's the one that nobody is thinking about.  He reveals some terrible facts.  

The first is that there was no transition to the Trump administration from the Obama administration, because Trump did not have a transition team.  He started out with the experienced Chris Christie running the transition team, but fired Christie because Trump didn't understand that a transition team was needed, and demanded by the law.  He didn't care. And nobody really replaced Christie.

Horrifying example - the Department of Energy. The day after Trump's election the leaders of the DOE showed up with extensive briefing books they had taken about a year to put together to teach the incoming administration what the DOE did, the ongoing programs, issues, problems, etc.  Nobody showed up from the Trump administration.  What??  After a few days some guy eventually showed up, spent an hour, took no notes, left, and never came back.  The only thing that guy eventually did was purge the DOE of people who had anything to do with studying climate change. 

About half of the DOE $30bn budget is on our nuclear arsenal - testing, guarding plutonium and uranium, cleaning up nuclear waste.  The most knowledgeable people in DOE left or were pushed out. 

The DOE runs the nation's 17 national labs, including Fermi, Oak Ridge, Lawrence Livermore, etc.

"The office of science for the DOE is not the office of science for the DOE, it's the office of science for all science in America."  

They work to prevent huge risks - accidental explosion of a nuke, North Korea nuclear threat, Iranian nuke capability, containment and reducing nuclear waste, safety of the electrical grid.

Hanford Washington was where most of the plutonium for America's nukes were made.. It is close to the giant Columbia river that cuts across between Oregon and Washington.  It is now in the dangerous business of cleaning up over 40 years of deadly toxins.  That is 10% of the DOE budget.  Things like Strontium is already in Hanford's ground water.

"Beneath Hanford, a massive underground glacier of radioactive sludge is moving slowly but relentlessly toward the Columbia river."

There are 177 giant tanks buried on Hanford's tank farms.  Most are single shell steel containers and they leak.  In the '40s and early '50s they piled waste, contaminated liquid and uranium into open pits near the Columbia river.

It is not just Trump, it is also right wing ideologues who can only think one thought - that the free market solves all problems. But there are many problems that only the government can solve - problems that take extensive scientific research and massive amounts of government money to solve.  Trump knows nothing of this, and the ideological storm troopers capitalizing on his ignorance are gutting essential protections.

Trump's budget laid off 6000 people from the national labs and eliminated all research on climate change.
 
Same across the federal government. Nobody showed up from the Trump administration for the transition. Or if they did, they were too few and too ignorant and confused and unprepared to be worth anything.


At the State Department those who showed up didn't have security clearances and couldn't be briefed.

There are many places where the U.S. government is what stands between us and what can kill us.  Those places are places where civil servants do their jobs, and we get to live and prosper.  The civil service is the foundation of civilization. Of the top 6000 career civil servants, 20% were fired or pushed out or left in disgust in the first year.

The right wing ideologues who so trust the free market don't realize that without the government there is no internet, no iPhone, no GPS.  Reagan's famous catchy campaign phrase that government is not the solution but is the problem used to be believed by me.  No longer.  Government  is vital to America, especially our safety, from the military and police and Justice Department to the DOE and State Department and the Department of Agriculture.  Indeed, all of the governmental departments.

It's the incompetence and neglect, stupid.

 

Trump's war on the press - death to Khashoggi

It seems tragically clear that Saudi Arabia has tortured and killed Jamal Khashoggi, Washington Post opinion columnist and editor for Saudi newspaper Al Watan.  He lived in Virginia, just outside D.C. 


Khashogi criticized the Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).  He also criticized Donald J Trump. It looks like Mohammed bin Salman killed him.  Trump doesn't want to criticize or punish Saudi Arabia.  His excuse is jobs - he, the Great Negotiator, was solely and completely responsible for selling $110bn in military arms to Saudi Arabia.  So, he is certainly not going to stop that magnificent business deal over such a small thing as an authoritarian regime killing a critic in the press.


Trump's war on the press has given permission to authoritarians around the world to go to war on their press as well.  We already see dictators denounce critical press reports and opinions as "Fake News", just like our esteemed president.  Well, in authoritarian countries other than the U.S. the war on the press sometimes means death. 


Deaths of journalists have gone up around the world since Trump became president, and I think a real reason for that is that the U.S. no longer is the exemplar of moral leadership in the world - no longer is the powerful promoter of human rights and democracy - no longer is the opponent of tyranny around the world.  Indeed, this president actively attacks and demeans our allies and praises and sucks up to our authoritarian enemies - Putin and MBS for example.


Trump's violent rhetorical attacks on actual news in America inspires hatred against responsible news outlets.  Violence is looming. Khashoggi shows us what can happen - even here, even here, even here.


America must take a very hard line against MBS and Saudi Arabia.  This must not be sanctioned with a wink and a nod toward an authoritarian leader in Saudi Arabia by a wanna be authoritarian leader in America.

It's the corruption, stupid

James Carville famously said while helping elect Clinton that that election had one basic theme - "It's the economy, stupid".  Meaning, their campaign should be focused on the economy.  They did.  Clinton won.


Today its a different campaign theme for the mid-terms coming in a month - "It's the corruption, stupid".  Meaning the Democrats should be focused on corruption of Trump and his administration. 


How corrupt is Trump?  His entire career has been a fraudulent con job.  We just recently learned that Trump's tax evasion and fraud go back to his earliest beginnings where he owes about $500,000,000 to the taxpayers, you and me.  This is not a trivial thing. Al Capone died in prison for tax evasion.   


“The president’s parents, Fred and Mary Trump, transferred well over $1 billion in wealth to their children, which could have produced a tax bill of at least $550 million under the 55 percent tax rate then imposed on gifts and inheritances. The Trumps paid a total of $52.2 million, or about 5 percent, tax records show.”


Perhaps an even deeper level of Trump corruption is around his money laundering.  Apparently, he was billions of dollars in debt due to his many bankruptcies and business failures and could no longer get loans from American banks.  So, what to do?  Enter Russian mafia and oligarchy. They use his real estate and casinos to launder billions.  Trump escapes ruin. He gets his stupid TV show.  He does what he does well - promote himself and his brand.  He becomes wealthy.  He becomes president.  But it is based upon fraud and crime. This is a lifetime of criminal activity.


What about his start in real estate?  Well, it was his father, not him. 


"Trump has admitted to getting only a $1 million start-up loan from his father, Fred Trump — mere peanuts, he said. Turns out there were hundreds of millions of those peanuts. According to the Times, his father bankrolled him to the tune of more than $413 million and provided crucial loan guarantees to rescue him from his corporate bankruptcies. The Times article makes clear that there was only one business genius in the Trump family, and his name was Fred."



As for the Trump Administration? the scandals go on forever - Ryan Zinke, Secretary of the Interior; David Shulkin, the secretary of Veterans Affairs; Scott Pruitt, Environmental Protection Agency; Tom Price, secretary of health and human services; Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman; Michael Flynn national security adviser; Michael Cohen, personal attorney.  I know there are more, but these are what come to mind now.


It's the corruption, stupid.

The pretense of Supreme Court impartiality has been replaced with a declaration of conservative war

Brett Kavanaugh made it clear in his hearing yesterday that his earlier pretense of impartiality was just a mask he thought he had to wear to get confirmed. Yesterday he replaced that mask with an open declaration of war on Democrats and what they stand for.  He now will be able to dive deeply into his own adolescent sense of offense to righteously oppose anything promoted by Democrats. And feel morally justified in so doing.

The Supreme Court may have been destroyed. It is hard to see it these days as little more than a legislative body - one that does not answer to the electorate directly. And the bulk of the responsibility for this tragedy goes to the Republicans. 

The first violent assault on credibility of the Supreme Court was in 2000 when they ruled in favor of George W Bush over Al Gore and installed him in the White House.  The obvious solution was to just count all the votes in Florida, and the one with the most votes wins the election.  But, they didn't do the obvious, and the conservative judges installed a conservative president.

The second violent  assault on the credibility of the Supreme Court happened in 2016 when the Republican leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell, refused to even have a hearing for the moderate, center left judge, Merrick Garland.  The then president Obama disappointed his more liberal wing and deliberately presented someone who was not a lefty but who had a good reputation as a moderate on the liberal side in hopes of getting some Republicans to vote for him.  

McConnell proclaimed his intent for the Supreme Court to be an extension of the Republican Party when he refused to follow the established precedent and process of holding hearings on the president's nominee early in 2016.

And now, the third violent assault on the credibility of the Supreme Court happened yesterday, when we watched Judge Kavanaugh who threw a juvenile temper tantrum yesterday and proclaimed himself to be the the implacable enemy of the Democratic Party.  (Imagine for a moment how a mature, even tempered  man, someone like Judge Roberts or retired Secretary of State Colin Powell, would have presented themselves had they needed to make denials of wrong doing of someone like Dr Ford.  Flushed faces and shouted insults would not have been part of those defenses, would they?)

Actually, in fairness, I suppose we should go back to Roe vs Wade as the  first assault on the credibility of the Supreme Court.  It is the icon for legislating from the bench.  And has sent the Supreme Court on a descending path ever since as the offended side goes to more and more extremes to overturn that ruling.  It has been said often that if the Supreme Court had not approved abortion the political process would have played out to approve abortion over time.  It didn't seem like people had time to wait back then.  So, here we are.

So, the Supreme Court is becoming just a more powerful version of the Senate. That is deeply wrong.  The country remains a democracy because the electorate does not stage a revolution after elections and the transfer of power from one party to the other.  The Supreme Court has always been the final arbiter of very vehemently held opposing political views.  But, if the country doesn't trust them to be impartial and dedicated to the rule of law and the application of the Constitution and established law, but rather see them as only representing a political party that they loathe - the downside goes very far down indeed.

Having a Supreme Court justice who so passionately hates one of the parties is a terrible step into a very dark place in this country.

By the way, what happens if Trump loses in 2020 and refuses to step down, proclaiming that his loss was rigged? (not a far fetched notion, unfortunately, with this deeply disturbed man in the White House)  and the new swing vote supports him in the Supreme Court? the one who just bellowed his hatred of Democrats?

Yesterday was a terrible day for America when a nominee to the court showed uncontrollable fury at one political party.  And we had another terrible day today when the Republican controlled Senate Panel sent his nomination to the floor without sending the issue to be investigated by the FBI first.  

Years ago, there were two very influential declarations of what it meant to play sports.  The football owner and coach, Al Davis of the Oakland Raiders, had a motto - "Just win baby".  In an earlier time, the great sports writer Grantland Rice wrote "It's not whether you win  or lose, but how you play the game."  These had influence on their times.  We are still suffering from the "just win bay" ethos.  "How you play the game" is about character and sportsmanship.

Rice was right.  Davis was wrong.  It's the difference between character and a lack thereof.  We are living in a time of a profound character crisis among our leaders.  And I am afraid that our president is at the bottom of that character rung, and he has pulled his party down with him - plus a probable Supreme Court justice.

I love America too much to be anything other than deeply dismayed by what I saw yesterday and today.

The Kangaroo court rushes to prejudgment

The Kangaroo court is over. The preordained verdict will be carried out. Kavanaugh will be put onto the Supreme Court. There will be no examination of other witnesses by the FBI or the committee. This is not a surprise. I will be shocked if the committee doesn’t vote in favor of Kavanaugh. 

I believe Dr Ford. I do not believe Judge Kavanaugh. The quiet and fearful Dr Ford was believable to me. The pugnacious, petulant, and resentful Kavanaugh was startling, and troubling to me. My conservative friends probably feel his outbursts were understandable and warranted. Not I. 

Here is my biggest question. Does anyone think that Judge Kavanaugh can possibly judge impartially in cases before him where Democrats line up on one side and Republicans are on the other? I think he has long been much more of a conservative operative than a judge, but after his venomous attack on the Democrats who he accused of trying to destroy him, who can believe he could be other than revengeful? 

I certainly did not see anything that I would call judicial temperament. 

The Abuser in Chief - abuses

Why didn’t she file charges earlier?  That is the endlessly predictable accusation offered by those who don't want to believe a sexual assault victim. The Abuser in Chief came out with that accusation today, of course.  The man that 13 women credibly accused of sexual assault is defending a man who is being credibly accused of sexual assault. 


The answer is obvious - fear.


The sexual assault victim is traumatized twice.  The first time when the assault happens - a rape, or in this case an attempted rape.  Make no mistake.  This is a traumatic event that the woman will never forget.  The assaulter may think it was no big deal, but the assaulted has been humiliated, wounded, damaged, and can't stop remembering.


The second time the sexual assault victim is traumatized is when she makes the assault public.  The reaction is inevitable, and terrible for the assault victim - why didn't you come out earlier?  what were you wearing?  had you been drinking?  wasn't it your fault? how many men have you had sex with? aren't you just a disgusting low life slut? and in this case, what political party do you belong to?


Actually, there are multiple other times the assault victim is traumatized, and that is every time she or he sees their assaulter lauded in society, or promoted, or honored as some kind of good person.  The assaulted knows better and has to relive the memories each time the assaulter shows up in his or her world.  Dr Ford had to endure watching her assaulter be glorified by - Christians? - for his high moral character as he climbed his way up the Republican and judicial ladders.  The Supreme Court was apparently a ladder too high for her to remain silent.


There are two things that make it clear to me that Christine Blasey Ford should be believed.  First, she has so much more to lose than gain by having her good name exposed.  She has already received death threats. She has had her home address published on line by the haters and had to move her family.  She will forever be known for one thing - being a victim of a rape attempt. She will be suspected as being sexually promiscuous and irresponsible. 


The second thing that makes me believe her is that she did not say that this happened to her, but she said it happened to her and there was a second person in the room.  A witness.  A witness who was Kavanagh's friend.  That is not just a she said he said. Naming a witness would be way too dangerous for her to say if it was just made up.


So, I believe Dr. Ford. 


Trump was given a list of about 20 hand selected judges known and trusted to be anti-abortion and pro-gun by his evangelical base supporters. He can pull the Kavanagh nomination and put in another trusted judge.  But he won't for two reasons. 


First, of course, the Abuser in Chief never admits a mistake and never backs down.


Second, and by far the most important thing, he sees Kavanaugh as his get out of jail free card.  Kavanaugh is on record as writing that a sitting president shouldn't be indicted.  This is by far the most important thing to the Criminal in Chief.


Trump will force the Reps to confirm Kavanaugh. The abused women of America are watching (and one of the surprising revelations of the MeToo Movement is that a vast majority of women in America can say ME TOO!) and they will vote.



We may be watching the Fat Old White Men driving the Grand Old Party off the cliff.  If so, good riddance to this amazing level of corruption that Trump has brought to our government with the full cooperation and approval of Trump voters and the frightened little men in the House and the Senate. Mustn't upset the Trumpsters, you know. The elected Reps just swallow any dignity they may have and go along with El Trumpe. 




They may think that eventually Trump will be gone and they can go back to being the amazingly courageous people they think themselves to be, but I think that once one has thrown one's dignity and character away, one may never get it back.

"You've got to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women..." Trump

From "Fear" by Bob Woodward:

"Trump gave some private advice to a friend who had acknowledged some bad behavior toward women.  

"Real power is fear.  It's all about strength.  Never show weakness.  You've always got to be strong. Don't be bullied.  There is no choice.

"You've got to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women," he said.  "if you admit to anything and any culpability, then you're dead.  That was the mistake you made.  You didn't come out guns blazing and just challenge them.  You showed weakness.  You've got to be strong.  You've got to be aggressive.  You've got to push back hard.  You've got to deny anything that's said about you.  Never admit." page 175 of 357, 41% into the book

That is clearly what Trump did with the dozen or so women that accused him of sexual harassment.   

Of course, truth is not something that ever enters the mind of the Republicans' president, just whatever is best for him.  

Et tu, Kavanaugh?  

What socialism has brought to the U.S.

Socialism.  That one word is all conservatives need to hear to turn away and shout no, no, no!

As I've written before, I have been a left winger, then a right winger, and now on the left again.  When I was on the right it seemed blatantly obvious to me that any road toward socialism was a road to tyranny - Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, and of course the worst of all the Soviet Union.

But, as I have also written before, it is now clear to me that capitalism without socialism is a tyrannical nightmare of Oligarchy and Fascism.  Just as socialism without capitalism is a tyrannical nightmare of Communism and scarcity.

But, is socialism bad?  Really?  How about socialism in America?  Do we have some?  Is it bad?

Here are things that we have in America that are either socialist or were brought about by people others denounced as socialist.  A good definition of socialism is it is "taxpayer funds being used collectively to benefit society as a whole, despite income, contribution, or ability."

• The Military/Defense - paid for entirely by taxpayer dollars to benefit everyone regardless of who they are

• Highways/Roads -paid for entirely by taxpayer dollars to benefit everyone.

• Public Libraries - almost entirely paid for by tax dollars to benefit all.

• Police - paid for by taxpayer dollars as a public service for all

• Fire Dept. - taxpayer dollars pays for it all for the benefit of all

• Bridges - taxpayer dollars gets your across the rivers

• Public Landfills -public projects paid for by taxes

• War - the biggest socialist projects in history are taxpayer funded wars

• Farm Subsidies - taxpayers support farms to keep them going, which is good, but unfortunately corporate farming probably gets most of the benefits

• CIA - taxpayer funded to keep us all safe

• FBI - totally taxpayer funded benefit for society

• Congressional Health Care -taxpayers pay for congress's health care

• Polio Vaccine -Dr Salk gave the vaccine to the government which vaccinated America and ended the terrible polio scourge.

• EPA - necessary socialist intervention to keep air and water healthy

• Social Security - we pay taxes to support the elderly (we are investing in our own retirement but the money the government collects gets paid out now to care for the elderly - our time will come soon enough)

• Museums - many museums exist because of government, i.e. taxpayer, money

• Public Schools - public schools largely funded by taxpayer dollars for the benefit of all (except the wealthy who get private schools and some Christians  and others who home school).

• Jail/Prison System - mostly publicly funded, but some are private prisons, which is probably a bad idea to have profit connected to arrests and imprisonment.

• Corporate/Business Subsidies - governments use taxpayer dollars to encourage and support selected enterprise - sometimes wisely and sometimes corruptly.
• Veteran's (VA) Health Care - taxpayer dollars to take care of our military in need. 
• All Elected Government Officials - all paid for by taxpayer dollars.

• Food Stamps -taxpayers help pay for food for those that can't properly feed themselves, and I don't believe the typical conservative rant about fat people of color getting steaks in front of them at the grocery while the poor white conservative is buying peanut butter.

• Sewer System - taxpayer funded sanitation

• Medicare - taxpayer funded health care for those who are mostly beyond their earning years

• Court System -taxpayer funded justice system which is the necessary heart of capitalism, as well as personal justice and protections.

• G.I. Bill - taxpayer money that says thank you for your service

• Hoover Dam - one of the many very productive Great Depression public works projects.

• State/City Zoos - many are there because of taxpayer dollars

• IRS - taxpayer funded collection of taxpayer dollars necessary to run the government that is the necessary force that allows and provides a civilized world.

• Free Lunch Program - taxpayers pay for food for children who need it 

•  The Pentagon - entirely funded by taxpayer dollars

• Medicaid - taxpayer dollars for those poor enough to be unable to provide their own health care.

• FDA - taxpayer dollars gives us food and drugs that don't kill us

• Health Care for 9/11 Rescue Workers - taxpayer dollars say thank you to our heroes.

• Disability Insurance (SSDI) - taxpayer dollars for those injured and unable to take care of themselves.

• Town/State Run Beaches - access to public beaches are because of the taxpayer dollars and our governments

• Corporate Bailouts/Welfare -  corporations are major beneficiaries of taxpayer dollars

• State Construction - potholes, piping, bridge and road repairs etc, all from taxpayer dollars.

• Unemployment Insurance - taxpayer dollars for a time for those who lose a job in a very uncertain economy

• City/Metro Buses - taxpayer dollars for transportation for the less well off

• State Snow Removal - taxpayers pay to keep the roads and thus commerce and education open

• PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - taxpayers pay for some of actual news rather than propaganda from some of the more suspect sources

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - taxpayer dollars protect our health

• Welfare - taxpayer dollars help the poor who spend all of it to stay alive, which is a 100% payback into the stimulation of the economy

• Public Street Lighting -taxpayer funded safety

• FEMA - taxpayer dollars respond to the terrible disasters that seem to be multiplying every year

• Public Defenders - taxpayer dollars help provide some semblance of justice for the poor.

• S-CHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program) - taxpayer dollars for uncovered children

• Amtrak - taxpayer dollars transport millions

• NPR - taxpayer dollars pay for some of the news to a nation that needs it.

• The Department of Homeland Security - taxpayer dollars for protection from terrorism

• OSHA - taxpayer dollars to protect workers

• State and National Monuments - taxpayer dollars to help provide love of this country

• The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) - taxpayer dollars to regulate agriculture and provide safety

• Government Scholarships - taxpayer dollars to educate us

• Census Bureau  - taxpayer dollars to try to ensure proper head count to allocate voting apportionment as well as needed info for governmental programs (too bad one party is trying to fudge the count!)

• Department of Energy - taxpayer dollars to oversee nuclear weapons, nuclear reactors, energy conservation, radioactive waste disposal, and energy production.

• Customs and Border Protection  - taxpayer dollars to protect our borders and keep Republicans happy

• Department of Education - taxpayer dollars overseeing and assisting education

• Secret Service - taxpayer dollars protect the president

• Department of Justice - taxpayer dollars enforce the law

• National Weather Service - taxpayer dollars provide safety.

•  Government - an essentially socialist enterprise which is created in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity...

• Law - is a socialist enterprise that makes democracy possible, makes capitalism competitive and thus possible, makes life in the world livable.

• Civilization - without taxation that is used to provide the above "socialist" benefits, we have no civilization, we revert to savages.

All paid for by funds from the taxpayer for the social good - socialism.

So, maybe everyone isn't going to like everything on this list, but one thing I can say, it is an American list, not a Venezuelan list or Cuban list or Soviet list.  So, maybe it is time to stop being scared into not thinking when someone throws the word socialist at us.  Maybe some socialism is actually pretty darned good.

I used an article from the liberal blog dailykos.com to put together the above list.

Humiating obedience to please the tyrant

How do tyrants force those in their cabinet and staff to bend to their will? By demanding humiliating obedience - publicly.  So, when Trump's cabinet goes around the room filled with high praise for the Grand Leader, they are demonstrating that their spirit has been crushed.  They are his. They are lost. 

Upon the death of Arizona Senator, John McCain, his long time ally in the Senate and frequent Trump critic, Lindsey Graham, abjectly humiliated himself by saying what El Trumpe demanded of him - total abject capitulation to Trump's desires by saying that Trump has the right to an Attorney General he has faith in.  This, after having said earlier that firing Sessions would trigger an impeachment.  

Humiliating obeisance to his new master.  

Maybe he wants to be Attorney General after Trump fires Sessions.  Whoever Trump replaces Sessions with will be forced to fire Mueller.  That used to be an impeachable offense in the mind of Senator Graham.  Apparently, that is no longer the case.

Very sad day for America.

The Captain Queeg presidency

Early in Donald Trump's presidency, Richard Cohen wrote an editorial predicting that Donald Trump was Captain Queeg in "The Caine Mutiny" (a wonderful book by Herman Wouk written in 1951 and a wonderful movie staring Humphrey Bogart in 1954).  The story was of a captain of the USS Caine who suffered a psychological meltdown during WWII and had his ship taken away from him by his officers in a mutiny.  The officers were tried for mutiny on the high seas during a time of war, and they were acquitted once Captain Queeg was placed on the witness stand and unraveled into paranoia and incoherence on the stand.

We are witnessing just this story today, but frighteningly for all of America and the world, the incompetent leader who is unraveling is the President of the United States.  We need to see him on the witness stand and see for ourselves what those closest to him in the White House see everyday - a man who is not psychologically or mentally sound, who is unraveling, who is in the words of a his former protege, Omarosa, "Unhinged".  Omarosa herself is a pretty unreliable witness given her long history of poor character, but book after book using White House sources tell the same story of a person way out of his depth who is wildly and dangerously ignorant, impetuous, childish, narcissistic and stupid.

Bob Woodward is just releasing his book on the White House, "Fear: Trump in the White House" and he reports source after source who all tell that story in sickening detail.  One episode apparently describes Trump's then lead lawyer, John Dowd, doing a practice session with Trump and peppering him with the questions that Mueller would ask.  Trump lasted a half hour, wildly veering off topic, contradicting himself, committing purjuries and finally exploding and ending the exercise.  Dowd apparently told Trump he couldn't let him testify before Mueller and Trump didn't understand because he had thought he would be a great witness.  Dowd told him "Don't testify.  It's either that or a orange jump suit. "  The next day, Dowd quit.

An anonymous senior official of the administration just published an op-ed in the New York Times saying that he or she and others in the administration do all they can to derail some of Trump's crazier impulses, and that they have had discussions about starting proceedings on having him removed via the 25th Amendment - declaring him mentally incapable of handling his duties.  They have chosen internal resistance instead of throwing the country into a constitutional crisis.  Realize that this is from a person who supports some of his agenda including deregulation and tax cuts.  

Another way we can think of Trump is King George III, the Madness of King George, who was literally insane and who managed to severely damage the British Empire during his reign - he lost the American Colonies in the late 1700s.  Trump is in the process of destroying America's leadership in the world by attacking our allies and embracing authoritarians and enemies like Russia.  

It is time to put him on the stand and let him unravel like Captain Queeg.  The country needs to see what those working for him see daily.  He is coming apart.


 

Caring and compassion

In my post yesterday about what liberals stand for (or at least what I believe in) I left out the heart of liberalism - caring and compassion.  

I believe in having the government helping people create lives worth living.  Such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, low cost governmental student loans, food stamps for the poor, job training, access to health care, etc. - the social safety net.  I suppose these can be labeled "socialist" and perhaps they are, but as I wrote, capitalism without an accompanying force of socialism becomes little more than piracy - to the victor go the spoils, and everybody else is just collateral damage. 

It is what might be called "I don't really care, do you?" capitalism.

What do liberals stand for?

An old friend of mine who is a conservative said she knew that I am against Trump, but she wondered what I am for.  I am glad to answer.  What I am for?  I can't speak for all liberals, but I can say what I believe in (this is a longer than normal post) - I believe in:

Balance and government.

I have a deep and passionate love for America.  Patriotism is the love of America and what America stands for.  Here are some of my deeply held beliefs.

I believe in capitalism.  But you can't have capitalism without some Socialism.  What I mean by that is that if you have capitalism without socialism you end up with fascism, which is where we are heading very fast today.  That is, free markets without regulations and laws becomes crony capitalism, which becomes monopolies, which becomes Oligarchy and Plutocracy, which becomes fascism - right wing authoritarian dictatorship.  Free markets without socialism ends up with child labor, jobs and products that kill workers and users, toxic deadly pollution, and an endless dis-empowering of the labor force into more and more subservience and helplessness.

On the flip side, socialism without capitalism becomes communism, becomes Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, Soviet Union etc. - left wing authoritarian dictatorship. The 20th Century was littered with the crushed peoples under Communist monstrosities.

Without the balance of both capitalistic free markets and socialistic regulations and oversight you end up with an aristocracy of either the Left or the Right and the people become crushed.  Today's Trumpsters are way out of balance and see no role for government other than the military (an exaggeration but it makes the point). 

I believe in environmental purity and protection. Today's corporate culture is so dependent on short term quarterly results and thinking that without the force of government regulation and enforceable law the environmental concerns are never considered.

I believe in diversity and opportunity for all races and genders.  JFK and LBJ enforced the Civil Rights laws in the '60s against the fierce opposition of Southern Democrats and with the help of northern Republicans.  LBJ said he would lose the South for the Democrats for generations.  He lost more than that since Richard Nixon implemented his infamous Southern Strategy in 1968 and switched the South from the white supremacist Democratic South to the white supremacist Republican South.

I believe in women's empowerment.  America is moving out of the centuries of Male Chauvinism into a new era of feminine empowerment, and the Democrats are leading the way, especially by empowering women to take control over their reproductive lives and make their own choices about if and when to get pregnant, stay pregnant, and raise children.

I believe in diplomacy.  That means not gutting the State Department and driving nearly the entire experienced and knowledgeable diplomats out of the State Department.

I believe in Public Schools, especially for the middle and lower classes. I have no problem with selected and qualified charter schools, but I have a very big problem with unregulated private schools - the iconic symbol of which was the Donald Trump scam of Trump University.  We don't need Trump University type scams showing up in our K - 12 education system.

I believe in an America that leads the world in human rights and the spread of democracy. We used to be an imperfect "Shining Light on a Hill" as extolled by Reagan and W.  We have become a screw you, we're out for Number One only (Number One is supposedly America, but is actually only Trump himself, but I don't expect the Trumpsters to see that)

I believe in free trade.  I can't think of any one stupider thing, economically, that any uninformed and willfully ignorant president can do than initiate and accelerate a trade war with our trading partners.

I believe in the Free Press, and by that I mean the actual press, the imperfect press that makes mistakes and corrects itself, the press that practices actual journalism with checked and cross-checked sources - in other words, the mainstream media.

I believe in the professional intelligence services like the FBI and CIA and NSA.  I believe when all 17 intelligence agencies in America say that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election for the purpose of destroying Americans' belief in democracy and put Trump into the White House they were telling the truth - making conclusions based upon the evidence of their investigations.  I believe that the notion that the intelligence services are stacked with Socialist or Democratic operatives is total nonsense. It disturbs me greatly that all Trump has to do is repeat his nonsensical propaganda over and over (that there is a liberal cabal out to get him) and there are way too many Americans that believe the target of the investigations rather than believe in the integrity of the investigators - the investigations are ongoing and not yet concluded, but isn't it telling that Trump and his Trumpsters are becoming ever more agitated in their attempts to shut down the investigations?

I believe in the beneficial role of taxation and government. The government is absolutely vital to the preservation of civilization in America.  Without government there is no rule of law, only the rule of billionaires, which is why I am so appalled by Trump's efforts to gut the government, gut the rule of law, gut legal system, gut the regulations, and put the foxes in charge of the hen-house.

By the way, I do not believe that America is some kind of church. God bless my Christian friends and I wish them great success in converting others into joining their Churches, but I do not want America to become their Church - that is a violation of the first amendment which gives each American the freedom of Religion and freedom from Religion - both.

In other words, since Trump and his Trumpster extremists are against almost all that I believe in, I have stopped being a Republican, stopped being a conservative, and am adamantly opposed to Trump and the extremist Right Wing that put him in power (with a little help from their good friends in Russia)

By the way, if you are not familiar with Nixon's Southern strategy, Nixon's Southern Strategy was explicitly laid out at the end of Republican consultant Lee Atwater's life when he unburdened his soul and said:

"You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.”

(Please forgive me for using the N-word, but the above quote needs to be very shocking because the racism itself is very shocking and the direct appeal of the Republican Party to racists is also very shocking) 

One final thought, apparently the right wing echo chamber must be promoting the notion of liberal corruption.  I am sure anyone can find anecdotal evidence of liberals who are corrupt, but given that the Obama administration went eight years without a scandal, indictment, or conviction speaks pretty loudly.  Whereas the Trump organization has about numerous corruption scandals and actual indictments from the Mueller investigation alone so far - hard to keep track there are so many.

The Honorable Senator John McCain dies at 81

John McCain died yesterday of brain cancer.  The nation mourns the loss of an honorable and dignified man.  Can there be any stronger contrast for America to ponder than the lives of the newly departed John McCain and the current occupant of the White House? McCain was man of such dignity and honor vs a man with no dignity, honor, or character at all.

Here are two notable statements from honorable opponents of Senator McCain:

Former president Barack Obama:

"John McCain and I were members of different generations, came from completely different backgrounds, and competed at the highest level of politics. But we shared, for all our differences, a fidelity to something higher-the ideals for which generations of Americans and immigrants alike have fought, marched, and sacrificed. We saw our political battles, even, as a privilege, something noble, an opportunity to serve as stewards of those high ideals at home, and to advance them around the world. We saw this country as a place where anything is possible - and citizenship as our patriotic obligation to ensure it forever remains that way.

"Few of us have been tested the way John once was, or required to show the kind of courage that he did. But all of us can aspire to the courage to put the greater good above our own. At John's best, he showed us what that means. And for that, we are all in his debt. Michelle and I send our heartfelt condolences to Cindy and their family." 

Former President George W Bush:

"Some lives are so vivid, it is difficult to imagine them ended. Some voices are so vibrant, it is hard to think of them stilled. John McCain was a man of deep conviction and a patriot of the highest order."

It doesn't matter what Mr Trump, or one of his "Twitter Writers" tweet about McCain today, Trump will always be remembered by me as the man who said this despicable thing about McCain during his campaign:

"He's not a war hero. He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured."

That amazingly stupid, cruel, and ignorant attack on a man of such quality and value as John McCain will never be forgotten and can't be made right by any Tweet today.

As a friend of mine noted, who do we want our children and grandchildren to use as a role model?  I think the question answers itself.

John McCain has asked that Trump be barred from his funeral, and asked that Obama and W give his eulogies.  

Says it all....

Reasonable Doubt?

By the way, how on earth did Manafort end up with ten charges against him declared a mistrial rather than a conviction?  Not surprisingly, there was one juror who held out on the claim of Reasonable Doubt. But, the evidence was so overwhelming that the defense did not even offer a defense.  What were they going to do, offer character witnesses?  From where?  Ukraine? Russia? They just said the prosecution didn't prove their case to the level of overcoming Reasonable Doubt.  Eleven jurors did not have Reasonable Doubt.

I am afraid there are two possible explanations for that juror.  First, that she was an avid Trump supporter and didn't want his campaign manager convicted of crimes and thus damaging her beloved president.  Or, second, very wealthy and dangerous men (Manafort or Trump) got to her with money or threats.

I could be wrong.  She may just have had a very strong predeliction about what Reasonable Doubt means.  I hope, for the sake of her Soul, that it is the innocent explanation that is true. 

Let's just say that I have Reasonable Doubt that she wasn't compromised.

Two witches caught - the Wicked Witch of the West (West Wing) still in flight

Trump's long time personal lawyer and "fixer", Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to crimes of $4,000,000 in tax evasion (anyone remember what put Al Capone into prison?) and for campaign finance violations for paying off two women at Trump's direction to silence them just prior to the November election - felony conspiracy to affect the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

And Former Trump campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was found guilty on eight felony counts of bank and tax fraud and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts, and a mistrial on ten counts.  Plus he has another trial coming up next month or so.

The corrupt apples don't fall far from the corrupt apple tree of Donald J Trump.

What the Judge and Cohen said when he pleaded guilty -The judge asked him did he know what he was doing? Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty? Cohen sighs, Yes your honor.  And he pleaded guilty to eight counts - five of tax evasion, one on misleading a bank on a loan application, and two on finance campaign violations.

He said that he committed these campaign crimes at the direction of a candidate for federal office (Trump).  

The judge laid out the possible sentences totaling 65 years in jail, do you understand that? - Yes your honor. And you cannot withdraw your guilty plea no matter what you  might have heard about what your sentence will be? - Yes your honor.  Did you know when you did this that it was illegal and wrong? - Yes your honor.

Both men's crimes are essentially the same crimes that Trump has committed for many years (bank fraud, tax evasion) and during the campaign (felony conspiracy to rig the election in his favor).  So, the net tightens on this deeply corrupt man in the White House.

And we haven't even yet begun on money laundering crimes (of Russian oligarchs and mobsters), which I fully expect to be coming down the track at Mr Trump like a locomotive at full steam.

So, Trump tells us this is a witch hunt.  Well, they convicted two witches yesterday.

 
Coming soon, we are likely to see the conviction of another witch - the Wicked Witch of the West - the West Wing, that is....

Perhaps Mr Trump, like his employees, will find out that he is not above the law.

The Trump Slump in tourism

Unsurprisingly, Trump is hurting the American tourism industry.  By making it very clear that foreigners are not welcome, foreigners seem to be getting the message and and are staying away.

The industry has a label for what's happening - The Trump Slump. 

Per Elizabeth Drew of the Daily Beast:

"The drop in tourism in 2017 was precipitous, and its velocity can be mainly attributed to one factor, what’s come to be called in the tourism industry the Trump slump. Earlier this year, Reuters quoted the head of a German company that specializes in trips to the United States as saying, “Politics is not helping us.”  He added that since the price of the dollar was falling at that time, “we should have seen a much bigger increase in demand.” The Pew Research Center Reserve found earlier this year that a survey of ten nations showed that a favorable opinion of the US occurred in only one country: Russia. The inescapable fact is that Trump’s presidency has coincided with an unprecedented drop in travel to the United States."

He attacks Europe, the European Union, NATO.  He attacks China.  He attacks Mexico and Canada.  He attacks any country or person of color.  

Trump has become the American brand - unwelcoming, racist, and stupid.  

Trump is the embodiment of the Ugly American.  And so now we are all Ugly Americans.  Thank you my conservative friends who actually voted for this example of the worst in America.  Thank you Russia for pushing him over the top to become president 

At least Russia knows what they are doing - weakening American influence in the world, weakening America's faith in democracy, weakening America's meaning and mission in the world - which is to be a Shining City on a Hill, an inspiration of human rights, morality, opportunity, and decency.

And far too many conservatives know what they are doing as well - empowering white supremacy, attacking and weakening the influence of people of color, attacking and weakening the influence of women, attacking and destroying environmental, health, and workplace protections.  Too sad, but too true, I am afraid.

What I don't know is what my conservative friends thought they were doing.  I guess they thought they were voting for a Republican, or a conservative.  But they were conned.  They voted for a fascist white supremacist who also happens to have the brains of a turnip.

I hope they wake up and throw him out.  Won't happen until, or unless, the Reps get very soundly trounced in the mid term elections of 2018 coming up.

Stop this nitwit.

Don Jr thrown under the bus by his father

So, does the person the Republicans helped Russia elect to be president actually think that if he says it it is true?  Obviously, some of his more news-challenged followers seem to believe so.

Trump just threw his son under the Mueller bus by declaring that Jr was looking for dirt on Hillary by meeting with the Russians.

"Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018"

Getting info on an opponent is normal politics but getting info on an opponent from a hostile foreign power?  That's conspiring with a hostile foreign power to interfere with the American election.  Conspiring is a crime.  Collusion is an imprecise word that should better be translated in our minds as conspiracy.  

Crime. Conspiracy.

Saying that it is legal doesn't make it legal.  It's a crime.  It's not jaywalking.  it's conspiring with a hostile foreign power to elect a president that the hostile foreign power wants to be president.

So, this corrupt person accuses his own son of conspiring with a hostile foreign power.  And he declares he knew nothing of it.  Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha......

If he sends his son to jail to protect himself, who on earth is dumb enough to stay with this horrible boy-man?

Aren't we all glad we aren't related to the person the Republicans helped Russia elect to be the president of America? 

Trump is not the Republican president

I am endlessly puzzled why my conservative friends continue to defend Donald Trump as president.  I think the only reason that I have been able to come to is they see Donald Trump as a conservative president, or a Republican president, who is under attack by liberals trying to undermine conservative or Republican policies. 

But that is not what is going on. I do not see Trump as a conservative president or a Republican president. 

I see Donald Trump as a fascist who has taken over the American presidency.  I see Donald Trump as a dangerous man-child who has no interest other than his own profit and power.  I see Donald Trump violating the Constitution daily.  I see Donald Trump as a fraud and a con-man who has mysteriously bamboozled millions of Americans to think he somehow cares about them and is on their side.  I see Donald Trump under the control of the Russian Oligarchy and who is destroying America's leadership in commerce, democracy, and human rights.  I see Donald Trump as a leader of far too many Americans whose only concern is greed and plunder to the harm of the environment and the middle and lower classes.  I see Donald Trump as a white supremacist who does everything to please and inflame white supremacists in America in order to make him King of the Whites.

I see Donald Trump as the biggest threat to Americans, America, and America's leadership in the world since - the Soviet Union.  

I see Donald Trump as a pathetic little man out to prove something about himself with no thought of any of the terrible destruction he is having on America and the world.

I do not oppose Donald Trump because of his conservative or Republican ideology.  He has no ideology.  He is trying to become America's Mussolini, or Stalin, or Lenin, or Mao Tse-Tung, or Putin, or Erdogan, or Duterte - a strong man whose whim becomes the murderous rule.

America is losing its innocence.  We have never been crushed by a dictator, and we won't be crushed by this wannabe dictator, but he is trying.

He is not a Republican. He is not a conservative.  He is a danger to democracy.

We are all at the mercy of my conservative friends since only conservatives have the power to rid the country of this toxin in the White House.  I pray that they finally turn against this fraud and see him for the danger that he is.

"Trump First"

One explanation for Trump refusing to acknowledge that the Russians are interfering with our election process is that Russia has something on him. And given his determination to destroy free trade and destroy American alliances around the world, that explanation is quite credible since these are the things Russia has long dreamed of - the collapse of American leadership in commerce, democracy, and human rights.

However, there could be another explanation. Trump knows that Russia helped him win the election. And, he knows that Russia is helping Republicans win in 2018. And he knows that Russia will help trump win in 2020. So, why on earth would Trump want to get in the way of that?  After all, winning you know...can't be a loser you know...so "America First"? - are you kidding?

Trump's campaign slogan of "America First" is for chumps. His only real slogan for campaigning and "governing" is "Trump First" - actually "Trump Only." 

However, the I still think that the far more likely explanation for Trump refusing to acknowledge that the Russians are interfering with our election process is that Russia has something on him. And given the very public evidence of his determination to always do the things that benefit the Russian tyranny, that explanation is more credible. 

Looks to me like the Russians have Trump by the short hairs.  It is up to my conservative friends to save America.  I hope they are paying attention.