Archives for March 2019

Day 799 Saturday March 16, 2019

597 Days to the 2020 election and 675 Days to Inauguration Day

The Continuing and Expanding Creep Show

Rachel had a segment last night that was really really creepy. There’s this guy appointed by Trump to oversee kids in detention centers that came here to seek legal immigration status. He’s a big Roman Catholic Church guy and is a member of The Knights of Columbus. As far as I knew they raised money for fireworks on the Fourth of July, but they also do other things. This guy has published articles saying abortion should not be allowed and that contraception is the same thing as abortion and should not be allowed. 

He heads up an agency where there are girls in his care. Some of these girls are pregnant. Last year a girl who was pregnant wanted an abortion. He did everything he could to stop her from getting an abortion, including not letting her go to see a doctor. He was taken to court. He lost. It was made a class action suit and he was no longer allowed to obstruct a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion. This was in March of 2018. It turns out he had been keeping a spreadsheet of all the pregnant girls in his care. 

This is where it gets creepy. He had each girl identified by number, when they reported their pregnancy, how they got pregnant, whether they wanted an abortion, when their last menstrual cycle was, and how far along their pregnancy was. The express purpose of this report was to try and prevent these young women from getting an abortion, to delay the procedure until their pregnancy was too far along.

He was prevented from stopping these women from getting abortions in March of 2018, but he is still keeping the report going. There is no reason for the report other than to try and prevent women from getting the attention they seek. This week under a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA) a group got hold of the report. It’s 28 pages long! I don’t know how many entries there are on a page but let’s say it’s 20. That’s 560 women! If 30 per page it’s 840 and at 40 per page it’s 1120. Yikes.

Besides being creepy, unconstitutional, and weird I got to wonder if it’s criminal. I would think denying someone their Constitutional rights is some sort of legal violation. Yet, there it is. This guy is still in the job. 

So, not only does the Roman Catholic Church have to worry about male priests as pedophiles attacking young boys; it also has to deal with one of their big male civilian institutions promoting some weird part of its doctrine in illegal ways.

For a brief history lesson, The Catholic Church had a number of odd ducks that got pushed to the edges of their control. That place was Ireland. The RC priests from Ireland were the ones that really got the Roman Catholic Church going in America. So we are blessed/cursed with a rather puritanical extreme version of Roman Catholicism, which was also reinforced by the Puritans who escaped Europe to get away from religious suppression so they could form their own version of it. 

It was in reaction to the Puritans that Roger Williams escaped the Massachusetts Bay Colony, went to England and convinced Parliament to let him set up a new colony based on the odd idea of religious and political freedom and to let him try this really unusyal idea called democracy. Thus Rhode Island was founded in 1636. 

I’m sorry, but have you ever met anyone who believed in god that didn’t think their god was THE GOD? The best I’ve ever seen is a kind of laissez-faire attitude toward it. 

Lisa Randall, well known physicist and author, as a child was curious and when she was told heaven was in the sky and god was in the clouds wanted to know which cloud god was in. It’s a rather practical question. Naturally, the adults laughed and pooh-poohed her. But it’s a valid question. The fact that those who believe can’t answer it points out the problem with religion in general. In “A History of God” Karen Armstrong writes about the changing role god is cast in. Each time there is something that is a problem factually or logically then there is an explanation, which ends up that god shrinks from that part of what was claimed before. As the notion of god continues, one could say that it is the notion of the reasoning for that which we can’t explain. 

It seems humans want to understand. When the knowledge required is not available then they say god of the gods did it, or are responsible, etc. 

I contend that whatever embodiment of god a culture has is due to parents and grand-parents saying anything they can to get the kid to stop asking, “Why?” 

There’s an interesting new Great Courses out entitled, “How Jesus Became God.” Interesting. I mean. When he started out he wasn’t god. That came later. I guess at Nicene, but maybe before. He had a good PR man in St. Paul. If it weren’t for Paul, none of this would have happened. There were a lot of bare foot guys wandering around the Levant 2,000 years ago yelling about the Romans and claiming they had good news. But it took the right combination to start a new religion. 

That’s not what I meant to talk about. Sorry.

Rick Gates! Remember him. Paul Manafort’s second in command? Part of the Trump Inauguration Committee? Yeah, baby. He was due to be sentenced yesterday, and for the fifth time Mueller’s team asked for a continuance because Rick was still cooperating with on-going investigations. Some thought once Manafort was sentenced that Gates’ work would be done. Apparently not. Ongoing investigations? Really? Which ones? 

Are we talking about the investigations into the Inaugural Committee? If so is it the one in New York, DC, New Jersey, or the Federal one out of the Southern District of New York? So many investigations to pick from. 

Let’s make a list:

Trump Organization taxes,

Trump University scam,

Trump Foundation – criminal fraud,

Manafort, Gates criminal activities,

Cohen criminal activities,

Russian social media criminal activities,

Flynn criminal activities,

Russian hacking,

Collusion with Wikileaks,

Campaign finance criminal activities,

Inauguration criminal activities,

Trump nepotism and emoluments violations, 

Obstruction of Justice.

Now who might be investigating:

Robert Mueller – Special Counsel,

Southern District of New York – Federal Prosecutors,

Eastern District of Virginia – Federal Prosecutors,

Florida Souther District Federal Court,

New York States Attorney,

Manhattan District Attorney,

Then there’s the House Committees:

Oversight,

Intelligence,

Judiciary,

Financial Services,

Foreign Affairs,

Ways and Means,

But other than that I can’t think of anyone or anything, but I may have missed a few.

Don’t you miss the days of Obama’s tan suit, or Hillary having a picture taken?

597 Days to the 2020 election and 675 Days to Inauguration Day

PS Four Days til Kukulcan shows his tail on the Castillo at Chichen Itza on the Vernal Equinox. (March 20, 2019.) 

Day 798 Friday March 15, 2019

598 Days to the 2020 election and 676 Days to Inauguration Day

We are caught in a really bad nightmare. I keep hoping to wake up and find it is not true. It’s been coming for a long time. What worries me the most is the constant chipping away, little piece by little piece at our democracy and our institutions. All these people taking their little bites for themselves, like a school of piranha.

Let’s look at yesterday’s news:

– A Republican congressman released the full transcripts of  the testimony of Lisa Paige and of Peter Strzok, the two FBI agents that were having an affair and exchanged some text messages that were not complimentary to Donald Trump. This had Republicans and the their right wing buddies jumping up and down about how the FBI was against Trump, in the bag for Hillary, not professional, etc. etc. etc. 

Now we get to read the full transcripts. Whoops. It shows just the opposite. Huh? Who knew? Obviously, not this Congressman. In fact, it shows just the opposite. If an FBI agent had wanted to damage Trump they would have leaked the information that his campaign was under investigation, but they didn’t because they are professionals. 

According to the testimony there was credible evidence that Russians were working with people in the Trump campaign to get him elected, and – according to the testimony – anytime Russians are doing anything in the U.S. it is taken seriously. They, the FBI would have investigated regardless of whether Trump had won or not.

So there you have it. Republican Congressman says he’s releasing entire testimony to show the FBI for what it is. What he thinks it is and the truth are at polar opposites. 

– A mass shooting in New Zealand, inspired by right wing nuts in this country.

– Remington, maker of Bushmaster, the AR-15 used to mow down the children in Sandy Hook Elementary in 243 seconds is being sued. Remember under W and the Republicans in Congress they passed legislation saying gun manufacturers could not be sued for selling weapons. Now, they are being sued for marketing weapons in a manner that suggests their product would be great for criminal activity. The lawyer for the plaintiff asked the question, “Would we hesitate to condemn Ford if it marketed a car saying it would be great for running into a crowd?”

– And then there’s Wilbur Ross “W-I-L-BURRRR” (For Mr Ed fans.) and sidekicks Mark Meadows and Paul Gosar.

Together they teamed up to make fools of themselves not once in a committee hearing but twice!

Way to go boys!

I don’t know who went first, but it really doesn’t matter. Wilbur Ross reminds me of Mr. Dithers from the Simpsons, except he doesn’t seem to be in as good health as Dithers. Let’s remember that Ross was involved with the Bank of Cyprus when it was laundering money for Russian oligarchs. At that time he was on the board of the bank. He resigned to become Secretary of Commerce. There were some issues he had with stocks that he had to get rid of, which he did by signing them over to family members.

Now on to the Census thingee. The right wing wants a citizenship question on the U.S. Census. Seems okay right? They also want to count only citizens. Seems okay too, right? Kind of anodyne, right? I mean, “what’s the big deal?” 

Like many of these things they seem harmless until you hear the facts.

– One, it’s unconstitutional. The U.S. Constitution makes clear everyone is to be counted. Why? Well, for one thing we broke away from Britain and formed our own country specifically around this question. The Boston Tea Party was because of this very problem, and Patrick Henry said, “No taxation without representation,” and he also said, “Don’t tread on me.” Now, I kinda think those are right wing talking points suitable for tee-shirts and license plates, so it’s kind of odd that now they want to go against that pattern of Revolutionary patriotism and zeal, but that’s what Ross wants to do. Why? Well, they know if you put a “Are you a U.S. citizen?” on the 2020 Census a lot of people will either lie or hide and not be counted, which is exactly what they want. The Census is used for apportionment of Congressional seats and funding. If they can keep those shithole Democratic states, like California and New York, from under reporting the people they have then the welfare Republican states like Wyoming and North Dakota get more money and power.

Let’s also not forget the Ross has already lied to Congress about this issue. He said he was asked by AG Jeff Sessions for this data for law enforcement purposes, which is true. But but but, Sessions asked because Ross asked him to do so, which he lied about to Congress. The Census people went back to Justice and said they could give them better data for law enforcement purposes and cheaper than putting it in the Census. Better? Cheaper? What’s not to like? Sessions told them, his own Justice people, not to take the meeting. Why would he not want them to take the meeting? BECAUSE HE HAD NO INTEREST IN THE DATA!

Okay with that as background let’s look at the latest round of back and forth with W-I-L-BURRR and the Congressional Oversight Committee (now that it is in the hands of Democrats, who want to really perform oversight):

Paul Gosar compares Ross to Jefferson. U.S. Virgin Island representative, Stacey Plaskett takes exception to the characterization reminding folks that Jefferson was a slave owner and approved the idea that slaves were 3/5ths of a man.

Here’s a unbiased report from Daily Kos.*

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/3/14/1842149/-Virgin-Islands-delegate-pounds-Wilbur-Ross-on-census-hypocrisy-silencing-Jim-Jordan-along-the-way? 

*Okay, it’s not unbiased. It calls Ross a doddering old man. What’s wrong with that? He is.

Then Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asks  W-I-L-BURRR a question. You think he’s doddering? The old fool says he doesn’t feel a need to answer the question. (Because AOC is out of time.) Chairman Cummings tells him he can answer the question. He says he doesn’t feel the need. Cummings tells him he, Cummings is asking. Now he feels the need. He says he doesn’t know or wait he says he’s complied with the law. AOC says that under the law Census has to provide three reports and they’ve only provided the first two. The third one is the one Congress acts on and that hasn’t been provided putting him, the Secretary of Commerce and the Department of Commerce in violation of the law, and AOC’s question is why hasn’t that been provided? 

Ross goes into his fumbling forgetful old man routine and throws in a lie. “We’ve complied with the law.” 

This is too much for Mark Meadows, a stickler for procedure when the committee was interviewing Michael Cohen, but now? Not so much. He doesn’t know what law is. He thinks this is way out of line yadda yadda yadda. But he must love Ms Cortez quoting chapter and verse the law’s chapter and verse and offering to provide the Congressman with a copy of the law. Cummings got Ross to say he’d give the committee in writing that they, Commerce, had complied with the law. Wow, they are willing to put his lie in writing. Especially, funny is that Cummings said after AOC made her comments that the third report hadn’t been provided that Ross had a bunch of lawyer types scurrying to try and confirm what she was saying;

Here’s the two minute version: 

https://www.nbcnews.com/video/rep-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-grills-secretary-ross-over-citizenship-question-in-2020-census-1458419779512

Here’s the longer eight minute version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL9nXM5A-DQ

Enough for now.

598 Days to the 2020 election and 676 Days to Inauguration Day

PS Get your wedding supplies at the Clearance section of Wal-Mart. Yeah, Baby!

 

Day 797 Thursday March 14, 2019

599 Days to the 2020 election and 677 Days to Inauguration Day

Dissembling.

It’s more than a fifty cent word. I’d give it five bucks.

It’s a word I kind of know the meaning of, enough to be able to figure out that it’s not a good thing to do when I read a sentence where it is used. But I wouldn’t be able to use it in a sentence myself, until yesterday when I learned the definition.

Dissemble: (verb) to conceal one’s true motives, feelings, or beliefs.

–                               to disguise or conceal (a feeling or intention.)

The judge used the phrase “dissembling in this courtroom” in reference to Paul Manafort the other day in the Washington DC courtroom before sentencing him.

He appeared to act sheepishly before her. He said he was sorry. He said he was changing. He said his wife needed him and that he’d be seventy years old in a few weeks.

Aw. So sad.

What Paul Manafort and his legal team have been doing, and what Paul Manafort did for most of his life, is a reflection of our society for the rich and well connected.

What the judge said to him before sentencing is worth repeating and reflecting upon. The question to me is, “Is this how we want our society to conduct itself?” Is this what we have become? Is there no regard for truth, honesty, and social norms?

As I have studied history it has been abundantly clear that there are two levels of society, any society: the rich and powerful, and everybody else. Those in power will use whatever they have at their disposal to stay in power. They will lie. They will use religion. They will use the press, the army, the courts, whatever they are able to so do to be able to manipulate situations to stay in power. 

The Roman Catholic church is full of sexual predators, but this is nothing new. It goes back centuries. There was a nun who used to have orgies. In Paraguay there are medicine men who are really scam artists who take what little people have and perform useless healing rituals. What do they do when they are sick? They go to the big city and see a doctor. The rich getting out of military service is another one. Remember in the Civil War you could buy your way out of service? Same thing throughout the ages. 

It’s fascinating to me that on the day Manafort got sentenced a second time that a story broke about a bribery scandal that the rich were paying to get their kids into some top notch schools.

The other day I wrote about how a right wing (I mean “conservative” media outlet) The Hill attacked AOC and had glaring headlines denigrating* her, yet, when you actually listened to and watched the video none of what they claimed was in their evidence. The same thing happened in the lawyer’s comments after the Manafort hearing. In fact, it happened twice! At both trials. The judges in both cases went out of their way to say that their cases had nothing to do with Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential campaign. Yet, this did not stop the lawyer each time saying after sentence was imposed that the judge affirmed there was no collusion. This was a lie, both times. Yet, they persisted in saying this lie, and they said it over and over again during the two trials.

* another $5 word.

Let’s review a few of the things the judge in the DC case did say:

She mentioned his “disregard for the facts”, 

his “dissembling in this courtroom”,

“his belief that he had the right to manipulate these proceedings, and the Court orders and the rules didn’t apply to him”,

“a significant portion of his career has been spent gaming the system.”

That is what she said about Manafort’s character and behavior, as to his legal defense:

The judge said that Russian collusion had no bearing on this case and the repeated mentioning of it must have been intended for another audience. She said the no collusion refrain was repeated and unrelenting. As to the defense’s written plea in reference to that she said, “It’s hard to understand why and attorney would write that… with no citation.”

She went on to say the no-collusion mantra is simply a non-sequitur that doesn’t bear on the question before the Court. The question of collusion may or may not be applicable, but seeing as how the investigation is unfinished and no report has been issued it can not be determined.

She went on to say, “It is also not particularly persuasive to argue that an investigation hasn’t found anything when you lied to the investigators.”

She went on to say, “The question of whether there was or was not any coordination or conspiracy or collusion between anyone associated with the presidential campaign and anyone in Russia was not presented in this case. PERIOD. Therefore, it was not resolved one way or the other by the case.”

Just in case you missed the point here:

THE MANAFORT CASE WAS NOT ABOUT COLLUSION.

THE MANAFORT CASE WAS NOT ABOUT COLLUSION.

THE MANAFORT CASE WAS NOT ABOUT COLLUSION.

And in his earlier case in Virginia:

THE MANAFORT CASE WAS NOT ABOUT COLLUSION.

THE MANAFORT CASE WAS NOT ABOUT COLLUSION.

THE MANAFORT CASE WAS NOT ABOUT COLLUSION.

In the Virginia case the judge said the case about collusion was not considered because that was “not before the Court for anything to do with collusion with the Russian government to influence this election.”

In both cases the prosecution went out of their way to make it clear that Paul Manafort did not cooperate with the investigators. The DC judge said he deliberately lied about his connection to Konstantin Kilimnik who has been linked to Russian intelligence.

He also lied about giving detailed polling information about the Trump campaign to a Russian, which wasn’t revealed until prosecutors revealed it in court filings.

When the attorney for Manafort left the court he stated that the judge found no collusion. This brought catcalls from those assembled who yelled, “That’s not what she said.” (and she didn’t)

The cat caller then yelled, “You aren’t lawyers. You’re liars.”

This same lawyer told the same lie after the Virginia trial.

In fact, that was the only statement the lying lawyer said to those assembled both times.

Oh well, New York is after Paul now. Sixteen counts. Hey, eight of them are the same crimes that Michael Cohen is going to jail for. That’s the case where there’s an unindicted co-conspirator, one Donald J. Trump, president of the Untied States. Hum. lemme think If Mikey is going to jail for this crime and Paulie is up on charges for the same crime, which he has already plead guilty to in Federal court and Donnie is also listed as a co-conspirator than what does this mean for Donnie? I think it means he could be in trouble.

599 Days to the 2020 election and 677 Days to Inauguration Day

PS Saddle up cowboys! We’re going ridin’ 

Day 796 Wednesday March 13, 2019

600 Days to the 2020 election and 678 Days to Inauguration Day

Okay. Well. Hum. I saw a headline today:
“Ocasio-Cortez Melts Down Amid Mockery of Her Wells Fargo Questions”
and
“WATCH: Ocasio-Cortez Tries To Grill Well Fargo’s CEO. He Destroys Her.”
It’s from The Hill.
I looked up The Hill on Wikipedia and surprise surprise it’s a “conservative” media outlet.
The subtext of the article both said “socialist …”
Both articles showed the same two minute video.
There was nothing grilling about the questioning. There was no melt down. There was no mockery. It was a rather usual kind of questioning. She asked him about funding various pipeline projects and he said they didn’t fund one of the two pipelines she mentioned and that the other one was done with a group of banks and he claimed only for a short period of time. I’ll be interested to see what the facts are. I wonder what he thinks “a short period of time” is. I also wonder if he’s correct in what he said. But in no way was there a melt down, or even a heated exchange. I mean if you want heated exchanges or not even heated but snarky and attempts to put words in someone’s mouth watch Jim Jordan. Ocasio-Cortez is not like that. She is factual, controlled, and to the point. Her basic question was “shouldn’t banks be responsible for the clean up of the oil spills on the pipelines they lent money to build?” He didn’t answer that question. Instead he said they didn’t lend the money for one of the pipelines AOC brought up, and the other one for only a short period of time. Is that mockery? Did he destroy her? No. What if he’s misinformed and Well Fargo really did lend the money? So two can play that game, but really? Come on now.

There was an interview with Erik Prince. This was more of a grilling. He was asked some questions. He said he didn’t say what he was quoted in a transcript as saying. He then claimed the transcript was wrong. Okay? Who do you believe? He was caught out several times in the course of two minutes. Aren’t you surprised The Hill didn’t report that? No, of course not, they will only report what they think makes someone they don’t like look bad. In the case of AOC the headlines were lies – plain and simple. What are they counting on? They have to be wanting to create the illusion and hope they don’t get confronted on the fact. They want the headline to carry the day. It’s an old sad trick.

I’ve heard and read people attacking AOC. Calling her a socialist, saying she’s a witch, saying she doesn’t live in her district, that her local office isn’t ready yet, that they think her Green New Deal is too expensive, etc. etc. etc. But what do those people offer instead? What is their plan?
They offer what they call a more modest or moderate approach. Or they say it’s not that big a deal. Or one person who ripped her for being a socialist said that what we needed was a government agency to oversee … hold on, isn’t that socialism?
Okay, how have moderate solutions worked out since 1980 when Reagan came into office? The middle class has been in decline. The poor have been attacked and ostracized. The rich have become absurdly richer and we as a nation have gone deeply into debt under conservative economic guidance. So let me ask, “Do you want more of the same?”
What Ms Ocasio-Cortez has said is we can fix these problems if we want to do it. We are a great nation and we have always risen to the challenges before. She is calling for bold new thinking and aggressive new plans. She is not for subtle half measures.
So do you want to be the frog in the slow boil pot? We’ve been that for 48 years.
Or do you want to say, “Screw that! I’m jumping out and doing something different, because what we’ve been doing isn’t working.”

You want to call it socialism, you want to call it government regulated capitalism, you want to call it Have You Had Enough of This Conservative Give Money to the Rich BS? I don’t care what you want to call it, but it’s time for a change. It’s time for new leadership. It’s time for new ideas. Screw the moderate approach. It hasn’t worked.

In other news two planes crashed recently. Both seemed to have had a similar problem. It is with an automatic trim device. For some reason it put the planes into a nose dive shortly after take off. This has been a problem that had been identified by pilots and yet no action has been taken to fix it. The current procedure is to disable the device. As in “If the plane goes into a nose dive it is recommended to disable the trim device,” which if you haven’t been told ahead of time (that would be called “training” ) you probably aren’t going to flip through old notices to see what to do in that situation.
But don’t worry we have the FAA. It’s being run by an “acting” official because after Trump couldn’t get his personal pilot approved for the job never bothered to nominate anyone else. You remember the pilot? The one who didn’t file the registration papers for the plane Trump was flying around in? You know that’s like riding around in a car with expired plates. Was he also the one that banged the plane Pence was in when the landed at La Guardia? I think so.
Hey but don’t worry the Secretary of Transportation is all over it. She’s Mitch McConnell’s wife. Remember her? She was Secretary of Labor for eight years under W. Her tenure was marked by walking away from regulatory functions and not investigating low wage and hour law complaints. They didn’t conduct mine safety checks, sided with business against employees and unions. Yeah, I’m sure she’ll do a fine job.
When not in government service she was a Fellow at the Heritage Foundation and Fox News. What could go wrong?

Meanwhile Paul Manafort got sentenced for another few months bringing his prison time to seven and a half years. Hey, he told the judge he was sorry and that his wife needed him at home. Why didn’t she, the judge, listen to him?
Right after his sentence was handed down the State of New York hit him with a 16 count indictment. Aw, no Paulie. you’re going to have to go through more pain and suffering.

Otherwise it’s been quiet. Hasn’t it?
In the batter’s box: Roger the Dodger. I can’t wait to hear his explanation to the judge this time.
On deck; Michael Flynn. Last time the judge wanted to charge him with treason but judges aren’t the ones that bring charges.
And after that why it’s Rick Gates. Who’s been a good boy? Is it you?

We’ll see.

Meanwhile the White House released a budget. This is stunning. Trump wants money for a wall on the southern border (who knew?), more money for the military, and he wants to screw the poor and the middle class. Meanwhile, the White House is moving to close immigration centers. I gotta believe the last one is the brainchild of Stephen Miller. I mean what a brilliant idea! “Sorry, but you have to enter this country legally, and you can’t do that because we’ve closed all the centers!!!”

600 Days to the 2020 election and 678 Days to Inauguration Day

PS Welcome to Teotihuacan

Day 795 Tuesday March 12, 2019

601 Days to the 2020 election and 679 Days to Inauguration Day

Every day this week another criminal uncovered in the Mueller probe will go before a judge to learn more about their fate. Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Roger Stone (again), Rick Gates is the line up Monday through Friday. 

In a hilarious piece of, (I dunno what to call it, silliness?) Roger Stone and his lawyers are crying crocodile tears because he is rereleasing a book with a new intro. The intro is about the case he has been gag-ordered on. The legal team is arguing that the man needs to make a living. Gee, I wish he’d go before the House committee and we could get those Reps to ask him, like they did Michael Cohen, to forego any profits from a book or movie deal. Wouldn’t you love to hear Roger play “poor me”? 

Meanwhile Nancy Pelosi (or as Donald calls her “Nancy”) has said she’s not for impeachment. Well this got everyone buzzing. This even got the White House to hold a press conference. The first in 42 days. Okay, maybe they had another reason to hold one. I forget what they were trying to distract us from. I think Sarah Sanders is incredible. To lie like that and seem to feel no remorse is stunning. It’s not like Jared, who from recent accounts is the dumb dark lord, but he appears so young freshly scrubbed face innocent. 

Nancy is really really smart politically. Why push for impeachment and take up all the time and resources that would take for Mitch in the Senate to do what he’s been doing all along – nothing (except pushing through right wing judges that will screw up the country for generations)? Nancy will wait until the Mueller report comes out (or the president is shackled and dragged out of the White House) and then she, like Mitch, will count Senatorial votes, if the count to impeach goes to 67 Senators, then she’ll act. In the meantime she’ll keep working on things that actually help people in this country. She also realizes that if Trump goes Pence becomes president (Ouch, that’s like the old joke about Nixon when Agnew was VP. Nixon would say, “Either give me what I want or I’ll go in the White House and kill myself.” (The implication being that Agnew would be much worse.) )

And then Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez apparently drew the largest crowds at Davos. Standing room only, out the door. Her message? The rich have to pay taxes; a combination of capitalism and government working together (sometimes called socialism) is the best way for a society to move forward, and – oh yeah – if we don’t address climate change we’re screwed. Also, she pointed out again and again that we as a society, as individuals, as governments, as countries are able to do great things. Think big, act. ( Fucking Commie Socialist. What the hell? )

Then there was the testimony of the head of The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau being interviewed by Congress. The woman didn’t know what went into an Annual Percentage Rate (APR). Now, if you are head of the agency whose main responsibility is protecting folks from high interest rates then knowing what things go into the calculation of those interest rates is a pretty important thing to know. But she didn’t. She was also asked to calculate an APR based on a payday lender type example (You borrow $200 for two weeks at a setup cost of $20 and a rate of $10 per hundred for the two weeks. What is the APR?) I did the calculation in my head (520%). The woman, the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau not only couldn’t do the calculation, she had no idea where to start. The rep asking the question offered to loan her a text book on the subject if she needed it. The textbook the rep had written! Seems to me we need the rep in charge of the CFPB and not this yahoo that Trump picked. 

Okay, that’s it. 

Well, one more thing. Trump has submitted a budget that cuts health care and social services and increases spending in defense and his wall. What a surprise!

601 Days to the 2020 election and 679 Days to Inauguration Day

PS Keeping an eye on the situation.