Massive income inequality leads to massive political disruption

America's massive income inequality, a fairly recent development, can become very dangerous - to the wealthy.  What has happened in the past when the income inequality got too big?

1790s - The French Revolution. The impoverished revolted and cut of the heads (guillotine) off the aristocracy.  Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France, was supposed to have said "Let them eat cake (brioche)" in response to hearing that the impoverished could not afford bread.  They revolted crying out for Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. And chopped off their heads.

In an odd parallel, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, billionaire Wilbur Ross, said that those who were unemployed or unpaid during the current shutdown of the government by President Trump should just go get a temporary loan until the government reopened.  He was unaware that some people do not qualify for a loan (other than perhaps usurious despicable Payday Loans); nor did he understand that loans take longer than many workers can wait for in order to eat either bread or brioche.

1917 - The Russian Revolution.  A bit more than 100 years later, the Russian impoverished rose up and killed the Russian Tsar Nicholas and his family and established the disastrous Communist Revolution. 

2019 - Now, after another 100 years, the inequality in America has reached shocking levels.  Today, the top 1% own as much as the bottom 95%! 

How does that compare to the past? 

• 1960 - top 1% had about 28%, bottom 95% had about 42%.
• 1970 - top 1% had about 27%, bottom 95% had about 45%
• 1980 - top 1% had about 23%, bottom 95% had about 49%

Then Reagan happened with Supply Side Economics and deregulation

• 1990 - top 1% had about 27%, bottom 95% had about 49%
• 2000 - top 1% had about 33%, bottom 95% had about 43%
• 2010 - top 1% had about 39%, bottom 95% had about 37%
• 2016 - top 1% had about 39%, bottom 95% had about 38%

So Obama flattened the curve some, but the damage was done.  See chart below.



So, what is happening now? 



In 2016, amazingly, a billionaire Real Estate mogul and television star convinced those suffering from the job dislocations due to technology and globalism that he could get their jobs back by building a wall to keep brown people out, and he would deregulate finances and industry and that would create jobs for them.  And they bought it!  Those suffering from the inequality in the country turned to a 1%-er to save them.  They are going to notice that it didn't work.


What else is happening now?  Democrats are looking at major reshaping of the economic landscape.  Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren wants to place a wealth tax on the top 0.1% of the richest in America.


And young freshman House member, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is proposing a top marginal tax rate of 70% on the ten millionth dollar earned.


Seems to me that taxes are better than guillotines or Communist Revolutions.

Hilarious solution for fat president with small hands problem

What occupies our current president's mind?  Government shutdown which is slowing the economy and hurting the lackluster stock market?  Russian interference in democracies in America and the world?  Anything other than his poll numbers amongst this fervid base?  Well, there is something - his fat body and small hands, or rather, photos of himself revealing his fat body and small hands.  From columnist Dana Milbank:

"The longest government shutdown in U.S. history shows no sign of resolving, and Americans wonder what President Trump and his team are doing.

Now we know. They are doing the important work the people sent them to do. They are elongating Trump’s fingers.

The tech website Gizmodo reported this week that it found at least three retouched photographs on Trump’s social media pages since October, including two in the past few days, in which his body and face have been slimmed, his face and neck wrinkles tightened, his hair cleaned up — “and in one of the strangest alterations, Trump’s fingers have been made slightly longer.”

Comparing the original photographs to the doctored ones, Gizmodo speculates that Trump aides have been using Photoshop or Facetune and finds it “especially weird that his fingers have been made longer, which might lead one to believe that the president has had some input in these alterations.”"

I feel sorry for my conservative friends who feel that they need to defend this silly person.  How did they ever decide that this is the person they wanted to represent them?

The basic rule in dealing with hostage ransom tweets

I think the basic rule in dealing with ransom demands is never pay the ransom since it will only guarantee future hostage taking.  This is the what is happening with Trump's capricious decision to close down a large parts of the government in order to please his anti immigrant base.  He has taken the Federal Government hostage and is demanding a ransom. 


This is not a negotiating tactic. Negotiations are successful attempts to find a solution where both sides have some kind of a win, especially if you are negotiating with a party that you want to or need to continue to work with in the future.  Very, very unfortunately, our current president only sees "negotiating" in terms of a "winner" and a "loser" - and his pathological ego cannot allow himself to be seen as the "loser".  He is the worst negotiator I have ever seen. When you negotiate you make sure the other side wins as well as yourself because you will be back at the table with them again, and again, and again. 

As a reminder, the Senate approved the Continuing Resolution to fund the government with a unanimous voice vote.  Trump refused to sign the authorization to fund the government, even though he and his administration had earlier said he would. 


He betrayed his word because he was criticized by Ann Coulter and Rush Limabaugh, for goodness sake! These are media personalities whose responsibility is to build and keep an audience.  They do so by simplifying their message to get a small segment of the populace - which is a big enough media audience to make them a lot of money. 


But he is a president whose responsibility is to govern a complicated country, and he is supposed to do so by juggling complicated needs of that diverse country.  He acts like a radio talk show host, not the head of the executive branch of government.  He is ever simplifying his message, like a radio talk show host, to attract and keep his audience, which is a relatively small segment of interests in a vastly more complicated country than he is aware of.

Which leads us to the first rule of negotiating - you must be trustworthy.  If nobody can trust your promises then you can't be negotiated with.  Nobody in their right mind could ever trust anything that our current president says or promises.  He just says whatever his current audience wants to hear. So people learn that what this deeply flawed person says is meaningless.


Which leads us to the second rule of negotiating - you must find the decision maker.  Who on earth would that be?  Rush Limbaugh?  Laura Ingraham?  Ann Coulter?  Sean Hannity?  It is certainly not the current president as he has proven that his decisions are made of jelly if he is criticized by the Right Wing Media.


Which leads us to what is really going on here - our current president is not negotiating.  Our current president is not governing.  Our current president is doing the only thing he knows how to do - campaigning - Building his Brand.  And he is campaigning by doing what he thought got him elected in 2016 - by speaking only to and for his base - the hard right wing of the Republican Party.


To bad we don't have an actual president rather than a media personality. 

Why I think our president is controlled by Russia

There were two huge stories that broke in the last week.


First, we found out that the FBI was so concerned about Trump's behavior that it opened an investigation into whether he was secretly working on behalf of Russia.  Secretly?  Seems pretty much out in the open to me, but the fact that the FBI is investigating this is one of the biggest stories in U.S. history.


Second, we found out that Trump hid the content of his in person meetings with Putin.  He met without any Americans present other than an interpreter, and he confiscated the notes.  Sounds like someone taking directions from his KGB officer to me.


So, these are two reasons I think the president of the United States is being controlled by Russia.  There are more...


What does Russia want?  To destroy its arch rival, America, both domestically and internationally. 


Internationally, how has Trump weakened America?  He destroyed our influence in the Far East by pulling out of the Trans Pacific Partnership in which America was the key player in trade and commerce in the Far East.  Now we are gone and China is the key player.  America loses.  Putin is happy.



Internationally, Trump attacked our neighbors - Canada and Mexico - and pulled out of NAFTA, only to re-establish a modified NAFTA and called it??? Trumpfta?  Putin laughs.

Internationally, Trump pulled out of the Iranian nuclear deal where America was the controlling power, only to have the rest the signatories stay in without America.  America loses influence.  Putin smiles.


Internationally, Trump attacks and threatens to pull out of NATO.  WHAT?  There is nothing more important to Putin and the Russians than destroying NATO so that Putin can recapture the Balkan states and re-establish the old Soviet Empire, but now it would be the Russian Empire - which was all it ever was, turns out the Communism part was just the cover story for Russian hegemony and empire.  Putin dances in the streets!!!


How about domestically?  How is Trump destroying America domestically?


Domestically, Trump has done all he can to destroy the government internally by firing, ignoring, and understaffing all of the Government departments, from the State Department to the Department of Energy - see Michael Lewis's "The Fifth Risk" - a terrifying exposure of how the protections of the government of all of us is being destroyed. Putin rubs his hands gleefully.


Domestically, Trump has encouraged and empowered white supremacists and racists and drives as many wedges between Americans as possible.  Putin watches in amazement.


Domestically, Trump has started trade wars, ignoring how trade wars helped kick off the Great Depression of the '30s.  Putin should be worried about this one because Depression becomes a world wide disaster.


Domestically, Trump has shut down the government for 27 days so far, hurting government workers, supporting businesses, and those served by the government workers - us.  Just to show Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, two pretty horrible people, that he is STRONG, STRONG, STRONG!!  Of course all he is showing is that he is w e a k, w e a k, w e a k by cowering before their disapproval.  Putin has to slap himself in the face to make sure he isn't dreaming this one is so good for him.


I could go on forever, but I just get worn out thinking about all the ways Trump is hurting America and helping Russia. 


The fate of the country is in the hands of the Republicans.  Which is to say, the fate of the country is in the hands of those conservatives who continue to support Trump and approve of Trump and who frighten cowardly Republican Senate and House members who are afraid, afraid, afraid of losing their jobs.


Only the Republicans can stop Trump. The Democrats do what they can, but it is up to Republicans.


The shutdown?  Just have the head of the Senate, Mitch McConnell, bring to the floor the continuing resolution to fund the government that they passed unanimously last time with a voice vote, which was passed by the House and re-sent to the Senate.  It will pass again in the Senate.  Send it to the president. He will bitch.  He will complain.  And he will sign it because he doesn't have the sand to veto it.  He is a coward.


Time for Republicans to admit what is obvious - their president is under the control of Russia, and their president is destroying America both domestically and internationally.


It is time.....

Trump - the One Trick Pony

When Trump is in trouble he trots out his one major trick - The Wall - or, more precisely, Be Very Afraid of Brown People. He sees impoverished and threatened families fleeing Central America as dangerous and filthy infestations which need to be turned back, with maximum cruelty preferably.


Trump is feeling the real walls, the walls of exposure and possible prosecution, closing in on him.  And we can reliably count on his whipping his base into a fear frenzy as a way to rescue him.


His first statement of his campaign in 2015 was closing off the country to brown people.  His big campaign push last year in the mid term elections was to create a false crisis of The Caravan of invaders coming up to infect the purity of our (white) country. 


Now, once again it's The Wall, The Wall, The Wall.  Shutting down the government to put up The Wall, The Wall, The Wall.


I suppose his speech, a rerun of his normal fear mongering speech repeated ad nauseum, appealed to his shrinking base, but I found it pretty - nauseating.


There is no crisis at the wall.  Illegal border crossing are about a tenth of what they were in the early '00s.  Most drugs come through airports. Of course, it is true that most immigrants are not white...


I do not find it comforting that our president is so weak that criticism from Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter will make him shut down the government and create ever growing hardship.


He is a One Trick Pony - fear brown and black people.  (And I guess his other tricks are do whatever Russia or the hard right media tell him to do)  Not much of a leader....

It's Time for America to Recover Its Character

America's character has fallen so far in the last two years under the control of Trump the Republicans. An old saying is that the fish starts to rot at the head, and the head of our Administration is a sadly and terribly rotten character.  And, I am afraid I have to say much the same for his Republican base that so avidly supports this truly horrible person. 


What happened to Christians in this country?  They went from the Christ of love and forgiveness, of caring and compassion, to the Trump of Grab 'em by the Pussy, and Getting Rid of People from Shithole Countries. 


The list of examples of the extreme lack of character of this president goes on forever.  His indifference to the suffering he causes in so many ways - the latest is in shutting down the government in order to keep brown people out of the country causes suffering of the government workers who go without paychecks, causes suffering of tax payers who don't get refund checks, causes suffering of tourists who go to parks which are understaffed, filthy and dangerous, and causes suffering of brown people fleeing crime and poverty seeking asylum in what used to be the Land of the Free.  His indifference to all people other than himself is endlessly appalling to me.


His lack of character showed up initially, of course, in his campaign as he actively sought the assistance of a hostile foreign power, Russia, to propagandize for him and against his opponent.


His lack of character showed up immediately upon taking office by refusing to divest his assets and put them into a blind trust - thus actively inviting bribery by foreign powers and domestic political actors to enrich him by using his properties.


His lack of character has been showing up for as long as he has been a public figure by his endless bullshitting and lying about essentially everything that he talks about.


His lack of character shows up with his endless pandering to the white supremacists in his base, especially by saying that there were "very fine people on both sides" in Charlottesville - I don't think there were any very fine people amongst the white supremacists carrying torches and shouting racist filth.


His lack of character showed up in his Trump University which was a scam for which he was found guilty and had to pay fines.


His lack of character showed up when he stiffed his vendors in building his towers and casinos, which failed.


His lack of character showed up when he mocked a disabled reporter.


His lack of character showed up when he was indifferent to the suffering of the brown people is Puerto Rico after a disastrous hurricane.


His lack of character shows up when he supports our border control ripping children from their parents and putting them in cages or barracks apart from their parents.


His lack of character shows up when he puts his cabinet members at a table and demands that they shower him with praise in front of cameras.


There are many, many more examples of this man's complete lack of character, and I am tired of thinking about them.  Suffice it to say that his lack of character is his most defining feature.


The "Alt Right", otherwise better know as white supremacists, will never abandon him. But when will more conservatives find their conscience and turn on him?  What will finally make them gasp in horror and disgust, the way he makes liberals and independents gasp in horror and disgust many times a week? 


It is time for America to get tired of this endlessly narcissistic, ignorant, and pitiless headline stealer. 


It is time for America to recover its character.

Betrayal by a man without honor

Trump's betrayal of allies is perhaps the signature characteristic of his presidency.  It started with pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, attacking NATO, pulling our nuclear deal with Iran, pulling out of NAFTA (only to make minor changes and get back in with a different name he can claim credit for).


But now his betrayal of the Kurds in Syria is a new level of betrayal.  Many who have fought side by side with our Special Forces are going to die.  Why did he do it?  As I wrote earlier, he satisfies Russia by turning the Middle East over to them. 


But, as subsequent stories have revealed, he did this infamous deed at the direct request of the dictator of Turkey - Erdogan.  This gives green lights to the Turks and to ISIS. 


Turkey now has full permission from the U.S. to slaughter the Kurds who are fighting to defeat ISIS.  Turkey now has full permission to slaughter Kurds in Turkey.  Turkey now has permission to slaughter Kurds wherever it wants to slaughter Kurds. Turkey sees the Kurds as a revolutionary force inside of Turkey and wants to crush their efforts to create a Kurdish state, as I understand it.  So, let the blood bath escalate, with full permission of our Honorless president.


ISIS of course is not defeated despite the ridiculous Presidential claim.  They have been given a tremendous morale boost by the announcement of U.S. withdrawal.  They have sent waves of suicide missions against the Turkish forces who have been working with U.S. special forces.


David Ignatius of the Washington Post is an expert on the Middle East.  His interview of the Kurdish leader, Gen. Mazloum Abdi, alongside our Special Forces today is disheartening and says obvious truths.


"Mazloum explained the dangers of a terrorist resurgence after Trump’s sudden decision. Islamic State communications last week showed new hope they can restore their caliphate, which was on the way to destruction"..."after this decision, what are people going to say about America? All the credibility and trust that was built, we have lost.”..."With American air support, SDF fighters destroyed the Islamic State’s capital of Raqqa and all its major strongholds. The Kurds and their Syrian allies paid a severe price: They have suffered about 4,000 dead and 10,000 wounded since 2014. Over that same period, the United States lost only three soldiers in Syria, according to a U.S. military spokesperson"..."Mazloum said his forces had suffered at least 27 killed in action since Trump’s abrupt decision, and many more wounded, as a revitalized terrorist adversary sent a wave of more than 10 suicide attacks against Mazloum’s front lines."...“Right now, we are fighting for ourselves, for our existence,” Mazloum said. “Because all our fighters know that if they don’t defend themselves [the Islamic State] will come back and be stronger, murdering and beheading their families.”


I pay special attention to the following statement by Mazloum -


"...after Trump’s announcement, he’s scrambling to open channels with Russia and the Syrian regime, "to fill this vacuum left by America.” 


Note - Russian and Syria will enter the vacuum left by the U.S  - no, the vacuum is not created by the U.S., the vacuum is created by Trump.  Is it just ignorance?  stupidity? a distraction from the Mueller investigation?  Treason? 


A man without honor is turning America into a nation without honor.  WHERE IS CONGRESS?  WHERE ARE THE REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS?


Speaking of betrayal of allies, anyone who has worked with Trump in his campaign or administration knows full well this pathologically narcissistic man-child will turn on them in an instant - just look at the Kurds.  The Betrayer in Chief is a very dangerous.

Trump to pull Special Forces out of Syria

Trump suddenly and without warning decided that America is pulling about 2000 special forces out of Syria.  I don’t know if this is wise or foolish. 

 

Why did he do it?  Probably just to distract America and the world from the ever growing criminal investigations into his criminal activities.  The long arm of the law is reaching out for the Criminal in Chief.

 

I think Putin is happy because that leaves Russia as the only superpower in the region and elevates Russia’s influence in the region.   Did Putin order Trump to leave?  He certainly seems to benefit from Trump’s foreign policy, and he seems to me to have some form of control over our president.

 

Who benefits from American withdrawal from Syria?  Putin.  He finally gets his long term goal of being  the sole power broker in the Middle East.  He gets to push America out and put Russia into the power vacuum.

 

Who benefits?  The murderous Syrian president, Assad (fully supported by Putin) because the Americans have been helping the anti-Assad forces.

 

Who benefits?  Iran and their support for and control of Assad.

 

Who benefits?  The authoritarian despot Erdogan of Turkey who now has full permission to attack and destroy the Turks who have been backed by America.

 

Who benefits?  ISIS, who were badly damaged but have never gone away, melted into the populace, and will very likely emerge newly, dangerously, and powerfully.  They could claim a victory in pushing America out of Syria as a recruiting ploy, and perhaps multiply alarmingly.

 

Who benefits?  Russia, of course, as they become the power broker in the Middle East.

 

Who benefits?  Perhaps the American boots on the ground who are no longer in harms way.


Who benefits? Trump - in some way since his only motivation is to benefit himself - pleasing someone on Fox News? pleasing Putin? thinking he will get votes in 2020? probably just another day's distraction from his legal problems I suppose.

 

Who is harmed?  Perhaps American boots on the ground in the future if ISIS and Iran and the forces of chaos multiply with the absence of American influence.

 

Who is harmed?  Perhaps America.  We lose all ability to negotiate and shape things in Syria.  We flee the arena and turn over power to our avowed enemies -  Putin’s Russia, Iran, and Assad.

 

Who is harmed?  American allies who have fought and died with us and under our direction and protection.  As always happens in the Middle East, America has proven beyond a doubt that we are not reliable or trustworthy allies.

 

What is likely to happen?  Russia and their ally Iran will control Syria.  America will not have influence in Syria.  ISIS will rise again.  America will be drawn back to fight and die all over again.  I hope I am wrong, but….

The Criminal in Chief

The Trumpsters haven't figured it out yet, but their president is a criminal, always has been, and will continue to be.


His long time attorney, Michael Cohen, was just sentenced to three years in prison for carrying out the orders of his boss.  His boss is guilty of the same crimes, of course.


Step one is to show the country and the world that Trump directed felonious activity to violate campaign finance laws by covering up sexual affairs that were about to be revealed just prior to the election.  He did it. He is guilty.  Will the Republicans impeach for this? (only the Reps can impeach Trump, the Dems can't do it on their own) - No, they can't impeach for covering up sexual affairs, look at what happened when Clinton was impeached for a sexual affair.


Step two is to show the country and the world that Trump received and solicited the help of a hostile foreign power, Russia, to get elected.  We already know this is true (the Trumpsters pretend not to know this as they keep their heads buried in the right wing media bubble which ignores, discounts, diminishes, denies, and deflects actual news about the conspiracies between the Russians and Trump's campaign, and Trump himself).  I expect Mueller will be revealing hard evidence of this going forward.


Regarding the Trump Russian connection, it is a matter of record now that Trump was negotiating with Russia to build a 100 story Trump Tower in Moscow up until the Republican convention that nominated Trump to be their candidate.  Part of that negotiation with the Kremlin was to gift Putin himself with $50,000,000 apartment in the tower.  


So what?  Well, I think it should give the Trumpsters a reason to notice that Trump lied, over and over again, when he said that he had no connections with Russia. (By the way, do you think it might be possible that after Trump leaves office Putin will approve the Moscow tower and Trump can flee to Russia and live in his own tower there?)


So what? Hard evidence of Trump-Russian conspiracy in the hands of Putin gives Putin the leverage of exposure and empowers Putin to control Trump's foreign policy - which we have been witnessing for two years.


Step three will be when Muller and/or the Southern District of New York Attorney General exposes Trump's decades long crimes of money laundering for the Russian oligarchy.  This crime is an even stronger leverage that Putin has over Trump.  You will never see Trump strongly displease Putin. Jail time for this one. 


Eventually, the best option for Trump will be to do what Nixon did - resign with a promise of a pardon from his Vice President who will become president and have the power to pardon him for federal crimes.  Of course, that won't protect him from prosecution by New York, Illinois, or New Jersey, so he may just have to flee to Moscow and trust that Putin will treat him nicely.  But why would he?  Trump will no longer be useful to the wealthiest criminal on the planet. 


Trump's future could be quite bleak.  And he knows it. So, watch out world, the desperate actions of a cornered man-child who happens to have influence over America's military and nukes could become unbelievably ugly. 


It could be that the real ugliness is about to begin.

Trump tarrifs reduce manufacturing jobs in America

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.