I have an idea.
What if we all – and I mean everybody, real or imagined, who didn’t vote for him – what if we all joined Twitter, followed the so-called PotUS, and every time he tweeted something everybody tweet back “STFU, Donnie!”
Just that, nothing else but EVERY time. What’s he going to do? Would his overblown ego allow him to block us all? Wouldn’t it be fun knowing he would actually try?
Who’s in?
Today, just for today, I’m kind of laughing at our so-called POTUS.
It struck me in the wee hours of this morning that what we’re seeing with this flurry of poorly written, not vetted Executive Orders is the result of decades of false information that government should be “run like a business”. It doesn’t bother me that the conservative rank and file buy into that fraudulent message but the President is supposed to know better.
Government isn’t run like a business and it shouldn’t be. That’s because government has a different role in civilization than a business or even a household. (I used to run my kids out of my favorite chair using the term ‘Eminent Domain’ but a household still runs more like a business than a government…)
Now, I know that when the corporate media feeds the ‘government like a business’ message into the conservative bubble, they only mean that government should have a balanced budget. But even that’s not as important in a government as it is in your business. (No, I’m not arguing in favor of deficit spending, merely pointing out that a government can get away with spending more than they have easier than a business…) The fact is, the main thing business and government have in common is the word ‘budget’. After that, pretty much everything is different.
But the so-called POTUS doesn’t seem to know it. That might explain why he keeps issuing edicts – apparently scribbled out over in the corner by his little racist sidekick – and expecting them to be carried out. (It does not explain why he then holds them up like a five-year old showing off his macaroni art. Perhaps he’s expecting praise for successfully writing his name?)
Apparently, he actually sees himself as the CEO of a company called The United States of America, inc. He expresses “his vision” and expects people to do as they’re told. He doesn’t care if his orders anger people and he doesn’t expect to be challenged. (Hmm, come to think of it, there IS a form of government that operates that way. It’s called a dictatorship. Not good, bigly…)
In what appears to be an attempted return to Nixon’s “when a President does it, it’s not illegal”, this maladministration actually argued before the Ninth Circuit Court that the judicial branch has no right to second guess the executive. Well, guess what, Cubby? Not only do they have the right, it’s their job. (Please have someone read you a little thing called the Constitution. And I mean it. Please. Have someone read it to you.) Turns out, business is easier than governance…
The GOP controls both houses of Congress and they don’t seem inclined to “notice” the violations of precedent, protocol, the law, or even logic emanating from this White House so long as it’s “their team” in control. For his part, the so-called POTUS hasn’t seemed to notice the giant rubber stamp sitting just up the road and it seems it hasn’t crossed his so-called mind that he could use Congress to get what he wants. Let’s hope nobody tells him…
I’ll tell you this: I’ve been a bit butt-clinched since January 20 worried about the next crazy thing the so-called POTUS might pull out of his…um…the air…amid concerns that our checks and balances seem to be on life support while a set of tiny little fingers tries to pull the plug once and for all and I was pretty relieved to see the courts do their job. So today, just for today, I’m kind of laughing at our so-called POTUS…
Republicans silenced Elizabeth Warren because #ShePersisted in trying to tell the truth about Jeff Sessions. What is it about the truth conservatives have such a difficult time with accepting?
It’s a disturbing pattern. The White House has tried to shut off information by shutting down government websites and issuing orders to various agencies not to make comments (or, more likely, corrections). Now Republicans in Congress invoke an unusual maneuver to force her to sit down when she tries to repeat an unpleasant truth about an unpleasant Senator. Rule 19. So, he should be protected from his own history by an obscure rule that indicates, basically, that if one speaks truthfully about him it impugns his character? The truth impugns his character?
If speaking the truth about a person impugns the character of that person, neither the speaker nor the speech is the problem: it’s the person.
But this is the Republican way. If the truth makes one’s position less defensible attack the truth. But the truth doesn’t go away just because Republicans are willing to try to manipulate reality.
We need a new rule. If a person who currently works for government is nominated for a Cabinet position and accepts the nomination, they must resign their current position before their confirmation hearing begins. Sessions’ confirmation was scheduled AFTER De Vos’ confirmation so he could vote for her as Senator, THEN sit for his own – apparently carefully scripted – confirmation “hearing”.
What honest and honorable things are the Republicans doing that they dare not allow to be seen?
I’ll tell you this; it’s cowardly. If they have to lie about their nominee, how are they NOT confessing knowledge that their nominee can’t bear up under scrutiny?
There is much talk these days about “states rights”. (In fairness, there has been much talk of “states rights” since the country was founded.) It’s a very popular theme from the conservative sector of this country. Basically, the concept is that the states should remain sovereign with the Federal Government acting as little more than the final arbiter of disputes between the states and handling military needs. I suppose when the phrase is thrown casually about without much thought it sounds good but in practical application it doesn’t work. That’s history, not hypothesis. I know it doesn’t work because We, the People started off with that very form of government…and it didn’t work.
Essentially, the colonies declared independence and formed a new government under the Articles of Confederation. The states remained sovereign. Congress could settle disputes between states, make treaties and alliances, maintain a military (in theory) and coin money backed by the full faith and credit of…well, faith but that was it. They had no real authority over the states. Even in the ‘settle disputes’ part, they could rule but not enforce.
Have you ever seen any of the paintings of George Washington at Valley Forge? Look closely at the men and you’ll see they lack pretty much everything one needs to support an army. Do you know why? States rights! See, under the Articles of Confederation, Congress could ask states for money but couldn’t compel them to pay. The states would promise money, men, and resources but then, focused on their own, local concerns withhold some of what they promised. In short, each state acted in each state’s individual interest.
You can see the problem. The name “United States of America” was first coined in the Articles of Confederation but we were not so much a “united states” as a loose alliance of independent republics, emphasis on “loose”. During the revolution, Washington and Hamilton came to understand the need for a central government with authority to tax and to compel states participation because they were on the receiving end of “states rights”. The loose alliance nearly cost us the war. Then, it nearly cost us our nascent nation when soldiers who had deferred their pay for the war effort came to collect – and the states still couldn’t be compelled to pony up.
The Articles of Confederation – the first form of the United States – lasted about 10 years before it’s shortcomings became obvious. Then it was replaced by the Constitution that became the Constitution we all know and love (and hate and fight about) today. You and I might talk about Federal overreach and find agreement. Certainly, there are areas of the document that could use some tweaks here and there.
But I’ll tell you this; every time I hear the phrase “states rights” I think back on the birth of this once great nation and how “states rights” almost ended us even before we got started. It doesn’t make any sense to me to revert to a form of government that has already been tried and failed. So why do I keep hearing about “states rights”?
I’ve been hearing a LOT since the most recent “election” about all the ballot stuffing going on in California and New York. Common knowledge says Clinton won the popular vote but Trump won the Electoral vote. Trump, apparently the most insecure person ever, insists – despite available evidence – he also won the popular vote. It’s his way. If he doesn’t get a result he wants he simply insists he DID get the result he wanted. (It may be his way but it’s delusional…)
If you live outside of the conservative information bubble you see it as quaint – the idea that people are still using ballot-stuffing as the preferred method of rigging. But if you live inside the bubble, as does 45, ballot stuffing is just a given. After hearing this several times, I began to wonder why, as in, why would the corporate media feed ballot stuffing into the conservative bubble as the preferred method of election rigging? Ballot stuffing is so…twentieth century. But then I realized: so are conservatives. Well, a huge swath of them, anyway. Old people. (I want to call them the ‘calcified brain’ set but I’m told I should be nice…)
Back in the day, if you wanted to rig an election you had to add ballots for your guy or “lose” ballots for the other guy. These were physical, paper ballots you had to create or destroy accordingly. Sometimes, this would include a guy voting in a blue hat, then coming back in and voting again in a red hat. More commonly, it involved taking the five ballot boxes from the polling place and dropping all six off at the registrar’s office for counting. Alternatively, one might simply switch one or two of the boxes with previously prepared boxes offering much more favorable results for your candidate than might be expected from actual turnout.
That’s the way it used to be done and it’s the way old people still understand, so that’s the way it’s presented. The presenters even offer “evidence”. Look, they say, at the number of people on the voter rolls who are a) registered to vote in two places or b) dead. But I’ve moved house. I’ve moved between districts, cities, counties, and states. Never once have I included on my ‘things to do’ list “Update voter status in place I’m leaving”. (Perhaps an oversight on my part…) So far, I’ve never died but when I do, I’m guessing the people around me are going to be much more concerned with getting rid of the body before it starts to smell than making sure my voter information is updated and to-the-minute.
So, newsflash to my conservative brethren or, perhaps, to old people: that’s not the way it’s done anymore. When one has to actually manipulate physical ballots there are significant problems to be worked out, namely, how to get “acceptable” fraudulent ballots into the system and/or what to do with the “unwanted” ballots. But Diebold solved those problems for “election” overseers with the introduction of electronic voting machines.
Now all one need do is dial in, alter the results to those you prefer, and back out. Internally, it’s just a spreadsheet. Sometimes, they simply switch final tallies between candidates. Sometimes, they add or subtract as needed. The beauty part is, there’s no paper trail, no evidence of the tampering, no proof of the outcome and no independent way to verify the results. Well, almost no way. Around the rest of the world, elections are verified by exit polls. In America, the land of “Alternative Facts”, we’re told exit polls are untrustworthy.
That’s comforting because when I look at exit polls vs results in America I see that Bernie beat Hillary in the primaries…but I also see that Hillary beat the Donald in the general. For clarity, I’m saying Hillary should have won more electoral votes than Trump. Look, I have a chart:
Clinton “won” in the exit polls in four battleground states (blue highlight) but the computer vote total went against her (red highlight). There are enough electoral votes associated with those four states that had the official outcome matched the exit polls in any three of the four – as they should have done – Hillary would be sitting in the Oval Office.
Surely, the parties know the machines are vulnerable to hacking…no, built to be hacked. My suspicion is that they count on it. Rather than eliminate the machines and return to the days of paper ballots to ensure the integrity of the vote, I suspect each side tries to use the machines to their own advantage. I have this image in my mind of a room full of geeks furiously hacking away altering results for the Democrats while another room full of geeks is furiously hacking away altering results for Republicans…and the best hacker group wins!
I can almost envision my conservative brethren reading this, seething, preparing arguments explaining exactly how and why I’m wrong while my progressive friends glom on as proof that Trump is not, in fact, a legitimate President. Here’s the thing: either side could be correct. The point is, nobody stuffs ballot boxes anymore. It’s just too much trouble and the risk too great.
I’ll tell you this: as long as America uses these machines for “elections” no American – whether your “team” wins or loses – can actually be confident in the outcome of American “elections”…
I know, writing that puts me in great danger from the powers that be so let me be clear at the outset: I’m not CALLING for revolution. I don’t support revolution. (Honestly, I’m not well-suited for revolution.) But I know history and I think the immediate future it promises is not bright. History clearly shows that We, the People, now face one common future – violence.
Right now, conservatives are having a great time. They got “their man.” The more radical among them are out on social media teasing progressives and gloating over their “big win.” But how long is that going to last? As taxes on the rich go down, daily cost of living for everyone else goes up and/or basic services once taken for granted simply disappear. How bad will their situation get before they realize “their man” was never really “theirs” at all? And then what?
Progressives are crying in their tea, trying to figure out what to do. There’s been an absolute media blitz from writers loyal to the Democrats (rather than America) trying to convince the world that Democrats didn’t do what they did – put Trump in power by rigging the Democratic primary. But DNC interference left us a choice – Clinton vs Trump – that was so distasteful, people started joking that a giant asteroid crashing into Earth would be preferable. (Sorry, rest of the planet…)
I’m sure I’m not alone as I survey my options. I can’t go right because conservatives in this country support policies that history has already shown don’t work in practical application. Repackaged garbage is still garbage. I can’t go left because, basically, no “left” remains in American politics. We choose between far right and center-right…then off to the left somewhere is Bernie and me.
So…I’m expecting the GOP to unravel the New Deal. Reading history, not tea leaves, Americans find themselves once again with no social safety net for the masses, no more control over the wealthy. The wealthy press their myriad advantages, the masses become increasingly poor, increasingly desperate. Crime and violence increase and the wealthy respond with heavy handed control tactics. Eventually, the masses get fed up. They’ll take all they can take – and then some – but at some point…the scales tip. One little “normal” thing, one more “little” outrage in a parade of outrages and…BAM! Explosion. Violence. Bloodshed. It’s inevitable, really.
The American colonists did a pretty good job of managing the violence and setting up a new functional government to replace the one they had just shuffled off. The French rioted for several years, lopping off heads (good and bad), actually lived through a period known to historians as the ‘Reign of Terror’, and gave rise to Napoleon Bonaparte before finally settling once again into something akin to a civilized government.
So which do we get, revolution or riots? No one can say. No one knows and we won’t know until we’re in it. But I find myself still pulling for ‘Huge Asteroid, 2016’…
It strikes me that the wealthy, privileged elite have used their control over the corporate media to pit left against right. They do it by delivering different “information” – it’s actually Disinformation – to the two groups. It only works because they managed to manipulate one of the two groups into isolating themselves into an information bubble.
They did it using the exact same technique some fundamentalist church groups use to isolate their congregation: “Disregard those ‘of the world’.” “Trust us but not them.” “Protect yourself from the deceptions of the serpent.” Sure, they replaced “serpent” with “main stream media” but the technique – and effect – were the same. After that, it was a small matter to send disinformation to that one, self-insulated group and other “news” to the rest of the viewing public.
Over time, most people in the mainstream got used to the idea that the insular group was misinformed. It created just the break between Americans it was intended to as the overall effect was name-calling and other insults, leading to bitterness and anger. In turn, the anger caused the group to self-isolate even MORE. Now people from outside the bubble just pretty much write off whatever comes from inside the bubble because it’s been provably false for so long it just becomes a time saver to ignore it.
But now I’m seeing a new trend. Now, the corporate media is feeding false information to those outside the bubble. Right now, it’s all about how the DNC didn’t cheat and damn those interfering Russians, anyway. Every time you hear some talking head tell you about the Russian hacks, you’re being fed false information. The corporate media is trying to wrap Hillary’s scandals into a single package – the “email hack” – and blame the Russians for the existence of the package. The entire narrative falls apart with only a little examination – so they hope you don’t look too closely. Let’s look anyway…
First, there was Hillary’s email servers. Did you see the ‘s’ at the end of ‘server’? That’s because she used several email servers. None were properly secured. Secret and even Top Secret information passed through them. This is not speculation. The FBI did an investigation, remember? The FBI said they found Secret and Top Secret information on the servers. NONE of this had anything to do with the Russians except for the possibility that her unsecured servers might have been hacked by the Russians. But none of the information on the servers was made public by the Russians or anyone else…
Second, there was the DNC email scandal. It had nothing to do with Hillary’s servers. The only commonality is the word “email” but – according to Wikileaks, who provided the information – the DNC emails weren’t “hacked”. They were leaked. That means an insider. Someone INSIDE the DNC gained access to the emails by working at the DNC, printed them out, and provided them to Wikileaks. Again, no Russians involved.
So, that’s two out of three email scandals that didn’t involve the Russians. That leaves the Podesta hack. You know how you get an email from time to time warning you that some page has been violated and you need to go to such and such a site and re-enter your user name, password, and credit card information? Those emails are scams and they have a name. They’re called phishing emails. Well, John Podesta fell for one of those. It’s technically true those are “hacks” in the sense that someone now has access to things they shouldn’t but it’s not like some computer whiz had to sneak in and breach security protocols. They just asked Podesta for his password and he gave it to them. After that it was just a simple matter of printing email.
But there is a cadre of writers and broadcasters out there consistently pounding the message that the Russians hacked the election to create “the email scandal” and they’re feeding this non-stop stream of bullpucky to those of us OUTSIDE the self-imposed media bubble in order to deflect attention from their own missteps and misdeeds. I see it as a new development.
I’m used to seeing fraudulent information coming from “the other team”. It’s so common, it’s boring. I’m NOT used to seeing fraudulent information coming from “my team”. The corporate media has had time to iron out the wrinkles working within the insular group. They’re very skilled at disinformation and can easily slip propaganda in unnoticed if one isn’t paying VERY close attention. So pay attention. Disregard broadcast media that originates inside the US borders. Read, but check what you read.
I’ll tell you this: Lincoln warned that a house divided against itself cannot stand and the privileged elite have succeeded in dividing the house that is America to their own benefit for long enough…
I’m a little bothered by the notion that the economic system that actually made America great in the first place has such a stupid name: Democratic Socialism. It bothers me for two reasons: One, it’s too easy for weak thinkers to think “Communism”. Two, it’s just wrong. It SHOULD have been called ‘Social Capitalism’.
During the 2016 primary, every time Bernie Sanders or one of his supporters mentioned Democratic Socialism, some whiz would post a photo of Stalin, Marx, or Lenin. Sometimes they’d post a picture of all three. See, it has the word ‘socialism’ in it and that word scares the bejeezus out of a certain segment of our society. But it’s not Communism – in which the government owns…pretty much everything.
More importantly, though, is that it’s wrong. The ‘Democratic’ part makes it sound like it’s about a government system, not an economic system. But Democratic Socialism is not a government system, it’s Capitalism – it’s just controlled Capitalism or more properly, true Capitalism.
To my mind, the most important single element of Capitalism is that every party to a transaction MUST enjoy a legitimate opportunity to say “no”. If you can’t say no, it’s not genuine Capitalism. It’s extortion. When some business predator manages to corner the market on, say, fresh water – as Nestle intends to do – people no longer have the ability to say no. We HAVE to have water so we would be forced to pay whatever Nestle demands. That’s not a Capitalist transaction. My favorite example says that it’s not Capitalism to hold life saving medication up in front of a dying man and ask, “NOW how much would you pay?”
Social Capitalism (Democratic Socialism) only moves those not-Capitalist transactions to what is known as the Commons – that which “belongs” to all of us. It doesn’t seek to own and build your cars or service your washing machines. It leaves Capitalism in place for Capitalist transactions and protects people from pseudo-Capitalist transactions.
I’ll tell you this: Democratic Socialism actually IS the best option for the largest number of people, whatever you call it. But it SHOULD be called Social Capitalism…
I’ve seen several op-eds (always op-eds, so…no facts required) suggesting how horrible it is that the Russians managed to influence the American “election”. I think it’s a distraction, a misdirect, brought to you by the DNC as part of their multi-pronged effort to pretend they didn’t manipulate the primary with disastrous results.
The part we’re not supposed to think about? How easy it was for the Russians to find so much damning evidence on Hillary and her supporters. It’s all, “Look what the Russians did” and absolutely NO “Look what Hillary did”, “Look what the DNC did”, or “Look what Podesta did”. (See, it’s three scandals centered around emails, not ONE “email scandal”…)
They’re basically telling you that if someone brings you evidence that your partner is cheating, you should choose to ignore it because you don’t like the guy who tells you. It’s all about ‘Ignore the message, kill the messenger’!
The DNC should not have intervened. Their job is to facilitate, not make the choice. They made the choice and installed a flawed, vulnerable candidate absolutely reviled by a large segment of our county…
But I’ll tell you this: The more I hear about the incoming misadministration, the more I’m hoping for Jill Stein’s recount effort to succeed…
Do these three pieces of information fit together?
I’ve seen stories here and there the last few days suggesting that Melania won’t be moving into the White House anytime soon and that even the Donald only plans to be there part-time…
There was a story from Slate during the campaign that the Trump camp contacted a John Kasich advisor to see if Kasich was interested in being Trump’s VP. The caller, reportedly Donald, Jr., told the advisor that Trump’s VP would be in charge of domestic AND foreign policy. The advisor asked what Trump would be doing. “Making America great again”, was the answer.
Now, he’s not even attending intelligence briefings. Apparently, he’s leaving that to Pence…
So…just connecting dots, here: The President-elect doesn’t intend to be at his primary job site (the White House), isn’t attending intelligence briefings, and we’ve already heard one rumor that he plans to put his VP in charge, are we REALLY preparing for the Mike Pence administration?
I’ll tell you this: I never really believed Trump in his role as bat-shit crazy Republican. But I believe Pence…
The Bacon Press 