Archives for March 2018

This was a thought I had a few days ago before I left for the jungle.

Over 60 people have left the White House. My favorite is Hope Hicks. Twenty nine years old, did a little modeling, worked for Ivanka and then Donald, and has left to pursue “other opportunities” a day after being interviewed by Mueller’s team. With such a resume I’m sure she has a lot of irons in the fire. But I digressed.

Donald said that everyone wants to work at the White House, and that there are ten people waiting in line for every job. Lemme do the math: ten times sixty is … don’t get your calculator … six hundred! Well, no wonder it’s taking so long to fill those jobs, so many resumes to go through. (that’s what normal logic would tell you.)

But…but… you must apply Ayn Rand principles here: check your assumptions – one of them is wrong.

Oh, found it. Donald is a liar. Donald always lies. Donald can’t help it. Therefore, everything he says is not true. So now do the math: (Donald is a liar) sixty times ten equals zero.

The truth comes out.

PS What it say.

1,162 Days to Go

Late Posting due to travel

“11” “66” sounds like an ominous number. “1066” is of course an important number. It’s the last time England was invaded. We have been invaded so I guess 2018 will live in infamy, or obscurity, depending on your point of view.

Not much has gone on:

• more people quit the White House
• Carl Ichan dumped his steel stocks just before Trump announced the idea of an embargo
• Cohn quit over that little dumb move (the embargo)
• Some unknown from the UAE has become a central figure in the Russia investigation. Turns out he’s been in on all kinds of back channel meetings. Seychelles? Check. Russians Trump Tower – check. Turns out he runs a fund that pumps billions onto various influence campaigns around the world. Some of that money it is believed came from Russia. Some of that money went to the Trump campaign. If so that’s a crime. But don’t worry, Donnie didn’t know. Just ask him.
• And some guy says he won’t comply with the subpoena from the Mueller investigation. He’s got three reasons: it’s too much work; he’s busy; Roger Stone is like a father to him and he won’t throw Roger under the bus. To which I answer, in order: tough shit, you won’t be that busy when you are in jail, you don’t get to tell the Special Prosecutor what questions he’ll ask you.

Bobby Three Sticks don’t play. He doesn’t laugh. He rarely smiles. If he asks you a question, he expects you to answer it. If he tells someone to do something, he expects them to do it.

What was interesting to watch was this knucklehead going from show to show saying stupid stuff. The earlier shows said they smelled alcohol on his breath. By the time he got to the six o’clock show he was beginning to sober up. When a lawyer and three former Federal prosecutors explained exactly what would happen to him if he didn’t comply I could see his eyes shifting back and forth – considering. Maybe, he was going to change his stance? You’re damn right he will. Bobby will crack him like an egg. I loved his, “I’m not going to jail” statement. When the three women former prosecutors said basically, “Oh yes you will.” His eyes got really shifty back and forth. As if to say, “Really? Ya think so?” the answer from the women former prosecutors was not “Ya think?” but “Yeah.”

Then there’s the rumor that Putin killed off the idea of Mitt Romney being Secretary of State. He liked Tillerson better. What a surprise!

1,166 Days to Go

PS Tzikin Tzakan

Yesterday I looked at the week in review, today let’s look at the year, and the longer scope of history in regards to Trump and the Radical Right (oftentimes called “Conservatism.”) Conservatism as it has been put into action has little to do with conserving anything. If you think of the idea of “Conserving the Environment for Future Generations” or “conserving your money” and you look at the modern political movements that call themselves conservative you would be hard pressed to make a case that they are either conserving resources or money; in fact, they are doing quite the opposite. What are they doing and why? I know you’ll find this shocking but at it’s core it’s about money. Money, power, and control would be how I would characterize it. This is nothing new. History is littered with people and classes of people using their knowledge and authority to subjugate others. When it becomes really dangerous is when those in power don’t realize it’s a con.

In the latest Rolling Stone (March 8, 2018) there’s a two page spread entitled “Trump Versus The Working Class.” That article goes into outline detail as to how Trump and his band have screwed over the average joe. I’ll list the nine areas and the subheads:

1. Higher Taxes:
   • Hikes for Workers
   • Breaks for Robots
   • Jobs sent Overseas
2. Lower Wages
   • Overtime Denied
   • Tipping Employers
   • Contract Employees
3. Costly Living
   • High Housing Costs
   • Slashed Deductions
4. Financial Exploitation
   • High Investor Fees
   • Gutting Consumers
   • No Class Action
   • Tax Cuts for the Rich
5. No Health Care
   • Lost Benefits
   • Spiking Premiums
6. Diploma Debt
   • Loan Repayment
7. Opioid Crisis
   • Little Done on Drugs
8. Burning Jobs
   • Kneecapping Solar
   • Cruel Cuts
9. Dangerous Workplaces
   • Lax Contracts
   • Unsafe Conditions

That list is pretty much the conservative agenda. Those are the positive things they want to do. the negative ones are even more sinister. To accomplish their goals they resort to lying and gas lighting: black is white, white is black, It’s not raining; that’s liquid sunshine, whatever.

The acolytes of the cause are people like Ran Paul with his nutty economic ideas that he inherited from his dad. (“If we diddle the money supply through interest rates we can fix everything.” – Please.)

Or William Buckley and his spawn, which is oft seen as the roots of the modern conservative movement. The problem I’ve always had with Buckley going back to when I was ten years old and I’d tune into his show Crossfire was the basic dishonesty of not only what he was saying, but how he said it. The show while appearing to be a discussion of an issue or a conversation to try and understand a guest’s point of view was nothing of the sort. As a kid it seemed odd to me, something was wrong; it didn’t make sense, but I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was. What it was was an attempt to belittle the guest and their ideas through the misuse of terms and definitions, ie language, to try and make something that was real seem silly and irrational and what he espoused which really was silly and irrational seem wholesome and real, even believable. Buckley was very successful in doing this. He’s considered the father of modern conservatism.

Ask yourself this, “If conservatism is so great and successful why are we in such a mess?” Since WWII Republicans have been in charge of government in this country for more years than Democrats. They all espouse “conservative principles” whatever that means, yet, here we are, in worse shape than ever. Why? Could it be that “this shit don’t work”? Or would you like me to dress it up in more prosaic terms?

1,169 Days to Go

PS What are you looking at?