Quietly, The Opposition with Jordon Klepper has become the gutsiest show on television. They take on the worst of the right, the stuff most Democrats and TV hosts are terrified of attacking, and rip them to shreds.
Kleeper's rants are amazing, and incredibly pointed, but it's the guts of his field reporters, their willingness to put themselves in incredible vulnerable positions, while thinking on their toes, which sets this show apart. Occasionally Jon Stewart's Daily Show got this gutsy. The Colbert Report would go into dangerous areas too, but this...these guys are doing it most nights.
What I'm about to show you could be the most incredible thing I've ever seen. Field reporter Kobi Libii gets in Alex Jones' face, and accuses hm of being a crisis actor (!!!). This is on the level of Colbert doing the White House Correspondents Dinner and taunting W. right to his face when most people were being told to question the President was to hate America. This is amazing, and clearly Alex Jones is scared of Kobi. Warning, some rough language, but understandable.
Then Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson go undercover to expose the Rights argument, that all protestors are paid, as false. They do it in the most delightful manner.
These guys are amazing. Have a great weekend everyone, and be safe with the snow!
Friday, April 13, 2018
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Dictator 101
There are three things you need to become an evil dictator. One, you need a political platform which delivers something the public wants, a needed government service which was lacking prior to your arrival, a service, once improved, which allows the people you rule over the ability to ignore your far more heinous activities. Two, you need politicians who are willing to sacrifice governmental institutions your country's depends on (Constitution, free elections, a system of checks and balances) to anoint you the 'all powerful.' Thirdly, you need a military/police force which will assault, arrest, and murder anyone who they deem to be an obstacle in the way, enabling your takeover.
As of right now, I don't believe Trump has the ability to take over the United States as a dictator, but I also don't think he's smart enough to realize that.
Mussolini's rise to power was facilitated by established leaders, in his case the Italian king who helped undermine the legally elected liberal Prime Minister in 1922, as well as Italian politicians who helped Mussolini consolidate power in 1923. He then used the military, which the king basically handed him, to attack Greece, followed by him turning the military proudly upon his political opponents, something Mussolini took credit for in 1925. And Mussolini claimed (albeit false) that he got the trains back to running on time. Italians rejoiced, although it was the inevitable rebuilding and improvements made to the Italian train service after WWI which were the real reason for the return of timely trains, improvements begun prior to Mussolini's rise to power. Regardless, the Fascists credited Mussolini, and most of the population seemed to go along with the military crackdown.
Trump's biggest problem for a viable path to becoming dictator is the populist message which would cause the majority of Americans to unite behind him. These would be issues which would immediately change his poll numbers. If Trump were to embrace one of his campaign promises, cheaper and better healthcare, he'd have an issue people would follow him for. The problem is to deliver on that promise, he needs to install a single player expansion of government healthcare which covers all Americans and all illnesses. There's no way on the planet the Republican Party would allow him to even entertain this idea. Imagine, after Election Night in 2016, prior to taking office, Trump would've demanded single payer become the law of the land on his first day in office, regardless of Republican obstruction. This would be a very different country right now.
But Trump is stupid. Not only did he not take advantage of populist initiatives he promised, he's actually taking on popular programs and stances which are only damaging his ability to win over the majority, like turning on The Dreamers, imposing deficit exploding tax cuts for the wealthy, and getting into bed with the gun industry. One of the dumbest things he's doing is dismantling the internet's net neutrality. When Americans start getting cable TV like internet bills, his approval numbers will be in the single digits.
There are some far right politicians who feel as if it's time for the US's Democracy experiment to come to an end with the appointment of Dictator Trump, politicians who have whole heartedly bought into their 'vilify the Democrats' election strategy, forgetting it was just a marketing ploy. Thankfully, it's only a few dozen. Don't get me wrong, plenty of Republicans saw a man who mocked a disabled man, threatened violence constantly and bragged about sexually assaulting women and eagerly voted to put that man in the White House, and plenty of Republicans have remained quiet and complicit as Trump has irreparably damaged the United States, but when push comes to shove, I think the majority of the Republican Party would not want to go along with the dismantling of the government as it's existed for 242 years. Still, it would surprise you how many Republicans would put party loyalty over country...
As far as a military/police force to help Trump rule with an iron fist, he's actually had success with this. He has taken ICE, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, an obscure federal law enforcement agency, installed a Trump worshipping leader, given them an immediate budget upgrade, tasked them with hiring far more agents, and have dispatched them across the country to round up any person, American citizen or undocumented worker, whose only crime is looking slightly Hispanic. They detain people illegally, including US citizens, and when they get caught, their attitude is "it sucks to be you." They seem to take tremendous joy and pleasure at breaking up families, even using sick kids as bait. They raid offices, relentlessly looking for people to deport, even people who have been major contributors to their community. They laugh at the idea of deporting people to countries where they face certain death. ICE has become Trump's brown shirts, and I feel as if some in their chain of command are just waiting for the order to start rounding up Democratic Party members, either to be jailed or executed.
Still as scary as ICE has become, they wouldn't be able to take over the country. The US Military would never allow them to do it. The military realizes it has a very sweet gig in the USA, and the last thing they want is to be responsible for the day to day operations of this country. Just look at the level of pushback Trump has gotten from military circles for his banning of transgender troops and the use of National Guard troops to guard the border. On top of that, you have police departments nationwide who would not go along with a military take over.
Trump's chances of becoming a dictator, regardless of whether he harbors the desire, are almost nil, but he still might try. Why? Because the buffoon seems to be following the direct advice of Fox News hosts, and Fox News is full of rabid, power hungry, anti-American zealots who see opportunity.
A report out says Trump is now ignoring most of the Presidential power checks, removing critics within the White House, as he fills his time "...watching Fox [News], and eating dinner with people who feed his ego and conspiracy theories, and who drink in his rants." To our knowledge, we've never had a President detach from reality like this. We've had a fair share of alcoholic Presidents (Grant, Cleveland), and Wilson was not fit for office after his stroke in late 1919, but for Trump to intentionally wallow with the conspiracy theory gutter snipes who are only looking at the President as a ticket to money and power is terrifying.
Fox News hosts Jeanine Pirro and Lou Dobbs are getting more attention from the President today than the Chief of Staff and the Commander of the Joint Chiefs. Pirro, a woman who has counciled Trump privately, last weekend blamed Republicans for not punishing Hollywood, Saturday Night Live, Late Night Hosts and anyone who dared to disrespect Trump, asking "how did we get so lost?" Jeanine, we can begin by looking at how you and your political party treated the Clinton's and the Obama's, focusing afterwards on how you and the Republicans so hated Democrats, you turned to someone completely unqualified to be President, out of spite. Pirro's clear message to Trump; time to start cracking down on anyone who doesn't praise you. Dobbs threw a temper tantrum demanding Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Special Council Robert Mueller both be fired for the raid on Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's office and house, a raid which had NUMEROUS Republican's and Trump appointees sign off on. Dobbs even called Attorney General Jeff Sessions "incompetent." Dobbs, realizing his words have power, did tell Trump directly, "not that I'm suggesting the President should do it, because there would be political fallout because of it." It's sad to see the Fox News Hosts have to talk to the President like a four year old being told to pick up their toys before they can get their snack.
There are many comparisons to this kind of dictatorship enabling throughout history; media people and journalists who one day are fawning over an up and coming political firebrand, and two years later are wearing a military outfit standing over a pit while an assassination squad guns down all their perceived enemies. I do not trust Pirro, Dobbs, and many of the people at Fox News. It feels like they all have an enemies list and their measurements for a military outfit ready to go.
If Trump, realizing his secrets and crimes are about to get exposed to the public, decided to try a dictator-like power grab, watch out. I don't think he'll get close to being successful, but a lot of people might get killed proving him wrong. Trump doesn't have the foundation for a dictatorship in place, but he sure has the evil cast of characters every dictator has ready to go, and many of them are currently telling him to 'go for it.'
Charlie Chapin's phenomenal speech from the end of The Great Dictator:
As of right now, I don't believe Trump has the ability to take over the United States as a dictator, but I also don't think he's smart enough to realize that.
Mussolini's rise to power was facilitated by established leaders, in his case the Italian king who helped undermine the legally elected liberal Prime Minister in 1922, as well as Italian politicians who helped Mussolini consolidate power in 1923. He then used the military, which the king basically handed him, to attack Greece, followed by him turning the military proudly upon his political opponents, something Mussolini took credit for in 1925. And Mussolini claimed (albeit false) that he got the trains back to running on time. Italians rejoiced, although it was the inevitable rebuilding and improvements made to the Italian train service after WWI which were the real reason for the return of timely trains, improvements begun prior to Mussolini's rise to power. Regardless, the Fascists credited Mussolini, and most of the population seemed to go along with the military crackdown.
Trump's biggest problem for a viable path to becoming dictator is the populist message which would cause the majority of Americans to unite behind him. These would be issues which would immediately change his poll numbers. If Trump were to embrace one of his campaign promises, cheaper and better healthcare, he'd have an issue people would follow him for. The problem is to deliver on that promise, he needs to install a single player expansion of government healthcare which covers all Americans and all illnesses. There's no way on the planet the Republican Party would allow him to even entertain this idea. Imagine, after Election Night in 2016, prior to taking office, Trump would've demanded single payer become the law of the land on his first day in office, regardless of Republican obstruction. This would be a very different country right now.
But Trump is stupid. Not only did he not take advantage of populist initiatives he promised, he's actually taking on popular programs and stances which are only damaging his ability to win over the majority, like turning on The Dreamers, imposing deficit exploding tax cuts for the wealthy, and getting into bed with the gun industry. One of the dumbest things he's doing is dismantling the internet's net neutrality. When Americans start getting cable TV like internet bills, his approval numbers will be in the single digits.
There are some far right politicians who feel as if it's time for the US's Democracy experiment to come to an end with the appointment of Dictator Trump, politicians who have whole heartedly bought into their 'vilify the Democrats' election strategy, forgetting it was just a marketing ploy. Thankfully, it's only a few dozen. Don't get me wrong, plenty of Republicans saw a man who mocked a disabled man, threatened violence constantly and bragged about sexually assaulting women and eagerly voted to put that man in the White House, and plenty of Republicans have remained quiet and complicit as Trump has irreparably damaged the United States, but when push comes to shove, I think the majority of the Republican Party would not want to go along with the dismantling of the government as it's existed for 242 years. Still, it would surprise you how many Republicans would put party loyalty over country...
As far as a military/police force to help Trump rule with an iron fist, he's actually had success with this. He has taken ICE, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, an obscure federal law enforcement agency, installed a Trump worshipping leader, given them an immediate budget upgrade, tasked them with hiring far more agents, and have dispatched them across the country to round up any person, American citizen or undocumented worker, whose only crime is looking slightly Hispanic. They detain people illegally, including US citizens, and when they get caught, their attitude is "it sucks to be you." They seem to take tremendous joy and pleasure at breaking up families, even using sick kids as bait. They raid offices, relentlessly looking for people to deport, even people who have been major contributors to their community. They laugh at the idea of deporting people to countries where they face certain death. ICE has become Trump's brown shirts, and I feel as if some in their chain of command are just waiting for the order to start rounding up Democratic Party members, either to be jailed or executed.
Still as scary as ICE has become, they wouldn't be able to take over the country. The US Military would never allow them to do it. The military realizes it has a very sweet gig in the USA, and the last thing they want is to be responsible for the day to day operations of this country. Just look at the level of pushback Trump has gotten from military circles for his banning of transgender troops and the use of National Guard troops to guard the border. On top of that, you have police departments nationwide who would not go along with a military take over.
Trump's chances of becoming a dictator, regardless of whether he harbors the desire, are almost nil, but he still might try. Why? Because the buffoon seems to be following the direct advice of Fox News hosts, and Fox News is full of rabid, power hungry, anti-American zealots who see opportunity.
A report out says Trump is now ignoring most of the Presidential power checks, removing critics within the White House, as he fills his time "...watching Fox [News], and eating dinner with people who feed his ego and conspiracy theories, and who drink in his rants." To our knowledge, we've never had a President detach from reality like this. We've had a fair share of alcoholic Presidents (Grant, Cleveland), and Wilson was not fit for office after his stroke in late 1919, but for Trump to intentionally wallow with the conspiracy theory gutter snipes who are only looking at the President as a ticket to money and power is terrifying.
Fox News hosts Jeanine Pirro and Lou Dobbs are getting more attention from the President today than the Chief of Staff and the Commander of the Joint Chiefs. Pirro, a woman who has counciled Trump privately, last weekend blamed Republicans for not punishing Hollywood, Saturday Night Live, Late Night Hosts and anyone who dared to disrespect Trump, asking "how did we get so lost?" Jeanine, we can begin by looking at how you and your political party treated the Clinton's and the Obama's, focusing afterwards on how you and the Republicans so hated Democrats, you turned to someone completely unqualified to be President, out of spite. Pirro's clear message to Trump; time to start cracking down on anyone who doesn't praise you. Dobbs threw a temper tantrum demanding Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Special Council Robert Mueller both be fired for the raid on Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's office and house, a raid which had NUMEROUS Republican's and Trump appointees sign off on. Dobbs even called Attorney General Jeff Sessions "incompetent." Dobbs, realizing his words have power, did tell Trump directly, "not that I'm suggesting the President should do it, because there would be political fallout because of it." It's sad to see the Fox News Hosts have to talk to the President like a four year old being told to pick up their toys before they can get their snack.
There are many comparisons to this kind of dictatorship enabling throughout history; media people and journalists who one day are fawning over an up and coming political firebrand, and two years later are wearing a military outfit standing over a pit while an assassination squad guns down all their perceived enemies. I do not trust Pirro, Dobbs, and many of the people at Fox News. It feels like they all have an enemies list and their measurements for a military outfit ready to go.
If Trump, realizing his secrets and crimes are about to get exposed to the public, decided to try a dictator-like power grab, watch out. I don't think he'll get close to being successful, but a lot of people might get killed proving him wrong. Trump doesn't have the foundation for a dictatorship in place, but he sure has the evil cast of characters every dictator has ready to go, and many of them are currently telling him to 'go for it.'
Charlie Chapin's phenomenal speech from the end of The Great Dictator:
Friday, April 6, 2018
The Friday Link for 4/6/18
I'll be the first to say it, this cold weather in April sucks. It's not that I wish I lived somewhere else, or that it's incredibly abnormal to have snow and cold in April, but it's hard to see the finish line ahead only to be told we have to do one more complete lap.
To help deal with the weather, let's turn to The Hacksmith. These are the engineering Canadians who do fun, incredibly smart project builds.
If you went to the St. Paul Winter Carnival, you might have seen the colleges trying to do the robot snowplow competition. I saw part of it. Let's just say halfway through I was internally begging the college kids to just grab the shovel five feet away from them.
The Hacksmith guys have come up with a personalized, motorized snow plow, and it kicks caboose! Seriously, you could make a mint, and have a freaking blast, with one of these things in your neighborhood.
And for more fun on a Friday night, this clip from our cartoon President. I'm not sure what's funnier: Trump talking to his kid about divorce, or their take on Bolton.
I'm off to go see Dessa. Have a great weekend everyone and know Spring will get here soon...eventually...
To help deal with the weather, let's turn to The Hacksmith. These are the engineering Canadians who do fun, incredibly smart project builds.
If you went to the St. Paul Winter Carnival, you might have seen the colleges trying to do the robot snowplow competition. I saw part of it. Let's just say halfway through I was internally begging the college kids to just grab the shovel five feet away from them.
The Hacksmith guys have come up with a personalized, motorized snow plow, and it kicks caboose! Seriously, you could make a mint, and have a freaking blast, with one of these things in your neighborhood.
And for more fun on a Friday night, this clip from our cartoon President. I'm not sure what's funnier: Trump talking to his kid about divorce, or their take on Bolton.
I'm off to go see Dessa. Have a great weekend everyone and know Spring will get here soon...eventually...
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Customer Disservice
I just had a major corporation recently attempt to screw me over. It's probably something you've experienced too. After 10 years of my monthly payment being due on the 14th of the month, the company, unbeknownst to me, changed the billing due date to the 11th. I discovered this when I sat down on the 10th and saw the change. I called the company, who insisted the change was to make things better for me, but she couldn't explain exactly how it made things better. She admitted a lot of people were complaining about the change, but since I called, I'd be able to get the late payment fee waived. I just had to call back after I'd been assessed the late fee and get it removed. When I asked why they couldn't save me a call and fix it now, they insisted they wish they could, but they made a rule which said you had to be accessed the late fee before having the late fee removed.
Why did this company do this to their loyal customers? This was a money grab. By changing the due date, what they really did was 1) ensure millions of their customers will be late with their payments. 2) With many people paying their monthly bills with electronic bill pay, most won't even realize they're late on their payments. 3) Many of the people who complained will forget to call back, ensuring the late fee isn't refunded. And 4) a few of their clients will be assessed multiple penalties because they will be late with their payment every month for a year.
This company might just make 150 million dollars by simply screwing over their customers. This money will likely be used for executive bonuses, and for maximizing stock options by infusing a one time massive influx of profit to help prop up the stock share price.
They did this because of greed.
Most companies used to have morality and ethics. I was a Business major in college, and we were taught the institution of a corporation existed for the benefit of the shareholders, the customers, the employees, and (to a lesser extent) the suppliers. Somewhere in the 1980's things dramatically changed.
In the 80's, corporate executives started placing themselves atop everyone else. They insisted the company isn't successful without a strong executive class, so why shouldn't they get a little extra. To a point, they weren't wrong. Good executives work 80 hours a week and are always on call. Their business is their priority. They don't take vacations, unless it's a working vacation. Good executives are worth it, BUT they were already reaping the benefits of a much higher salary, usually two to three times the average worker's salary. They also had executive benefits which were designed to make their hours in the office nicer, while supplying their family with personal benefits (company car, health care, dental, retirement accounts, college savings plans) to make up for the long days.
Back then, the executive class started asking questions. "Why are we ONLY making two to three times the average worker beneath us?" "Why are Holiday bonuses optional, as we, the executive class, surely deserved that additional income?" "Why doesn't the company reward us first, regardless of the company's overall performance, considering we put in the long hours?" "Considering we're executives, shouldn't we be given more appreciation regardless of whether I do a good job or a bad job?"
It's not all corporate executives who are massive jerks, but it's a shocking amount of them, positioned in pretty much every major corporation in America, giving hard working executives who truly care about the customer and the corporation a bad name. It's as if the bad executives watched 'It's a Wonderful Life,' but instead of admiring George Bailey for putting the Savings and Loan ahead of his own personal interests, they admired Potter. "Hey, the wealthy guy got to keep the $8000! He's the real hero of the film!"
Wall Street starting playing this game too. Used to be when you bought a stock, the stock went up or down depending on how wisely you picked. It was very similar to gambling, but in the 1980's speculation became the name of the game. If speculators felt your company should've earned 17 cents on the share, then it had better be 17 cents. If the company only made 12 cents on the share, even though they were undeniably successful, the company was considered a failure, because they weren't where Wall Street said they should be. Companies started getting punished for not being successful enough.
It'd be like playing the card game 21. They have a King and an 8 (18) and they tell the dealer to "hit me!" He gives them a 9 (27), so they go bust. The card player shouldn't be able to punish the dealer for giving him the 9, just because he thought the next card was supposed to be a 3! "It's your fault my gambling is horrible! You were successful, but not successful enough, so fire all the executives, shut down half their locations, and prepare the company to be sold off as parts and scrap."
We're now witnessing the long term effects of these two disgusting business trends: executives desperate to keep the money and benefits train rolling on in by keeping the quarterly margins constantly increasing, and Wall Street speculators trying to make someone else responsible for their reckless behavior. These two traits have placed the customer in the cross hairs. Customers, who are supposed to be the main focus of a corporation, are now a revenue source the executives treat atrociously, with the end goal of taking their money away whether they want to give it up or not.
The story I shared of my family's horrible Delta flight experience is a prime example. We paid a company $1300 for their services. Let's stop there. For many Americans, $1300 is their entire disposable income for two to three years. I've rarely given any business that much money to provide me a service. Delta didn't have to sell their tickets for the price they did. Delta themselves set the price and offered the consumer their product, but in their mind, I'm a jerk for wanting to give them my money.
Every Delta employee I ran into, outside of the stewardesses, was an absolute jackass. They chewed me out, acting as if me wanting to pay them $1300 to take their flights was some sort of grand privilege they bequeathed upon me. The worst was the gate agent in Atlanta, who came running at us on the concourse from the gate to the plane AFTER we had checked in, slapped a sticker on our bag, stated "BLAH BLAH BLAH" (seriously, no one around us understood what she had said) and when I asked her what she said, she turned around and yelled "you heard what I said." The stewardess, using an understandable form of language, explained we had to check our bags underneath the plane because the flight had too many bags. Of the eight overhead compartments around us, there was a total of ONE SMALL BAG in all of them. There was plenty of room, they just added a hurdle to be asses.
After sharing my Delta story on my radio show, I had numerous people claim they had similar experiences. It seems the airline industry, an industry who only 15 years ago was pleading for customers to take a flight after 9/11, has adopted a 'treat the customer buying our cheapest tickets awful, and keep reminding them they could get treated better if they just give us $200 additional per ticket' policy. This S&M, school yard bully mentality is built around the insane idea a customer spending $1300 needs to be punished, and either they'll pay more to be treated better, or not come back.
To be fair, the stewardesses on both the flight to and from Atlanta were very nice, but considering how their parent company treats their own customers, they should scream '(Blank) You' as everyone deplanes.
Moving payment dates and being massive jerks is minor compared to what Wells Fargo did. They actually stole money from their customers, likely hundreds of millions, for the purpose of funneling executives bigger bonuses, and making the stock price soar so executives and Wall Street speculators could cash out their stock holdings at high levels. There were so many different infractions, so many different ways Wells Fargo was cheating their customers (late fees, fake accounts, car financing shenanigans, stealing people's houses[!!!]) it's hard to comprehend. Wells Fargo was the end game in the movie Ocean's 13, when EVERYTHING was rigged.
The reason John Stumpf and Carrie Tolstedt, the executives who oversaw this massive shakedown, did so was because they knew they'd get away with it. Wells Fargo pulled back some of the salary and bonuses the two of them got, but they still each walked away with tens of millions of dollars, with no jail time. Not even a charge filed! An African American man steals $15 from a store and he's going away for life, but make up a fake mortgage your own company has no record of, play a game of eviction chicken with a blindsided homeowner, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from that individual, then do similar shake downs over and over and over again, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars in outright theft, as well as theft in the form of falsely inflated stock option profits and undeserved bonuses, and you get to enjoy the country club $200 a plate Sunday buffet for the rest of your life.
What can we do about this? Very little. The reason these companies are doing this is because they know they have their customers cornered. They're confident you'll stay and get treated poorly so they won't change. Eventually they'll even get more brazen, demanding you pay up or else. Those needy executives desperately want that third luxury yacht!
Our current Republican government will also do nothing. They're hoping to borrow the yacht, and (frankly) Republicans get sexually aroused watching corporate America screw over the little guy under the auspices of greed. They hate the poor and working class, so for them, punishing them for being less affluent is foreplay.
The only thing we can hope for in our current environment is the greed gets too outrageous, causing the company to stumble, with infractions so bad even the Republicans in Congress can't turn a blind eye any further, with executives having to beg for public forgiveness, promising changes in corporate culture. Mind you, none of the evil parties will end up going to jail, likely living high on the hog with the stolen money they worship, but at least there'd be hope the company would stop with the 'legal' theft. Then again, nothing ruins a company faster in this day and age than being 10 cents below where Wall Street speculators have pegged their stock. This is a double edge sword too, as the bits and pieces of the company are usually folded into a larger corporation, one which might already be treating their customers worse.
When Democrats get back in power, we need to make perp walks happen. Nothing scares these people more than being led out of their offices in cuffs. It would seem to be a no brainer for the people who are stealing millions from their customers. It's sad: if these companies would attempt to steal a million dollars from a single billionaire, they'd get arrested, but steal a billion dollars from your middle and lower income customers, $25 - $100 at a time, over years, and we'll give you the Executive of the Year award!
Corporate Executives, I know many of you think you're Gordon Gekko from the movie Wall Street, the guy who did the 'greed is good' speech. Putting aside you've taken what was supposed to be a horrifying speech condemning Gekko's unredeemable character and turned into your executive club motto, treating your customers so poorly will eventually destroy the company, something you use as your own personal piggy bank. Maybe, if we end up in another Great Depression, you'll be like many of the wealthy people from back in the 1930's, forced to live the existence you feel is beneath you. That's what it took to shake the corporate barons of yore to their senses; seeing their friends and family homeless and starving to death. It's a shame that's the only scenario where you jackasses will wake up from your misguided greed worshipping.
Bad modern executives are not Gordon Gekko, but rather another more spot on movie character, Sean Penn's version of Daulton Lee from Falcon and the Snowman, a spoiled, mentally compromised brat who wants to have everything, but doesn't have the soul or brain power to accomplish it in an honest and decent manner. Instead, he manipulates his way through life, hoping the world he's created for himself doesn't collapse inward.
If the world does collapse for these bad executives, at least the customers will have a front row seat for when the walls come a crumbling down.
Why did this company do this to their loyal customers? This was a money grab. By changing the due date, what they really did was 1) ensure millions of their customers will be late with their payments. 2) With many people paying their monthly bills with electronic bill pay, most won't even realize they're late on their payments. 3) Many of the people who complained will forget to call back, ensuring the late fee isn't refunded. And 4) a few of their clients will be assessed multiple penalties because they will be late with their payment every month for a year.
This company might just make 150 million dollars by simply screwing over their customers. This money will likely be used for executive bonuses, and for maximizing stock options by infusing a one time massive influx of profit to help prop up the stock share price.
They did this because of greed.
Most companies used to have morality and ethics. I was a Business major in college, and we were taught the institution of a corporation existed for the benefit of the shareholders, the customers, the employees, and (to a lesser extent) the suppliers. Somewhere in the 1980's things dramatically changed.
In the 80's, corporate executives started placing themselves atop everyone else. They insisted the company isn't successful without a strong executive class, so why shouldn't they get a little extra. To a point, they weren't wrong. Good executives work 80 hours a week and are always on call. Their business is their priority. They don't take vacations, unless it's a working vacation. Good executives are worth it, BUT they were already reaping the benefits of a much higher salary, usually two to three times the average worker's salary. They also had executive benefits which were designed to make their hours in the office nicer, while supplying their family with personal benefits (company car, health care, dental, retirement accounts, college savings plans) to make up for the long days.
Back then, the executive class started asking questions. "Why are we ONLY making two to three times the average worker beneath us?" "Why are Holiday bonuses optional, as we, the executive class, surely deserved that additional income?" "Why doesn't the company reward us first, regardless of the company's overall performance, considering we put in the long hours?" "Considering we're executives, shouldn't we be given more appreciation regardless of whether I do a good job or a bad job?"
It's not all corporate executives who are massive jerks, but it's a shocking amount of them, positioned in pretty much every major corporation in America, giving hard working executives who truly care about the customer and the corporation a bad name. It's as if the bad executives watched 'It's a Wonderful Life,' but instead of admiring George Bailey for putting the Savings and Loan ahead of his own personal interests, they admired Potter. "Hey, the wealthy guy got to keep the $8000! He's the real hero of the film!"
Wall Street starting playing this game too. Used to be when you bought a stock, the stock went up or down depending on how wisely you picked. It was very similar to gambling, but in the 1980's speculation became the name of the game. If speculators felt your company should've earned 17 cents on the share, then it had better be 17 cents. If the company only made 12 cents on the share, even though they were undeniably successful, the company was considered a failure, because they weren't where Wall Street said they should be. Companies started getting punished for not being successful enough.
It'd be like playing the card game 21. They have a King and an 8 (18) and they tell the dealer to "hit me!" He gives them a 9 (27), so they go bust. The card player shouldn't be able to punish the dealer for giving him the 9, just because he thought the next card was supposed to be a 3! "It's your fault my gambling is horrible! You were successful, but not successful enough, so fire all the executives, shut down half their locations, and prepare the company to be sold off as parts and scrap."
We're now witnessing the long term effects of these two disgusting business trends: executives desperate to keep the money and benefits train rolling on in by keeping the quarterly margins constantly increasing, and Wall Street speculators trying to make someone else responsible for their reckless behavior. These two traits have placed the customer in the cross hairs. Customers, who are supposed to be the main focus of a corporation, are now a revenue source the executives treat atrociously, with the end goal of taking their money away whether they want to give it up or not.
The story I shared of my family's horrible Delta flight experience is a prime example. We paid a company $1300 for their services. Let's stop there. For many Americans, $1300 is their entire disposable income for two to three years. I've rarely given any business that much money to provide me a service. Delta didn't have to sell their tickets for the price they did. Delta themselves set the price and offered the consumer their product, but in their mind, I'm a jerk for wanting to give them my money.
Every Delta employee I ran into, outside of the stewardesses, was an absolute jackass. They chewed me out, acting as if me wanting to pay them $1300 to take their flights was some sort of grand privilege they bequeathed upon me. The worst was the gate agent in Atlanta, who came running at us on the concourse from the gate to the plane AFTER we had checked in, slapped a sticker on our bag, stated "BLAH BLAH BLAH" (seriously, no one around us understood what she had said) and when I asked her what she said, she turned around and yelled "you heard what I said." The stewardess, using an understandable form of language, explained we had to check our bags underneath the plane because the flight had too many bags. Of the eight overhead compartments around us, there was a total of ONE SMALL BAG in all of them. There was plenty of room, they just added a hurdle to be asses.
After sharing my Delta story on my radio show, I had numerous people claim they had similar experiences. It seems the airline industry, an industry who only 15 years ago was pleading for customers to take a flight after 9/11, has adopted a 'treat the customer buying our cheapest tickets awful, and keep reminding them they could get treated better if they just give us $200 additional per ticket' policy. This S&M, school yard bully mentality is built around the insane idea a customer spending $1300 needs to be punished, and either they'll pay more to be treated better, or not come back.
To be fair, the stewardesses on both the flight to and from Atlanta were very nice, but considering how their parent company treats their own customers, they should scream '(Blank) You' as everyone deplanes.
Moving payment dates and being massive jerks is minor compared to what Wells Fargo did. They actually stole money from their customers, likely hundreds of millions, for the purpose of funneling executives bigger bonuses, and making the stock price soar so executives and Wall Street speculators could cash out their stock holdings at high levels. There were so many different infractions, so many different ways Wells Fargo was cheating their customers (late fees, fake accounts, car financing shenanigans, stealing people's houses[!!!]) it's hard to comprehend. Wells Fargo was the end game in the movie Ocean's 13, when EVERYTHING was rigged.
The reason John Stumpf and Carrie Tolstedt, the executives who oversaw this massive shakedown, did so was because they knew they'd get away with it. Wells Fargo pulled back some of the salary and bonuses the two of them got, but they still each walked away with tens of millions of dollars, with no jail time. Not even a charge filed! An African American man steals $15 from a store and he's going away for life, but make up a fake mortgage your own company has no record of, play a game of eviction chicken with a blindsided homeowner, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from that individual, then do similar shake downs over and over and over again, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars in outright theft, as well as theft in the form of falsely inflated stock option profits and undeserved bonuses, and you get to enjoy the country club $200 a plate Sunday buffet for the rest of your life.
What can we do about this? Very little. The reason these companies are doing this is because they know they have their customers cornered. They're confident you'll stay and get treated poorly so they won't change. Eventually they'll even get more brazen, demanding you pay up or else. Those needy executives desperately want that third luxury yacht!
Our current Republican government will also do nothing. They're hoping to borrow the yacht, and (frankly) Republicans get sexually aroused watching corporate America screw over the little guy under the auspices of greed. They hate the poor and working class, so for them, punishing them for being less affluent is foreplay.
The only thing we can hope for in our current environment is the greed gets too outrageous, causing the company to stumble, with infractions so bad even the Republicans in Congress can't turn a blind eye any further, with executives having to beg for public forgiveness, promising changes in corporate culture. Mind you, none of the evil parties will end up going to jail, likely living high on the hog with the stolen money they worship, but at least there'd be hope the company would stop with the 'legal' theft. Then again, nothing ruins a company faster in this day and age than being 10 cents below where Wall Street speculators have pegged their stock. This is a double edge sword too, as the bits and pieces of the company are usually folded into a larger corporation, one which might already be treating their customers worse.
When Democrats get back in power, we need to make perp walks happen. Nothing scares these people more than being led out of their offices in cuffs. It would seem to be a no brainer for the people who are stealing millions from their customers. It's sad: if these companies would attempt to steal a million dollars from a single billionaire, they'd get arrested, but steal a billion dollars from your middle and lower income customers, $25 - $100 at a time, over years, and we'll give you the Executive of the Year award!
Corporate Executives, I know many of you think you're Gordon Gekko from the movie Wall Street, the guy who did the 'greed is good' speech. Putting aside you've taken what was supposed to be a horrifying speech condemning Gekko's unredeemable character and turned into your executive club motto, treating your customers so poorly will eventually destroy the company, something you use as your own personal piggy bank. Maybe, if we end up in another Great Depression, you'll be like many of the wealthy people from back in the 1930's, forced to live the existence you feel is beneath you. That's what it took to shake the corporate barons of yore to their senses; seeing their friends and family homeless and starving to death. It's a shame that's the only scenario where you jackasses will wake up from your misguided greed worshipping.
Bad modern executives are not Gordon Gekko, but rather another more spot on movie character, Sean Penn's version of Daulton Lee from Falcon and the Snowman, a spoiled, mentally compromised brat who wants to have everything, but doesn't have the soul or brain power to accomplish it in an honest and decent manner. Instead, he manipulates his way through life, hoping the world he's created for himself doesn't collapse inward.
If the world does collapse for these bad executives, at least the customers will have a front row seat for when the walls come a crumbling down.
Friday, March 30, 2018
The Friday Link for 3/30/18
A few videos for the Friday Link; the first was a no brainier.
The second video was a no brainer too. Stephen Colbert's visits with Laura Bennati's Melania Trump are fantastic, but Wednesday night we were introduced to Dana Carvey's version of new National Security Advisor John Bolton. Magnificent!
And to finish off your Link, Snoopy goes all Easter, dancing with the Bunnies!
Happy Easter! Happy Passover! Have a great weekend everyone!
This is Spring Break Week for my kids and we've been having a blast! Como Zoo, Science Museum, Walker Art Museum, Mall of America and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The art museums are a little tough on the kids, particularly the modern art. I love modern art, as does my oldest daughter, but my son and youngest daughter are not fans. Still they thought the trips this week, especially the Ruppersberg exhibit at the Walker, were pretty cool.
When I saw this video of Will Ferrell and Joel McHale visiting the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, and their reactions to some of the pieces, it reminded me of my kids, my son especially. They look at the work and ask 'What the...?' Ferrell's look on the "how long was install?" question alone is worth watching the video:
The second video was a no brainer too. Stephen Colbert's visits with Laura Bennati's Melania Trump are fantastic, but Wednesday night we were introduced to Dana Carvey's version of new National Security Advisor John Bolton. Magnificent!
And to finish off your Link, Snoopy goes all Easter, dancing with the Bunnies!
Happy Easter! Happy Passover! Have a great weekend everyone!
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
The Moment of Truth
The modern Republican politician is against government programs to feed the hungry, give healthcare to the sick, shelter the homeless, show compassion to the needy and welcome in strangers from strange lands. They're for guns, the death penalty, starting more wars, and even using nuclear weapons "to send a message."
Yet even though they display few examples of being 'guided by Christianity,' they still receive undying support from the Evangelical far right, the self declared super religious extreme, who want to force everyone to be Christian, while proudly supporting some of the most anti-Christian politicians ever.
Why? Two issues: Abortion and gay rights.
As far as them hating the GLBTQ community, for them to do so they have to ignore the fact Jesus Christ, the man for whom Christianity was derived from, never once condemned gays. He didn't. Paul did, and the Old Testament has some bigotry, but Jesus, the man the religious right claims to be their sole guiding light, never told them to hate. And lesbians are never condemned in the Bible, Old or New Testament. Evangelicals hating the GLBTQ community goes against Jesus' recurring messages of love, acceptance and welcoming. It just does.
But let me focus on abortion for a second. I made my personally feeling on abortion known in the post Abortion from 2016. I still feel the same way about it; this is a personal decision.
Evangelicals don't believe abortion should be a personal decision. This is one issue they feel as if no person should ever be able to make individually. They feel all abortion is wrong, including (for many) in the cases of rape, incest and the life of the mother. Republican politicians who would never make abortion completely illegal (they have their mistresses on the side, so they need the option in case there is an 'accident') have convinced the Evangelicals if you keep voting for us, we'll save the babies, unlike the Democrats who want to force abortions on every woman!
Fear works as a motivator. Take a look at how the NRA and Republicans have convinced the country there can't ever be any laws to regulate guns, because the minute you do, a Central American gang will enter your house, rape your family, kill your kids and steal your stuff. The abortion fear is leveed via a "if you dare think of voting Democrat, you might as well kill the babies yourselves." For Evangelicals, the fear of being exposed as supporting what they abhor has real bite. This has morphed into an Evangelical vile hired of anything political left in America, something which is now starting to come to a breaking point.
The fear of Democrats winning has given the Republican Party absolute power over Evangelicals. Hunger, homelessness, the sick, the poor; Evangelicals overlook these groups every day to continue their support for the Republicans. When Trump came on the scene, the right reimagined Hillary Clinton as a demon creature who was trying to kill everyone. The Evangelicals, skeptical of Trump being their new messiah, eagerly adopted this narrative to justify their vote for someone who mocked a disabled man, threatened violence constantly, and was caught bragging about sexually assaulting women. "He has his faults, but he's still better than HILLARY CLINTON! I heard she spews fire out of her mouth!" In my experience, Evangelicals were, BY FAR, the biggest pushers of Pizzagate, the mythical story Clinton was running a child sex ring out of the basement of a pizza place, a story the religious right loved, until a crazed man kicked in the door of said pizza place, fired two rounds and demanded the children being held in the basement be freed, only stopping when the restaurant informed him there was no basement! Evangelicals who proudly pushed the story suddenly insisted "I'd heard it, but I never thought it was real!"
Ever since the election of 2016, Evangelicals have been on a slow downward spiral. Nearly every day Trump does something undeniably anti-Christian, forcing the Evangelicals to swallow their pride, butcher their religion, and defend the indefensible. For them, not defending Trump would be conceding a 'victory' to the Democrats. When the violation is really bad, they say nothing, hoping the progressives they bashed for the last 25 years will ignore their silence. When they are confronted, they started asking "why is everything about politics for you? Can't we talk about something else?" It's at this point I encourage them to examine their own social media timelines. There isn't an Evangelical Trump defense which can't be effectively counterpointed by an Evangelical talking point from the past.
It's gotten so bad for the Evangelicals, their arguments defending Trump are not only embracing an extremely anti-Christian mantra, but they're also easily obliterated. They even tried "Trump's not perfect, but Jesus orders me to forgive, and so I shall," to which I immediately ask "then why was forgiveness never an option with President Obama for any of the MADE UP allegations, things we know were an absolute farce?" That usually gets me a death stare.
The Evangelicals are starting to get to the end of their 'blind faith road.' With the revelations from porn star Stormy Daniels, plus the numerous other women who seems have ample evidence of Trump affairs, the end is near. Proof: the same people who despised and condemned Hillary Clinton for staying with her husband after his affair, are now comically insisting this mess between Trump and Melania is a personal matter and we should respect their privacy. Even though Trump is undeniable non-Christian, the Evangelicals have decided to stay in bed with him.
Evangelicals, what happens if we suddenly find out he had a mistress have an abortion, one he encouraged and paid for? We found out from the 60 Minutes Stormy interview he doesn't wear condoms. What would you do? EVERYTHING about your religious beliefs and subsequent political beliefs is wrapped up in you rigid 'no abortion ever' stance. Would that be the final straw, or would the Evangelical argument be "well, he only had one abortion, not like the Democrats who want forced mandatory abortions, so we forgive him." If you do so, you'll have lost everything, and you know it!
You're already embarrassing yourselves with your complete lack of basic Christian principles when it comes to your continued support of Trump and the Republican Party, but if you continue to stand by people who embody everything you're totally against, just a reminder: it's your souls, not mine.
Yet even though they display few examples of being 'guided by Christianity,' they still receive undying support from the Evangelical far right, the self declared super religious extreme, who want to force everyone to be Christian, while proudly supporting some of the most anti-Christian politicians ever.
Why? Two issues: Abortion and gay rights.
As far as them hating the GLBTQ community, for them to do so they have to ignore the fact Jesus Christ, the man for whom Christianity was derived from, never once condemned gays. He didn't. Paul did, and the Old Testament has some bigotry, but Jesus, the man the religious right claims to be their sole guiding light, never told them to hate. And lesbians are never condemned in the Bible, Old or New Testament. Evangelicals hating the GLBTQ community goes against Jesus' recurring messages of love, acceptance and welcoming. It just does.
But let me focus on abortion for a second. I made my personally feeling on abortion known in the post Abortion from 2016. I still feel the same way about it; this is a personal decision.
Evangelicals don't believe abortion should be a personal decision. This is one issue they feel as if no person should ever be able to make individually. They feel all abortion is wrong, including (for many) in the cases of rape, incest and the life of the mother. Republican politicians who would never make abortion completely illegal (they have their mistresses on the side, so they need the option in case there is an 'accident') have convinced the Evangelicals if you keep voting for us, we'll save the babies, unlike the Democrats who want to force abortions on every woman!
Fear works as a motivator. Take a look at how the NRA and Republicans have convinced the country there can't ever be any laws to regulate guns, because the minute you do, a Central American gang will enter your house, rape your family, kill your kids and steal your stuff. The abortion fear is leveed via a "if you dare think of voting Democrat, you might as well kill the babies yourselves." For Evangelicals, the fear of being exposed as supporting what they abhor has real bite. This has morphed into an Evangelical vile hired of anything political left in America, something which is now starting to come to a breaking point.
The fear of Democrats winning has given the Republican Party absolute power over Evangelicals. Hunger, homelessness, the sick, the poor; Evangelicals overlook these groups every day to continue their support for the Republicans. When Trump came on the scene, the right reimagined Hillary Clinton as a demon creature who was trying to kill everyone. The Evangelicals, skeptical of Trump being their new messiah, eagerly adopted this narrative to justify their vote for someone who mocked a disabled man, threatened violence constantly, and was caught bragging about sexually assaulting women. "He has his faults, but he's still better than HILLARY CLINTON! I heard she spews fire out of her mouth!" In my experience, Evangelicals were, BY FAR, the biggest pushers of Pizzagate, the mythical story Clinton was running a child sex ring out of the basement of a pizza place, a story the religious right loved, until a crazed man kicked in the door of said pizza place, fired two rounds and demanded the children being held in the basement be freed, only stopping when the restaurant informed him there was no basement! Evangelicals who proudly pushed the story suddenly insisted "I'd heard it, but I never thought it was real!"
Ever since the election of 2016, Evangelicals have been on a slow downward spiral. Nearly every day Trump does something undeniably anti-Christian, forcing the Evangelicals to swallow their pride, butcher their religion, and defend the indefensible. For them, not defending Trump would be conceding a 'victory' to the Democrats. When the violation is really bad, they say nothing, hoping the progressives they bashed for the last 25 years will ignore their silence. When they are confronted, they started asking "why is everything about politics for you? Can't we talk about something else?" It's at this point I encourage them to examine their own social media timelines. There isn't an Evangelical Trump defense which can't be effectively counterpointed by an Evangelical talking point from the past.
It's gotten so bad for the Evangelicals, their arguments defending Trump are not only embracing an extremely anti-Christian mantra, but they're also easily obliterated. They even tried "Trump's not perfect, but Jesus orders me to forgive, and so I shall," to which I immediately ask "then why was forgiveness never an option with President Obama for any of the MADE UP allegations, things we know were an absolute farce?" That usually gets me a death stare.
The Evangelicals are starting to get to the end of their 'blind faith road.' With the revelations from porn star Stormy Daniels, plus the numerous other women who seems have ample evidence of Trump affairs, the end is near. Proof: the same people who despised and condemned Hillary Clinton for staying with her husband after his affair, are now comically insisting this mess between Trump and Melania is a personal matter and we should respect their privacy. Even though Trump is undeniable non-Christian, the Evangelicals have decided to stay in bed with him.
Evangelicals, what happens if we suddenly find out he had a mistress have an abortion, one he encouraged and paid for? We found out from the 60 Minutes Stormy interview he doesn't wear condoms. What would you do? EVERYTHING about your religious beliefs and subsequent political beliefs is wrapped up in you rigid 'no abortion ever' stance. Would that be the final straw, or would the Evangelical argument be "well, he only had one abortion, not like the Democrats who want forced mandatory abortions, so we forgive him." If you do so, you'll have lost everything, and you know it!
You're already embarrassing yourselves with your complete lack of basic Christian principles when it comes to your continued support of Trump and the Republican Party, but if you continue to stand by people who embody everything you're totally against, just a reminder: it's your souls, not mine.
Friday, March 23, 2018
The Friday Link for 3/23/18
For the Friday Link, quick and simple ones.
Ellen Degeneres! She really is the best daytime host out there and it's because of little things like this. Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon play a game with dental tools and well...it's a freaking riot.
Ellen also had the Parkland students on the air with her to talk about the walk on Saturday. It seemed appropriate to post this tonight as well.
Have great weekend everyone and I'll see you at the March in St. Paul!
Ellen Degeneres! She really is the best daytime host out there and it's because of little things like this. Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon play a game with dental tools and well...it's a freaking riot.
Ellen also had the Parkland students on the air with her to talk about the walk on Saturday. It seemed appropriate to post this tonight as well.
Have great weekend everyone and I'll see you at the March in St. Paul!
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Unfriended
I, like many people, am trying to figure out how to interpret the latest revelation that Facebook, whether willingly or unwillingly, handed over tons of personal data from it's members to the political operative organization Cambridge Analytica (CA), the data mining service, partially owned by the wealthy GOP supporters the Mercer family, run by Republicans like jackass Steve Bannon, and an organization which was used extensively during the 2016 election to help Trump win. There are revelations CA was far more of a political player, blackmailing and compromising politicians to garner power, control and victories. They have a strong connection to Trump, claiming their work got him elected. They're even taking credit for creating the 'crooked Hillary' meme, and encouraging the Trump/Russian scandal, with demands for more Russian info dumps of the Clinton/DNC e-mails to Wikileaks, emails they knew the Russians hacked, all in an effort to help Trump.
It's normal for a political campaign to run ads and smear campaigns, but this was different. Facebook, along with many other companies, uses algorithms to monitor what your doing, a devious way to market directly at you. It's why if you click on a Minnesota Twins t-shirt deal you start receiving more offers for Twins gear and t-shirts. Facebook is the largest company doing this, with information on billions of people whether they like it or not. You surrendering your personal data was part of your sign up agreement. For a political campaign to harness this information, using the same personal information mining which shows you coupons for baby things the minute you find out your pregnant, or airfare and hotel recommendations from when you searched a vacation spot, is new. It allowed them to guide voters to behave in a certain way, in this case either voting for Trump, or convincing people to protest the election, because "they were positive Hillary would be FAR worse than Trump" (not even possible). They were able to target specific blocks, in specific districts, in specific states, allowing them to undermine the popular vote winner.
When you factor it all together, from Papadopolous to Roger Stone, to Wikileaks, to Guccifer 2.0, to the meetings with the Russians, to the lies about the meetings with the Russians, to the attacks which successfully drove the Trump fans rabid, to the manufactured hatred between the Clinton and Sanders supporters, to Russian hacking, to the shocking results of November 8th, 2016, you realize the US was played. Facebook, Google, Twitter, Instagram and the rest of the social media websites were the game board on which Trump's people moved the pieces.
Was Facebook active participants in the greatest heist of all time, or we they only counting their money in the corner, not paying attention while a political organization was picking their customer's information clean? I guarantee we'll never know the truth. If they were working with Trump and the Russians for more than just profit margins, that information is long deleted.
To understand this better, Adam Ruins Everything did an exceptional explanation of the true cost of social media back in December of 2016 (about 2 months too late):
On Wednesday, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, realizing his billion dollar baby is in seriously jeopardy, went on spin mode, acting like they were just as violated as their customers, swearing to make sure their user's personal information is better protected from here on out. Mind you, this was after Facebook consistently lied about the extent of Russian and political manipulation during the 2016 campaign, only dropping to their knees when the CA scandal revealed 50 million users had been played like a fiddle. Zuckerberg and Facebook are scared, hence this time I think they'll stop serving us up like a Sunday roast.
Whether or not you close your Facebook account is up to you. I always stayed away from the clear attempts to access my personal information, and ignored the clear political manipulation. If you're like me, you mainly use Facebook to show family and friends photos of the kids. I'll probably keep my page open.
One overlooked outcome of this move by Facebook is how much this is going to damage the ability of Republicans to manipulate voters; not the rabid Republicans who viciously hate all things Democrat, but the rest of us, the people the Republicans have had a shocking amount of success in convincing to stay home and not vote.
When President Obama came into power, Republicans came up with a game plan to get back into power. They only needed to have their base (29 to 33% of the population) show up and vote to secure victory, as long as they could prevent a large swath of America from voting. They started gerrymandering to the extreme, took away voting rights, installed voter ID rules, purged registered voter lists, and created numerous hurdles to prevent people from being able to vote in Democratic areas. On top of that, they started a campaign to convince people they didn't need to vote, that it didn't matter who won any given election. They started with the message 'all politicians are bad, so stay at home as a form of protest. Make a bold statement!' If you didn't vote, the only statement you were making was you were easily manipulated.
The GOP plan worked, and in 2010, 2014 and 2016, one of the reasons they had victories was because so many people stayed home. One hundred and eight million eligible voters stayed home in the 2016 election alone. 2012, with the popularity of Obama, the Democratic Party overruled their plans, showing how a wildly popular Democrat can still offset their massive manipulation. Unfortunately, Hillary Clinton, who won the popular vote, wasn't as well liked as President Obama.
If Facebook is serious about stopping their personal data collection practices from being used for political manipulation, then the Republican party has a real big problem. NOTHING is a better platform for discouraging Democrats from voting in large numbers than Facebook. Twitter, Instagram, Linked In and other social media sites are not as comprehensive at disenfranchising the public from elections in large numbers. TV, print media and mailers are nowhere near as effective. Without Facebook to convince Democrats to stay home, and with a refreshed and extremely energized Democratic base, the Republicans are looking at a potential blood bath in 2018.
The GOP is trying to find a solution to their problem. Prepare yourself for mysterious "progressive" candidates and Green Party candidates who will attempt to steer your votes away from the endorsed Democratic, like we saw in the Minneapolis City Council race. In Montana, one Green Party candidate has been exposed as a far right bigot. Candidates in sheep's clothing will be a common theme, so be diligent.
To all people who insisted "I won't vote for Hillary in 2016 because she's worse than Trump," you got played. Don't be ashamed of it, own it and realize we all can be manipulated. Vow to never allow it to happen to you again. When someone on social media who seems like they have a lot in common with you tells you they're protesting all Democrats by either voting Righto, voting for a third party candidate with a mysterious background and zero chance at winning, or how they plan on sitting the election out and "you should too," don't believe them. Block them, delete them and realize they're trying to get you to work against your best interests.
If, after 2016, you doubled down on your hatred of Hillary Clinton and truly do believe she would've been worse for America, you're a fool and I can't help you. Go seek professional counseling.
The most important thing for 2018 and 2020 is to get registered, get active and vote. #2018IsEverything! If Trump, the Republicans, Cambridge Analytica and the Russians can't use our social media against us, then maybe we actually do have fighting chance.
It's normal for a political campaign to run ads and smear campaigns, but this was different. Facebook, along with many other companies, uses algorithms to monitor what your doing, a devious way to market directly at you. It's why if you click on a Minnesota Twins t-shirt deal you start receiving more offers for Twins gear and t-shirts. Facebook is the largest company doing this, with information on billions of people whether they like it or not. You surrendering your personal data was part of your sign up agreement. For a political campaign to harness this information, using the same personal information mining which shows you coupons for baby things the minute you find out your pregnant, or airfare and hotel recommendations from when you searched a vacation spot, is new. It allowed them to guide voters to behave in a certain way, in this case either voting for Trump, or convincing people to protest the election, because "they were positive Hillary would be FAR worse than Trump" (not even possible). They were able to target specific blocks, in specific districts, in specific states, allowing them to undermine the popular vote winner.
When you factor it all together, from Papadopolous to Roger Stone, to Wikileaks, to Guccifer 2.0, to the meetings with the Russians, to the lies about the meetings with the Russians, to the attacks which successfully drove the Trump fans rabid, to the manufactured hatred between the Clinton and Sanders supporters, to Russian hacking, to the shocking results of November 8th, 2016, you realize the US was played. Facebook, Google, Twitter, Instagram and the rest of the social media websites were the game board on which Trump's people moved the pieces.
Was Facebook active participants in the greatest heist of all time, or we they only counting their money in the corner, not paying attention while a political organization was picking their customer's information clean? I guarantee we'll never know the truth. If they were working with Trump and the Russians for more than just profit margins, that information is long deleted.
To understand this better, Adam Ruins Everything did an exceptional explanation of the true cost of social media back in December of 2016 (about 2 months too late):
On Wednesday, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, realizing his billion dollar baby is in seriously jeopardy, went on spin mode, acting like they were just as violated as their customers, swearing to make sure their user's personal information is better protected from here on out. Mind you, this was after Facebook consistently lied about the extent of Russian and political manipulation during the 2016 campaign, only dropping to their knees when the CA scandal revealed 50 million users had been played like a fiddle. Zuckerberg and Facebook are scared, hence this time I think they'll stop serving us up like a Sunday roast.
Whether or not you close your Facebook account is up to you. I always stayed away from the clear attempts to access my personal information, and ignored the clear political manipulation. If you're like me, you mainly use Facebook to show family and friends photos of the kids. I'll probably keep my page open.
One overlooked outcome of this move by Facebook is how much this is going to damage the ability of Republicans to manipulate voters; not the rabid Republicans who viciously hate all things Democrat, but the rest of us, the people the Republicans have had a shocking amount of success in convincing to stay home and not vote.
When President Obama came into power, Republicans came up with a game plan to get back into power. They only needed to have their base (29 to 33% of the population) show up and vote to secure victory, as long as they could prevent a large swath of America from voting. They started gerrymandering to the extreme, took away voting rights, installed voter ID rules, purged registered voter lists, and created numerous hurdles to prevent people from being able to vote in Democratic areas. On top of that, they started a campaign to convince people they didn't need to vote, that it didn't matter who won any given election. They started with the message 'all politicians are bad, so stay at home as a form of protest. Make a bold statement!' If you didn't vote, the only statement you were making was you were easily manipulated.
The GOP plan worked, and in 2010, 2014 and 2016, one of the reasons they had victories was because so many people stayed home. One hundred and eight million eligible voters stayed home in the 2016 election alone. 2012, with the popularity of Obama, the Democratic Party overruled their plans, showing how a wildly popular Democrat can still offset their massive manipulation. Unfortunately, Hillary Clinton, who won the popular vote, wasn't as well liked as President Obama.
If Facebook is serious about stopping their personal data collection practices from being used for political manipulation, then the Republican party has a real big problem. NOTHING is a better platform for discouraging Democrats from voting in large numbers than Facebook. Twitter, Instagram, Linked In and other social media sites are not as comprehensive at disenfranchising the public from elections in large numbers. TV, print media and mailers are nowhere near as effective. Without Facebook to convince Democrats to stay home, and with a refreshed and extremely energized Democratic base, the Republicans are looking at a potential blood bath in 2018.
The GOP is trying to find a solution to their problem. Prepare yourself for mysterious "progressive" candidates and Green Party candidates who will attempt to steer your votes away from the endorsed Democratic, like we saw in the Minneapolis City Council race. In Montana, one Green Party candidate has been exposed as a far right bigot. Candidates in sheep's clothing will be a common theme, so be diligent.
To all people who insisted "I won't vote for Hillary in 2016 because she's worse than Trump," you got played. Don't be ashamed of it, own it and realize we all can be manipulated. Vow to never allow it to happen to you again. When someone on social media who seems like they have a lot in common with you tells you they're protesting all Democrats by either voting Righto, voting for a third party candidate with a mysterious background and zero chance at winning, or how they plan on sitting the election out and "you should too," don't believe them. Block them, delete them and realize they're trying to get you to work against your best interests.
If, after 2016, you doubled down on your hatred of Hillary Clinton and truly do believe she would've been worse for America, you're a fool and I can't help you. Go seek professional counseling.
The most important thing for 2018 and 2020 is to get registered, get active and vote. #2018IsEverything! If Trump, the Republicans, Cambridge Analytica and the Russians can't use our social media against us, then maybe we actually do have fighting chance.
Friday, March 16, 2018
The Friday Link For 3/16/18
First off, carrying over from the post from earlier this week, here is the new Avengers: Infinity War trailer:
Oh MY!!!! That looks kick caboose! It's just not fair for DC right now.
Second up for you is another 'avenger.' It's the exceptional segment where Jimmy Kimmel points out Trump isn't even following his own standards when it comes to 'Made in the USA.'. It amazes me how many people voted for him saying he was going to bring jobs back to the US, but here we are a year plus into his term and he still doesn't get the majority of his own name brand products from US companies.
Will they hold Trump accountable for his lies? Nope, they're fools who hate Democrats more than they love their country, their religion and their own well being. Meanwhile, Kimmel spanks Trump and his boys pretty good!
Finally tonight, some St. Patrick's Day Love, from the Muppets. I posted this a few years back, but it's good. Most people will be singing like this by about 11 PM tomorrow night.
Have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day weekend everyone!
Oh MY!!!! That looks kick caboose! It's just not fair for DC right now.
Second up for you is another 'avenger.' It's the exceptional segment where Jimmy Kimmel points out Trump isn't even following his own standards when it comes to 'Made in the USA.'. It amazes me how many people voted for him saying he was going to bring jobs back to the US, but here we are a year plus into his term and he still doesn't get the majority of his own name brand products from US companies.
Will they hold Trump accountable for his lies? Nope, they're fools who hate Democrats more than they love their country, their religion and their own well being. Meanwhile, Kimmel spanks Trump and his boys pretty good!
Finally tonight, some St. Patrick's Day Love, from the Muppets. I posted this a few years back, but it's good. Most people will be singing like this by about 11 PM tomorrow night.
Have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day weekend everyone!
Monday, March 12, 2018
Blue State Ball 2018
It's time for my annual recap of the big night from AM 950's annual Democratic Party get together, The Blue State Ball.
My usual disclaimer, I do not complain about quality of photos when I ask others to take shots for me, especially since my phone is getting old and takes forever to focus!
We had a hoot of a time at the same location from last year, The Blaisdell Mansion in Minneapolis!
My usual disclaimer, I do not complain about quality of photos when I ask others to take shots for me, especially since my phone is getting old and takes forever to focus!
We had a hoot of a time at the same location from last year, The Blaisdell Mansion in Minneapolis!
It's a great location in south Minneapolis, with a huge venue room in the back you see below!
We had sponsor tables set up before the big night began.
The first to arrive were the National hosts, which I was happy about. We've had situations in the past where flights get delayed and for the first half hour I'm the 'VIP.' For those past years, I apologize!
First up was one of the smartest people I've ever met, Thom Hartmann.
And fan favorite Norman Goldman!
The AM 950 staff was there too! Laura, Jennifer, Ryan
And my AM 950 producers, Brett, Hunter and Eric!
After the doors opened up for the General Admission crowd, the political speakers got going. We got the evening kicked off with the Mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, who makes me feel REALLY old. He gave a great rousing progressive speech.
Our VIP for the evening was Senator Amy Klobuchar. She is an amazing public servant, who thinks about her constituents before she votes.
We had three of the DFL Candidates for Minnesota Governor. As I type this, I just read that the fourth, Tina Liebling just announced she's leaving the race, so technically, all of the candidates attended. Rep. Tim Walz was the first to make an appearance.
Rebecca Otto, the outgoing State Auditor, has been at so many of these, and she was in attendance again, this time as a Governor candidate.
And Rep. Erin Murphy was able to attend too. She ended up beginning the second half of the evenings speeches. I should also note we did have a bit of an accident when an attendee fell. Murphy, with her nursing background, immediately rushed to the woman's aide, leaving behind the politician cloak and becoming a first responder. (Thanks to her and to all first responders who tended the woman)
They then let this jackass on the stage...
I introduced Norman...
Which then led to the local host after me, Mike McIntee. He does such great work with The Uptake, a Minnesota version of C-Span, but with much better direction and content.
And finally, Thom took the stage as the headliner!
Some of the local hosts, and friends of the station included musician Paul Metsa and host Ellie Krug, amongst others.
and Bill Luther, the former Congressman and one of my favorite all time politicians was there too!
And finally, the listeners, who I'm so grateful for everyday.
I leave you with regular caller, Gary from Minneapolis, tearing up the dance floor.
See you in 2019!
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