Trump

Day 826 Friday April 12, 2019

570 Days to the 2020 election and 648 Days to Inauguration Day

So much has happened in the last few days that it’s hard to keep track of it all, but I feel we must for fear that if we don’t we will forget and think that what is happening is normal for our country and the world. If we do not stand up and remember and call out what is happening it will become “the new normal.”

The kinds of things that are going on are not new. We’ve seen this before. It was the same cast of characters. Actually, it was their parents or grandparents, but the motivations are the same: power and control. 

George Orwell was so outraged by the behavior he saw in the world and specifically to The Spanish Civil War that he wrote “1984” in 1949. Pablo Picasso was so moved by the suffering of his people at the hands of the fascist Franco aided and abetted by Hitler that he painted “Guernica” in 1937. Let us be clear, the people that helped the Fascists of the 1930s that helped Franco, Mussolini, and Hitler were the parents of the Koch brothers and their ilk. They wrap themselves in patriotism and hatred, but their motivation is power and control. They believe they know what is best – for them (screw you.) We are seeing this play out around the world and in this country.

These people are not interested in “fair” or “legal.” They are interested in getting rich and staying in power to protect their wealth. Period. They will resort to any means possible to do so.

The other day I was thinking about when I was a kid and we’d play Monopoly with other kids. Sometimes their was a kid that cheated. They would steal money from the bank (ie the extra money not doled out.) They’d do it when you went to the bathroom, or they’d steal your money so you would lose. (You’d learn to take your money with you, but they’d steal from the bank.) If you’d call them out on it they’d either deny it, say, “So what?”, or they’d say their wasn’t a rule against it.

I have to wonder – Are all the people Trump hires Monopoly cheaters? Steve Mnuchin for sure. What about Bill Barr? I’d say he’d only take a little from the bank when you were in the bathroom. Trump? He’d take it while you were watching, deny it, and say so what?

Egads.

Okay, news of the last few days:

Trump’s older sister, the Federal judge retired. Why? She was being investigated for a tax fraud scam that she and her younger brother (the president) had perpetrated for years to siphon money from their father’s estate and not pay taxes. By retiring the inquiry ended. ( WTF? )

William Barr, under oath said he believed “spying” did occur during the 2016 election. Specifically, against the Trump campaign. Then he tried to say he didn’t mean spying what he meant was spying, but in weasel words. This is a talking point of the right wing lunatic fringe, also known as Fox News and president Trump and his toadies. There was investigations of the Trump campaign trying to figure out what the Russians were doing. There was opposition research done by a hired gun for Republicans before Trump got the nomination. That group investigated all the public records they could find on Trump. What they couldn’t understand or find much on was Trump and Russia. Trump was spending a lot of time in Russia, yet had little to show for it. They turned to the leading British expert on Russia and asked him to sniff around. From that investigation came the Steele Dossier. When Trump got the nomination, the Republican opposition no longer wanted to pay for the research so the firm peddled it to the Democrats who paid for the ongoing opposition research.

There was no spying on the Trump campaign. There was an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and trying to make contact with that campaign but there was no spying. 

If William Barr does not know this then what can we conclude? If he does know this then what can we conclude. Either he’s an idiot or he’s a toady for Trump. Either way he’s not fit to be Attorney General. Just like he wasn’t fit the last time and told Papa Bush to forgive all the criminals in Iran-Contra.

We are now at an inflection point where the forces of the cheaters are coming in contact with those of us left who believe in the Constitution and the Rule of Law. It is not clear who will win out.

Steve Mnunchin has not released Trump’s tax returns to the head of The Ways and Means Committee. Not that Mnunchin should be involved; he shouldn’t, but that hasn’t stopped him from getting in the middle of this. There might be jail time involved. I’d love to see that. But we are at the point where the Secretary of the Treasury is getting in the way of the IRS Commissioner, whose job it is under law, to give up the tax returns. What will happen is not clear.

Meanwhile Julian Assange was kicked out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and immediately arrested. He is being asked to be extradited to the U.S. on a charge of helping Chelsea Manning steal stuff from a database. If he is to be charged with anything else it must be done before he is extradited. That’s the way international law works. Will the Justice Department do that? Or will William Barr or someone else get in the way? Interestingly Trump says “WikiLeaks is not his thing.” Really? Because, depending on which account you read he mentioned WikiLeaks 140-160 times on the campaign trail. Said he loved them. His son was in personal communication with Assange. Over – guess what? Spying! Spying on the Democrats and Hillary Clinton and her campaign. 

So there was spying in the 2016 election. But it wasn’t of the Trump campaign but rather of Hillary and the Dems by the Russians aided and abetted by WikiLeaks in concert with Don Jr. and others, like Roger Stone.

There’s more, but enough for now.

570 Days to the 2020 election and 648 Days to Inauguration Day

PS Buy god. Cheap!

Day 824 Wednesday April 10, 2019

572 Days to the 2020 election and 650 Days to Inauguration Day

The Lovin’ Spoonful had a song called, “Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind?” 

**************************

Did you ever have to make up your mind?

Say “Yes” to one and let the other one ride?

Did you ever have to make up your mind?

Sometimes you really dig a girl the moment you kiss her,

And then you get distracted by her older sister,

When in walks her father and takes you in line,

And says, “Better go on home, son, and make up your mind.”

****************************

OKAY  We are at, or close to, that point.

Lemme explain.

 

William Barr, the Attorney General, testified to Congress yesterday. Here is a summary (it’s not a summary!) of what he said (and didn’t say):

– He said he would release a report of what Mueller said to the public within a week. Congress goes on a two week Easter break starting this weekend, which means they will be gone by the time he releases it, if he does within the timeframe he set. Nice. 

– He did not answer the question as to whether or not the report or any part of it has been shared with the White House.

– When asked about the case his department is bringing to strike down the ACA in its entirety he seemed to be saying that he wasn’t putting much in the way of resources into it and that we should let the courts do their job. He seemed to be hinting that he was doing a pro-forma job and hopefully the courts would throw the case out. Or…

He said that once the law was thrown out the administration was going to (magically) replace it with another health care law.

He also waffled and didn’t really answer the question as to whether the decision to bring the case to get rid of the ACA took into account the millions of people that would be thrown off health care or have huge increases in premiums.

In short, he either didn’t answer questions, or he gave answers that had nothing to do with legality, and he seemed to be just another political hack carrying water for the president.

He will soon have to decide. Is he another toady political hack or is he as the chief law enforcement officer in the country going to do his job and uphold the law? In one case the law is The ACA.

Likewise, all these radical conservative judges that have been forced down our throats that the Republicans are so proud to have put on benches all across the country and who are part of the radical organization called The Federalist Society that claims to be all beholding to the Constitution as originally envisioned are going to have to decide, “Do they support the laws of the land and the Constitution, or do they fold and do the illegal things the president wants?”

Meanwhile Stevie Mnuchin was testifying in a room with a bookcase, god knows to whom, I guess it was some folks in Congress. He’s a weird dude. I always thought so, but he has a odd mannerism of lurching his head forward as he speaks. Maybe, he only does it when he’s lying? 

So his situation is this. He’s head of Treasury. The IRS reports to him. However, there is a law on the books that plainly says if the Head of The Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives asks for tax returns the Commissioner of the IRS has to provide them. There is a directive that gives this authority to the Commissioner and not the Secretary of the Treasury. Why? So a political hack appointed to head up the Treasury can’t screw it up, that’s why. 

So what did Mnuchin do? He apparently inserted himself into the process. What did the IRS Commissioner say about all this? He said it’s not clear who is going to decide what to do. And Steve? He said the lawyers are looking at it. Well, that’s great. Can they read? It’s a simple declarative sentence. Hope they can figure it out.

Then we get back to Barr. A Congress woman asked him a question and he said he would follow the law. She asked him, which law? He waffled. She asked him quoting the number of the statute and holding it up and asked him if that was the law he was going to follow? He said he would follow the law.

Guess you better finally decide.

572 Days to the 2020 election and 650 Days to Inauguration Day

PS “Laocoön” El Greco 1610/1614

Laocoön was a Trojan priest who was killed along with his sons by sea serpents after warning his people about the wooden horse.

 

Day 823 Tuesday April 9, 2019

573 Days to the 2020 election and 651 Days to Inauguration Day

The Agenda – The Summary

Shame & Guilt, Type II Diabetes, Otto von Bismarck, The Bismarck, Pete Buttigieg’s Speech, Christian Conservative homophobia, Republican hypocrisy and homosexuality, the limits of toadyism in the age of Trump, the tax returns, the acting power play, the acting and the playing government and a modest proposal.

Do I need to expound? Isn’t it obvious? No?

See this is where I get into trouble. I think it’s obvious so I don’t explain then people think I’m an idiot. Idiot no more! I’ll explain.

First off, Shelby was in Denmark. She was one of eight speakers at a Nova Nordisk event in their series called “Deep Talk.” She was the fifth speaker. It’s on their website and you can probably find it on their facebook page. Many of the speakers I had heard threads of what they had said before. However, the first woman who spoke talked about the shame and guilt of having type II diabetes. She at first, like many people, felt ashamed that she had what many consider a preventable  condition. She felt guilty that she had gotten this disease. Shame and Guilt.

Wow.

We’ll come back to that concept, but now it’s time to talk about Otto von Bismarck. The man who united Germany. He employed a tactic that he called “the whip and the sugarplum” to get all the little German principalities to ban together to form what is today the country of Germany. He was so revered that in world War II the biggest battleship ever built was named after him. The Bismarck was thought to be unsinkable. Huge and heavily armored with some of the biggest guns ever created. It was going to harass and sink ships trying to resupply Britain. 

On it’s first time out of port it engaged the HMS Hood, the pride of the British navy, and as the Johnny Horton song, “Sink the Bismarck” says, “The Bismarck started firing sixteen miles away…” Do you have any idea what sixteen miles at sea looks like? I doubt the ships could see much of each other. Maybe a little smoke from their stacks. To fire shells from that distance you have to take into account the time to get to your target, the parabolic nature of your shot, the Earth’s rotation, and the direction and speed of your ship and your target – other than that it’s a piece of cake. 

The Hood’s nickname was “The Mighty Hood.”

The Bismarck landed a direct hit on the Hood and blew up it’s powder magazine. As Johnny Horton’s song says in the next line, “The mighty Hood went down.” In three minutes.

To say the Brits were pissed off is an understatement. The battle cry was “Sink the Bismarck!” and was the name of the movie that came out the same year as Horton’s song. The Brits looked for the Bismarck in the fog of the North Atlantic. Every ship they had was put in pursuit. One plane found it and buzzed over top of it until reinforcements could join in an attack. The Bismarck was returning to port when attacked by obsolete torpedo planes. Although the forward part of the Bismarck was well armored the aft was not. (Typical, German thinking. They’d always becoming at you so why worry about your ass?) One torpedo struck the rudder and left the Bismarck with the ability to only go to its left. British ships and planes continued to harass The Bismarck taking out her guns and destroying her superstructure. The ship was a shambles but one British ship, The Rodney, came in close, lowered it guns and fired directly at the Bismarck at point blank range. It didn’t have to do that, but you don’t mess with the British navy.

There’s the saying, “a shot across the bow,” which is a warning shot to let you know that you better stop or the ship firing will send a shell into your boat. The phrase is also used as a metaphor or warning given by someone in a speech or via a policy move. 

Whether Pete Buttigieg’s speech was a shot across the bow or a direct hit is hard for me to say at the moment. Maybe, it was more like Robert Kennedy’s comments after Martin Luther King was assassinated. However, you want to characterize it, it was powerful, genuine, and heartfelt. He spoke of being gay. Of wishing he could have taken a pill to change that, or to take a knife to cut it out, but he couldn’t. He called out Mike Pence directly and said that why he was gay was above his, Pete’s, pay grade and that Mike would have to ask Pete’s creator why. 

Buttigieg is being hailed as having his Reverend Wright moment. Of emerging from the field, or at least being at the national level now. It was interesting to watch the Republican commentators on Nichole Wallace’s show yesterday simultaneously praising and downplaying what Buttigieg had done. 

What Buttigieg had done was confront the question of his being gay and land either a shot across the bow, or a direct hit, on the phony Christian conservative anti-gay movement. There’s the attempt at shame and guilt – Boom. Gone. There are the seemingly gay “I’m not gay!” (“I just act like I am.”) folks who make up the conservative Christian gay therapy folks, like Mike Pence’s wife “mommy” whatever her name is, and Michelle Bachman’s closet gay husband and countless others. How many fire and brimstone preachers have we seen railing against the gay community only to be caught with a young boy in a hotel room? 

Pete is a mid-western intellectual guy. He’s interesting, self deprecating, and smart. I think his speech was a point blank range shot at the ship of gay therapy and all that phony crap that comes with it.

The folks on Nichol’s show tried to say, “Oh well South Bend isn’t that big a city.” Yeah? Neither was Wasilla, Alaska. In fact, the town hall was a shoebox storefront in a strip mall. Yet, Sarah Palin was enough of a mayor to run for VP. The black guy said they’ll be questions about what Mayor Pete did about the black police chief. The police chief had illegally recorded other police officers making racist comments. Pete downgraded the chief, fired the communications director because he had continued to make the recordings after knowing it was illegal. What would the black guy on Nichol’s show have wanted? Naturally, he didn’t say, just hinted that there would be questions about it. Then it was the white guy’s turn. South Bend isn’t that big, and the head of Indiana University has more people reporting to him. Yeah? So what? See Palin, Wasilla comment earlier. Then they both started in on the “Well, we’ll have to see after Iowa and New Hampshire when he gets to South Carolina” line.

Okay, let’s wait and see. In the meantime who else is talking about things that matter to voters? Who has a track record of actually doing something? Mayor Pete has a track record of doing things, of being helpful, and kind. He’s also super smart and is the only candidate so far that has put forward interesting ideas that aren’t just talking points.

In other news Kirstjen Nielsen who was fired/resigned and has her last day tomorrow, that is unless Trump can figure out some more cruel and humiliating thing he can do to her before she leaves. She did everything he asked, up until he asked her to break the law. And as Meatloaf sang, “I’d do anything for love, but I won’t do that.” Okay, this ain’t love, this is toadyism and Nielsen apparently got a call from Donald at like 3am bitching because Lou Dobbs and Sean Hannity said on their programs that Trump hasn’t stopped the migrant surge.

Some say Stephen Miller is gaining more power within the White House and that’s kind of a “Yeah, maybe” but clearly this is a Trump fingerprints all over it move. I have a boffo idea: why don’t Miller, Trump, and the young Barron Trump go down to the border and show the guards and security folks how to do it? I mean they could snatch the babies out of the arms of young mothers seeking refuge. It would make great video! Think of the ratings! Big numbers. Okay, so while Stephen and Donald are busy showing off, and before some starving central American seeking asylum beats the shit out of one of them, one of the ICE officers could entice Barron to come with them into another room, where he’d immediately be whisked away to an undisclosed location where he’d be put in a cage, given a mylar blanket and told he’d see his parents again in two years if ever. Meanwhile, Trump and Miller would be holding raw steak to their eyes and the prez would ask where is kid is and the authorities would say they don’t know. They lost the paperwork if there ever was any.

Oh then there’s the tax returns. Mick Mulvaney, “The Acting White House Chief of Staff,” which is a funny title in and of itself because there is no such thing as an Acting White House Chief of Staff, because it’s not a Senate confirmed position so you either are, or you are not, the White House Chief of Staff. Speculation is that he was given this title so he’d know Donald had him by the short hairs and if Sean or Lou bitch he’s gone. Mick is toadying up, he’s claiming that the president never said he was going to release his tax returns (which is a lie), and furthermore he said, “The Democrats will never see the tax returns.” 

Fascinating, to make it more interesting Steve Mnuchin, the foreclosure king of California, and husband of lookalike Cruella de Vil cum Elvira Mistress of the night, whatever her name is, has been instructed to get in the middle of this. Nice. Slight problem. The one thing the Secretary of the Treasury is forbidden by procedural statue and law is to get in the middle of is this. Maybe, he should go talk to William Barr who is trying to stand on this sort of thing to not release the Mueller Report. Of course, in Mnuchin’s case, there really is stuff in place to prevent his interference, and it was put there to specifically prevent what Trump and MM (Mick Mulvaney – get it? I’m so clever.) want him to do.  

So the question is, “If Stevie breaks the law will Willie “redaction” Barr go after him?”

Okay, this leaves us with one double question for today. Trump likes to appoint people as “acting” whatevers. He likes it better than going through Senate confirmations where someone might criticize his choice of “the best people.” I mean who could think Herman Cain wasn’t qualified for the Fed? Or that idiot Moore? Or Kris Kobach for anything? Okay. So we have so may “Acting” that we really don’t have much in the way of “functioning” government. So we have folks “acting” like they are governing and we have Jared and Ivanka who are “playing” at governing, and we have a president who is only interested in the ratings and how he looks to his base. 

And that wraps it up for today. Looking forward to William Barr’s meeting on Capital Hill today and tomorrow. Slimy and slippery.

Eric Swalwell announced he’s running. At least he goes on Fox News. Can’t say that for any of the other Dem candidates.

573 Days to the 2020 election and 651 Days to Inauguration Day

PS Eat your heart out Paul Satre.

Day 822 Monday April 8, 2019

574 Days to the 2020 election and 652 Days to Inauguration Day

Kirstjen Nielsen is out. She will, however, stay on until the day after tomorrow to help with a smooth transition. This should give her enough time to pick up the ruler out her desk and the mementos off the walls.

What was the problem? Like a lot of officials working for Trump, she probably told him she couldn’t do what he wanted. You know like throw a switch and shut off the border. Or put kids in smaller cages.

This is being touted as “she wasn’t tough enough,” and “Trump wants someone tougher.” The problem is no one knows what that means.

I mean when throwing kids in cages, when separating kids from their parents, when having a policy of creating orphans of kids, when tear gassing immigrants across the fence in Mexico, when forcing people seeking asylum to sleep for days and weeks on bridges isn’t considered tough enough, then people don’t know what it is. I guess we’ll have to wait for Stephen Miller to lift the rock he’s living under and come out of his hole and explain.

In other immigration news,  which is laughable, The president went to the border where some fencing had been repaired, called it a wall, slapped a sign on it with his name. Naturally, the fact that this was a repair job authorized under the Obama administration had no effect on him. 

In climate change news, president Trump said windmills create cancer. Don’t ask, I don’t know. Also, you can’t use windmills for power because the wind doesn’t blow all the time. Wow. This is deep. I guess he doesn’t know Buckminster Fuller. Why am I even asking? Of course, he doesn’t know who Bucky Fuller is. Because the guy’s name isn’t Trump. Bucky said that witin fifty miles of where you are the wind is blowing. Thar she blows!

In the 1800s the reigning chess master at one point stood up on a chair, pointed to his opponent, and asked, “Why do I have to play this idiot?” I dunno what made me think of that right now.

I hope Nielsen has a smooth transition. It’s hard for me to imagine someone who could be worse than her, but I have faith Donnie can pick someone. There are a few fat f*cks still at Mar-a-Lago who don’t have jobs in this administration. Hey, that would be better than Kirstjen in that they wouldn’t know how anything works and therefore would have a hard time screwing the pooch worse. Just sayin’

Have a nice day!

574 Days to the 2020 election and 652 Days to Inauguration Day

PS There a promo for Ari Melber’s show where Corey Booker quotes a line from Public Enemy and says, “Fight the Power.” Ari responds with the question “Who in the Trump administration most reminds you of Flavor Flav?” It’s a good one. And one I hope to return to from time to time. I think Stephen Miller would look good with an alarm clock around his neck.

PPS “Both Members of This Club” by George Bellows 1909

Day 821 Sunday April 7, 2019

575 Days to the 2020 election and 653 Days to Inauguration Day

Sundays are a good day to review things because hopefully the awful news has slowed down and we can contemplate our navels a bit.

I’ve had several old thoughts running around in my head and this got me to thinking about the fundamental difference between a progressive and a conservative, or Democrat and Republican. 

I think there’s a difference in core values and beliefs. 

Let me tell you the things running around in my head then I’d like to extrapolate to the real world and today.

One was a clip from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. 

I think the clip was of Glenn Beck giving one of those “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” type speeches. In it he said you can go to the library where books are free. 

Immediately, the clip was cut short and there was Jon Stewart looking into the camera say, “No they’re not.” He pointed out that someone had to pay for those books. Maybe not you the person going to the library, but someone had to buy those books, and the building, and pay the staff, etc. etc. etc.

The other was an example from Michael Lewis’ book “The Fifth Risk.” In it Lewis recounts how a Fox News commentator who was a big proponent of doing it all yourself was out in a rural region where he had a farm or business of some kind. He hated the Federal government, always interfering in our lives, blah, blah blah. He had a big new project he was kicking off with a public announcement and there was a woman standing near the stage where he was about to go on and tell the audience how he had done it all himself. How the local bank had made him a loan, etc. etc. etc. He asked the woman who she was. She told him. He asked why she was here. She said she was from the USDA. Why was she here? He asked. “I’m the woman who made you the loan from the USDA via your local bank,” she told him. He was speechless. He had no idea that the big bad Federal government was the one that had made his project possible.

The last example is FDR and Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor. Roosevelt was always worried about people “being on the dole.” Perkins was worried about the poor and the aged. She saw the attempts by volunteer organizations to help out in limited ways. They got money together and created a home for a limited number of poor or aged. Why, asked Perkins, can’t we do that on a national scale? The attitude was not one of something for nothing or being on the dole but rather one of helping out those in need – notably the old and the poor. From that simple idea came the idea of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

From FDR’s efforts to electrify rural America and the low interest bank loans the USDA makes to farmers via their local banks rural America has been transformed. In Lewis’ book one person says if it wasn’t for such programs rural America would look like rural China.

So what’s the point? I think that a progressive is different from a conservative because a progressive wants to improve people’s lives. Conservatives subscribe to a do it yourself, rugged individualism philosophy. They seem to believe its all up to them and they can do it all themselves. They seem to worry about someone getting something for nothing, of others being on the dole, of banding together to help everyone (which they call socialism.) 

The truth of the matter is that no one does it on their own. They have help. Be it in the form of roads to drive on, or mail to be sent and delivered, to being able to apply for a 30 year mortgage. Or having clean water, safe medicine, safe food, they had help.

I find the basic tenet of conservatism flawed. Not only is it flawed at a fundamental level but in practice it is hypocritical. It’s the idea that “I don’t want you to get something for free, but it’s okay if I do,” that most conservatives subscribe to. It might be dressed up in fancy words and phrases so they don’t have to look it in the face and admit it. Or maybe they do know but don’t mind screwing over some group they feel doesn’t desrve what they have or are in some way inferior to them, but it’s there.

Some may want to argue this point and I’m happy to hear what you have to say, but please provide an example or a case where conservatism has actually done some good, and by that I mean more good than harm. I don’t know of any.

575 Days to the 2020 election and 653 Days to Inauguration Day

PS EDWARD HOPPER “Ground Swell” 1939