Day 975 An Amazing Week of Criminality and Incompetence

Day 975 An Amazing Week of Criminality and Incompetence

Saturday September 7, 2019

424 Days until the 2020 election and 506 days until the Inauguration

It doesn’t matter where you turn criminality in plain sight and a wash of incompetence seems to be the order of the year.

Salman Rushdie was on a talk show this week and he pointed out that it didn’t matter if it was Great Britain, The United States, or India the politicians were all whistling the same sort of tune. I’m not that familiar with what is going on in India so I’ll leave it to his opinion, and I know tangentially what is going on in Britain. Boris Johnson and Donald Trump seem to be awkward cousins boorishly pushing stupid ideas or reacting to their own caused idiocy.

Mr. Trump has had quite a week displaying a wide range of criminal activity, unconstitutionality, stupidity, childishness, and sheer incompetence. His lack of empathy is stunning, but then again no one really believes he has any, so in that sense it’s not hard to understand, but it is still breathtaking to those of us who possess it. 

Where to start?

Sharpiegate! Ah yes, the president took a black ink pen to an official U.S. Weather Service forecast and altered it. That’s a crime. 

Wallgate! The president is diverting funds from the U.S. military to fund his wall. This in direct contradiction to the law. It seems he goes out of his way to find a group he hasn’t slighted and see if he can find a way to humiliate and/or piss off. This time it’s military families left at bases while their loved ones are overseas. Yeah, let’s snatch the classrooms out from under their kids and build a wall.

Irishgate! The president “suggested” that Mike Pence stay at Trump’s resort in Ireland while he’s there visiting and having meetings in Dublin. So what if it’s 185 miles away? So what if you have to get in Airforce 2 everyday and commute? So what if this is in direct violation of the Constitution’s Emoluments clause? I wonder if this makes Mike in violation of that clause too? If so could we have a double impeachment?

G-7 Gate! The president wants to have the next G-7 meeting at his Miami golf course, and why not? So what if it’s another violation of the Emoluments clause? (This time it would be the international part of the clause, instead of the national part. See when Mike Pence shovels money into Trump’s pocket by staying at Trump’s place in Ireland that’s a national violation of the emoluments’ clause but when world leaders are forced to pay that’s an international violation – just to be clear. It’s not often you get two violations in one week.)

Gas Gate! Yeah, a C-130 stopped at an airport in Scotland to refuel. It’s a little airport. It’s been losing money.  Turns out the U.S. military has paid that airport eleven million dollars for fuel. Huh? By sheer coincidence (NOT!) it’s near Trump’s failing golf course. By near I mean his golf course is only 30 miles away. The crew was forced to stay at Trump’s resort. Their per diem didn’t quite cover their expense, and they weren’t really dressed for the occasion, but so what? Ya gotta stop and refuel somewhere, right? I mean we have military bases all over Europe for the purpose of refueling and for our soldiers to stay, but why not land at a tiny airport on the edge of Scotland and pay higher prices? What the heck?

Mine Gate! It turns out that a member of the Interior Department is leaving and getting a job with a mining firm. That mining firm is looking into mining in Alaska. Oddly, this fellow was overseeing the stripping away of regulations and restrictions in that very same part of Alaska when he worked at the Interior Department. What a coincidence?

Payday Loan Gate! The payday loan folks have poured hundred of thousands of dollars into Trump’s failing golf course in Miami (The one Donald want to have the G-7 meeting at.*) What do they get in return? Why they get to continue to rip off the poorest of the poor without any accountability. The Consumer Financial Protection Agency no longer protects consumers. Under Mick Mulvaney’s stewardship they don’t do that kind of thing anymore.  The amount of investigations is down to just abour zero. Thus the payday loan folks, who’s offices are more common than McDonald’s, are free to charge folks 300% or more annually.

* It turns out that revenue is down 69% for that golf course. Seems “the brand” is a bit tarnished.

Lightbulb Gate! Yeah, bring back the old lightbulbs. Why save energy? So what if it will cost the country the equivalent of energy needed for three or four major cities for a year every year? Who needs these silly regs?

This all in one week. What a week. That was the week that was. (Hey, that should be the name of a TV show or comedy bit, don’t ya think?)

Oh yes then there San Francisco declaring The National Rifle Association a domestic terrorist organization. This for some reason has the NRA and gun nuts upset. Some say it’s a symbolic measure. Others say it’s unconstitutional. The woman who brought the measure in front of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors said she looked up the Department of Justice’s definition. Here it is:

“the use of any explosive or firearm, or other weapon or dangerous device, with the intent to endanger directly or indirectly, the safety of one or more individuals, or to cause substantial damage to property.”

Gee, do they fit the definition? I’ll leave it to the student at lab time to determine.

One of my right wing friends posted an article that suggested the best way to keep everyone in America safe was to arm everyone. What an idea? Of course, I already thought of this. I’m just wondering, “When mommy goes to the grocery store with little Jimmy and baby Cathy what should she be packing?” I mean do you just carry a little pistol stuffed into your bra, or is it better to wear an AK47 or AR-15 strapped across your body? Maybe, a 45 in a holster? Isn’t this the America we all envisioned living in? What could go wrong? And when the article says everybody, do they mean everybody? Mentally challenged? The young? The deranged? Who gets to decide? So many questions, in the mean time, let’s sell some more guns, because that’s worked so well so far.

Hey, did you know 95% of all laws are written by lobbyists? Do you wonder why there aren’t any laws protecting “We the People”? I think I have a clue. 

In a few little bits that aren’t exactly related to our president: 

It turns out that their are a lot of abandoned gas and oil wells in this country. And guess what? The oil and gas industry doesn’t have to pay to cap them! At a cost of $80,000 per well and over 500,000 wells it seems to me that this is a huge giveaway to the oil and gas industry. Hum, imagine what gas would cost if we actually had to pay for all the expenses associated and that industry wasn’t given tax breaks by the government?

Oh and in a previous week’s shredding of norms, the personal attorney for the president who is also serving supposedly as the Attorney General for the country, is having the office Christmas party at a Trump facility. I guess we’ll have to have the Department of Justice look into whether that’s a violation of the Emoluments clause of the Constitution? 

There seem to be a number of Republicans retiring. Thirteen in the House and four in the Senate. I wonder why? Some have said it’s no fun being in the minority in the House and they don’t see that they’ll retake the House. The Senate? Well, if the Russians and the billionaires team up there’s a good chance they can fool enough of the people that Mitch can stay in charge and block anything that comes up. If we get a Democratic president I guess Mitch’s wife will be out of a job and can’t shovel anymore money directly into Kentucky for her husband or give her daddy’s company more shipping business. Too bad.

Other than stopping any kind of legislation that would actually help the general population is there anything Mitch McConnell stands for? Well, enriching himself and keeping in power. For what? Enriching himself. Oh. got it.

You know from time to time I go back and listen to John Kennedy’s speeches. A few sound bites perhaps, but that’s enough. Enough for me to remember a time that a President inspired folks. A time when a man stood for something. A time when we were doing things that mattered. 

Now? 

Can you think of anything that Donald Trump has said that is inspiring?

What about Mitch McConnell”

Or Mike Pence?

Laughable? Yes.

Inspiring? No.

I pray that when this is over and we look upon the wreckage of our republic that there is enough left that we can patch it together. That we can once again stand for something. That tarnished and muck covered we can rise again with humility and a sense of purpose, shaking off the slime, and that we can face the real problems of the world and try to fix them.

424 Days until the 2020 election and 506 days until the Inauguration

PS “Bad Boys, Bad Boys. What ya gonna do, when they come for you?” (That should be a song. It is? Who knew? Did you know that? …)