Trump

Sunday June 28, 2020

126 Days until the election on November 3^rd

206 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

Okay, I got cute with the title, “Trump and the Autharians” sounds like a rock group from the 50s that didn’t quite make it. Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs anyone? Sam made it, then found Jesus and everything went to hell. What I really wanted to dwell on today was a new outlook on Russia and how dictatorships and authoritarian systems of government come to power.

This is a topic I’ve referred to from time to time in my writing but I haven’t really read much on it since high school when I read several books about Hitler and how he came to power. Recently, like yesterday, my bud Frank sent me several links to articles along with his insightful analysis on Hitler, Stalin, Russia, and how the Soviets came to and retain power along with some general comments on “What all authoritarian regimes have in common.” (Maybe, I should post a click bait slide thing? “The Ten Most Things All Authoritarian Regimes Have in Common”? … #10 All Authoritarian Regimes Lie to the People They Govern, … #9 …)

Before I really get going on this topic I want to mention the odd number of disparate things that came to my attention within the last week that make this a topic to discuss.

The first was John Bolton’s comment that The Senate needed to stay in Republican hands because it was the last gap stop against “The Liberals.” I have to wonder what fantasy he harbors about what will happen if the Senate falls into the hands of “The Literals.” It seems to me that the new bogey man for anything these folks don’t like is branded as “Liberal” and hence bad and therefore must be stopped at all costs or ELSE! Or else what? Typically, this is where the argument falls into deranged fantasy. The problem I have is that when I confront someone at this point they attack me personally (called an Ad Hominem argument: Latin for “to the man”) and the only rationale that is provided falls into the realm of magical thinking (ie completely unsupported by any fact.)

The next was another buddy who said his mother-in-law was convinced that the Covid pandemic was a sinister plot foisted on us by (I guess) Nancy Pelosi and the Dems to discredit Trump. 

Then Frank came in with something he got there in Texas about Nickie Haley blaming “the mob” or was it liberals? Or Democrats? Or Nancy Pelosi? For doing Black Lives Matter, etc. 

Okay. Enough. Now onto why all this is so interesting at this point in time. It was an article in Foreign Affairs Magazine:

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/russian-federation/2020-06-17/putin-not-smiling

In it the author made some astounding (to me) observations about Russia. The biggest of which was that the Putin wasn’t so interested in Trump winning (He and the Russians were just as astounded as many of us.) And he didn’t interfere in the 2016 election to help Trump win as much as he did it to show that he could (interfere). Why? In the Russian mindset there is a perceived notion that the U.S. had interfered in Russian affairs somewhere over something. That as far as I know, we did not, and when I read it, it didn’t make sense. Much like most of what is spouted by Rush Linbaugh or Fox News doesn’t make sense.

The article then described two very interesting things about the Russian outlook and mindset:

One) The word for protest in Russian is the same word for disorder. They loath disorder.

Two) The television commentators commented on the police response to the protestors. They were appalled. Not by what the police did so much as how unprofessional it was. The commentators debated the tactic of driving cars into the crowds by police – was that the best tactic? Etc.

The comments of the Russian television commentators was elaborated by a description by the author on the Russian mindset toward the protests and the protestors. The Russian mindset seems to be that someone or some party must be behind these protests. Someone is controlling it and them. The question for the commentators was who? Who benefited the most? The one thing that they never thought of, that was not even in their minds was the idea that the protests could be a genuine outpouring of distain for those in power. Obviously, someone was behind it.

This thinking is not far removed from the Nickie Haley or John Bolton comments or my friend’s mother-in-law. The fear of “They.” 

Any analysis of the rise of authoritarian regimes or the learning of prejudice is the ability to label your opponents and enemies so that you can dismiss them as less than you. 

It’s a first step really. “I’m better than you, because you are X, Y, or Z. Therefore it’s okay that I do to you the following …because I know what is right … (Rinse and Repeat).

126 Days until the election on November 3^rd

206 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS Hey! Watch me now. I’m pulling the old face dodge time warp. It’s just a step to the right and a jump to the left.

Saturday June 27, 2020

127 Days until the election on November 3^rd

207 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

First, my apologies. Which, you will understand more, as we go along. I’ve been taking a course with Shelby on how to do video in real time, livestreaming, and the like. One of the things I learned was the idea of a teaser. Something you ask at the beginning of your video to grab someone’s interest. Well, I’ve been lying in bed thinking about what I wanted to write today, and then I thought about a teaser, and then another, and another.

TRIPLE TEASER ALERT!!!

T1 – What’s your super power? What are you really really good at? 

For me, it’s the ability to weave together seemingly disparate pieces of information into a coherent whole. On the downside, I sometimes forget to explain how all the really neat pieces of information fit together, because I think it’s sooo obvious. (This explains a lot. Like why when I was being super cool at high school dances and trying to impress a young lady she would look at her wrist and explain she had to go to the bathroom, never to return.)

(BTW part of a teaser is to answer the question you posed to explain how it relates to you. See above.)

T2 – Have you seen the movie “Office Space”? It’s a cult classic and one of my favorites. In it, the protagonist, played by Ron Livingston, at the beginning of the movie explains to a therapist that every day when he wakes up he thinks that day is the worst day of his life. The therapist says, “that’s messed up,” but says he can help by hypnotizing Ron. The therapist does so. Ron is hypnotized. The therapist has a heart attack and drops dead, leaving Ron in this happy Who Gives a S*? State for the rest of the movie.

I have found having a bit of WGAS? is useful, especially in today’s world, and especially today, as everyday the news seems worse than the day before.

T3 – Last year I got this lovely two stapled catalog called “Napa Lifestyle.” It had beautiful photos of products they were selling staged in California wine country. The products seemed nice, if overpriced, and maybe not the top quality they purported, but the stories behind them were stellar. 

In today’s screed as I go through the increasingly more terrible than the day before news, I will be introducing sidebar commentary on products I intend to sell in my catalog called “DGAS & DGAF lifestyle”. The D is for Don’t. It is the compliment to W which is Who. GA is “Gives A” and if you can’t figure out the S or the F, it’s okay. Because…that’s right (WGAS?)!

In Texas, Arizona, Florida and many other states (all run by Republican governors) are hitting all time highs on infection from the Corona virus. The three states I’ve mentioned are in dire straits (no not the band!) Their hospitals are reaching the point that in the next few days they will have to start triage protocols. That means doctors will have to start determining who lives and who dies. There is a scoring system, which includes questions like: How bad is it? Are they likely to recover? And How many good years do they have left anyway? (Their questions are a bit more antiseptic sounding btw.)

It’s gotten so bad that the governors in those three states have taken their lips off the penis of the president long enough to say, “Gosh, a lot of you are dying. Why don’t you wear a mask? I’m sorry but the bars will have to close again, despite my saying yesterday that we wouldn’t do that.”

Maricopa county in Arizona is so bad that it is outstripping Brazil in infection rates. Houston is so bad that the mayor of the county (not sure how that works) has issued a dire warning, code red, to stay inside. Too bad the governor took away her ability to make it an order.

The rate of infection throughout the southern states is skyrocketing. And it’s only in the last week. Kind of looks like the unemployment graph, which is kind of like this: hum, hum, hum, hum, hum, YIKES!

Yeah, both the unemployment and the rate of infection is literally Off-The-Charts. I remember when I worked at super computer maker Cray, IBM would issue graphs showing folks their computer was almost as fast. What they didn’t always show you was they were using a logarithmic scale, which is to say they squashed the data down so it didn’t look like they were getting their rear-ends whooped. Wonder when the Govs will do that move?

In good news, Roger Stone’s lawyers asked for a delay in his going to jail. Instead of the end of this month they asked for September 9^th. The Justice Department agreed. Imagine that! The judge asked the Justice Department why. Why delay? The prosecutors had until midnight the day before yesterday to file and they filed at the last minute. The judge ruled. “Uh, no – two weeks is all the delay you get. July 14.”

Well, isn’t that special? Will president Donnie pardon his old bud? Why not? He only committed seven felonies. (Well, he may have committed more, but that’s all he was found guilty on.)

Okay, now we get to the real news of the day. The Russians were paying Afgan militants to kill American soldiers and the president knew about it, met with Putin, and did nothing. WGAS? I do! Oh, sorry, the president did take action. After meeting with Putin he tried once again to convince the G7 to let Russia back in and make it the G8. Who loves our soldiers? Hum? (Not the president.)

I’m waiting for my meme posting right wing buds to spin that one.

Also, there was a photo posted of some Second Amendment guy in battle gear, super big rifle in hand with sniper scope and tripod on top of a building scanning a Black Lives Matter rally. WTF? This raises the question for me of “Does the Second Amendment now extend to this kind of activity?” Let’s consider the Las Vegas shooter. If we had known he was in his room with an arsenal and was scanning the crowd with a high powered rifle is that his right? Do we have to wait until he starts shooting to say, “Hey man, not cool?”

Did I mention that the Russians were paying the Afghans to kill American soldiers?

Did I mention that the president knew and did nothing?

I guess we’ve come to a new place in our history. We need three strikes. The president hasn’t protected us – the general public – from the Corona virus. (Strike One).

He hasn’t protected American soldiers from being killed by Afghans in a murder for hire plot hatched by the Russians. (Strike Two).

So we have to wait for Strike Three?

Wait no more. The Justice Department is in court arguing that Obamacare should be rescinded. Yeah, that’s right. They are in court saying millions of people should be thrown off their health care. Is that Strike Three? Or do we have to wait for it to happen? Like the shooter on the rooftop or the guy in the room in Las Vegas? Can’t you hear the excuse? “Well, gosh, we thought he was a good guy with a gun until he open fire on the crowd.”

Jack Abramoff is back in the news. He’s the guy who paid Christian right wing pastors to rail against the evils of gambling so he, Abramoff, could soak Indian tribes for millions to protect them. What’s that called? A protection racket? Yeah, well freshly out of jail he’s now been indicted on the law named after him. This time with bitcoin currencies. It’s the same old Jack! Wire Fraud, Failure to Disclose Lobbying stuff. He did four years last time. He’s up for five this time.

And finally, we have trans people. Hey, they are people too. Who knew? Apparently, they get arrested, abused, killed, raped etc. Etc. Etc. At much higher rates than any other group in the country. That is except the subset of Black Trans Women. Now if you’re like me you are probably wondering WTF is a BTW? I mean what do they have down there? I don’t know. I’m not sure. But can we agree to leave people the F alone and let them live their lives? No? let’s worry that someone with certain genitalia is going into a bathroom that is generally designated for people with different genetalia.

Now, I don’t know about you, but a lot of my right wing friends post worries about that kind of activity. Sounds like their fantasy to me. If so then I see why Trump is their boy. “You can grab ’em by the pussy…They let you do it.” Plus he boasted about walking into the ladies changing room at the Miss Universe Pageant. As far as I’ve heard, he’s the only one to do such sh*t. Now, I have heard many reports about trans people being abused. Abused by strangers. Abused by lovers. And my this is the one that gets me, handcuffed and abused by police.

Maybe we should do something about this? You know, like make a bumper sticker with a rattlesnake on it and say, “Don’t Butt F* Me!”

I don’t know. How about …

Can we let police do police work and only police work?

Can we take the budget that police have been given to do therapy, drug rehabilitation, mental illness care and give it to people who are trained in those area instead? 

As I sit in my plastic Adirondack pink plastic chair, looking out on my beak mask covered pink plastic Trans flamingoes and I hoist a Mason Jar of red and white box wine swilled together to make what I call Rose-eh? I want to wish you and yours a wonderful WGAF weekend. Because when you get right down to it if you DGAS, DGAF, and wonder who does than …

I’m not sure where I’m going with this. I think something came off the rails…

Swing low, Sweet Donnie T.

Swing lo, Fat Billy B.

The damage you’ve caused,

Oh wait. Hold on. Mike Pence. I almost forgot. Did you see the press conference? OMG! Six questions in and he got asked a real question! He couldn’t or didn’t want to answer it. So he closed his three ring binder. (Binders full of BS, no doubt.) and hustled off the stage. As he left with Dr. Fauci and what’s her name Brixet? Brexit? Scarf lady, in tow a reporter yelled, “Dr. Fauci, Are rallies safe to attend?”

No answer.

Speaking of no answer Sean Hannity interviewed the pres and asked him what his agenda was for his second term. The president had nothing. A lot of words, but no agenda. Yeah, no plan, nothing to accomplish, nothing to do. I mean soldiers are getting killed and Russia is paying for it, the country is in a pandemic, the economy is in the toilet, and unemployment is off the charts and he’s got NUTHIN’. Think about that.

More Rose-eh? Do you think the third flamingo from the left is gay?

Meanwhile, I keep watching Swans for Relief. I cry. It is so beautiful. I cry.

127 Days until the election on November 3^rd

207 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS Good Times: Katie, Rickie, Alex, Me, Shelby and the bird house on the OBX – March 2010.

PPS I just realized it should be De-Gas or Du-Gas for Do You GAS. I regret the error. Oh well.

btw that’s pronounced Dew Gas, not Dugaw as the painter is called (that after he combined the syllable de with Gas to form Degas.

Friday June 26, 2020

128 Days until the election on November 3^rd

208 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

Hey, how are you holding up? What are you doing to cope? Me? Oh, well, glad you asked. I realized about a week ago that I need art in my life. I typically go for what I call “a museum fix,” Or as a painter friend of mine put it, “I need to get close to the paint.” I haven’t been able to do that so I decided to look through the giant art and archaeology books I’ve been collecting. The other day I saw this facebook promo entitled “Swans for Relief.” Misty Copeland, prima ballerina at American Ballet put together a fund raiser for all the ballet companies around the world. She and 31 other ballerinas danced one of the most gorgeous passages from Swan Lake. It took my breath away. It is a work of singular beauty. We need more beauty in our lives, more art, more elegance, more civility, more je sais quoi. But first …

Nicolle Wallace interviewed John Bolton yesterday. They worked together so the interview was amiable. I especially liked that Ms. Wallace began nearly every question with his first name. It was disarming and pleasant, even when his answers were outrageous, which they were much of the time. 

Bolton’s outrageousness isn’t obvious at first. You have to think about what he’s saying. Then it starts to hit you. There’s a “Wait a minute” moment. That quickly blends into, “That’s not what I recall,” or something similar. 

Take for instance, his lead off statements about the impeachment. These were his most unsubtle comments. He said the Democrats were grossly incompetent in how they went about the impeachment. Then he just piled onto that. I had heard earlier that his criticism had been that there was much more the Dems should have charged Trump with. In this interview he took the tact of saying they didn’t really do an impeachment. What they did was some sort of show trial for their base. What they should have done he argued was to have gotten together with the Republicans to forge a real impeachment. This is typical Bolton. It is phony crap from beginning to end, because, like most conservative arguments, when you break it down, like the Corona virus, it falls apart. 

But let’s play the game. “Okay John, what specifically do you suggest? With whom of the Republicans in Congress do you suggest the Dems could have reached across the aisle to find common ground?”

“Would you suggest some of the same Republicans that led Obama on and on for a year on health care demanding changes to the bill which he by and large acceded to only to have them vote against the final bill and then attack that plan for the very things they insisted be put in?”

“Would you suggest they reach over and ask shoe banging Louie or jacket less Jim? How about ‘my proudest moment was denying Barack Obama a supreme Court Justice’ McConnell?” 

“Nancy Pelosi kept a very tightly confined set of charges so that it was simple and obvious that the president had committed high crimes and misdemeanors. The Republicans in the Senate said from the get go they weren’t going to go along with anything. They didn’t even call witnesses. So tell me John, where and what exactly was the gross incompetence?”

“Yeah, I hear you John. You write that there was a lot more that Trump could have been charged with. Too bad you didn’t do your duty as the patriot you claim to be in the moment when it would have counted and spoken up.”

“Oh that’s right, you bathed yourself in excuses.”

To quote John Oliver, “Fuck You.”

(And Tennesse Williams.)

Let us move on to William Barr. Oh boy. He’s fat. He’s slimy. He’s repugnant. He’s all those things and more. But hey, anyone who was paying attention knew that. What you may not have known was just how slimy and repugnant. I’ll give you fat. Why would you know this? Because that’s been his career. I find it funny that Bolton in his interview yesterday and lawyers who have known Barr say, “Oh Bill Barr is a fine upstanding guy who knows the law.” Or some such nonsense. No he’s not. He’s the same odious, deceiving, deceitful guy he’s always been. 

Trump has a favorite parable. I’d call it a joke but he doesn’t understand humor. The parable is the one about the snake that is high up on the mountain bathing in the sunlight. The snake convinces someone to carry him to lower ground because the sun is going down and it’s getting cold. As the person puts the snake down, the snake bites the person. As the person lays dying he asks, “Why snake did you do that?” The snake replies, “You knew what I was before you picked me up.”

(The variant is a scorpion asking a frog to carry him across a lake.)

With Trump and Barr, we knew who they were and what they were before we picked them up. I’m not shocked by their behavior. It’s more like stroke counting the playing form. The most incredible thing is how low they can go. It’s not original, but it is amazing that they can find new ways to go even lower.

But before we get to that a shout out to the other enablers. Lindsey Graham take a bow. Here’s a guy who used to tell the truth. Now? He’s like a kid hanging out next to the school yard bully, liking to watch other get beat up, and hoping he doesn’t. In the meantime telling others that he got to play golf with the president. “Hey, Lindsey did you wash his balls?” Cool.

What has Billy Barr done now? Oh boy. New reporting reveals that when it comes to washing balls no one is better than Bill. Actually, he doesn’t wash balls as much as lick them. I hope that when Donald is in jail Donald can give a master class on how he does it. How does he get people to be so subservient? With Bill Barr it wasn’t hard. It’s the only thing he knows. Besides, Barr looks like a big sad faced bulldog, don’t ya think? Happy to please, he’ll grovel up and lick away.

What has he done now? Like many police action cam footage released well after the incident it turns out Bill’s ball licking has been going on a long time. I know, I know, you knew about it back in past administrations with the Bushes but did you know he started interfering with prosecutorial cases from the very first days he took office? New reporting in the only paper Trump has a subscription to, what does he call it? “The failing New York Times” has reported that Barr was in there trying to get Cohen out of jail. 

We now know why the case against others in the Cohen case got dropped. Bill got it done. “Good Boy Bill! Who’s a good boy? Yes you are. Lick this one. Good boy.”

Roger Stone? Michael Flynn? Done and done. Washington DC Fed Prosecutors – knee capped. Southern District of New York – reining in. “Good Boy Bill.”

Igor and Giuliani and what’s his name? Oh yeah. 

In fact, there isn’t a case that the Federal prosecutors have worked on that if it comes close to Trump, Barr hasn’t interfered with. “Hey Dad! Ew, is that Mr. Barr licking your balls again? Ewww.” “Don’t worry Princess, he’s almost done. And he knows if he doesn’t get the job done he’ll be thrown out with the trash, just like all the others.”

Hey, guess what? Do you have any idea how many deaths Hawaii has had from Corona Virus? 17.

Yeah, one seven. That’s it. Why? It’s an island? Well duh. That helps. Obviously. But they have an electrical engineer as governor. He looks at data and acts on it. Low on charisma, good on getting the job done. Hum. Maybe there’s something to that science stuff? If you went to Hawaii you were quarantined in your hotel room for fourteen days. Your key worked once to let you into your room. If you left you got arrested. Some got out and boasted on social media that they got out. They got arrested. No fuss, no muss. 

How come all those get tough, gun toting, states are such pussies? This guy is an engineer. An electrical engineer! I guess they come geekier than that, but not much. Hey Texas, why don’t you get your bad ass self up and tough? Oh, pussy. Okay. Like Bolton? No different. Okay.

Meanwhile. Florida’s two Senators. The “I take the fifth seventy times” Rick Scott or the  “I can drink water from a bottle” Mark Rubio are slightly wavering from the no mask policy that the president has laid out. Seems that they must be getting disturbed by the bodies piling up in the corner.

But hey, don’t worry boys, you got company. I’m waiting to see what the southwest does when it runs out of capacity, which it, like southern Florida, is scheduled to do soon. Like in a few days, maybe two weeks. Some of the governors in those area are even giving press conferences where they wimpley say, “Oh gee, gosh, maybe you ought to, you know, wear a mask.” Or at least hang it off of one ear, put it around your neck, I don’t know. Somewhere near your face.

Let me say this because I keep forgetting to mention it. If Hillary had won we wouldn’t be having this crisis. Why? Because she reads. She’s smart. She’s prepared. She would have stopped this thing in China. Compare this to Donald. He doesn’t read. He’s stupid. He’s ill-prepared and he didn’t stop it in China (like Joe Biden said in January that we should have done – and could have done.)

There’s more. I want to thank all of you who send me little tidbits. 

Here’s one – Europe, the Eu specifically, is planning to ban American travelers when they reopen on July 1.

Wonder why? 

I’d like to see New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut’s governors team up with the governor of Maine and get the rest of the New England states on board to root out the virus. Maybe set up checkpoints on the interstates. Then march across the country doing the same thing: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and westward ho! Then redo Sherman’s march through the south. Let’s not forget our history! Am I right? Yeah.

128 Days until the election on November 3^rd

208 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

PS Who doesn’t love a puppy? Katie, Rickie and Alex – Bannockburn Pool 1999.  Katie the ballerina.

https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/swansforrelief

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