Four sensible gun laws that would have an effect

Scientific American published an article that research shows actually reduces gun violence.  Here is a summary of the article:

1. Require permits to purchase - rather than background checks, which are done by sellers and aren't really complied with, this would require in person applications for a permit with local law enforcement.  10 states do this and it resulted in a 68% reduced risk of guns being diverted to criminals.
2. Ban individuals convicted of any violent crime from gun purchase.  Not just domestic abuse convictions, but all violent crime convictions would ban you from buying guns for life.
3. Make all serious domestic violence offenders surrender firearms.  Apparently, the current law only asks offenders to voluntarily surrender their guns.  A study showed that relinquishment laws are 50% more effective than non-relinquishment laws.  Tempers flare in domestic situations, and if guns are available...
4. Temporarily ban active alcohol abusers from firearms.  Research says that DUI offenders are 4 - 5 times more likely to violent crime than those with no criminal record.  The suggestion is no guns allowed for those with two or more DUIs in the last five years.

These are specific and targeted gun laws that would focus on high risk gun buyers and be of no threat to Second Amendment advocates who are afraid that a tyrannical government is out to confiscate their guns and establish a totalitarian police state.

I think these are well thought out.  Too bad they won't be considered by the NRA and their Republicans elected officials afraid of NRA condemnation.
 

Mueller indicts the Russians

Friday was a very important day in the history of American democracy. Robert Mueller and the Justice Department indicted Russians for interfering with United States elections, including the 2016 presidential election in opposition to Hillary, and in favor of Trump and Sanders. 

This confirms what our intelligence agencies have been saying for well over a year. This is a very big step toward stopping Russian interference in our democracy. 

Our president immediately tweeted that he was vindicated and that there was no collusion between him and Russia. 

Right. 

Wouldn’t it be nice if our administration was actually leading the efforts to stop Russian influence on our elections rather than helping cover up Russia’s attack on America?

By his actions you shall know him...

Donald Trump is apparently refusing to release the Democratic rebuttal to the Nunes memo.  The Nunes memo was supposed to totally discredit the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in our 2016 election, but failed pathetically.  The notion of that memo was that the investigation was based upon former MI5 intelligence officer Steel's dosier, which was paid for by the Hillary campaign, was actually initiated by anti-Trump conservatives during the primary season.  But, the memo itself recounted that the investigation had started earlier when Trump foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos drunkenly told an Australian diplomat that the Russians had dirt on Hillary.  That diplomat was so distressed at the interference into the U.S. election process that they informed U.S. intelligence.  And the investigation began into Russian interference.  

So - Nunes memo - dud.

The outraged Democrats claimed that the Nunes memo was cherry picked and distorted and just a political hit job to protect Trump.  So, they called for a vote to release a Democratic memo rebuttal.  Trump won't release it.  Why? Forget the silly, transparent excuses.  It is obvious why.  Trump wants only one story out there, his story that the Mueller probe is a political hit job against him.

An innocent president would have immediately been outraged when all 14 intelligence agencies concluded that a hostile foreign power, Russia, had interfered with the American election.  An innocent president would have done everything in his or her power to investigate the Russian interference and prosecute the guilty regardless of who would fall.  An innocent president would have put in place a very formidable governmental effort to stop them from doing it again, and from doing it now - which they are doing now. 

A guilty president would have denied that there was any interference from the Russians.  A guilty president would have done everything he could to stop the investigation into Russian interference.  A guilty president would have obstructed justice by firing the head of the FBI in charge of that investigation. A guilty president would have the same party committee chairman issue a false memo to invalidate the investigation.  A guilty president would fire the man at the FBI that is in charge of the Mueller investigation.  A guilty president would fire Mueller.

A guilty president would force his own impeachment.
 

Donnie wants a Big Parade

Oh my goodness.  What a child the Republican elected president is. Donnie wants a really big military parade.  Like the French do on Bastille Day. 

Congress is fighting tooth and nail over a budget, with how much money to spend on the military being a very contentious issue, and this little boy in the White House wants to spend millions of military budget on…a parade.

I guess that is better than nuking North Korea, and maybe if he can get his Big Powerful Military Leader feelings by looking at a parade rather than starting WWIII we should all be grateful.

Evidence of Trump - Russia conspiriacy

By his behavior you can understand.  Trump just refused to implement sanctions against Russia passed by both the House and the Senate almost unanimously as a punishment for Russian interference in the elections of 2016.  This is a violation of his executive duties. Congress is the Legislative Branch - they write the laws - and the President leads the Executive Branch - he executes the laws.  Except, this tyrant in training has decided he doesn't have to.  

Why?

Pretty straightforward, it seems to me - because Trump can't impose sanctions on Russia because Russia and Trump have conspired in the Russian interference in the election of 2016, and Russia owns Trump - some form of blackmail that Russia has on him, or they can bankrupt him or cost him billions by demanding payment on massive debts he owes Russia or Russians.  

Where is the Republican Party?  Where is the Republican controlled Congress?  Have they no decency? no honor? no conscience? no outrage at the usurpation of their own powers? Our democracy is crumbling and the elected Republicans are complicit.  

The United State is supposed to be about the rule of law, not the rule of tyrants.  The Republican Party has lost its way.

The astonishing thing to me is that some of my conservative friends voted for Trump because they thought Hillary was too corrupt.  But the depths of depraved corruption of this nitwit has never been seen before in my lifetime, and I am pretty old.

 

They don't play well together, part 2

The Republican controlled government is about to shut down.  What a surprise!  This group is about as cooperative and collaborative as their Great Leader - Mr Trump. They only reach across the isle to give the other side the finger. 

Pretty discouraging.

They don’t play well together

One thing you can certainly say about the fiercely independent/pull yourself up by your bootstraps/you’re on your own/don’t expect any help from me/I did it my way/I don’t owe anything to anybody/good luck to you but get out of my way conservatives is if they do not play well together.  How could they? Their highest value is the individual. Cooperation is barely in their consciousness. 

It is particularly pleasant to watch Bannon and Trump and Mercer and McConnell and a number of conservatives and Republicans attack each other over the revelations of Trump’s pathetic infantilism of the Wolff book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump Whitehouse”.

They all deserve each other. And America deserves better.

Trump vs Obama stock market comparison

Trump supporters, and semi-supporters, tout the stock market growth of the last year as proof that Trump is a pretty good president after all.  Because, you know, you can say all kinds of stuff about what a demented goof ball this guy is, but just look at what's really important - the NUMBERS.

OK.  Here are the numbers:

S&P 500 progress:

•  1/1/09 - 865.98 - Obama's comes into office
•  1/1/10 - 1123.58 - a growth of 29.7% - Obama's first year
  
•  1/1/11 - 1282.62 - a growth of 14.2%
•  1/1/12 - 1300.58 - a growth of 01.4%
•  1/1/13 - 1480.40 - a growth of 13.8%
•  1/1/14 - 1822.36 - a growth of 23.1%
•  1/1/15 - 2028.15 - a growth of 11.3%
•  1/1/16 - 1918.60 - a loss of 05.4%
•  1/1/17 - 2275.12 - a growth of 18.6%
•  1/1/18 - 2689.15 - a growth of 18.2% - Trump's first year in office

So, the S&P grew at almost the exact the same rate in Trump's first year as Obama's last year, and grew by significantly less than Obama's first year.  

I think that Obama's handling of the terrible financial crash of 2008 is responsible for the excellent stock market performance the first year and over the course of his eight years - a total growth of the S&P of 162.7%.  I am sure that this significantly outperforms those countries who panicked and instigated austerity rather than stimulus in response to the Great Recession.

Trump thrills some conservatives with his attacks on safety, environmental, and health regulations.  And these conservatives seem to believe that the way to grow the market is to attack these regulations.  The data don't support that belief.  And Trump and the Republicans are failing in their duty to protect the people of this nation.

Trump ratings compared to previous presidents after one year

We all know Trump is the least popular president in recent times at this point in his administration.  Here are the numbers:

CNN POLL
Presidential Approval Rating
Dec of First Year

Bush, 2001 86%
Kennedy, 1961 77%
Bush, 1989 71%
Eisenhower, 1953 69%
Nixon, 1969 59%
Carter, 1977 57%
Obama, 2009 54%
Clinton, 1993 54%
Reagan, 1981 49%
Trump, now 35%

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 19, 2017

 I wonder how long the Republicans will put up with him now that they have achieved their most desired decades long dream of cutting taxes on the rich?  Any time they want him gone he should be easy to impeach on a number of grounds, from violation of the emoluments and bribery clauses of the constitution, to aiding a hostile foreign country to undermine U.S. elections, to obstruction of justice trying to prevent investigations into Russian interference, to....whatever his latest authoritarian disregard for the rule of law happens to be an any given day.

The Bridge over the River Kwai Tax Bill

The award winning 1957 movie, "The Bridge Over the River Kwai", tells the WWII story of captured British soldiers forced to build a bridge in Burma that would aid the Japanese war effort.  After refusing to cooperate, eventually the lead character played brilliantly by Alec Guinness decides that his pride as a British officer and engineer dictated that they do an outstanding job as a testimony to British expertise.  At the end of the movie, he comes out of his trance as a captured and coerced man and manages to blow up the bridge at the last moment.

I think the Republican tax plan is similar to this.  The Republican Congress is passing a tax plan that has been coerced from them by tyrannical plutocratic donors and a tyrannical president.  They are in some kind of trance under the spell of tyrants and have built and are passing a tax plan that is essentially an abomination - not just to liberals but to decades of conservative thinking that has laid out numerous approaches to tax reform - almost none of which are in this plan.

Is there a chance that a Republican Senator can, like Alec Guinness in the movie, suddenly come to and throw themselves on the "plunger of the detonator" and blow up this disastrous legislation?

Probably not.  That would take courage and honor. 

Trump the "bark beetle"

I watched the final episode of the TV series "Longmire" last night, and it had an interesting line of dialogue.  A Native American older woman told Longmire that he had nice trees around his home, but if a bark beetle got into them he would end up with just a lot of dead wood around his home.  And that was what a certain malevolent character in the story was to her tribe - a bark beetle that was taking the life out of her tribe.  And, the trouble with bark beetles is they multiply and take over everything.

I thought that was an apt metaphor for our current president.  He is a toxic bark beetle, and he has called the nation of bark beetles to come forth and chew the life out of America.  Toxic man who enables too many toxins in the country. 

By the way, I really enjoyed the Netflix Longmire series.  Wyoming sheriff being and doing good.

Bannon and Trump defeated in Alabama

The morally reprehensible Republican Roy Moore was defeated by his Democratic opponent Doug Jones in Alabama despite the avid support of Steve Bannon of Breitbart and president Donald Trump.

America dodged a bullet.

Very grateful.

Ryan confirms the Republican goal of gutting entitlements by increasiing the deficit

Paul Ryan proved my contention of a few days ago that the purpose of the tax cuts was to increase the deficit so the Republicans will have the excuse they need to cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and all social safety net programs.  

“We're going to have to get back next year at entitlement reform, which is how you tackle the debt and the deficit,” Ryan said during an appearance on Ross Kaminsky's talk radio show. "... Frankly, it's the health care entitlements that are the big drivers of our debt, so we spend more time on the health care entitlements — because that's really where the problem lies, fiscally speaking.”

And, of course, the deficit will be increased by raising taxes on most middle and lower class people and dramatically lowering taxes on the wealthy and super wealthy.  As I wrote earlier, the Confederate Oligarchy has taken over the country, and their "business model" has always been plantation - a weak and dependent work force that accepts low wages and obeys the bosses.  They have never seen the world in any other terms.  Only now, everybody is to be their "slaves", not only African Americans.

Funny how it's always things that help the middle and lower classes that the Reps want to cut, never things like the military. Good for bidness, don'cha know...

I hope my conservative friends are paying attention. 

Trump distracts us from the Russian probe by blowing up the Israeli Palestinian conflict

I guess we should be grateful that Trump didn't decide that the way to distract us from the Russian conspiracy probe would be by nuking North Korea.  He is only planning to recognize Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel. 

Of course, this is throwing gasoline on the Israeli Palestinian long burning fires.  And, of course, many people will die.  BUT....

Always remember that the only motivation that Donald Trump ever has is what will benefit Donald Trump. His narcissism is pathological.  He kills others if he thinks it will benefit him.

And he needs different headlines than the endless stream of Russia probe headlines. The noose is tightening on him, and the case of Russian conspiracy with the Trump campaign and Trump administration is moving inexorably forward.  This is not something that those trapped inside the right wing media bubble are aware of, but the reporting is consistent and solid that Mueller is closing in.  

So Trump needs bigger headlines. 

How about an Israeli Palestinian war?  That should take over the headlines for a while.  I suppose this move satisfies some right wing nutcases, but America has long recognized that Jerusalem is claimed by both sides and to declare for one side is likely to cause violent bloodshed.

Only the Republicans can stop this man. Only the Republicans can impeach this man.  Will they ever elevate their own motivations beyond using this loose canon in the White House in order to get evangelical judges to take over the judiciary and in order to eviscerate the New Deal and the Great Society programs of the last many decades?   Will they ever find a conscience that sees the well being of the country and the world is more important than their partisan obsessions?

I wish I had more faith in my Republican politicians and my Republican friends.  But they seem willing to put up with amazingly disgusting and destructive moves by Trump and the extremist right wing.

America is much better than this. I am waiting.  I am hopeful. This can't continue forever.

Trump tax plan screws Trumpsters

The Senate passed a tax plan that will transfer wealth from the middle class and lower classes to the very wealthy.  Mark Shields lays out the basic numbers:

"This is a tax bill that is written solely for the deserving rich. And it also, at the same time, manages to soak the poor. Just the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Budget Office indicates that, by 2027, by 2027, Americans earning the princely sum of between $40,000 and $50,000 will, collectively combined, pay $5.3 trillion — trillion — more in taxes. Americans earning over $1 million, by the same study, will receive $5.7 trillion in tax cuts."

But, there is much more.  As I wrote before, the point of the tax cuts is to balloon the deficit so the wealthy can cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and all "entitilements." You know, weaken the work force so they will work for less money and benefits.  Turn all of America into a Southern Plantation, only now it's not just Africans who will be the slaves.  How long until we see see bathrooms marked "For Plutocrats Only"?

In other words, the Trumpsters who put Trump in power are getting screwed.  

But, so what?  As long as he says politically incorrect things and pisses off liberals they will love him.

Brainiacs. 

What the desired tax cut is really about

The Republicans are desperate to get their long promised tax cut demanded by their oligarchic donors.  The cover story is that cutting taxes will unleash the powers of the market and “a rising tide will lift all boats.”  This notion has long been disproven, but it is so comforting to think that if my taxes are lowered that it is not going to hurt anybody, and indeed it is going to help everybody.  Easy to fool ourselves into believing nonsense if it benefits us personally.  

I think a parallel and comforting false belief is in the realm of sexual harassment – an unattractive but wealthy old man in a position of power over attractive young women can tell himself that exposing himself to or groping these women is actually welcomed by them because he has somehow become magically sexually attractive to them. All nonsense, as we are seeing over and over today as women are blowing the whistle on these old creeps. 

The real reason to cut taxes is to increase the deficit.

Why do the oligarchy want to increase the deficit? To allow them to cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and all supports to the middle and lower classes in the name of cutting the deficit.

Why cut these middle and lower class supports? To weaken the middle and lower classes.

Why weaken the middle and lower classes?  To lower labor costs.

Why lower labor costs?  Silly question, isn't it?  Yachts. 747s. Mansions. Villas.  Nothing wrong with any of that kind of wealth actually. Wealth is wonderful and some of the wealthy are generous and exemplary, but how about earning fortunes rather than stealing money from the middle and lower classes under the rubric of "tax cuts" and creating a perpetually powerless and impoverished middle and lower classes? 

The oligarchs and their Republican believers have long hated giving their money to lower classes - “Let them eat cake.”

Step one – cut taxes on the wealthy and increase taxes on the middle class (pretend it is a tax cut for the middle class, they are gullible enough to believe anything that you have the right wing media tell them)

Step two – throw up your hands in surprise and horror that the deficit is skyrocketing.

Step three – “reluctantly” cut Social Security and Medicare - must cut that deficit don’t you know!

Step four – buy a $500 million yacht – has to be bigger than your rival’s yacht, of course.   

So, why do the middle classes allow, and indeed support this?  I think that some people comfort themselves with the idea that government programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, any form of assistance to the poor, all somehow weaken the fiber of the nation.  Kind of like throwing a five year old boy into the water to show him how to swim – he either swims or drowns, makes him self-reliant, makes him tough.  This is a stupid idea, good enough for silly old John Wayne movies, but would end up killing children, or at a minimum traumatizing them if they survive. The oligarchy wants us to believe in this notion of self-reliance, especially if it means that we help them weaken the government regulations and support of the middle and lower classes.

It’s just greed and cruelty. 

Taxes and regulations are the price of civilization.  There is no middle class without strong government support – free press, freedom of religion, reliable banking system, roads, infrastructure, public schools, strong universities, military, police, legal system, rule by law not by oligarchs, safety net and assistance to the poor and needy, etc.  These things don’t happen by themselves, they need to be fed, and it takes money – tax money – our money, middle class money, wealthy class money. Government is needed, it is essential to freedom and democracy itself. 

Killing off government kills the middle class.  And gives more power to the Oligarchy.  America is becoming a banana republic.  Watch out.

But, not yet.  

I really don’t expect the Republicans to pass tax reform or tax cuts.  What is being proposed is just too terrible, has had no hearings or expert testimony, excludes every Democrat, is hated by huge majorities of the public - liberal and conservative alike - and has too many even within the sycophantic Republican Party opposing too many different parts of it.   

Unworkable, un-passable.  At least so I hope.

Doesn't have the brainpower needed to grasp issues....

A couple of days ago, I wrote that Trump was Ego Dumb, meaning he thinks with his ego, and egos are dumb.  Apparently, I was too generous to the man the Republicans elected to be our President.  

 H.R. McMaster, National Security Adviser, had this to say about Trump:

"White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster reportedly said President Trump had the intelligence of a "kindergartner" and called him an "idiot" and a "dope" during a private dinner over the summer in Washington....
McMaster also reportedly mocked the president’s intelligence to another source in private, saying Trump didn’t have the brainpower needed to grasp the issues the National Security"

Not having the brainpower to grasp the issues.... Let that sink in about the man in charge of our military, our nukes, our "diplomacy" (he doesn't believe in diplomacy and is gutting the State Department).  This man is a nitwit. And Republicans keep playing along with him because they want their beloved tax cuts and their evangelical judges on the courts.   

Good grief. 

Three types of dumb

I think there are three types of dumb:  IQ, Ego, Ideology.

Half the people in the world are average or below average IQ.  That's kind of by definition.  Their lack of IQ is not necessarily harmful, and anyone can become loving and wise, which is much more important than IQ, but that will probably keep them from careers in advanced science.

Then, there is Ego Dumb. An example is on the golf course, if I have a shot from the rough that has to carry over 200 yards to clear water to reach a green, what part of my brain will make that decision?  My ego says that I did it once ten years ago, and of course I can do it now.  But the chances of pulling that shot off are about one in fifty. So, trying that shot is dumb.  When we let our ego make the decision, I call that Ego Dumb.

Then there is Ideology Dumb.  I am clearly a practitioner of Ideology Dumb throughout my adult life.  I have been avidly liberal, avidly conservative, and am now back on the liberal side.  This time, of course, I think I am just being objective, but it is very hard to escape ideological bubbles and their dogmas.

So, what kind of dumb are politicians?  So many of them are Ideology Dumb, locked inside an ideological bubble that always reflects back to them the Truth of their ideological beliefs.

What kind of dumb is Trump?  I think he is mostly Ego Dumb.  He actually thinks he knows more than anyone else about pretty much everything.  And, as he has demonstrated over and over, he knows almost nothing about almost everything - except how to get attention.  One of his ex-professors at Wharton said:
 
 “Donald Trump was the dumbest goddam student I ever had.”  Dr. Kelley told me this after Trump had become a celebrity but long before he was considered a political figure.  Dr. Kelley often referred to Trump’s arrogance when he told of this — that Trump came to Wharton thinking he already knew everything."

Sounds familiar about the man who said that he doesn't need diplomats because he is the only one who counts?  Put that three wood in the bag, Mr President, and lay up with a short iron!



 

Republicans today

I used to be a Republican.  No more.

• Republicans today defend pedophiles - Roy Moore running for Senate in Alabama.
• Republicans today (the Republican president) defends anything that Vladimir Putin wants to do in the world.
• Republicans today (the Republican president) obstruct justice by firing the head of the FBI (Comey) for investigating Russian interference in the presidential election. With barely a peep from the rest of the Republicans today.
• Republicans today do whatever they can to divert attention from Special Council Mueller's investigation of Republican interference in our election.
• Republicans today do nothing to stop the Russians from continued interference in our political processes and upcoming elections.
• Republicans today allow the Republican president to violate the bribery and emoluments clauses of the constitution without impeaching him.
• Republicans today cater to the "alt-right" which is essentially the new code name for white supremacists.
• Republicans today (the Republican President) says there are good people on both sides of the Charlottesville KKK neo-Nazi and other white supremacists rally that killed a counter-protester.
• Republicans today have abandoned any sense of dignity, character, or decency out of fear of this same avid and violent "alt-right" "base".
• Republicans today withdraw from any form of moral leadership or championing of human rights in the world.
• Republicans today have no sense of the American vision of this country being a "shining light on a hill" as an aspiration for other countries to follow.
  

Republicans today are what Ronald Reagan and William F Buckley would have fought, mocked, disdained, and defeated in their days.


Republicans today are why I am not a Republican today.