The Trump Top 20 Countdown for the Week of 4/16/18

Welcome to the Weekly Top 20 Countdown of Trump's ineptitude and stupidity for the week of 4/16/18 to 4/22/18.

(239 pounds = he has birthing hips)

These are the 20 meatiest morsels of incompetence coming from Trump and his Administration for this week alone.  All the things on this list should lead to investigations, committee hearings, firings, resignations and even one or two impeachment charges.  Instead we are subject to a Republican shrugging of the shoulders, as they pathetically march towards November, hoping they aren't voted out in mass.

A quick Google search will give you plenty of news options on all of these stories.  The ranking is purely on me.  Please feel free to disagree and comment why below.

On with the countdown!

20. After Former FBI Director James Comey's stunning interview on ABC News about his book, 'A Higher Loyalty,' where he questions the mental stability of the 'Commander and Chief,' Trump attacks Comey, as well as former FBI Director Andrew McCabe, in a deranged tweet accusing the both of them of committing crimes. (4/16)

19. South Korea and China, on their own, have successfully negotiated with North Korea, getting closer to finally ending the Korean conflict, and laying the foundations for a possible nuclear free Korean peninsula.  Meanwhile, Trump's still insisting he's going to make "all of it happen," but reveals he has no game plan or agenda in place to deal with already progressing negotiations. "Just get me in at the room with the guy [Kim Jung-Un] and I'll figure it out." (4/19)

18. Trump's EPA Director Scott Pruitt's outrageous spending habits are back in the spotlight.  It's determined Pruitt broke federal law when he installed his $43,000 sound-proof, phone booth in the EPA Headquarters.  The cost of the phone booth exceeded the department's authorization ability, meaning the costs should've been submitted to Congress first.  Pruitt also upgraded his official government car to a FAR more expensive model. The old EPA Director's vehicle, a Chevy Tahoe, is sitting at the EPA parking lot, ready to use, but Pruitt has gone with a new Chevy Suburban, one with all the bells and whistles.  It's a far more expensive vehicle.  Plus Pruitt demanded a major upgrade; kevlar like car seat covers which are bullet proof.  (4/17)

17. Cambridge Analytica, the London based data mining firm who helped Trump win in 2016 by lying to numerous social media companies as they accumulated personal data on their customers, and somehow (mysteriously) had most of their data end up in the hands of the Russians, might even be worse.  A Cambridge Analytica whistleblower says the initial report the company created a database of 87 million people is actually grossly underreporting the data collection operation, putting the number of people impacted by their information gathering operation well into the hundreds of millions.  The implication is there are other apps and programs which illegally harvested data, data which was used with surgical precision to manipulate the voting base in the US, apps and programs which haven't been discovered/revealed yet. (4/17)

16. Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, is caught doing something weird and dishonest, AGAIN.  Multiple times Zinke has claimed to be a geologist.  While he did take a few geology courses in college, he's in no way an actual geologist.  Not only has he made these claims in public, he's also said this during sworn testimony. (4/19)

15. As Rudy Giuliani joins Trump's personal legal team, many people are speculating this might be a sign of Trump's potential removal of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the first step needed to shut down of the Mueller investigation. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has threatened to quit his position if Trump fires Rosenstein.  It's also noted Trump has had to 'settle' for Giuliani, one of the few lawyers willing to represent Trump with his legal troubles. (4/20)

14. In a blow to Trump's anti-immigrant agenda, the Supreme Court has limited the amount of immigrants who can be deported due to their criminal records.  The case has more to do with what charges are considered violent and which ones aren't (as opposed to the individual rights of immigrants), but the real shocker is that the four liberal judges were joined by Trump Appointee Neil Gorsuch in the 5-4 ruling. (4/17)

13. Trump has personally blocked new sanctions which were to be imposed on Russia, in response to Russia's continued support of the Assad regime in Syria, especially in the wake of the most recent chemical weapons attack by Assad on his own people.  New sanctions were announced by UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, but Trump quietly ordered the sanctions to be disregarded. (4/16)

12. When Trump attacked Maggie Haberman and the New York Times for their story on whether or not Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen will cooperate in the Mueller investigation, Trump specifically attacked one of the sources as a "drunk/drugged up loser." He didn't specify which source he was referring too, but the only two sources for the story were Trump BFF Roger Stone and former Trump aide Sam Nunberg.  Haberman has revealed Trump was clearly referring to Nunberg.  It's also pointed out Trump would never go after Roger Stone, because Stone knows "where all the bodies are buried." (4/21)

11. Trump, who twice has said he fired former FBI Director James Comey because of the Russian investigation (Once on NBC News and once to Russian officials in the Oval office, according to official transcripts of that meeting) has once again changed his story, insisting on Twitter Comey was NOT fired for the Russian Investigation.  He's such a bad liar he can't remember what story he's told. (4/18)

10. A war is breaking out between UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow.  After Trump 'swept the leg' on Haley, publicly contradicting her claim of new US sanctions against Russia, Kudlow stated she was 'ahead of the curve,' and Haley was having some 'momentary confusion.'  Haley's immediate response (in a very terse manner), "I don't get confused." (4/17)

9. Former First Lady Barbara Bush passed away on Tuesday, April 17th, 2018.  The White House immediately released a statement which said she passed away on April 17th, 2017.  Reminder:  Trump claimed his Administration is 'detail oriented,' but, CLEARLY, no one in the Administration actually proofreads anything.  By the way, Barbara Bush, who was known for her literacy work, privately and repeatedly slammed Trump. (4/17)

8. The Trump Administration, quietly hoping no one would notice, has gut an anti discrimination statute designed to guarantee health care access for transgender patients.  The rules were designed to stop health care providers from getting federal financial assistance if they were found to be discriminating on the basis of gender identity.  Now, according to Trump, it's legal to openly discriminate in the health care profession. (4/22)

7. After a stunning day of Twitter stupidity on Friday (called Debbie Wasserman Schultz 'Wendy,' deletes 'Wendy' tweet, misspelled 'shady,' misspelled 'Special Counsel' TWICE(!), and floats the dumbest, most laughable James Comey conspiracy yet, implying The Press generated the Special Counsel, not the DOJ...WOW!!!) Trump is at it early on Saturday.  Trump, clearly concerned his horrible treatment of Michael Cohen might come back to bite him, attacks reporter Maggie Haberman (Trump spelt it Habberman) and the New York Times for printing a story about how Michael Cohen might be enticed to flip for the Mueller's investigation.  Trump attacks the sources for the story, implies the story is completely false, and then attempts to suck up to Cohen. (4/21)

6. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned the USA, due to Trump's tax bill, the US is the only advanced economy who will see their public debt ratio increase over the next three to five years, an increase which could have a major destabilizing effect on the country's economy. (4/19)

5. Appearing in court on Monday, Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen had to publicly state the name of his third client, after (1) Trump and (2) the former RNC Financial Chair whom Cohen paid off a Playboy model for, to keep her quiet.  An audible gasp accompanied Cohen's reveal, as Fox News host Sean Hannity was named the third client.  Hannity has not revealed his connection to Trump's lawyer, and hence Trump, even though he spends most weeknights defending Cohen and Trump specifically against the encroaching investigations. The judge on Monday also ruled against Cohen reviewing the evidence against him prior to law enforcement getting it. Can you imagine what the response would be if it was discovered Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann shared former President Obama's personal lawyer, while he was in office, even though he was NEVER investigated for personal malfeasance? (4/16)

4. EPA Director Scott Pruitt, in 2003, while a state senator in Oklahoma, bought a house.  Technically a shell company bought the house, which Pruitt eventually became the owner of.  The shell company was linked to one of his business partners, Kenneth Wagner.  The mortgage was financed by another personal friend, former banker Albert Kelly, a man who's currently banned from the banking industry FOR LIFE, because he repeatedly broke federal banking laws.  Both Wagner and Kelly are current employees of...wait for it...the EPA!  Wagner is a Senior Advisor for EPA Regional and State Affairs.  Kelly is currently the Director of the EPA's Superfund Program. (4/22)

3. The Sean Hannity story keeps getting weirder.  Not only is Hannity, a man who has religiously defended Trump and his lawyer Michael Cohen, outed as being one of Cohen's clients, but now we hear another of Trump's lawyers, Jay Sekulow, is also one of his lawyers.  On top of that, apparently Trump and Hannity talk quite regularly, with his calls getting connected wherever Trump is, with one White House official stating it's as if Hannity is an unofficial Chief of Staff.  More attention is being focused on Hannity's potential role in the Trump/Russia affair.  Not only are there clear connections between Hannity and Wikileaks (Reminder: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, the main supplier of Russian propaganda during the 2016 campaign, was actively trying to get in touch with Hannity, actually direct messaging a fake Hannity Twitter account, with Assange implying there was a long standing relationship between the two men), Hannity has been the source for numerous stories which seem to have originated from Russia, and has used his TV show as a main outlet for Trump and his people to get an uncontested platform to deny allegations. (4/18)

2. After claiming the Administration would never participate in such cruel behavior, it's reported the Department of Homeland Security, since October, has separated 700 children from their immigrant parents at the border.  At least 100 of the kids separated from their parents are under the age of 4.  The Trump Administration has bragged they'd install such harsh tactics, but have downplayed and denied their actions, knowing these methods are so cruel, even a majority of Trump's supporters don't endorse such mean spirited, anti-Christian tactics. (4/21)

1. The Tump Administration released the Comey memos, claiming they clear Trump's name, but almost immediately their big reveal backfired spectacularly.  Trump's claiming the memos exonerate him, but they don't even come close to that.  Comey wrote Trump himself claimed there was no collusion, but Comey never once said that.  What the memos do show is a wildly paranoid Trump, insisting the Russian prostitute story wasn't true, bringing it up on his own at least three times. Trump lied to Comey about the prostitute story, claiming he never stayed in the hotel that night, even though others have testified, under oath, he did indeed stay there.  Trump was obsessed with Former FBI Director Andrew McCabe's wife, and with defending Russia, who Trump himself brought up five different times.  Trump also blamed the Russia scandal for his failure to repeal Obamacare, Trump pushed the idea of jailing journalists who fail to give up their anonymous sources, and Trump was furious with Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn when he found out about a Putin congratulatory call after the fact.  The memos also show Trump praised Comey repeatedly, especially during the transition and in the early days of his Administration.  After the memo move backfired, Trump attacked Comey via Twitter with name calling, implying Comey is un-American. Once again, his own Administration released the Comey memos! (4/19-20)

Once again, that was only one freaking week...

For the record, I think his hiring of Pompeo and Bolton signifies Trump's intent on starting a war in a Hail Mary attempt to hold the House in 2018. 

That is why #2018IsEverything! Get registered.  Get three of your friends registered.  Be ready to vote in November!  Have a great week everyone.

The Friday Link for 4/20/18

A bit of an unusual video for you tonight, as this, historically, is quite spectacular.

As I've mentioned here, I'm just finishing up a personal project where I took my family's 16mm films from the 1920's through the 1950's, got them cleaned up, did a historical hunt to get the who, where, and when of each film, transcribed my notes and turned the film over to the Minnesota Historical Society for preservation.  The historical importance of the films made them something the Historical Society thought was valuable.

When I was getting the film cleaned and transferred to digital, I worked with the fantastic crew at Saving Tape on W. 36th in South Minneapolis.  When I was talking to them about age and film, they said my films were old, but there are even older home movies.  Prior to that, you get some local news outlets making news reels from the 1910's and 1920's, recording images on a slightly smaller version of a movie camera.  Prior to that, it was pretty much big bulky movie cameras making film.  Most films prior to 1910 are deteriorating fast, and so anything from back then is valuable, and important.

One hundred and twelve years ago on Wednesday, an earthquake stuck San Francisco.  Not only did the earthquake wipe out a large portion of the city, but the subsequent fires which burned for days wiped out many of the remaining buildings.  A total of 80% of San Francisco was lost, with more than 3000 people dead.

San Francisco was a city on the rise in 1906.  Already the 9th largest city in the US within 60 years of California entering the union, it was by far the largest city west of the rockies.  We have photos of the city before the earthquake, but film of what life was like in the bustling new town, prior to the earthquake, doesn't exists too much.

The film below is remarkable.  They attached a movie camera to a street car and recorded the ride down Market Street.  It's 8 minutes, but it's all gold; showing a busy, hectic environment.  What's amazing is they initially thought this film came from 1905, but historical research has shown this actually was likely recorded in the days before the earthquake in 1906.  You're seeing a city which has no idea what's coming it's way.  Many of the buildings you see were wiped out.  Many of the people in this film died only a few days later.  It's amazing and sad at the same time.

Enjoy the fashion.  Hold your breath for a few of the people trying to cross this street.  I find the abundance of cars amazing, but considering the amount of wealth in San Francisco at the time, and the immediate impact automobiles had in American cities, seeing them flying all over the place, in a world where lanes, traffic lights and crosswalks didn't exist, is fun.

 

And staying with historical films, tomorrow marks the death of Prince.  This is his version of Nothing Compares to U.  The accompanying film is remarkable too.  I miss him so much.



Have a great weekend everyone.

Into Darkness

On September 20th, 2017, Hurricane Maria hit the US Territory of Puerto Rico.  The incredibly destructive storm proceeded to do catastrophic damage to the island, decimating the roads, power gird and infrastructure.  Puerto Rico, an island populated with US citizens, was virtually destroyed.

Nearly 7 months later, Puerto Rico hasn't recovered.  The power grid still hasn't been restored for large swaths of the island, and on Wednesday, a contractor accidentally caused an island wide power failure for the areas which had gotten their power back.  Power, for the lucky ones who have it, was expected to be back by midday Friday.

It's hard to think a response to a natural disaster could be worse than W. Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina, but Trump and the US Government's response to this catastrophe is substantially worse.  After a month, W. Bush was shamed into action, but such shame doesn't seem to exist with Trump.  Puerto Rico only recently got their water service re-established, and the power grid seems to be getting repaired with a "when we get to it" mentality.  Puerto Rico still hasn't been able to get the basics reestablished.  It's so bad, at this point I don't think we can technically label Puerto Rico a 'natural' disaster anymore, as most of the damage done over the last 6 months has been at the hands of Trump and his unbelievably incompetent response.

Imagine the recent Minnesota blizzard took out power around Lake Minnetonka, with the damage done exceeding what the state of Minnesota was capable of repairing.  How many days without power would it take for the politicians, both Republican and Democrat, to be screaming for Federal assistance?  5 days?  6?  Trump's Federal Government would pull out all of the stops to get the power grid back up and running within a week and a half; two weeks at most, with a "Thank Me" Trump pep rally scheduled immediately afterwards.

Parts of Puerto Rico have been without power for 210 days.  It's now the second largest power outage in the history of the world.  OF THE WORLD!  Only a typhoon that scoured the Philippines and parts of Asia clean was worse.  We could fix Puerto Rico if we wanted to, but Trump has decided against it.  Instead, Trump continues to golf at his private resorts (at tax payer expense), never mentioning Puerto Rico.  Instead, he's getting ready to put on a military parade for himself, at a cost of tens of millions in tax payer dollars.

In the initial aftermath of the hurricane, cronyism derailed initial relief efforts, mistakes which were detrimental to the recovery.  The mysterious Whitefish Power, a Montana(?) company with two employees, a company with no major rebuilding or big storm relief maintenance experience, a company which has unexplained ties to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, was awarded the contract to rebuild the island's power grid.  They were horribly unprepared, ill-equipped for the task, and snarky when questioned about their work.   Their ineptitude showed.   The current power outage was caused when a line Whitefish Power claimed to have repaired, failed.  Whitefish was stripped of it's contract after it was determined they were incompetent.

There comes a point where even a bad President should realize the massive failure (W. = a month), making the command decision to send in the any military, manpower and experts to get the Puerto Rican power grid back up and running.  Considering the current Administration's failure, either Trump is purposely withholding the needed fixes for bigoted reasons, or he's quite literally one of the dumbest, meanest and most callous individuals who's ever lived.

Puerto Rico is populated with US citizens!!!  Trump, his Administration and the Republican Party are all to blame for this unacceptable result.  The shame they've manifested is on all of our shoulders.  We could call them and tell them to do something, but they won't care.  We need to hold these horrible human beings, these so called Christians, accountable for they're failure.  In the age where the 'Trump/GOP failure list' is mighty long, Puerto Rico needs to be near the top.

If you'd like to help out, the Hurricane Maria Community Relief & Recovery Fund is still taking donations.  Thanks:  https://connect.clickandpledge.com/w/Form/cb4a3c78-5694-4324-bead-42c8ad94c1bf

The Trump Top 20 Countdown for the Week of 4/9/18

Welcome to the Weekly Top 20 Countdown of Trump's ineptitude and stupidity for the week of 4/9/18 to 4/15/18.

I've evolved Trump list.  When I spent 42 hours one week calculating all the stupidity Trump, his family and his Administration was actively engaging in, things which undeniably would've brought down a President and his Administration prior to the modern incarnation of the GOP, the Greedy Obstructionist Party, I realized it was too much.  Spending 8 hours every Saturday and Sunday was more than I'd bargained for.

The reason Trump List was taking so much time is simple; this is quite literally the worst President and Administration we've ever seen.  It's the polar opposite of Lincoln and his 'Cabinet of Enemies,' a group of people who steered this country through our darkest internal conflict.  It's worse than W. and his Administration of ulterior motives.  It's worse than Reagan and his alpha males on steroids, "I'm in charge," group of power hunger jackasses.  It's worse than Harding's Administration of thieves, hell bent on carving up this country, and it's resources, for personal gain.  It's worse than the Presidencies and Administrations of Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce and Buchanan, four leaders who knew the country was coming to a head on the slavery issue, but decided to punt, hoping they could pass the issue off to the next guy (to be fair, Taylor died in office of intestinal issues, but even so, there was nothing which implied he would've dealt with the issue).  No, there has never been a worse group of people, dumb, agenda driven, narcissistic, self worshiping morons, leading this country, and the fact the weekly Trump List of impeachable incompetency was getting as long as it was acts as the evidence; poof of the dark times we're in.

It wasn't easy to quit Trump list.  I was usually getting 3000 to 5000 hits per week on those posts.  People liked it.  Thank you, but my family and my sanity were the priority.  Still, I kept saying if there was a way to trim this down, to where it wasn't such a time whore, I'd love to revisit it.

I decided to do more of a countdown; 'a best of the worst!'  Although it removes a lot of the bullet points, it does limit my daily work to less than two hours, and it's not like the orange buffoon doesn't deliver.  All of these things would have undoubtedly gotten their own investigation under Obama, and at least eight of the top 10, up until November of 2016, would've been no brainer causes for an impeachment vote in the House.  And a reminder, THIS IS ONLY ONE WEEK!

Enjoy the new format.  Let me know what you think.  A quick Google search will give you plenty of news options on all of these stories.

On with the Countdown!

20. First Daughter, and White House staffer doing...something, Ivanka Trump is being criticized for filling in (in an official capacity) for Trump and the Secretary of State, as she attended a conference in Peru in place of her father.  It is extremely unusual to have an unqualified, unelected Presidential family member officially sit in for the State Department. (4/14)

19. After John Bolton took office as National Security Advisor on the 9th, there were multiple resignations from Trump's national security team.  The official story all week long was that these resignations had nothing to do with Bolton.  Now we understand these resignations have everything to do with Bolton, as he's purging anyone who doesn't agree with his pro war stances. (4/15)

18. Trump wakes up on Friday and rage tweets against James Comey after the initial revelations coming from Comey's book, 'A Higher Loyalty.'  He called Comey a "Leaker and a Liar."  Funny, I thought Trump loved leakers... (4/13)

17. It's revealed that Trump was intending to fire Special Council Robert Mueller in December, after the story came to light Mueller had subpoenaed Trump's Deutsche Bank account information.  Trump's lawyers calmed him down by assuring him the story was incorrect. (4/10)

16. Trump's 2020 re-election campaign is burning through a stunning amount of cash for legal fees for Trump.  22% of their entire budget, for a fund which is supposed to be dedicated to getting him re-elected in 2 and a half years, is going to pay for his current legal quagmire. (4/15)

15. Trump's UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has said the reason the US doesn't take more refugees from war torn Syria is because the refugees would rather stay in their war torn land as opposed to come to the United States. Either that's a lame excuse for not caring for needy Syrians, or Trump's reputation has placed the US below war torn Syria as far as livable palatability. (4/15)

14. First Daughter, and White House staffer doing...something, Ivanka Trump is schooled by Ret. Gen. Mark Hertling.  She implies the government doesn't look out for healthy lifestyles in America's youth. Hertling has to inform her of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition, an organization championed by all Presidents for over 60 years. Currently, of the 25 appointees to the Council, there are zero. (4/9)

13. A Vice report states that two members of Trump's Administration, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division in the DOJ Makan Delrahim, and the Second in charge at the Department of the Interior, David Bernhardt, were both registered lobbyists for the Soviet born billionaire Leonard Blavatnik, a man with close ties to Putin (4/13)

12. Trump is reversing course on another one of his major campaign promises.  He now wants National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow to ask about joining the Trans Pacific Partnership, the TPP, the Pacific nation's trade deal which Trump campaigned strongly against, a trade plan he called a "disaster," pushed by people "who want to rape [the United States]."  The remaining countries, minus the USA, signed the deal in March. (4/12)

11. Trump went nutzoid, attacking everything and nearly everyone after the raid on his lawyer Micahel Cohen.  He attacked Attorney general Jeff Sessions, went after Robert Mueller's investigation, threatened to fire Mueller directly, and attacked the FBI as a whole.  Trump is seriously considering firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the first lynchpin he would need to accomplish in order to fire Mueller.  For some reason, during his temper tantrum, Trump outright lied about when exactly he found out about the Cohen raid. (4/9)

10. Former FBI Director James Comey is about to go on his book tour and the book, 'A Higher Loyalty,' is a doozie! Chief of Staff John Kelly called Comey right after his firing and told him he was "sick" of the whole thing, "intended to quit", and referred to Trump as "dishonorable." The book hints Trump is obsessed with the (alleged) urine tape.  Trump wanted the most salacious allegations dismissed by Comey, namely there's footage of Trump watching prostitutes urinate in the same Moscow hotel the Obama's stayed in.  Trump also wasn't concerned in the slightest about the undeniable evidence Russia interfered in the Election of 2016. (4/12)

9. Michael Cohen, Trump's personal lawyer, has been caught lying about a trip he made to the Czech capital of Prague.  Why is this important? The Steele Dossier, opposition research done by Michael Steele during the 2016 campaign, reported that Michael Cohen met with Russian officials in Prague in 2016 to discuss helping Trump.  Cohen had long denied the report saying he had never been to Prague, or the Czech Republic.  Now it's confirmed that Cohen did indeed enter into the Czech Republic in August of 2016, directly contradicting Cohen's claims. (4/14)

8. Ignoring the old adage 'Loose lips sink ships,' Trump decided to inform Russia of an impending airstrike the US military was going to preform in Syria, VIA TWITTER.  For the record, both Russia and Syria probably said thanks and prepared themselves. Less than an hour after Trump informed Russia and Syria of an impending attack of missiles in Syria, Trump tweeted out an olive branch to Russia, asking "Stop the arms race?" (4/11)

7. Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen arranged for a 1.6 million dollar hush money payout to a former Playboy model, on behalf of a top Republican Party member/donor, Elliot Broidy, who had impregnated the model last year, according to the Wall Street Journal.  The model ended up getting an abortion. (4/13)

6. Trump son-in-law and Senior Presidential Advisor Jared Kushner received a miracle!  The Kushner family property, 666 (!!!) 5th Ave. in Manhattan is grossly over priced, wallowing in debt, and was about to bankrupt the entire Kushner family, until a miracle filing with the SEC on 4/6 which shows someone fronting the money to not only overcome Kushner's debt, but to allow the Kushner's to buy out their partner Vornado's debt too. Neither the Kushners nor anyone at Vornado are talking about where the money came from. (4/9)

5. In what is clearly an attempt to change the subject, Trump pardoned former Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff Scooter Libby, in an attempt to take the spotlight off of his scandals.  Trump's also attempting to send a message, albeit a lame one, to Comey and Mueller.  A reminder; the 'hero' Trump pardoned outed undercover American agents across the globe in an attempt to discredit a main critic of the W. Bush era Iraq War agenda, a move which ended with numerous agents killed.  Trump pardoned that guy. (4/13)

4. Trump's latest Judicial Nominee, Wendy Vitter, at her confirmation hearing in the Senate, refused to answer whether she agreed with the landmark ruling, Brown vs. Board of Education, which got rid of segregation in public schools.  She basically admitted she's pro segregation.  She also has definitively stated Planned Parenthood kills 150,000 women a year, but refused to answer if she still stands by the clearly made up number. (4/11)

3. The National Enquirer has been caught once again caught paying off a Trump story peddler, then burying the story to prevent it from getting out.  This time it was the former doorman at the Trump World Tower Dino Sajudin.  They paid him a total of 30K for the exclusive rights to rumors he'd heard about Trump fathering a baby with an employee.  Putting aside the question, 'why would you pay 30K for only a rumor?', the Enquirer is claiming they tried to prove it, but it turned out to only be a rumor.  The Enquirer's story was immediately contradicted by 4 former Enquirer employees who said they were following promising leads which would've proven the rumor to be true, and that top brass at the Enquirer had ordered them to stop.  Since the original story, Sajudin has broken his silence and stated the rumor he heard was Trump had an illegitimate child with a housekeeper he employed.  While working for Trump, he was told to not be too critical of the housekeeper as she had had an affair with Trump, and affair which produced a child. (4/12)

2. Trump takes credit for airstrikes in Syria, with a "Mission Accomplished" tweet and a lot of accolades for himself, but there are a few issues.  It seems someone warned the Russians of the impending attack (specifically time and locations), hence warned the Syrians (Putin's close allies).  The facilities were emptied out, so no one was at these facilities at the time of the airstrikes, with most materials and supplies also evacuated.  England and France had warned the USA they were going to strike with or without Trump, so Trump is once again leading from behind.  The missiles were reported to have struck most of their targets, but the Russians claim the majority were shot down prior to impact.  Most military analysis of the strike says it did nothing to hurt the Syrian regime.  And we still have nothing close to a comprehensive plan in Syria. (4/13-14)

1. Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen, had his offices and personal residence raided by the FBI in conjunction with the Mueller investigation.  The focus of the seizure are document related to payments to porn star Stormy Daniels along with other documents.  Cohen's own words could get him into a lot of legal jeopardy in regards to the Daniels affair, but he's also reportedly being investigated for bank fraud and campaign finance violations.  Also confiscated are numerous audio recordings of Cohen meeting with his clients. (4/9)

That wasn't such a chore now, was it!

Remember #2018IsEverything.  Make sure your registered to vote.  Vote in every primary.  Vote in ever special election.  Vote for your local, statewide and national races.  Know who your judicial candidates are.  Know what ballot initiatives you're going to have a say in, and educate yourselves on what those issues will do.  Vote in November.

The Friday Link for 4/13/18

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!

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:

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...

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.