Monthly Archives: January 2018

The State of Trump’s Union

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This just in:  I didn’t watch the State of the Union address live.  There are two reasons for this.  First, I have learned that nothing Trump says means anything and secondly, Guardians of the Galaxy was on another channel.

I did read quite a bit about it and came away feeling unimpressed.  This does not mean disappointed, just…so what.

Here are my State of the Union talking points.

The three biggest winners of the Trump presidency thus far are (1) large corporations, (2) Russia and (3) China.

  1. Corporations win because they got a huge tax cut.  They basically saw their profit margins take a big leap and all they had to do was pay for the lobbyists that got the bill passed into law.
  2. Russia wins because of the Quid Pro Quo they have with Trump.  They helped him win an election and he does not implement tough sanctions that Congress passed nearly unanimously.
  3. China wins because every time we step away from a trade deal, they step in.  The future will record this last year as the turning point: that point in time where the United States stopped leading the world and let China take a shot at it.

The three biggest losers of the Trump presidency thus far are (1) non-super rich tax payers and (2) American security and (3) the truth.

  1. Trump says, “I just passed the biggest tax cut of all time.”  What he should have said is, “I just charged the biggest debt to our national credit card of all time.”  He should also say, “The debt would have been even bigger except the states of New York and California will pay higher taxes as a result of my national tax cut.”  Now, if we get the 4% or 5% growth Trump claims we’ll get from this tax deal, I will eat my words.  But he won’t.  Not even close.  This was nothing more than a redistribution of wealth from the middle class and poor to the very richest of the rich.
  2. American Security has taken a hit from several fronts.  Trump has alienated NATO.  Trump has allowed Russia into his inner sanctum where they now call the shots.  Trump has attached our FBI and National Security agencies; hurting their credibility.  As we will see by 2019 when we slide into a Trump recession, he has weakened our economy which is the very soul of our strength.
  3. As for the truth…that doesn’t seem to matter at all any more.  When I saw that Bush lied about the WMD’s 15 years ago, I left the Republican Party.  Now, Trump does worse than that on a nearly daily basis.  It sometimes feel like “opposite day” has stretched into the infinite future.  Everything Trump does makes absolutely no sense…unless you suspend your belief that the truth matters.

I really wanted Trump to succeed.  I didn’t think he would but I would have welcomed the surprise if he did.

Instead, he has been worse than I could have imagined.

Now, a secret part of me wants him to fail – spectacularly.  I want this because only such a monumental failure will have the potential of turning the heads of those Trump Faithful Forever.  Something needs to happen that slaps some of these blind followers right up side their heads in a way that they can’t help but notice.  Notice that their King has no clothes.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

Setting the Bar….low

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This just in:  The United States holds itself up as the “greatest country in the history of the world.”

Ironically, we will clamor to claim our Great Leader a success if he is able to read the State of the Union Address without going off script.

That’s it.  Forget about the sex scandals, Russia, alienating the world, childish tweeting battles etc.

All he has to do is read a speech, written for him by others, and his base will stand and applaud wildly.

Pretty low bar…and I’m not sure he can even do that one little thing.

Elsewhere…

The House Intel Committee has voted, along party lines, to release a memo put together by Nunes (R).   The memo, that I would love to see, apparently makes the FBI look bad in a decision to keep an eye on a Trump campaign manager.

The Democrats say the memo is “cherry picking” and would look completely different if all of the facts were released.  To this end, the Democrats wanted the FBI to first brief the Intel Committee about the memo.   They then wanted to release the entire report on the situation rather than just a few snippets chosen by Nunes.  The Republicans on the committee voted against both of these ideas.

The Republicans voted: (1) Against letting the FBI brief them on the memo contents and (2) against the release of a second memo that “fills in the blanks” so that a full picture can be seen and (3) in favor of releasing a classified document that was edited to make the FBI and DOJ look bad.

By the way, Russian Bots have flooded the internet with “Release the Republican Memo.”  In short, the Russians are in full support of the Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee using edited classified information to benefit  Trump.

Elsewhere….

Collusion is a crime if there is a “You help me and I will help you deal”.

Trump working with the Russians to win an election is not a crime unless he offered to help them in return.

Notable is the fact that Trump has worked to alienate nearly every nation in the world….except Russia.  He has a curious affinity for Putin who he apparently admires a great deal.

The theory has been that Putin helped Trump so that Trump would lessen the sanctions the United States has put on Russia for a variety of reasons.

On the last batch of sanctions, Congress voted nearly unanimously to impose said sanctions on Russia.

Yesterday was Trump’s last day to implement those sanctions.

He refused to do so.

Looks a lot like “they helped him and he helped them.”

This could not be any clearer.

Trump works for Russia.

The Republican Party works for Trump.

Republican voters put the president and Republican congressmen in place.

So…can you guess who the real traitors are?

Hard to pinpoint this but I feel safe in saying the guilty party is, in part, a failure to overcome gullibility; a failure to overcome nonsense like Fox News.

Republican voters didn’t do this on purpose.  They did it because they are gullible; refusing to believe that the Republican Party of yesterday is no longer in existence.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim

State of the Union

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This just in:  This week, Donald Trump will deliver the State of the Union Address.  My prediction is simple…he will take credit for everything and the blame for nothing.  He will claim to be a great unifier and then disparage those that oppose him.

Let me show you, in one picture, what Donald Trump has done to Make American Great Again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the cover of this week’s Time Magazine.

Now, some will say, “Liberal News!”

Let’s look at it….

  1. Trump has trashed NATO.
  2. Trump is so unwelcomed in the UK that he said he will not visit unless they ban protests.
  3. Canada, our biggest trading partner, is turning to the east for new trading deals after Trump intervene in NAFTA.
  4. Mexico hates us because, according to our president, they are rapists, thieves and perhaps…a few good people.
  5. He just returned from Europe and declared that the EU is trading unfairly with us.  The EU response, “We do not need the United States.”
  6. He pulled us out of the Trans-Pacific Trade deal, making China the new leader in global trade.
  7. He trashed an entire continent when he called Africa a “shithole”.

In short, he has alienated, in one short year, nearly every country in the world.

Let me be clear…we are a superpower because of our economy.  Our economy is strong because we trade with the rest of the world.  If we stop leading the way economically, the rest of the world will move on without us.  In the end, INTEL can sell its microchips to Kansas instead of Europe.  Let’s see how that works out.

His supporters claim he is “negotiating” in a tough manner.  These people have two beliefs that they hold dear: (1) The United States is so great and strong that the rest of  the world needs us and (2) God selected Trump to be our Dear Leader.

These people hold a set of values that are far different from my own.

Our country has fallen.  The problem with this is that we won’t recover so long as there are those who don’t see what we have lost over the last several months.

What we need is a 12-Step program.

Step One:  We admitted that we are powerless over the current outcomes of Trump’s first year as president

Step Two: Came to believe that we could take back control and restore our standing in the world.

Step Three: Voted in 2018 and ousted every Republican that supported our Trump-led downfall.

Step Four: Made a searching and fearless inventory of ourselves.  Who are we and who do we want to be.

I don’t have the rest of the steps just yet but you get the gist of it.

We are responsible for today as well as tomorrow.

Up, up and away…

Jim

Wait For It

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This just in:  I have no doubt that Trump is problematic.  It could be the lying.  It could be Russia.  It could be the protectionism.  It could be the racism.  It could be the childish behavior.  It could be a lot of things.

What has been a bit of a mystery to me is how supportive the Republican Party is of this Orange Disaster.  How could they support someone that is so, so… Trumpish?

At first I thought, “They just want him for the Healthcare or Tax plan.”

Seemed reasonable.

But why do they continue to try and protect him?  Why are they sacrificing the FBI’s reputation to protect him?  Why are they continuing to turn their back on things like him profiting from his office or the nepotism, or the attacks on the Free Press.  Or his attacks on basically everything democratic?

Why?

Then something happened.

It turns out that Russia was funneling money to Trump through the NRA.

In 2016, the NRA gave $30 million to Trump’s campaign.  However, they also gave $55 million to other Republicans.

Where is the NRA getting this kind of money?

Turns out…they may be getting it from Russia.

What does this imply?

Perhaps, Trump is not the only person being controlled by Russia.  Perhaps some or even the entire Republican Party are connected as well.

My guess is that many are unwittingly being funded by Russia.  However, those at the top….they are well aware.

So….you heard it here first.  Let’s see how long it take before the news media sees this link.

I hope I’m wrong…and I probably am.  But it certainly explains a lot to me.

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

Resist

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This just in:  I don’t care about anyone’s opinion about things like abortion or gun control or food stamps.

I don’t care because I welcome the diversity of views.  Tell me about what you believe and I’ll respond and we can discuss the issues and hopefully come to learn more about each other’s position.  In the end, we may still disagree and I can accept that; thus, the harsh “I don’t care.”  In other words, when we are done, let’s both move on.

Trump is a different beast.

I don’t care about a lot of stuff he does.  I don’t care about the Porn Star thing.  In fact, I expect that.  I don’t care that he plays golf.  I don’t care that he watches a lot of television and is obese.

However, there are things he does that fundamentally threaten the world and my place in it.

I grew up singing “American the Beautiful.”  We were always on the right side of things.  We took care of the poor.  We stood against oppression.  We formed alliances that were mutually beneficial.  We created a huge military based on the idea that if we were too big to fight, there would be no fight.

We stood for human rights.  We led the way in pursuit of science and innovation.  Our economy was the biggest and getting bigger.

Our Constitution reigned supreme.  First Amendment rights were our crown jewel.

We took care of each other and saw ourselves as the Good Shepherd guiding the world with a soft hand.

Now that is no longer the case.

We have passed into the dark side of the moon.  A place where we shun logic.  Human rights outside of our borders are unimportant.  We won’t play with others, expecting them to bend to our will and then watch as they simply turn to others for leadership.

Internally, money is king.  Money runs the government, making the idea of “American Democracy” a global joke.

We break up families for no real reason other than it appears to give the president a boner.

We are alienated from nearly every ally that we’ve had for the last 100 years.  Even the UK hates us.

We justify things like lying, money laundering, fear mongering.  Even worse, we embrace hate, racism and religious targeting.

Our Constitution is worthless in the face of a president that ignores it and a Congress that supports him.

Now you have my attention.

Now I care.

What Trump and the Republican Party are doing is affecting my view of myself.

I can do nothing short of resisting.

Thus…I blog…while wishing I had a bigger soapbox.

Still, I feel better having resisted.

Up, up and away…

Jim

Clarification

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This just in:  If you are like most people over the last year you are probably wondering “What the F*&k is going on in Washington?”

I’m here to help.

I’ll just look at the big things…

The United States is desperately low in workers at all levels.

Trump responds to this by cancelling DACA, a program meant to protect children brought into the United States at a young age.

Trump and the Republican party immediately point to the now cancelled DACA and say, “We can fix DACA but only if the Democrats approve a $25 billion wall that can be climbed over using a $20 ladder.”

This ignores the fact that Trump, with a swipe of his pen, can reinstate DACA as easily as he cancelled it.

Also…

Congress has let a program expire that gives healthcare to millions of poor children in the country.  The Republican Party could pass bill funding this program but refuse to do so unless…your guessed it…”Only if the Democrats approve a $25 billion wall that can be climbed over using a $20 ladder.”

The GOP is actually saying, “We can’t believe the Democrats don’t care about DACA families or the health of poor children.”

Yes…this is actually what the Republican Party is doing.

Also…

Trump says he will help the Russia investigation and then immediately tells Bannon to say “Nothing” while testifying before congress.

Meanwhile, the investigation is starting to focus on money.  Looks like Trump has mob ties, Russian ties, money laundering issues etc.  Today it even came out that it looks like the Russians funnelled money to Trump through the NRA.

Trump took a physical and passed.  His weight is stated as 239.  This is just under the “obesity threshold” for someone that this 6’3″ tall.  Trump would only be that tall if he was at the Event Horizon of a Black Hole and Spagettification was starting to take hold.  As for his weight….looking at his shape I’d say he might be 239 pounds if he was 90% hollow.

Trump also took a cognitive test.  I looked at the test and it’s a beast.  There are questions like “What is today’s date?”  He passed the test.  I see this as a problem.  It means he is doing what he is doing ON PURPOSE!

Trump is also being accused of a sexual relationship with a porn star within months of his son’s birth.  She said that he said she reminded him of his daughter.  eewwwww……

The GOP and the Democrats finally got together on an immigration bill but Trump got flipped by someone at the last minute.  He pushed the bill away claiming we don’t want people coming here from shithole countries.  Shithole being code for countries without a white majority.

Right this very minute, Republicans and Democrats are working together to try and prevent a government shutdown.  The problem is that they have no idea what the president wants.  He’s told them several times but each time its completely different.

So…that about summarizes the last day or two of Whitehouse activity lead by a very stable genius.

I continue to marvel at people that continue to support him.

Up, up and away…

Jim

 

The Immigration V. Jobs Ruse

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This just in:  As of August 2017, there were 6.2 million unfilled jobs in the United States.

I know there are people thinking, “If there are so many jobs, why don’t I have one?”

There could be a lot of reasons for this.  Maybe the jobs are not in your town.  Maybe you are over or under qualified.  Maybe you want a job type that is currently not available.

Still, if you want a job, there is no shortage.

Now...this is important…the number one thing holding the United States back as far as growth of GDP is the lack of people to fill current job openings.

That’s right.  We need more people if we want our economy to grow.

My profession consists, in large part, helping companies to expand.  An auto maker has 1,000 employees and needs to increase production by 40%.  I help them to do that.  The biggest hurdle is always, “Where are we going to find the people we need in order to facilitate this expansion.”  The last project I did was in Wisconsin where the local unemployment is 2.8%.  There is no extra labor just laying around.

I read a report a month ago that said we needed 44 million immigrants in the next 10 years to meet the economic growth the GOP is counting on to pay for at least part of their tax cut.

Knowing this.  Knowing that (1) we have tons of jobs available right now and (2) we need millions of immigrants if our economy is remain vibrant…why are we arguing about immigration and building walls?

Why are we shipping out people that are helping our economy to grow?

We should be actively looking for ways to attract even more immigration, not less.

Trump and the Republican Party are continuing to do the Exact Opposite of what needs to be done.

Yes…we should take steps to keep out people we don’t want.

Yes…we should be able to account for those that we actually do let in.

But let’s let them in if they want to come and don’t represent a burden (lazy, criminal etc).

The current arguments about keeping people out are being made by people clearly unschooled in what our economy needs in order to thrive.

“Build a Wall!” and “Keep out the illegals” make for great bumper stickers but have very little to do with what we need to be focusing on.

Just sayin…

Up, up and away…

Jim

Anatomy of a Trump Supporter

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This just in:  I have tried and tried to find out why people would support someone like Trump.  The following is my attempt to round up what I think are some of those reasons.

Reason #1:  The Democrats have yet to coalesce around a vibrant candidate with a powerful position.  Instead, they are the same old “Angry Nancy Pelosi” bumper sticker.  Democrats are the party of Hillary and we saw how that went.  They need youth, vision and a soapbox.  Right now they have none of these.

Reason #2: Trump is a business man.  The fact that he is wealthy shows that he is a great businessman.  Right? This thought is supported by the idea “There is a sucker born every minute.”  Had Trump invested the money his dad gave him in a stock market index fund, he would be several times richer than he is.  His wealth comes mostly from the fact that he is associated with dark figures needing a way to clean money.  He has a long list of failed businesses and bankruptcies.  Still, you need to get beyond “He’s rich therefore, he must be wise.”

Reason #3:  Evangelicals like that he is ant-Muslim.  They also like to believe there is a higher power that protects them from evil and will eventually save them.  Trump fills this role for them quite nicely.

Reason #4: Trump is pro-business.  This is actually quite true.  The problem is that being pro-business has very little to do with job creation and higher wages; at least in today’s economy.  Trump cuts regulations and taxes and businesses eat that stuff up.  Sadly, this will not convert to more, high paying jobs.

Reason #5: Trump is an outsider.  This is true as well.  To me, this was potentially his greatest asset.  Alas…he turned out to be unqualified as well so this was a bust.

Reason #6: Trump is a Republican.  There are people from both parties that vote along party lines simply because their families have always voted along party lines.  This is the lazy person’s way of choosing a candidate.  Unfortunately, the Republican Party of today has almost no resemblance to that of only 5 or 10 years ago.  The name on the door is the same but there is a different person behind the desk.

Reason #7: Trump is a common man who tells it like it is.  In my view, this is for those people that have long thought it was okay to call Africa a “shithole.”  Need I say more.

Reason #8: Trump is pro-gun.  The same people that like reason #7 like this reason.  That’s a bit scary.

Reason #9:  Trump is a puppet.  Indirectly, this is why people vote for Trump without even knowing it.  That he is a puppet get the Republican Party lots of money from people that need and can afford to buy the puppet in the White House.  Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News is one of these people.  Because he likes his puppet, his network is dedicated to misinforming those people too lazy to change the channel to something else.

Reason #10:  Trump has made it okay to be a misogynistic racist.  No one thinks they belong in this category but I suspect this is the number one reason he has a base that will never, ever abandon him.

Up, up and away…

Jim

Deciphering Trump

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This just in:  President Trump speaks at a 4th grade level.  He also uses incomplete or run-on sentences, making it difficult to ascertain what he is actually trying to convey by context alone.

I’m here to help.

The following is a list of what Trump says followed by what he actually means:

Trump Says: “I am not a racist.  In fact, I’m the least racist person you have ever met.”

What he means: “I don’t think I’m a racist because my biases against non-whites, the poor and the non-Christians of the world are justified.”

Trump Says: “Trust me,” or “Believe me”

What he means: “I am about to lie directly to you.”

What Trump Says: “I have big hands.”

What Trump means: “It’s important to me that you think I have a big dick.”

What Trump Says: “Lots of people have told me….”

What Trump means: “I have my own opinion based on nothing but will pretend that I am surrounded by people that share that opinion in spite of the fact that those “theoretical people” don’t really exist”

What Trump Says: “It’s someone else’s fault.”

What Trump means: “It’s my fault but I’m too emotionally weak to take the blame for my own errors.”

What Trump Says: “I have accomplished a lot.”

What Trump means: “I have accomplished nothing but I don’t want you to notice.”

What Trump Says: “That is fake news.”

What Trump means: “Don’t believe those news outlets that post factual stuff about my mistakes.”

What Trump Says: “There is no Russian collusion.”

What Trump means: “There is Russian collusion but if I deny it, then I’m in the clear.”

What Trump Says: “I won’t go to the UK because I think the new Embassy was a bad financial deal.”

What Trump means: “I know the British hate me and I fear them because of it.”

What Trump Says: “I respect women.”

What Trump means: “I think your memory is so short you will forget my past behavior.”

What Trump says: “The new Healthcare Plan or New Tax plan are going to be great.”

What Trump means: “I have no idea what is in the new Healthcare Plan or the New Tax plan.”

What Trump says: “I will be providing proof of this or that in a couple of weeks.”

What Trump means: “In a couple of weeks you will forget I ever said this.”

I think I could write a book on just this one topic.  However, it comes down to this: Trump lies constantly to everyone and has no idea how to do his job.

Just sayin…

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim