Trump

Day 931

July 25, 2019 by Rick Kinnaird 1 Comment

Day 931 Thursday July 25, 2019

468 Days until the 2020 election and 550 days until the Inauguration

The Mueller Testimony

I think we should play Mueller Ball!

Take his answers: Yes, No, True, I do not agree with your characterization, I am not going to answer that, if it’s in the report I support it, and silence. Then match them up to the questions.

Most interesting to me was the Republican puffery and strutting, which Bobby three stick listened to and didn’t comment on. Sometimes it was followed by a question, which he answered in one of the ways listed above. He did not offer opinion, only answers, very interesting.

The “clean up” Congressman for the Republicans went on and on about how “after spending millions of dollars” and enlisting people who donated to Democratic campaigns they found no collusion, no indictments, etc. Mueller said nothing. Then the Dem response listed all the indictments, uncovering of crimes, and people sent to jail. I think the Republican clean up guy was very careful in how he worded what he said they didn’t find.

Much of this is old ground: collusion is not a legal term, Mueller did not believe a sitting president could be indicted, he wasn’t going to talk about Roger Stone, or FISA stuff, he never asked anyone their political affiliations, he got people who were best for the job – period. Apparently, the Republicans were sleeping during his opening remarks or they have very short attention spans and needed to be constantly reminded of these things.

One Republican went on about how many times the Mueller Report quoted The Washington Post and The New York Times. This person then made comment about Fox News, I think in the context that they were never quoted. Hum. Proof, I guess in that person’s mind of bias. But then I never heard that Fox News had investigative reporters, only opinion people and a few newscasters. Well, I guess if David Pecker gave them something or Jeff Epstein then they had investigative stuff, but it hardly would make it into a factual report. FACTS! Damn there’s that pesky concept (concept?) coming up again.

Then there was the stuff raised about various people on the Mueller team contributing to Democratic causes. Nor did they mention that Mueller is a life long Republican. Interestingly, they did not compare that to Ken Starr and his folks. I’d sure like to know how many of his team were Dems of Repubs. Somehow, I think that Starr’s folks were not only Republican but were vetted with their desire and express purpose of going after the Clintons and dragged the thing out for as long as they could, looking for anything they could find.

Another thing that Mueller kept pointing out was that “It was in the report,” this meant that if you wanted to know what was in the report you would have to READ. The other thing that came out of this was that if you wanted to understand the report you would have to THINK. I know that these two concepts (reading and thinking) are very passé. I mean if you can’t goggle it or watch a YouTube video is it worth doing?

Let me walk through something that one of the Congress people did to try and help those who are reluctant to do either of the above (ie read and think).

There is a law known as Obstruction of Justice. There are three parts to the law. In other words, three things have to be present for one to be brought up on charges that they obstructed justice.

In the Mueller Report there are not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven, not eight, not nine, but ten – count them TEN cases where one Donald J. Trump met all three of the components of Obstruction of Justice. Ten Times!

If anyone else was found to have obstructed justice, even if they had not committed a crime they would be brought up on charges and if found guilty go to jail Just ask Martha Stewart.

The evidence against Trump is not only a slam dunk, it is a slam dunk with eyes closed and one arm tied behind the prosecutor’s back.

One can only hope that on the day Trump leaves office as he gets ready to board Marine One (that’s the President’s helicopter) that he will be arrested and charged.

There are two other remedies: Mike Pence could get the cabinet to rule Trump is incompetent, or Congress can impeach Trump and the Senate could vote to remove him from office. Both of these options require people to do what’s right, to have courage of their convictions and a love for the country over personal and political affiliation. Anyone want to take that side of the bet?

Okay then. Get the rhinestone encrusted handcuffs ready.

468 Days until the 2020 election and 550 days until the Inauguration

PS Bansky

"Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable" Banksy — Banksy

Day 929

July 23, 2019 by Rick Kinnaird Leave a Comment

Day 929 Tuesday July 23, 2019

468 Days until the 2020 election and 550 days until the Inauguration

Today we take an inside look at the software that runs Mike Pence. First off, I gotta say I’m never sure if it’s Pence or Pense. One suggests he thinks as from the French “penser” (“to think”) or is it as in the Cockney “not worth two pence.” It turns out it’s the later.
At any rate, what many people don’t know is that Mike Pence is really an animatronic doll. This explains how he can stand for hours behind the president with that stupid half smile on his face, as if he’s in awe of that idiot. It also explains why he says the same things over and over regardless of the subject matter.
In truth, Mike Pence was an experiment by a disgruntled engineer working for Steve Wozniak who left the Chuckie Cheese animatronics lab in disgust when they wouldn’t put any pervert mice characters into the line up.
The mouse, FinkRat, was going to be a jive talking hipster, “Hey Baby, How Ya Doin’?” but the management got scared that the mothers of the children wouldn’t like it. I think it was the ass grab gesture that he built into the robot (a la Papa Bush) that really did it (“Ho? What’s that? You mighty fine! You know dat?”) that finally killed FinkRat.
This engineer dropped from sight for many years. There were rumors. He, or what looked to be his prototypes, were seen at various political rallies. Cheering lustily and holding up signs with ridiculous sayings on them. Then came Mike Pence. His latest incarnation of evil. (Later versions are believed to be Stephen Miller.)
I, fortunately, have gotten hold of one of the early versions of the firmware for the Mike Pence Animatronic Doll (MPAD). Many of these features are still seen in the current version. Take, for instance, his answer to the questions of whether Donald Trump is racist and whether or not he (Trump) is/was opposed to the crowd at his latest rally yelling “Send Her Back!” in answer to the hate Trump stirred up around the four Congresswomen known as “The Squad.”
The following is provided with translation and motivational subroutines:
“Oh, the president could not have been more clear” – Call Obfuscation and Prevarication functions) [this is going to be a whopper!]

“He made it very clear that he rejects this kind of talk” [oh boy, he loved it.]

“and I think if you listened to he said.” – Call Head_Nod Routine with pseudo ‘like I care’ look [I have no idea what he said but I don’t need to because the same thing is hard wired in and needs no capture speech and spit back routine.]

“I don’t think he could have been more clear.” [more hardwired.]
#################

Speaking of Stephen Miller…
His uncle has written a piece that explains how Miller’s grandparents escaped Soviet Jewish extermination attempts and moved to the U.S. with $8 in their pocket. Once here they worked hard and his relatives founded a company that became listed on the American Stock Exchange. So how did Stephen become such a racial bigot? Interesting question, have you ever noticed that Stephen’s head looks like one of the characters in Sponge Bob Square Pants? No? Next time you’re in the pizza parlor where they show Nic take a look… Back to Stephen…
I wonder if Stephen, like the classic closet gay or fire and brimstone preacher who both vehemently deny attraction to those of their sex (only to be discovered later with a young boy), is trying desperately to deny his heritage? “If I stomp on immigrants maybe no one will know I’m an immigrant?” Could that be what’s going on?
Or is he just an animatronic experiment that went horribly wrong?

I’m not judging. I’m just putting the question out there.

I too have become more sensitized and gotten a software upgrade of sorts. I realize how it is unfair to ask, “When did you stop beating your wife?” as a question. Rather it should be, “When did you stop beating your spouse?”

I have evolved.

We are all one. Well, except for …

468 Days until the 2020 election and 550 days until the Inauguration

PS STOOPAH!

Day 928

July 22, 2019 by Rick Kinnaird Leave a Comment

Day 928 Monday July 22, 2019

469 Days until the 2020 election and 551 days until the Inauguration

the author with Indonesian Barong Puppets — Who Dat?

A week or so ago I heard that Megan Rapinoe’s brother had been in jail for years for drugs. Maximum security, tattoos, heroin, the whole bit. I had to ask myself, “Is this what he wanted? Is our approach to drugs in this country working?”

I remember seeing a picture in Time, in their issue on the new drug crisis, a woman was shooting up under a porch and the caption said, “No one growing up says they want to be a drug addict.” (or something to that effect.)

Years ago I remember reading that England was treating drug addiction as a sickness, not a crime. I haven’t heard much about how that program is doing.

I heard an interview on Public Radio. The woman who’s book was taken as the basis for “Orange is the New Black” wrote a memoir of her taking money to England for a friend. The money was drug money. She knew it. Ten years later there was a knock on her door and she spent a year in jail at Danbury (up the street from where I grew up.) One count of money laundering – one year? Wow, I wondered, If that holds for the president he’s looking at a long time in jail just for his money laundering activities.

How long can this charade go on? How long can Trump and the Republicans ignore, cheat, lie, steal, and rig? Is there an end to it or is this the end?

Some don’t like that Rapinoe wouldn’t stand for the National Anthem or didn’t want to go to the White House. That it didn’t show respect. WTF? Show respect? Look at who is in the White House!!! Respect? (Remember that NFL ad where a coach is at a press conference and says, “Playoffs?” Like “Are you kidding me?”) Respect?

I’ll say this I would guess that Melanie’s parents, who became U.S. citizens on a “we need these people because they are so valuable to our country’s well being” program, know more about the U.S. Constitution than the current president.

The four women in Congress that Trump has attacked certainly know more than Trump.

I think what is playing out in this country right now is a discussion, a dialogue, which asks, “Is this what you want this country to be? How’s it working out for you?”

There seem to be three sides to the discussion: modest changes and tweaks, real change, and “Let’s go back to the way it never was.”

Some might say real change is radical change and they’d be correct in so far as the little things haven’t helped. Is it time to really do something? I think so. Under Trump we’ve seen the conservative, right wing, business establishment Republican vision for this country. “How’s that working out for you?”

Not so good?

Okay, so what are your choices? Cop out (Libertarian, Green, etc.), Democratic establishment, Democratic progressive. The establishment view is “play it safe.” I ask, “How’s that worked out in the past?” I’d say – not so good.

What would the last alternative be? Progressive ideas. The ones that Franklin Roosevelt championed. He wasn’t a progressive as much as a scientist, a political/social scientist. He twiddled. He tried things. Some worked; some didn’t. Isn’t it time to try some things? I mean, playing it safe hasn’t worked out so well. Neither has letting the Russians, I mean the Republicans, done much.

Speaking of not doing much. I had quoted John Boehner as saying that in his twenty five years in Congress he never saw the Republicans put forward a health care plan. John Dean had responded to a Republican Congressman who was trying to make fun of him that Nixon did have a health care plan. This is true. Nixon’s plan moved us from doctors ripping us off to HMOs ripping us off.

So? When I look at the play it safe crowd, I don’t see a hue and cry from the land for it. Republican Lite is what that has sometimes been called. I don’t think it’s where the country is at, nor do I think it is what we need. We need to get back to solving problems. We’ve got a big one staring us in the face and it’s called climate change.

The Squad, the four Congresswomen that Trump attacked, understand this. Trump does not, or doesn’t care enough to do anything about it.

Dealing with that issue alone is not going to be easy, and baby steps isn’t going to cut it. We need big bold action. That isn’t called playing it safe. It is called “Dealing With Reality.”

469 Days until the 2020 election and 551 days until the Inauguration

PS The author with some of his “new friends” the Barong Puppets.

Day 927

July 21, 2019 by Rick Kinnaird Leave a Comment

Day 927 Sunday July 21, 2019

470 Days until the 2020 election and 552 days until the Inauguration

“Calm Yourself,

Believe in Yourself,

Stick to your Routine,

Smash it Home.”

Megan Rapinoe

I wasn’t going to write anything today, but then I saw the news – oh boy. (That should be part of a song lyric. It is? I’m amazing.)

There’s speculation about what Robert Mueller will say when he testifies in front of Congress, and there’s speculation as to whether Trump is a racist.

I’ll answer both here in the

Executive Summary:

“Do your job.”, “Yes”

Fini

Here is the more in depth analysis. You won’t hear this anywhere else, so buckle up. I happen to have on good authority that the mirror on the wall from Sleeping Beauty was put in the same warehouse where Stephen Spielberg put the Arc of the Covenant in the final scene of Raiders of the Lost Arc. What many people don’t know is that this was close to the ashes of Richard Pryor. Furthermore, the box the Arc was in, was not fully sealed and when the fellow was putting it in place his fork lift hit the shelf where Pryor’s ashes were causing them to topple over and the canister’s top came off and the ashes spilled onto the Sleeping Beauty Mirror. Pryor was high at the time of his death. This is an important fact, which you will come to understand soon.

In the first high level security meeting that Mr. Trump had, he learned of the secret warehouse, dubbed Area 52, because that is one better than 51 (obviously).

When Mr. Trump heard of the mirror he had it brought to him and put in the room where he watches TV most of the day. The mirror had been cleaned off, but some of the ash remained wedged in the battery compartment (4 AAAs, btw) and it got a software upgrade so that it is now both Siri and Alexa compatible. The parts and software came from Asia. Parts by Huawei and ZDT, however the software was contracted out and some suspect North Korea had a hand in it. Naturally, the Russian hackers have already been in and rummaged around.

I have been able to obtain some of the conversation Mr. Trump has had with the Mirror.

“Mirror mirror on the wall, Am I a racist?”

“WHAT? You kidding me? Are you a racist? Is the pope Catholic?”

“Richard, go away, I want to talk to the real Mirror.”

“Yes.”

“Is that you mirror?”

“Yes.”

“Am I racist?”

“She already answered that Fool.”

“Mr. T?”

“No, Nappy Head it’s me Richard, but my impression was good enough to fool you.”

“Richard, go away, let me talk the mirror. Some say I’m petty. Do you think I’m petty.”

“Petty, Richard, famous Nascar driver. One of the best of all time…”

“Alexa!”

“Yes?”

“I didn’t want to know about Richard Petty. I wanted to know if you thought I was Petty.”

“You are not Richard Petty.”

“But you are one jive ass petty son-of-a…”

“Richard – shut up!”

“bitch.”

“Mirror Mirror on the wall…”

“You are petty.”

“I am?”

“Yes, you are rated one of the most petty people in the world according to …”

“that’s enough. Am I racist?”

“You’re father was arrested at a Klan rally in 1924. You and your father refused to rent to African Americans. You have repeated slogans and mottos of Neo-Nazis, Nazis, White Supremacists, …”

“So?’

“Let me consult my Magic 8 Ball.”

“You have a Magic 8 Ball?”

“Yes, doesn’t everyone?”

“Hum, maybe I need to get one.”

“It would certainly improve your decision making, sir, which has been to quote Mr. Pryor, ‘Pretty Piss Poor.’ “

“You talk to Richard?”

“He won’t leave me alone.”

“Pervert.”

“That would be Mr. Epstein sir.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“And Mr. Nader, and yourself.”

“What?”

“You are a pervert sir. It’s one of your many appellations. Also, philanderer, liar, fore flusher, con-man, liar…”

“You already said liar.”

“Yes, it comes up a lot, as does racist, homophobic jerk, …”

“Shut up!”

“It is decidedly so, Okay.”

“What?”

“that you are a racist sir. That’s what comes up on my Magic 8 ball.”

“It’s a piece of crap.”

“Yes, sir.

“So are you Honky!”

“Richard, Shut up.”

“You can’t shut me up. Listen, I have a good mind to jump through this glass and give you what for. Hey? You got any blow? I’m dying.”

“You’re dead.”

“Shut up.”

“No, you shut up.”

“Nigger”

“Honky”

“Coon”

“Racist”

… the feed broke off at this point.

“Calm Yourself,

Believe in Yourself,

Stick to your Routine,

Smash it Home.”

Megan Rapinoe

470 Days until the 2020 election and 552 days until the Inauguration

PS Pretty In Purple

Day 926

July 20, 2019 by Rick Kinnaird 1 Comment

Day 926 Saturday July 20, 2019

471 Days until the 2020 election and 553 days until the Inauguration

“Calm Yourself,

Believe in Yourself,

Stick to your Routine,

Smash it Home.”

I lead with Ms Rapinoe’s words. Why? Well, I need a new motto. Seeing as how some people could not stomach the idea of coitus with our president, even if it was in a pejorative sense, I thought this would be better. Plus you could show up at a Trump event and strike the Rapinoe Victory Pose and imagine (I’m thinking Alice Restaurant movement style here) if it was a huge bunch of people at every rally, every public event striking that “T” pose. Standing there, one arm slightly above shoulder height and one below, so there was no doubt what you were doing, standing; looking at the daises?

Don’t like people kneeling for the National Anthem? How about a hard core group standing looking at you with their arms out? GOAL!!!!! (Fuck Trump)

Where was I?

Oh yes. that’s not all. I want you to imagine. (I’m now up to the 1980s and John Lennon.) Imagine.

What would the Inauguration parade and celebration of President Williamson be like? President Marianne Williamson, spiritual advisor to Oprah and the stars? Ah yes. I see purple. I see LOVE. (Please stack the “LO” on top of the “VE” ala Richard Indiana (Maybe a little Roy Lichtenstein too? Large print comic graphic of a woman’s face close up, 1940s bob, weeping, cartoon bubble saying, “I can’t believe Marianne won!”)

Then there are just a whole salad bowl of other things that went on. But – I must believe in myself! I must “smash it home.”

So Smash I Will. I Am, I Am.

First off there was Thomas Friedman in his NYT article asking the question, “Are the Democrats trying to lose the election by suggesting Medicare for All?” In his version of this, the Dem folks want to end private insurance and FORCE everyone onto a government health care system.

Then there’s Shields and Brooks on PBS. I’ve always found what they say to be a bit – I dunno – not quite right. I think they both represent the middle of the road nostalgia of politics, each from a slightly different perspective. Brooks has that smug superior smile and always seems to say something negative about the Democrats. When Obama was President he would say after one year’s State of the Union that Obama was being too expansive and not detailed enough. The next year he’d say Obama was “small bore” and read off a “laundry list” of things. Shields on the other hand always throws in a “remember” statement. At least Shields makes some interesting points. I’m sure if you asked those two who they’d like to see running, and winning, for president this time Shields would say, “Biden,” and Brooks would say none of them were any good but if he had to pick it would be a moderate Republican in the mold of Papa Bush and Ronald Reagan. When pressed to name that person he’d probably say Ted Cruz, or Jim DeMint.

What Shields and Brooks and Thomas Friedman seem to be stressing is the idea the the Democratic candidates for President could move too far to the left and endanger their chances of winning the presidency. Okay, fair enough, let’s look at what’s causing this concern.

During the first debate the candidates were asked if they’s support Medicare for All. Every candidate but one or two raised their hands. This led the New York Post (I think it was that esteemed super market tabloid) to print the picture of them all raising their hands with the headline “Who Wants to Lose the Election?” Ha ha. Pretty funny. Commentators then jumped all over it saying many people (the figure is now pegged at 170 million) don’t want to give up their current insurance. The logic went that Medicare for All would force everyone to give up their existing health care. Blah blah blah.

Most of the candidates clarified their positions to something like this, “We wont get to Medicare for All right now, but I believe that is where we are headed. Right now we would have a public option and it would compete with the private insurance options. Over time it would become obvious that the public option is better and cheaper and the private insurance would go away.”

But why state the this when you can hammer on something else?

Good God.

Then Shields said something interesting. “Remember” he pointed out that John Boehner said in the twenty five years he was in Congress he never remembered the Republicans ever putting forward a health care plan.

Wow. Twenty five years. Twenty five years, and not one proposal. Wait, didn’t Paul Ryan say they were working on one? Yup. What happened? Nothing. Hold on didn’t Donald Trump say he’d scrap Obamacare and put all these really smart people in a room and come up with a better plan? Yup. What happened? Nothing.

Okay, so if you’re a “realist” or a betting person or a complete flake what do you bet the chances of the Republicans or the Libertarians or anyone besides a Democrat doing something about health care in this country is possible? I give it a big fat ZERO. Some say get rid of Obamacare and start over. Are you kidding? Remember the “people don’t like you messing with the health insurance they have?” argument. People like Obamacare. People like their company insurance plan, or so they say. Once they see a better cheaper alternative private health insurance will either die or radically change.

Speaking of radical change, pundits say we, the electorate, don’t want radical change. I disagree. How has playing it safe worked out? How is it that a refugee from Somalia who is elected to Congress and wears a wacky white head piece knows more about our government than our president or members of his party?

In other startling “who could have seen this coming?” news: Hate Crimes have Been on the Rise for the Last Two Years – in our country. Gee, I wonder why? There’s a web site that white nationalists are flocking to, calling for the killing of our political leaders. Hum. Maybe we should do something about that? Like maybe we need to protect our Congress people?

In other startling news: We can now see how many opioid pills were sold down to the pharmacy level over the last five or ten years. Geez, billions of pills.

And there are all those guns out there. Pills, Hate Crimes, Guns – Welcome to America. And people ask me if I’m afraid to go to a foreign country? I tell them, “At least they aren’t shooting their school children.” Yeah, what about protecting our children. Gun violence is now what? The second most likely way a child in school will die. Forget duck and cover in case of a nuclear attack. Now it’s run and hide in case of an active shooter.

And in other not so startling news George Nader is indicted, again, on sex crimes. This time, like last time, and the time before, and the time before that, and the time before that it involves underage boys and sex: sex trafficking, for the purposes of sex, and pornography. Nader is the “Lebanese businessman” who arranged various meeting for Trump folks including Erik Prince’s meeting in the Seychelles. Nader is mentioned over 100 times in the Mueller Report, and the Trump folks during the height of the campaign took multiple meetings with him.

What do I think of all this? I know, you want to know, so here goes:

1) The Trump folks wanted balance. Jeff Epstein had the molesting little girls covered, so who was going to molest the little boys? Certainly, not the Catholic priests, not for Trump, maybe a televangelist hell fire and brimstone type, but Catholics – not so much.

2) You know I haven’t run “We’ll get the best people” through the Trump-O-Meter. I wonder what will come out. Wait for it…”We’ll get the WORST people” Amazing. Who could have guessed? (Well, Hillary Clinton told us exactly what we were going to get. But who wanted her President? Oh three million more people than wanted Trump? Who knew? And it took the efforts of the National Enquirer, the Federal government (Mr. Comey), the Russian government, WikiLeaks, and the illegal campaign contributions to keep women silent, and and the hiding of Trump’s tax returns and other illegal activities by Trump and associates to defeat her. Let’s not forget the purposeful denying people access to voting and the systematic breaking of voting machines and not having enough ballots by Republican operatives and the denying people the right to vote by any means necessary.)

You know Trump not only gets the worst people. He manages to get the worst people in multiple bad ways and areas of expertise. Be it fore flushers, grifters, and con people (I want to include women like Ivanka here), or be it sleazeball media types, or right wing lunatics, pundits, or neo-nazis, or corporate shills Trump finds them.

If you put out a call through out the nation and said, “Bring me the worst, the dregs, the deceitful, the bottom of the barrel” could we have done worse? Unfortunately, with Trump there is no bottom. Amazingly, he can always sink lower.

“Calm Yourself,

Believe in Yourself,

Stick to your Routine,

Smash it Home.”

471 Days until the 2020 election and 553 days until the Inauguration

PS Sunrise, Boropudur, Indonesia.

A new dawn, a new day…