Tag Archives: Corruption

The Tip of the Iceburg

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This just in:  Yesterday, Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for Stormy Daniels, tweeted to Giuliani, “Buckle Up Buttercup.”  Basically, the ride has only just started to get good.

The “Trump Witch Hunt” handed in 16 more guilty felony counts yesterday; 8 from his long-time lawyer/fixer and 8 from his campaign manager.  Of these 16 felonies, only one really pointed at Trump.  Cohen said he violated campaign laws at the direction of a Republican presidential candidate in an effort to help that candidate’s campaign.

Small stuff, really.

Isn’t that strange?  The president is accused of being a co-conspirator to commit a felony crime and it’s really the least important and least illegal thing he has likely participated in for decades.

I predict Trump is going to face many, many more problems in the very near future.  I think he’ll be charged with money laundering, bank fraud, tax evasion and treason.

All of this illegal stuff, in my humble opinion, is really not why I dislike him so much.  I think he is a scumbag whose twisted personality is so foul it has reached out and affected the lives of every American.

He has made racism okay.  He’s set back civil rights and discourse back to the 1960’s.  He has damaged NATO which has been able to keep all of us safe for nearly 4 generations.  He’s aligned our country with the lowest of dictators and withdrawn our standing as the Moral Authority in the world.  He’s damaged international trade agreements that will lower the economic wellbeing of the entire world.  He’s actively worked to enable  exploitation of the planet; making it acceptable and even profitable.

And worst of all, he’s pulled back the curtain and exposed something I was in complete denial about – the fact that millions of Americans are completely okay with his behavior and even support it.  Nearly the entire Republican Party, that I was once a member of, has been exposed as enablers of Trump.  As he takes one swing after another at the world order pinata, Republicans gather around to scoop up their share of the ill-gotten candy that bleeds out.  So long as there is candy, they will help him do whatever he wants to do.

Why do I say this?  Watch the news today.  Count how few Republicans step forward to wash their hands of this clown.  Right now Fox News is talking about the 70 new jobs in Met Coal (used to make steel) in PA.  This coal mine has nothing to do with Trump but Fox acts like he just saved the world…while failing to notice Cohen or Manafort.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

 

My Recipe for Fascist Pie

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This just in: Fascism (/ˈfæʃɪzəm/) is a form of radical authoritarian ultranationalism, characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and control of industry and commerce, which came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe.

That sounds way more familiar than it should.  The question of the day is “How did we get here?”

The following is my own recipe for Fascist Pie

Ingredients…

  • 1 Cup of sifted, unlimited, anonymous, campaign contributions
  • 2 Handfuls of a gullible population
  • 1 tablespoon of greed
  • 1/2 Pound of propaganda machine
  • A dash of racism
  • 1 stick of Russia funded NRA
  • 3 chopped Evangelicals
  • A dash of anti-fact
  • 1 Orange (comb-over is optional)

Mix all of these together and them plop them into an oven set on “FEAR”.  Cook for one decade.

In short…you can’t make a pie with just an orange.  There are a lot of reasons we are becoming a Fascist nation and only one of them is named Trump.

Unlimited campaign contributions are probably the main ingredients here.  However, all this money would have no impact if we didn’t have a political party that willingly takes the bribes and then does the bidding of those that paid them, instead of those that voted for them.  This is a symbiotic relationship.  Citizens United would not exist without the Republican Party and they would not exist without unlimited finances from special interests.

Greed tells the Koch brothers that they need more money.  Greed of Republicans make them willing to take Koch money to pass a tax law that harms our economy. Greed makes Republicans take Russian money, via the NRA, and then not address gun control

Racism, along with Evangelicals are the special spices of this mix.  Both want America to return to some imagined White, Christian nation.  They don’t know it but they are acting as if a White, Christian, Fascist nation is what they prefer.

To keep the population at bay, they must be fed a steady diet of “don’t look behind that curtain in the corner.”  Fox News and the NRA provide this mis-direction.  For example:  If there is a mass shooting by a white guy…”send thoughts and prayers”.  If there is a mass shooting by a non-white then “Terrorism strikes the homeland.”  This sustains the racist and evangelical votes.  Trump tariffs are starting to hurt the economy so, let’s do a show about an ugly dog contest at a county fair.

Gullibility is hard to under-estimate.  Here are 2 examples.  (1)George Bush is president and the gas prices are high.  Fox News reports that the president has no control over gas prices.  Then, Obama is president and gas prices are high.  Now Fox News reports that these high prices are the president’s fault. (2) Obama, the candidate, said he would meet with North Korea without preconditions.  Fox News blasted relentlessly for this.  Trump then says the same thing and Fox News praises him as a man of action.  In both of these instances, the gullible watched Fox News and nodded in agreement.

Note:  If you have not read 1984 in the last 10 years, I recommend you have another go at it.

The orange, Trump, is the cherry on top of the pie.  That pie would exist without him but it would not be nearly as perfect.  Trump is without shame.  He has a complete disregard for any facts that don’t suit him.  For example, right now, his new plan is to act as if Russia did interfere but what they really want is for Democrats to win.  Now, in front of the world, Putin said in Helsinki that he wanted Trump to win.  Today, the White House transcripts and video of Putin saying that have be wiped clean of Putin’s statement.  We all saw it but Trump is acting like it never happened.  Fox News will back him up on this and the gullible will nod in agreement.

The result is a big fat heaping of Fascism Pie.  If you don’t like it and would prefer something else…then change the ingredients.  Vote in November.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

 

Trump – America’s Hitler

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This just in:  Growing up, I wondered how someone like Hitler was able to rise to power.  It seemed unlikely that everyone would just stand around and do nothing.

Now I understand.  I understand because Trump is our very own version of Hitler.  He’s consolidating his power.

And…we just stand around doing nothing.

Now I know that the term “Hitler” is a bit overused but I think it’s appropriate for Trump.  Yes, there are some differences.  Trump hasn’t invaded Poland, yet.  Trump has not killed 6 million Jews.

However, if you view the “Hitler” reference as someone that a nation’s leader, is highly corrupt, extremely nationalistic, preaches populist propaganda, blames other (specifically, non-whites and non-Christians) for the country’s problems….then Trump is very Hitler.

Within the last couple of weeks, China granted Trump’s daughter “5 valuable trademarks”.  China also agreed to finance $500,000,000 of a Trump resort in Indonesia.  Then…in what Trump calls an unrelated event, he lifts sanctions on a China telecom company that was spying on the United States.  He gives no reason for this other than “saving jobs in China.”

People have marvelled that Trump’s claim of being able to stand on 5th Ave. in New York and shooting a person would not cost him votes.  Turns out this is true.  Why?  Because racists see him as their legitimizer.  He makes their hate real and mainstream.  He hates along with them and for this…they will forgive anything.

If Trump did a press conference and spoke for the heart about the evils of racism, that would cost him more votes than if he had every third person in Congress hung.

He got into office, not on his policies but on the promise that he would purge the country of non-white and and non-Christian people.

I could right a book about the corruption but that has already been done; several times.

He’s openly racist.

He’s openly corrupt.

We all know this.  In fact, everyone in the world knows this.

And, we stand by and do nothing.

Alas…

Up, up and away…

Jim

 

Pay to Play

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This just in:  Ever since Trump first ran for office, we’ve been hearing about the Emoluments Clause (aka Title of Nobility Clause).  Here is what it says in the Constitution:

The Title of Nobility Clause is a provision in Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution,[1] that prohibits the federal government from granting titles of nobility, and restricts members of the government from receiving gifts, emoluments, offices or titles from foreign states without the consent of the United States Congress. Also known as the Emoluments Clause, it was designed to shield the republican character of the United States against so-called “corrupting foreign influences.” This shield is reinforced by the corresponding prohibition on state titles of nobility in Article I, Section 10, and more generally by the Republican Guarantee Clause in Article IV, Section 4.

In simple terms, it says the President should not be bribable.  He should not profit from foreign enterprises.  He should do his job as president.

Now, on a completely unrelated subject…

Trump has decided to help China’s telephone company ZTE because our sanctions are costing them jobs.  We put these sanctions in place because ZTE shipped banned components to Iran.

Trump made this decision about 72 hours after China agreed to contribute $500,000,000 to a Trump linked project in Indonesia.

Elsewhere...

Trump’s lawyer is in deep trouble for selling access to the president.  He received over $4,000,000 for providing this access.  Money that he can’t account for and some suspect he passed along to his boss…Trump.

Elsewhere…

Last year, Trump’s son-in-law asked Qatar for a personal  loan of about $500,000,000.  When they said “no”, the United States immediately sided with Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries in punishing Qatar.

Now, if Trump wasn’t associated with a lifetime of corruption, I might be willing to overlook this.  However, it appears to me that he has turned his presidency into a “Cash Grab.”  This include his apparent love of Russia, who bailed him out of several bankruptcies when no one else would.

On the entertainment page...

My wife and I like to find shows we can watch together.  It’s not unusual for us to spend an hour watching an episode of some show we both like, before turning in for the night.  We look for shows that have a lot of episodes.  There are two reasons for this.  First, if they probably don’t make a lot of episodes of a show no one will like.  Secondly, we don’t want to have to research for a new batch of shows to watch every few days.  Finding an show with a lot of episodes means we have something to watch for weeks.

We have just started watching two shows that we like: Numb3rs and Chuck.

As for shows that I watch without my wife: Justified and Expanse.

Also…I watched the remake of the Lost in Space series.  I liked it a lot.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

Shutdown Notes

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This just in:  A few years ago, the Republican Party shut down the government because they wanted Obamacare repealed.  You may recall that this was a bluff as they had not replacement ready, even years later.  In short, they shut the government down to impress their gullible base who didn’t like the black man in the Oval Office.

Now, the government is shut down once again.

It’s shut down because Trump cancelled a program that everyone wants.  Not only is DACA humane, we desperately need more immigrants, not less, if our economy is to grow.

Trump cancelled this program for no apparent reason.  He did it with the stroke of a pen.  He could reinstall the program just as easily.  Instead, he uses his own actions to blame the Democrats for a shut down.

The Democrats won’t sign off on a $25 billion wall that can be overcome with a $20 ladder.

So….here is the conversation on the Senate Floor:

Mitch McConnell:  The Democrats hate our troops because they refuse to pass this bill which will fund troop pay (leaving out that it will also fund the wall).

Democrat Senator:  I move that we pass a bill that will do only one thing – make sure our troops are taken care of.

Mitch McConnell: I object!

This is actually a true story.  This actually happened.

On a completely unrelated front…

Days after the Republican House passed the tax bill giving huge tax break to the Koch Brothers, Republican Speaker Ryan received $500,000 from the Koch Brothers.

This is the same Paul Ryan who suddenly reversed course on supporting Trump during the campaign only to receive millions from the Koch Brothers right away.

Move along…nothing to see here.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim