Archives for September 2019

Day 975 An Amazing Week of Criminality and Incompetence

September 7, 2019 by Rick Kinnaird 1 Comment

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

African statue with axe — I’m coming to git you. (Sorry Jimi.)

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? …)

Day 974 We are Getting Screwed

September 6, 2019 by Rick Kinnaird Leave a Comment

Day 974 We are Getting Screwed

Friday September 6, 2019

425 Days until the 2020 election and 507 days until the Inauguration

The administration has rolled back regulations on light bulbs. That will cost us billions in extra energy.

The president has taken in millions from the payday loan folks via his Miami golf course. What do they get in return? Why the agency that was going after them for their 300% annual loans no longer does. They get to make millions by screwing over the poorest of the poor in this country.

The administration and the president being an equal opportunity screwer of the people is stealing money from every state, in violation of the law, to put money into building his wall. So far he has built zero. The only stuff that has been built was approved by Obama. It’s all replacement stuff.

As long as we are talking about breaking the law someone altered a weather map showing where Hurricane Dorian was going. Most people think it was the president who took his Sharpie to the map. This is a Federal crime to “knowingly” alter a weather forecast. I guess he can claim he didn’t know.

On gun control the president is waiting on Congress and the Senate is waiting on the president. The House passed a gun control bill as one of their first orders of business. Mr. McConnell won’t bring it to the Senate floor for a vote. So all that needs to be done is for Donnie to tell Mitchie that he likes the House bill. Boom. Done. That ain’t happening.

Speaking of not happening. Why hasn’t the State of Alabama asked for hurricane disaster relief funds? Hell, if the president said the hurricane was coming to my state, and I was governor, I’d put in for it. That could make up for the money he took for the wall.

And speaking of trite and petty, the governor of North Carolina asked for disaster relief funds for Hurricane Dorian. By law he’s the only one that can ask. What does Donnie do? Well, see the governor of North Carolina is a Democrat. So Don says he’s releasing the funds because Tom Tillis the Republican senator asked him for it. Yeah. Right.

Meanwhile, there have been some great retouching of photographs with a Sharpie. I like the one of the stick figures drawn in over top of the empty spaces at the Trump Inauguration.

Meanwhile the Bahamas is in ruins. We’ve sent helicopters. I don’t know what else we’ve sent but dammit. We should be sending the Navy, the Air Force, the Marines, the Hope, everything we’ve got.

Looking for the best place to send money. I can do that.

. . .

I just sent it to the Red Cross for Hurricane Dorian Relief.

425 Days until the 2020 election and 507 days until the Inauguration

Day 973 I have been to Marsh Harbor

September 5, 2019 by Rick Kinnaird 3 Comments

Day 973 I have been to Marsh Harbor

Thursday September 5, 2019

426 Days until the 2020 election and 508 days until the Inauguration

In the land of 150 proof rum that is cheaper than Coke

It was 2009. My friend Jim said he was selling his sail boat but he wanted to take it on one last trip. I went with my son, Alex, down to Florida where Jim had outfitted the boat. We sailed across the Gulf Stream to the Northern Bahamas. The Northern Bahamas lay out in a horizontal curve from Florida. You can go from around Palm Beach over to them. There are a series of anchorages in cays well known to sailors. After crossing the Gulf Stream you are pretty well protected from the open ocean and you can duck in and out of the islands, anchoring along the way until you get to Marsh Harbor. It’s the big town along the way.

Nipper’s Home of the Nipper Topped off with 151 rum for free, on Great Guana Key probably the first island in the Abacos to get hit by Dorian.

Our plan had been to sail with Alex to Marsh Harbor, then Shelby was going to come into Marsh Harbor and Alex was going to fly home. Shelby would be with us for a week or six days and then she would fly home and we’d take the boat down to the Berry Islands, which are rather uninhabited and pristine.

It’s not quite the way it worked out. We never made the Berries. Jim’s auto-pilot sailing tiller stopped working so we decided after dropping Shelby to sail for Florida. All of Florida was in the grip of terrible thunder storms. We sat behind a spit of protected land for three days and finally made a run for it across the Gulf Stream in twenty-one foot waves. In the middle of our run at night we got caught in a thunder storm. If you’ve ever seen that movie with Robert deNiro as the devil that inhabits people’s bodies then you know what kind of weather we were having. (Cape Fear? Or was it Al Pacino? I don’t know. I get them mixed up.) Big lightning. White, bright, as the boat rolled up the side of one wave and down the other side.

Typical Street, People drive golf carts, not cars

But what I wanted to tell you about was the drop off and pick up.

Alex, Jim and I got to the Marsh Harbor airport before Shelby’s flight arrived.

It’s not a big place, one runway behind a chain link fence. Small terminal building, probably two gates. By that I mean one set of double doors with the right door being Gate 1, and the left being Gate 2 with a set of movie stanchions and red velvet rope dividing the two gates.

Lowe’s (Not that Lowe’s), Green Turtle Cay

Picture this – A small plane lands. People get out. They form a line going toward the terminal building. They are slightly back lit. Jim, Alex, and I are on the other side of the chain link fence. We see Shelby. We start yelling. “Hey! Over here! Hi!”

She puts her head down trying to ignore us. The woman in front of her is trundling a little rolling suit case. We see that woman stop, turn back toward Shelby and say something. We see Shelby acknowledge what ever this woman said by nodding her head up and down. The woman shakes her head from side to side and continues toward the terminal building.

Poor Shelby.

All Aboard Marsh Harbor Airport, Now under five feet of water.

Alex has to leave to make his flight, which is the same plane Shelby just came in on. The turn around is so quick that he and Shelby only get to wave to each other as he is now on the tarmac and she is on the other side of the chain link fence with Jim and myself. The plane takes off and we take Shelby to the burger and beer place at the entrance to the air port. There’s no point in trying to leave because traffic will be backed up on the small road leading into the airport from the twenty or so folks who got off the plane and meet their rides.

That airport is now under five feet of water. The burger joint? It was made of plywood and T-111 siding. I don’t think much is left of it after 220 mile an hour winds hit there.

We need to help our neighbors. Send money.

426 Days until the 2020 election and 508 days until the Inauguration

PS Wally’s – Marsh Harbor, Lowe’s Food Store – Green Turtle Cay, Nipper’s – Great Guana Cay

Day 972 – Whatcha Gonna Do?

September 4, 2019 by Rick Kinnaird Leave a Comment

Day 972 – Whatcha Gonna Do?

Wednesday September 4, 2019

427 Days until the 2020 election and 509 days until the Inauguration

Three Things:

– A Chart on the Economy, that says it all

– The Three Cs

– The Bahamas

Let’s start with the Bahamas. They are wiped out. They don’t have the capacity to rebuild. Their economy is based on rum drinks and diving trips. If we don’t get in there and help them big time, the devastation, death, and suffering will increase exponentially.

Let’s move on to the Three Cs. In a new book out by Jim Mattis and Bing West (Don’t ya love that name? Bing West.) in which they talk about leadership they mention The Three Cs:

– Competence

– Caring

– Conviction

Keep that in mind and apply it to this president and his administration in everything they do.

Now let’s go to the economy. Here’s a chart. Remember Trump ran on the fact that he was going to greatly increase the economy and that Obama had done such a horrible job, and that he, Donald Trump, was the great negotiator and deal maker and that he would fix it all.

Hey guess what? Obama’s numbers are better than Trump’s? How did that happen? (Hint: I refer you to the Three Cs above.)

Not only are Obama’s numbers better; Trump’s are going down. Like “MayDay! MayDay! Dive! Dive!” bad.

The economic experts (What do they know?) say it’s pretty easy to figure out. Every time Trump slaps on tariffs the economy slows down.

Now this might be hard for some folks to understand but here’s a little tidbit of micro-economic thinking, in an example. See if you can figure it out. If you slap tariffs on steel then steel from outside the country will cost more. Got it? Okay good. Now if that steel goes into say American built cars what will happen to the cost of those cars? Why, and this is incredibly hard to understand for the president and his administration, the price of American cars goes up! Wow. Who knew? I can hear Donnie now, “When I put tariffs on steel the price of cars made in the U.S.A. went up, who knew? Did you know that?” (Yes, knucklehead anyone who didn’t sleep through econ 101 knew that. Oh? You didn’t even bother to attend? Got it.)

So now let’s review the effect of Trump’s meandering economic policy, if we can even call it a policy. U.S. goods made with raw materials, like steel, that come from outside the United States will cost more. This will in turn mean people will buy less of U.S. made goods and the economy will slow down.

Trump has put tariffs on all sorts of things coming from China. I guess this means he will have to pay more for his MAGA hats. China has slapped tariffs on the stuff we send to them. This means the Chinese will buy less of our stuff. Got it? Hey, but guess what else China is doing? They are lowering the price of goods from other countries. Guess what that means? It means the Chinese will buy stuff from other countries and not from us. Good going Mr. president.

For some reason farmers are pissed off at Trump. I guess having their crops rotting in warehouses because they no longer have anywhere to sell has something to do with it. Here, have a MAGA hat. By the way it’ll cost a bit more, like 30%. But that’s the cost of winning.

In other news, there have been multiple reports on Trump’s foreign policies. The adjectives pretty much say it all: absent, mercurial, random, non-existent. In other words, there is no policy.

Odd thing is that’s kind of the same thing that comes up based on gun control.

Or anything else with this guy.

So whether it’s the economy, foreign policy, or anything else, ask yourself this:

“Is he competent?”

“Does he care?”

“Does he have conviction?”

I say he comes up empty on all three.

427 Days until the 2020 election and 509 days until the Inauguration

PS Sweet dreams are made of this. The ferry at Flores, Guatemala.

Day 971 – The End of the Weather Service

September 3, 2019 by Rick Kinnaird Leave a Comment

Day 971 – The End of the Weather Service

Tuesday September 3, 2019

428 Days until the 2020 election and 510 days until the Inauguration

Being the prophetic sort of person that I am, and having a self-aggrandizing manner, and a need to be in front of the news cycle I announce the end of the Weather Service as we know it.

Why?

Well, come on, they had the temerity to counter what the president said based on facts, and geography.

Our president, unburdened by the constraints of truth, fact, science, or logic forged ahead regardless.

Yes, Mr. Trump tweeted that Alabama would be devastated by Hurricane Dorian. This was immediately counter tweeted by the Weather Service saying Alabama would not be hit.

The president then counter-counter tweeted saying that indeed Alabama would be hit and warned people not to listen to fake news. You know, like the Weather Service, and the National Hurricane Center.

Look in the coming weeks for the meteorologists* at the Weather Service to be moved to Alabama or Kansas and have a week to decide. They will get their just desserts. I mean, who are they to counter tweet what the president tweets?

*We all know that meteorologist is just another word for scientist. These are people that must be gotten rid of. The Trump administration calls this “draining the swamp.”

Hey, did you hear they had to hire back some of the Agriculture Department people that quit because for some reason they need to issue reports. It’s the law. That in and of itself is funny because why are they concerned about following that particular law?

Meanwhile Mike Pence is going to Ireland. Donnie has just the place for him to stay. Yeah, he has a resort there. So what if it’s on the far side of the country away from the place where the meeting iss being held? Mike is going to commute on Air Force 2. I wonder if he’ll go back for lunch. I understand they have a great Bangers and Mash. I mean how much can it cost to fly a giant jet across Ireland?

Meanwhile there’s another shooting in Texas. Hum, the last fifteen or so mass shooting all have been done with a person with an AR-15. Obviously, the problem is mental illness. Obviously.

My right wing friends are really picking up the tempo on spurious, mean spirited, erroneous memes that they are reposting without looking up whether they are true or even half-true. You know it’s hard to tell whether it’s Russian hackers doing this or right wing funded hackers.

Most of the memes repeat old lies. Some are new. Most have little if any basis in fact. It takes like two seconds to google and figure that out.

But hey, let’s have a go at some of our own. How about:

“Trump commits mass shooting in Texas”

(I mean he commits to say something about the mass shooting but it wouldn’t fit in the headline.)

“Koch Brothers create Hurricane Dorian”

(Oaky they own Georgia Pacific and a lumber company cuts down trees thus causing global warming which in turn creates really bad hurricanes.)

“Trump Praises Hitler and Stalin on Poland’s Anniversary”

(Yeah, on the anniversary of day that Hitler started WWII by invading Poland, Trump gives a shout out to Poland praising them for being great people and having this lovely anniversary, which started their fifty year occupation by either Nazis or Russians..)

Also some White House reporters have been asking the White House staff what Mr. Trump wants to accomplish for the rest of this term. Guess what? They got nothing. Why? Well, there is no plan. The staff knows nothing. And the analysis of the president’s performance to date has been zero. There’s a long list of screw ups and non-accomplishments:

No Wall,

No China deal,

No Iran deal,

Pulled out of Paris Accord (but that’s okay because climate change is a hoax),

The economy is teetering on a downturn,

His tariff war withChina is starting to cost America tax payers,

He has decimated American farmers, who can’t sell their crops.

Aside from that there are some legal problems:

He’s an un-indicted co-conspirator in a case his personal lawyer is serving time for,

He is committing violations to the Constitution’s emoluments clause every week, if not every day,

He has ten cases of obstruction of justice outlined in the Mueller Report.

etc. etc. etc.

“And the beat goes on…”

PS I’m happy.