Archives for June 2020

Thursday June 25, 2020

129 Days until the election on November 3^rd

209 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

This is a writing different than any I have done. It has a different purpose. It is a warning – plain and simple. We are facing the end of our democracy if we don’t act.

Don’t pooh-pooh it. Don’t say, “It can’t happen here.” It is happening. 

I was on a trip to Palenque when I was talking with Martin. His grandparents were German and lived through Hitler’s rise to power. Martin said of his grandparents and their friends, “They all knew he was crazy, but when they decided to act it was too late.”

The parallels to Hitler’s rise to power and what is going on now – in this country – are alarmingly similar. I have written  about that before. Not in detail, others have done that. I have mentioned on several occasions how the Roman Republic fell, willingly almost, to become the Roman Empire, mainly because the people didn’t believe it could happen to them, and it was subtle. Augustus Caesar never called himself an emperor, but he was. He referred to himself as a citizen of the people, but he wasn’t.

I often wonder when the indians who sided with Cortes to defeat the Aztecs realized that this wasn’t a good idea. I think about the Incas who were forced to carry silver ore on their backs up a four hundred foot ladder, as the returning crews came down the other side of the ladder with the lead person having a candle on their finger for light and resting every fifty feet. I wonder when they rested if they thought maybe this wasn’t such a good idea to have let the Incas fall.

It came into focus for me, last night. We are no longer in a debate about which side has a better idea or whether you like this or that; we are in a fight to save our democracy from those who would destroy it. Maybe, they don’t realize that is what they are doing, maybe they don’t care. I can’t say, but what I can say is that the seeds to end our experiment have been sown.

What brought this into focus for me was a comment that was made last night on one of the endless talk shows that rehash the day’s events. And the other day was a doozy, we’ll get to all that shortly. The point was made that the people in the American Revolution and the people in the French Revolution and causes at that time realized that they needed to create a system of government that protected themselves from the excesses of the people in power. The idea of checks and balances and the idea of a system of laws was designed to stop the powerful from having their way and letting their friends off easy while subjecting their enemies to harsh penalties. 

The reason why our system of governance has been a model around the world is that it has stopped the powerful from subverting the system to their benefit – until now.

I don’t care what political stripe you are, what you believe in, or who you support, realize this – and make no mistake – the people in power are trying to subvert our system of government to help themselves and their friends and allies, not to do the right thing for the people. Left unchecked the American experiment will be over.

Now on to the day’s events. Actually, day before yesterday’s events? Or is it yesterday? Yesterday. Yeah.

Yesterday we reached the highest level of new infections ever in this country. Throughout the southwest the trend is up and up dramatically with no end in sight. The hospitals throughout the region are near capacity. ICU units are reporting 97% full, one bed left kind of stuff. People are dying. The staffs are exhausted. The governors in those areas are now saying, “Hey, it looks bad. Maybe you should think about wearing a mask.”

What did the Federal government do yesterday? Mike Pence as head of the White House response team to the virus told governors at a luncheon that they should stress the positive when it comes to the Corona virus. I didn’t hear what positive points he suggest they stress. 

The Federal government is also scheduled to shutdown testing sites at the end of this month.

That is what the Federal government has done in response to this pandemic hitting the highest numbers of cases of infection in this country yesterday. 

But that is not the worst. Oh no, it get much much worse. Yesterday, we witnessed some of the most flagrant abuses of power, protocol, and our way of life. To what end? To protect the powerful and their friends. Many have spoken about two systems of justice: one for the rich and powerful, and one for everyone else. Yesterday, it was on full display. There is no doubt what is going on. You can debate whether it is intentional. If “They” know what they were doing all along, etc. etc. etc. But there is no question that it is happening, and that is the end of democracy as we know it.

Yesterday, a three judge panel told the judge presiding over the Michael Flynn case that he had no jurisdiction to review the decision by the Justice Department to withdraw their determination to sentence. That he had to shut up and take it. In the firing of the Southern District of New York there is no cause to get rid of the man other than he is investigating friends and family members of the president. William Barr is now under investigation in Congress, for his conduct. Much of this centers around the Roger Stone case, which there was ample testimony from people within the Justice Department that they were leaned on to go easy on Roger Stone because he was a friend to the president. This is the very thing that the people at the time of the Revolution were concerned about. What did a Republican member of the committee do? Banged on the desk to disrupt the proceedings. 

Meanwhile, actions to limit voting continue. Polling places are reduces from several hundred to one. Mail-in voting is trying to be stopped. People are being thrown off of voting roles. All to limit the number of people voting.

This actions and behaviors are so egregious and so obvious that neither our founding fathers, nor those who came after, ever contemplated such a dire conspiracy to defraud the people of their rights and way of life. But here we are. 

Act before it is too late.

Here was the interview that created the turning point for me:

https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/ezra-klein-trump-does-not-get-that-there-is-simply-no-better-politics-than-governing-well-85961285891

And here is my summary if you don’t care to listen to the video”

“It is a disaster politically because it’s a disaster.”

Donald Trump has never governed anything. He ran as a pure outsider. He ran as a pure entertainment politician. He didn’t get that (there was more to it than that) He still doesn’t.

The disaster we face is “the function and product of terrible governance.”

“There simply is no better politics than governing well.”

People are now fearful that they will get sick and die. The president is not defending us against this virus. (That’s his job!)

Six months ago the president could make the economy was pretty good. He was benefitting from the last three years of the Obama administration. People thought, “Yeah, maybe he’s crazy, but he’ll get things done.”

The Corona Virus washed all that away. “We can now see the consequences of ill governance.”

He was acting as a president on TV but he was not running an administration, or setting an agenda.

“The Republican Party has collapsed as a governing institution.” It’s not just Trump, McConnell has not been doing a great job either.” (Nor have any members in the party in Congress.)

“The people can now see what it looks like when the president isn’t doing his job and it is terrifying.” The argument has been taken away that the economy was working well. “How the way he acts and the actual state of the country” is seen. “He’s collapsing in the polls.

… End of partial quotes on the interview.

Let me be clear. What is talked about in that interview is only the beginning of the problem we as a people face.

The real threat is that the president along with the Attorney General, the Leader of the Senate and the Republicans in the Senate and the House, along with judges they have appointed and officials they have put in the heads of agencies are set to destroy our democracy.

We have one shot to stop them.

129 Days until the election on November 3^rd

209 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS Monkey Butt

Wednesday June 24, 2020

130 Days until the election on November 3^rd

210 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

We are in strange economic times. The economy has gone down the tubes, yet the stock market looks good. Why? I mean why does the stock market look good? Seems odd. I suspect that the Fed is propping up the market. However, I read a piece today that argued that isn’t true, if you do the math. I haven’t followed the argument completely. I also read an article that said England’s central bank nearly collapsed at the beginning of the Covid pandemic.

The article that said the Fed isn’t propping up the markets also said the banks aren’t loaning out the money they were given by the Fed. In Econ 101 the whole point of the Fed giving money to banks during a crisis is so the banks can loan out the money so as to stop the credit squeeze. However, banks never do this. They never loan in tough economic times. The system doesn’t work, yet, we keep doing the same old stuff. 

Banks and hospitals seem to work the same way. During regular times they do okay, when you really need them they can’t cope. Maybe, we should have a discussion about doing something differently? 

PS Ce n’est pas un récipient de stockage de nourriture

Monday June 22, 2020

132 Days until the election on November 3^rd

212 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

Missing Persons Report:

The Trump Rally had over one million people wanting to get in, according to their staff.

6,200 showed up according to the Fire Marshal.

Lemme do some math here 1,000,000 – 6,200 = 993,800

Nine Hundred Ninety Three Thousand Eight Hundred people vanished.

That’s astonishing. Remember that’s a conservative estimate. How did he do it?

Well, as per usual he didn’t do squat.

Now the staff is making cowardly excuses.

It was the fear of the virus.

It was the violent protestors.

It was the fear of the violent protestors.

Blah blah blah – blah blah.

Wait a second, aren’t these the America Love It or Leave It crowd?

Aren’t they the gun toting’ rebel yell crowd?

Aren’t they they the ones who are supposed to rough up those puny ass protestors?

What happened?

Maybe reality?

Was it the fact that they had to sign a waiver saying they wouldn’t sue Donnie if they got sick and died?

Was it fear of sickness and death?

Were they sick of him?

What was it?

Oh the protestors – blocking the entrances – yeah. Wait a second Chris Wallace on Fox News said there were less than one hundred. None of them were blocking entrances, and all were peaceful.

Oh, it was fear of the them, was it?

How about their Facebook guru? I can’t remember what excuse he made. I don’t think he admitted that he got played. Played by teenagers on Tok Tok and Twitter that bought up free tickets. Hundreds and thousands of them. You mean the chief Trump Troll got trolled? Yeah. Pussy.

Apparently, there is a circular firing squad in the White House all trying to blame someone else. 

Did you see the bedraggled picture of Trump?

I love it.

But that isn’t the best of the weekend. I thought it was but I was wrong.

The best was the citizen who stood in front of the school board in Baton Rouge and called out on of the members who was shopping on-line rather than listening to the people’s petitions. Yeah. The guy held up his cell phone with a picture of her shopping on line. That after she wanted to name a school after Robert E. Lee. This guy knew his stuff and suggested the first black governor of Louisiana or the first black Lieutenant Governor of the state because as he pointed out it was the black community that built the state and they were loyal to the Union not to the traitors.

The woman walked out. I guess she didn’t like being identified as having been ignoring people and their requests. She later said she was deeply sorry. How touching.

Why not take her little skinny ass out of the equation and resign?

Here’s the link:

Let people in there who want to try and improve the state. They’ve got a long way to go since Bobby Jindal nearly bankrupted it with his wonderful conservative policies.

This leads me to my ultimate question, “If you are for Trump or a Republican or a conservative Republican what is it that you envision for the country?” 

I’m curious. I really don’t know of anything that they really want. No vision. That was the problem Papa Bush had – “that vision thing.”

Any takers?

132 Days until the election on November 3^rd

212 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS Not Leslie Jones as a puppet. 

Saturday June 20, 2020

134 Days until the election on November 3^rd

214 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

A friend of mine won’t even write his name he refers to him as Satan.

My friend is a shortwave enthusiast and has contact friends around the world.

Robert Gates in his book and on interviews has said that we need to strengthen our soft power and stop using military power as the first and only solution. Gates recommends strengthening such things as Voice of America (VOA) and associated U.S. Government run networks that broadcast news and our way of life around the world. It is how we stand up to authoritarian governments and autocratic bullies. It is how we give people news and the truth about what is happening both in America and in their own countries.

Until now.

Donal Trump at the behest of Steve Bannon no doubt (because Trump ain’t that bright) has replaced the head of all those networks with a right wing disciple of Bannon’s who up until this point in time has made wacky right wing movies. Seems the right wing is very concerned about boys going into girls bathrooms and whether or not girls in sports are being marginalized by transgender athletes. Given that their boy in the White House has pulled us out of every major treaty and deal he could, started trade wars that yielded nothing but ruined markets here at home and abroad, seen the largest decline in the economy since the Great Depression, the greatest joblessness rate since Black Friday, the biggest world pandemic ever seen, and huge rallies in our streets and streets around the world I can see why they are looking at the transgender issue as paramount to being resolved right now.

(I almost wonder if Gates’ book prompted Trump to realize he could kick down another American bulkwark then I realized – no, it’s Bannon.)

While they are focused on bathrooms and girls’ athletics Mr. Trump via his newly minted head of VOA and associated networks has fired everybody at the top of those organizations. All the boards of directors, all the people who actually run the place and deliver the content – all gone. Gee, I wonder who he’s going to replace them with? I’m guessing people worried about transgender people using the bathroom and oh yes let’s not forget the Clintons and George Soros.

So is that the worst thing Satan did this week? Or was it the firing of the head of the Federal Prosecutor’s office in the Southern District of New York (SDNY)? 

Hard to say isn’t it?

Why fire the guy he appointed and why fire him now?

Ah, grasshopper, five months to go til the election and he can put an acting in there for six months. The Southern District keeps looking into Trump’s dealings in New York. Just because he setup a scam university for which he had to return money and he and his sons are barred from running a non-profit in New York, and because he and his dad racially profiled and denied minority people housing, and just because he used illegal scab labor to build his Trump Tower and when they asked to be paid he threatened to deport them, just because his sister resigned as a judge so she wouldn’t have to face an inquiry about how the Trump family had set up many ways to hide and avoid taxes – some illegally, just because he was laundering money for Russians via Deutsche Bank and the son of a Supreme Court Justice signed many of the loan documents thus causing that judge to retire, just because he created four businesses that went bankrupt, just because he let people sign over title to their houses so they could keep gambling at his casino in New Jersey and then he could seize their houses The SDNY is investigating him and he thinks it very unfair and is out to do whatever he can to stop them. At least, until he can slide by in the next election.

Here’s the VOA clip:

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-stacks-us-media-agency-with-loyalists-led-by-bannon-acolyte-85488709871

On a positive note: I saw an article in The Economist that talked about how science has been fundamentally changed by this pandemic and how that is of benefit to the world and science. The lady’s point being that the rush to try and stop this virus has led to publishing and the forming of alliances across corporate and international lines. Things that in earlier times (like March) would have taken years to form if ever. One thing she wrote that was really good was quoting someone else who said that in science if you don’t publish it doesn’t exist. The point of science is to learn how the world works. It is the ultimate search for truth. If you learn something and don’t tell others then we can’t benefit.

134 Days until the election on November 3^rd

214 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS In the Cave Balankanché, near Chichèn Itzá

Friday June 19, 2020

135 Days until the election on November 3^rd

215 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

John Bolton has a new book and there’s lots of talk about what’s in it. Yeah, well, who cares? He had his chance and he blew it. What did you expect? He’s a coward. I remember when I first heard of him. He was making stupid statements that the right loved. Remember the one about cleaning off the two top floors of the U.N. and nothing would be lost? Yeah, at that time he was considered to be kind of nutty. Smart maybe, but nutty. He hasn’t changed only our perception of him. Stuff has moved so far to the right that he now seems main stream to some. But he’s still nutty and he’s still a coward. 

He’s the kid on the playground that is hanging around the action, never part of the real action. He’s goading others to fight. He’s talking behind people’s backs, trying to get them to do something sinister. He hasn’t changed. Look what was reported about him at least three times during the impeachment hearings – he told others to go to the lawyers. He let his deputy assistant testify. He didn’t. 

Okay on to the stock market, Stevo, and all that. I was trying understand something about how economies work and I asked a friend about it. I thought it an econ 101 question; he thought it more graduate level – econ 330. The question was, “How does money get into the economy?” And this is central I believe to what’s going on in the stock market. 

Another friend sent me an article about the Fed and how they are now buying up new kinds of debt. Debt they have never bought up before. I think this is central to why the stock market is going up.

All this started when I began to expelling to another friend how the Fed controls the money supply in the economy. It was then that I realized I didn’t know how those newly printed bills that Steve and his wife Elvira were holding up with his name on them, how they get into the economy. Yes, I understand that banks could swap old bills for new ones but that doesn’t increase the actual dollars in the system. 

And I understand that the Fed can issue bonds and that the better the rate the more people will want them and this will take dollars out of the system. And I understand that by creating credit cards allows people to have more money available and the Fed can’t really control that. (That btw is one of the really neat things to understand. Credit cards and borrowing limits is a way to create money in the sense that people can use those credit cards to buy goods and services, which in turn stimulates the economy. More on this idea with Robert Gates and soft power- later.)

So why is the stock market going up? I mean it should be going down. We are in a pandemic. The economy is being throttled by a pandemic. People are out of work and yet the stock market is going up.

Ah Grasshopper. Why you ask? I’ll tell you why.

There are several things to realize:

1 – Remember stag-elation? That started with Nixon, then Ford (WIN? Whip Inflation Now?), and finally Carter. It was the fact that prices kept going up which indicated their was excess money in the economic system. To take money out of the system the Fed kept increasing the rates of the bonds they sold. Mortgage rates were over 15%. Yet, prices kept going up. Why? I asked a friend. He said that their was money that was unaccounted for that kept being coughed up to take advantage of the high interest rates on the bonds, etc. He didn’t put it in such economic terms; he said that there was a lot of money in mattresses. I said but that seemed crazy because it (the stagflation, the rising rates) had gone up for so long. He said, “The mattresses were thicker than anyone thought.”

Moral – The economy is a big slower than you think beast. 

2 – The problem with politicians trying to fix the economy is that they do too little too late, which economist after economist has pointed out actually makes the problem worse. By the time politicians get around to fixing things typically whatever they thought they should be doing just the opposite is usually true. So they keep adding fuel to the fire. This is a universal statement, not pointing at just our Congress. 

Our Congress has been particularly inept at doing much of anything. This Robert Gates points out is a threat to our security. If we can’t fix our own problems than maybe our system of government isn’t the way to go? Is how people around the world can view us.

With Trump’s behavior in terms of aligning himself with White Supremacists, with his advancing his own political fortunes at the expense of the country’s interests, with his lining his own pocket and those of his pals – it is easy for an autocrat to say, “See, you’re no better than us.” This is a threat to our way of life.

As Bolton’s book points out Trump is easily manipulated by other leaders around the world; be it Putin in Russia, Jinping in China, Kim in North Korea. They know they can manipulate him. Jared is also easily manipulated – for example by MBS in Saudi Arabia. This lead to the killing of Khashoggi, but they knew Donald would do nothing as well because that was the first trip he took as president.

So how does all this play into to rise in the stock market? Two things, maybe more, but two new things. Remember that half trillion Mnuchin got to spend anyway he wanted? That was to help small businesses and revive the economy, remember that? It wasn’t that long ago. So that’s 500 billion or 500 thousands of millions, or 500,000 millions. Wouldn’t that revive the economy if it was put into small businesses? You would think so. At least, it would be a big shot in the arm, right? I mean even if you gave a million to 500,000 people randomly that would help, right? So where did it go? 

It would seem to me that Trump and Mnuchin would be crowing about how that money has helped revive the economy. I mean at least as much as Paul Ryan saying the tax cuts, which gave millions and billions to the rich, helped some woman afford the annual fee at Costco (or was it Sam’s Club?)

But they haven’t been talking. No crowing. No chest puffery, no twitting, no long rambling nonsensical explanations from Mnuchin, something I’ve come to learn is his specialty. Why?

Well, others have asked that question too. Seems these folks have the silly idea that because this is money on the American people’s dime they have a right to know. By law they are correct. Of course Trump and Mnuchin could care less about that. However, a few bits and pieces have been pried out of some SEC filings. Turns out money has been funneled into “Street Names.” Those are the stock trading names that brokerage accounts and hedge funds use to trade and sell stocks. In other words, the money didn’t go to the pizza shop, or the car garage, or the barber shop, or the neighborhood restaurant – it went to Wall Street.

I’m shocked.

Moving on, the Fed has been doing it’s damndest to keep the economy afloat. They have been practically giving away money via almost no interest loans and that hasn’t done the trick so now they are buying up corporate debt. Something they have in the past been loath to do. Lemme break this down for you in an example I’ll call “The Prodigal Son.”

A son goes to his dad, hat in hand, and says, “Dad, I have tried to do my best but it wasn’t good enough. The businesses I’ve started have gone into debt. I did that to hopefully turn them into something great but it didn’t work out.” 

The father might say, “Really? From what I heard you were drinking, gambling, whoring, and blowing coke.”

To which the son might say, “Yeah, well that too and if I don’t come up with 5Gs by Sunday Guido is gonna break my legs.”

Okay, now dad says, “Oh son that’s terrible hears one hundred Grover Clevlands (He’s now on the $,000 bill. Used to be Hamilton.) Let me know if you need more.”

“I need more.”

“Okay, here’s more. What are you going to do with that?”

“None of your fucking business.”

Okay? See how this works?

So to put it in more esoteric terms. The Fed has bought up corporate debt and the Secretary of the Treasury has been given 500 billion to help the economy.

Of course my Prodigal Son example is simplistic. Actually the son would ask Dad to pick up the debt on Guido and lots of other “expenses” (Like “Debbie’s Dallas House of Pleasure and Pain” etc.) 

What does the sone do now? He spends that money dad gave him. He buys back stock in his company to make the price go up so he can pay himself a big bonus based on the price of the stock going up. He sees other stocks going up so he buys them to ride the glide. Yeah, good times.

When will it end?

August.

Maybe November. Depends who get elected. If a Democrat gets elected then expect Jm Jordan to all of a sudden discover that MY God the Country is in Debt and What are You Going to Do About It? This followed by any Republicans left in the Senate to scream that they need to hobble Social Security and Medicare more than they already have. Ron Paul will go off about Austrian Economics and diddling with rates. Ted Cruz and some other sap will get concerned about the debt and the need to cut social programs more. Or as Bill Clinton said about when Democrats take office the Republicans complain that they (the Dems) don’t clean up their (the Republican) mess fast enough.

When you get right down to it Mnuchin and Bolton are cut from the same cloth. Cowardly twiddlers who have learned to play the game but have no sense of what the game is being played for. They are only in it for their own power and glory.

Now on to the Osmo 3. This is a cute little gadget. It’s a handheld device for your mobile phone. Like a selfie stick. It has a steady cam feature and it can be paired via bluetooth with said mounted phone. You can look at your phone make a “V” sign and it will start recording in three seconds after that and it will follow you based on facial recognition. This is handy for all those dance move (think Tiki’s Tok) videos you’ve been meaning to put up on social media. The think can be put on a tripod too. It’s really neat. Except, it’s incomprehensible. If you have found the product manual on-line; you have a chance. However, the manual was apparently written by engineers and the marketing department. Both of whom have some idea how this thing works.

The button are described in one section. The use of the buttons is described in another. In this way you have to scroll back and forth to figure out which button they are talking about. (This to me is a dead giveaway that the manual was written by engineers and not humans.)

There is a feature for following you around. It’s called ActiveTrak. Not “follow your face” which would let you know what they were talking about. (This is a dead giveaway that the manual was written by marketing and not humans.)

There is a the “V” feature that allows you to turn on the record button when you are in position in front of the camera. There is also a “palm up” sign. What is that for? Obviously stop. Wrong. There is no “stop” hand gesture, only start and that can be either the palm up or the V.

Then there are the lights. The manual says the lights are red, green, and yellow. Sometimes they blink. All these things mean something. What exactly, you better consult the table elsewhere. What they don’t mention is that most of the time you will see white lights. What are they telling you? I think that it is charging. The manual does tell you that when all the lights go off the unit is fully charged. What they don’t tell you is that another condition can occur when all the lights are off and that is THE THING IS DEAD AS A DOOR NAIL.

Then there is a button marked “M” that is the on/off button. Why M? Who knows.

After balancing your phone and paring it via bluetooth (provided that The Thing Isn’t Dead as a Door Nail) then you can press the “M” button multiple times and thing will happen with the gimbals. One of those things is that the phone will turn down 30 degrees. Why? Who knows. Press the “M’ button somemore and the thing whips your phone around so it is lying prone face up like a dead fish. If you get to read the screen before it goes blank you might discover that this is “Standby Mode.” Otherwise, you just laugh and look around wondering if you are in a Keystone Cops remake. Or Hidden Camera. (Look it up.)

I’ve been told laughingly with these new apps and this gizmo that you have to play with it and that there really aren’t manuals because things change so fast.

The only thing I want to “just play with is” – can you guess? Yeah, that’s right. And for that I don’t need a manual. Otherwise, please. If you want to give me some instructional videos I understand there’s a whole industry that is willing to help there.

Why can’t we get the porn industry to make videos and manuals for tech things? It would be so much better than most of the crap out there.

Okay, enough. 

I’ll not be in the field but more likely in my chair, playing with all these super-cool apps asking the question, “What do you think this is for?”

135 Days until the election on November 3^rd

215 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS Me and Osmo