Wednesday, November 30, 2016

CLINTON LEAD NOW EXCEEDS 2.5 MILLION

Why is this important? It is important for Democrats to remind people that the issues of reproductive rights, gay rights and civil rights and climate change are not to be marginalized as some boutique concern. As President Obama would say,"they are who were are."

JUST SAY NO TO SESSIONS AND PRICE

The Washington Post has an article how this administration will be the richest in history with appointees who inherited fortunes. I don't know how to combat this but Congress should insist on tax information. As Robert Reich wrote today that Trump may speak as a populist but he will rule as an oligarch. It is the final looting of America.

But progressives must resist normalizing racism and reject Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions III. The same applies to health care. We don't have a health care system jun this country, just a profit based insurance and medical industry. But the bare social welfare network we have needs preserving. Someday enhancing. I think it is important to challenge Price.

The last I would challenge is whoever becomes the head of the EPA.

COLOMBIAN CONGRESS APPROVES PEACE DEAL.

WASHINGTON POST WARNS DEMOCRATS TO PICK HEALTHCARE FIGHTS

This is galling. The Post likes Tom Price,the Georgian Republican nominated for Trump's HHS. Yes,well,he and you may disagree of healthcare for the country. And, of course, he favors the wealthier and will hurt the poor and poorer but that's for political debate.

No Chuck Schumer was right that his nomination is the first battle in the healthcare fight. No, Democrats don't have to go along with Price nomination. 
This is the trouble in Washington. Trump is being normalized. No,Americans without health insurance is not just another a political opinion.

For better advice,Democrats should read Jennifer Rubin's cues on how to question Trump nominees. She picks on his economic choices and wants them under questioning to tell us how the economy is and how they are going to pay for tax cuts. She sounds like a conservative Elizabeth Warren with her questions.

The Deal To Save 800 Carrier Jobs.

Trump tweeted that he save the Carrier jobs in Mexico. The Obama Administration said he should do that 800 times and he would reach the number of manufacturing jobs created by the Obama Administration.

But Josh Marshall got the deal. Carrier is owned by United Technologies, a big defense contractor. So the deal was made to maintain favor with the Trump Administration on the defense contracts.

OBAMA STUDENT DEBT PLAN

Obama's debt forgiveness plan will eliminate $108 billion in student debt. That's only one-third the total amount. The rest hasn't qualified by income. But thanks,Obama.

RESISTANCE READING

Donald Trump's mentor was Roy Cohen,the New York mob lawyer and McCarthy staffer. His media adviser was Roger Ailes, he of the hanging scrotum. He was aided by FBY agent Comey. The Data shows it.

So it is not a stretch to read "One Against The World:The Tragedy Of Richard Nixon" by Tim Weiner. Nixon said J.Edgar Hoover was the closest person to him politically. Donald Trump lacks the Shakespearan nature and also awareness of Nixon. But yes,I know he is one of my "favorite" political figures but he really was that bad. 

Interesting fact,however, Nixon believed to his dying day that Kennedy stole the 1960 presidential election. He l,os by 118,550 votes and a shift of fewer than 14.000 would have given him the electoral victory. That was with 69 million cast. 

The last time I looked Hillary needed to flip 53,500 votes with an electorate twice that of 1960.

So Democrats this time have reason to be pissed.

New York magazine called the book,"rigorously damning." The mob connections are here,the buying of elections and the lying.

TIM KAINE REQUESTS TRUMP DECLARE WAR ON ISIS.

7 DEMOCRATIC SENATORS REQUEST OBAMA DECLASSIFY MATERIALS ON RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE IN THE ELECTION.

WISCONSIN GOP FILES AGAINST RECOUNT.

JILL STEIN FILES FOR RECOUNT IN MICHIGAN

TRUMP CONSIDERS SARAH PALIN FOR SEC OF VETERAN AFFAIRS.

Does anyone know whether Dr. Ben Carson accepted the nomination to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development?

CIA CHIEF JONH BRENNEN CALLS BREAKING IRAN NUCLEAR PACT "LUNACY"

Brennen argued that breaking the Iran nuclear Pact would stimulate a weapons program in Iran and also other Arab states would be obliged to follow.

I would argue it was a pact among many nations. A unilateral act by the United States would not be reciprocated by other countries. And the USA would be faced with having to enact sanctions against European banks and businesses--which is unlikely.

DEMOCRAT RAY COOPER SURPASSES THE 10,000 VOTE MARGIN NEEDED FOR RECOUNT.

THE SHOCK DOCTRINE RETURNS

Naomi Klein made this idea popular. The idea is that the wealthy and their accomplices in government and the banking sector basically set off multiple events to destabilize the economic system and catch people off guard. This past week of the Trump transition shows the same mentality at work.

Should you respond to Kellyanne Conways visiting the Tar Sands in Cana as an omen about the Trump administration. Should you respond to a possible Homeland Security nominee who wants to incarcerate millions in Gitmo? Or how about Newt saying Trump would be the most transformative President we could have?

All I can figure out is that without any discussion on the campaign trail, the GOP really,really wants to turn Medicare into a voucher program. Of course,Trump said he would not touch Social Security or Medicare. Then his spokespeople whoever they really are said he was for Paul Ryan's plan. The GOP really,really wants to repeal Obamacare. We have known that for 6 years. Now that they know Trump voters would hurt on this score,they are wobbling.

Charles Pierce wrote in esquire that blocking Rep. Price from becoming HHS head and stopping the move to eliminate Medicare are the redline for progressives. If you can't ,then give it up. On a day to day basis Josh Marshall and his team if journalists are doing sterling work on the Medicare/voucher issue. You have to read his posts the last two days to understand the wreckage that will sow on the healthcare system. 

Then several states are readying new anti=abortion laws so they can wind up in the Supreme Court under Trump. And yes Nancy Pelosi is right The GOP really honestly want to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood. I guess the 45% pf white women who voted for Trump should be proud.

Protecting healthinsurance--we haven't progressed to healthcare-- should be Number 1 in resisting the GOP. The second is to stop Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III from becoming Attorney General. Not only does this have to do with the Civil Liberties Unit at DOJ but as importantly with the enforcement of the remains of the Votings Rights Act.

Did you think it was odd that Hillary Clinton got millions less than Obama? Stop accusing one another,Dana Millbank has an excellent analysis of the impact of Voter ID laws in a few dozen states for the first time this year. Possible effect is that millions could not vote. The other device this year for voter suppression Cross Check which erases several hundred thousand voters from the rolls in ket states. I talked about Ohio,North Carolina, but it also affects Pennsylvania,Wisconsin and Michigan.

So if you are a Resister,please mount campaigns aimed at Republican congressmen instead of preaching to the choir. 

Elizabeth Warren was right the Republicans did not win any mandate for their agenda. 

Monday, November 28, 2016

MICHIGAN CERTIFIES TRUMP BY 10,000.

Wisconsin rejected Stein's request for a hand count of  votes but some counties re going ahead with the hand count to avoid suits. Stein vowed to sue the state.

Pennsylvania said that today was the deadline for the recount but Stein has filed for one in the court instead.

Michigan's recount is to follow. It couldn't happen until the vote was certified.

Sunday, November 27, 2016

TRUMP CLAIMS VOTER FRAUD IN CA,VA AND NH.

Trump literally tweeted ALL Day about the recounts. He is unhinged about being the minority President. By the end of the day,he said he would have won the popular vote except for all the illegal immigrants. The Washington Post,Mother Jones and the Huffington Post blasted him for this because it is untrue. He went on to tweet the results in California, Virginia and New Hampshire were caused the voter fraud.

Apparenty the recount will be filed in Pennsylvania this week. Michigan results will be certified tomorrow.

About Pennsylvania,election observers have noticed that the middle of the state which gave Trump his margin of victory had over a 90% turnout--which defies the turnout in the rest opt the state and the nation. 

Clearly, Trump feels vulnerable that his victory is not legitimate.

RESISTANCE READING

"An IRON WIND: EUROPE UNDER HITLER" by Peter Fritzsche. Basic Books, 2016.

The story of civilians throughout the second war under Hitler's rule. So you are prepared.

MAKING THE US A ROGUE STATE--ONE STEP AT A TIME.

You should take comfort in the fact that Trump asked male model Fabio who he should choose as Secretary of State-Rudy or Mitt.

Keyyanne Conway explained Trump not receiving intelligence briefings because he talked to over 40 international leaders. 

Reince Preibus say that Trump will undo the normalization with Cuba unless they make concessions. Forget the fact that the US and Cuba negotiated the end to the civil war in Colombia begun in 1948.

Jerry Farwell's son turned down the position of Secretary of Education. So we went from Michelle Rhee to Farwell to DeVos. 

The right is getting hysterical about the recount saying it is a Democratic plot to make sure Trump doesn't have enough electoral votes on December 19th because the process we be too long.

On the Iranian Nuclear Deal,yesterday's New York Times had an op-ed explaining how difficult Trump will have in reversing the deal. He would have to penalize European banks and businesses doing business with Iran. He will not have the Security Council behind him and any additional sanctions by the US will trigger complaints that the USA is not complying. That we  bring back the W. reaction to Clinton's North Korean deal where Clinton was perceived as too soft and W reinstated sanctions only to lead to North Korea's development of a nuclear arsenal.

Saturday, November 26, 2016

MOVE ON.ORG ADDS FLA,NC,AND ARIZONA TO PETITION FOR RECOUNT.

RESISTANCE READING

"The Nazi Conscience" by Claudia Koonz , Harvard, 2003. It is as bad as this. Koon, a professor of history at Duke,examines how the perpetrators of genoccide had a powerful sense of right and wrong, based on civic values that exalted the moral righteousness of the ethnic community and denounced outsiders. The Nazi Conscience examines the chilling saga of a media campaign that extinguished neighborliness ,respect and ,ultimately, compassion fopr all those banished from the ethnic majority.

Van Jones in Toronto talked about how the 2016 election boiled down to tribalism. Basically, only whites no matter the class or educations voted for Trump while every other racial and ethnic group voted fro Clinton. 

Now what about the Muslim registry. Why problem is that meant to solve? The Muslims are among the best educated Americans,most entrepreneurial and wealthier Americans and they don't commit crimes. A handful of terrorist attacks in the last few years warrant this?

Koonz tells you how this is done.

Robert Fitrakis on The 2016 Election.

Robert Fitrakis has been an observer for the State Department on overseas elections and is saying that this election put up a Huge Red Flag denoting fraud. He said that the polls don't defy the rules of statistics only in America.

His point and his colleague Harvey Wasserman is that there is a discrepancy between the exit polls and the actual results. Clinton won exit polls but Trump won. He said this happened in 24 out of 28 states examined and that such a deviant occurrence should only happen 4% of the time. 

He said that the united States doesn't meet the minimum standard of transparency in elections and would not have passed the State Department's "free and fair "test.

Unlike other major democracies, we use  voting machines that are between 10 to 20 years old. Homeland Security has left our whole elections infrastructure unprotected from cyberattacks. While it is argued that voting machines aren't on the internet. While voting occurs,the results are transmitted over the internet. He says that it doesn't have to be Russia hacking us. Professores at the University of Michigan and Princeton have regularly hacked our elections system to demonstrate its vulnerability.

His complaint is that the voting machines are made by for-profit corporations who primarily lead Republican. The software is proprietary and the election officials don't have the code. He pointed to the presidential election in Youngstown,Ohio where election officials had to admit the computers were reprogrammed to show opposite results. The problem is that in Pennsylvania the vote was 80% by computers.

Fitrakis was a Democrat who turned Green after the Iraq War and is on record expressing oncerns about Hillary's warlike tendencies. 

He proposes  the United States should celebrate its democracy. Have election day through a long weekend and have paper ballots which are hand counted in front of people. He also proposes using voting machines with an open code and not a black box where we can't have access. 

In 2016, 57.9% of eligible voters actually cast their ballots.

CLINTON CAMPAIGN JOINS RECOUNTS>

Friday, November 25, 2016

TO CLARIFY

Trump's margin of victory in the following states were:
Pennsylvania 1.2%
Michigan         .3%
Wisconsin      1.0%
Florida           1.3% or 49,478
North Carolina 3.8%

We know that Clinton won the popular vote by a great margin than Nixon in '68 and Kennedy in '60.

We also know the Jill Stein's tally would have given both Wisconsin,Michigan and Florida to Clinton. She says no that her supporters would have sat home or 30% would have voted for Trump.

THE ELECTION FINAL RESULTS.

Hillary Clinton has a 48.1% lead to Trump's 46.6%. I believe Clinton will win the popular vote close to Obama's '12 victory over Romney. Her 2.5 million lead can only go up.

I also don't believe Jill Stein's recounts are going to change the electoral college but are a valuable lesson on this election. 

I believe whether the recounts show it or not that Hillary Clinton won Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida. And about North Carolina I believe it was closer than reported.

That would tell a different story than the one we read in the press. If you haven't ,listen to Van Jones' speech in Ontario about why Trump won. It was posted on Democraticunderground. He says that the Democratic Party turned down black groups who asked for money. I just know of one specific case about this and they were horrified. The black community said they needed more money to organize and get out the vote. Voto Latino,the major millennial Hispanic group, simply ran out of money. Van Jones said that the Clinton campaign ran anti-Trump ads after the news carried Trump saying the same things,instead of ads on issues. Party true.

But before we jump to conclusions,we should look at Clinton's performance in Pennsylvania. She surpassed the goals in Philadelphia and the suburbs and won Alleghany and Pittsburgh. She may or may not haven't fallen short in the middle of the state, which we were assured won't matter. But the results are strange. This area is not simply rural,farm areas but are also small cities. The Trump margin looks too big to be real.

The same in Florida,the Florida watchers still think it was mathematically impossible for her to lose the state after her huge lead in early voting. 

And in Michigan, the Detroit figures are laughably wacky and vastly underreports Clinton's strength. It is not enough for Times stories about young black millennials not voting to make any sense of this. 

Wisconsin,I can believe because of all the nasty election business with Scott Walker but the margin is not surmountable.

Yes,the result is horrifying but is it real. Reports came today from people at the North Carolina DMV that said the computer glitches and failure to record registrations hit urban areas of North Carolina,especially black zones. It is no wonder McCory is asking for a recount because his guys were supposed to push him over the top. I suspect there were some Republicans that thought he had to be removed so they didn't rig it his way.

Why is all this important? Because next time the GOP will pull it all the way out and make not excuses for rigging the vote. 

But as the Wisconsin Gazette editorialized, Trump may have won the electoral college but he doesn't have the mandate or legitimacy. Frankly ,I'm not sure he did win the electoral college.

BEFORE RECOUNT, TRUMP LEAD DOWN TO 22,525.

Before the recount even begins,4,000 Trump votes were wiped out by corrections. He only leads by 22,525.

FIDEL CASTRO DIES AT THE AGE OF 90.

JILL STEIN DID FILE THE PETITION FOR A RECOUNT IN WISCONSIN.

MICHIGAN PREPARES FOR A HAND COUNT.

The Detroit Free Press wrote today that the Michigan results will be certified by Monday. At that time depending on the margin  recount can happen.

SOMETHING FISHY?

Josh Marshall threw some shade on Jill Stein's fund-raising for recounts. The number she has requested has gone up considerably and we don't know yet if she filed in Wisconsin. We do know the Wisconsin election officials have sent out notices to the state to elicit estimates of costs about a hand recount. 

Marshall is ekptical about the whole thing but then more information has appeared that suggests large discrepancies in vote tallie in the three states and Florida. In Florida voter-activists and cuberrsecurity people have questioned how mathematically could Trump had won with the early voting so dominant by Clinton. Trump would have had to secure about 70% of the remaining votes. In Floirda,activists have suggested that the Secretary of State call for a recount, not because of closeness but because of how odd the results are.

Unfortunately in Pennsylvania,there are no paper ballots and auditing the election would be difficult because all the machines would have to be impounded now.

In Michigan,the unofficial results have a negligible lead by Trump and an improbable results in the city of Detroit.

Adding to the problem of this election is the FBI report that the voting machine company that supplied North Carolina was hacked by the Russians.

On top of this are reports that Russia established phony websites to send to 14 million viewers phony news aimed against Clinton ,not Trump.

But it has to be stressed that Hillary Clinton and her campaign has shown no signs of calling for any recount. But her popular lead has grown to over 2.5 million.

OBAMA'S LAST BIDS TO SAVE WILDERNESS

The Guardian wrote today that President Obama will try and save as much public land before Trump becomes President. 

He already cancelled more than 24 oil and gas leasesin Colorado.

He banned offshore drilling in the Arctic Ocean for five years.

He negotiated a settlement that cancelled 32,000 acres in Montana on land considered sacred to the Blackfeet.

He is considering making the landscape around Bear's Ears a national monument as well as Nevada's Gold Butte  and the nothermn end of the Grand Canyon.

Resistance Reading

Andrew Nagorski's "Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise To Power." 

Stacy Schiff "The Witches : Suspicion ,Betrayal and Hysteria in 1692 Salem"

Just to prepare you.

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

OBAMA COMMUTES SENTENCES OF !,023--MORE THAN LAST 11 PRESIDENTS COMBINED.

LATE AFTERNOON RANT

You know we are in for some sad times when Ben Carson is mentioned as HuD Secretary and that can be considered good news.

Dr. Painter,the chief ethicist in George W. Bush's White House legal Office, raised question on local WTOP that Trump was going to be in violation of the emolument classes in the Constitution if he did not liquidate his holdings,including his D.C. Hotel. 

Rep. Amash of Michigan (Republican) raised the issue yesterday of Trump's foreign holdings. 

Conservatives like the National Review have raised concerns about General Mike Flynn for his extremism. Unfortunately,there is not much you can do about it.

But there is on Mike Pompeo, designated head of the CIA. Rep.Pompeo was part of the Benghazi cheerleading squad. He also supports Torture. You can let your representative know you oppose him and urge them to vote against his confirmation.

There is absolutely no reason to vote Democratic if they don't stop Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III from becoming the attorney-general. He wants to gut the Civil Rights office ala George W. and end enforcement of Voting Rights. John Ashcroft yesterday said he saw nothing wrong with Sessions. 

The Obama market is at 19,000. Remember the poor author who wrote the 20,000 market and then we got the Bush Depression? Obama is going to get us there.

Has anyone caught the change is our discourse. Now we are reading articles about the dollar and the market. Better resist now while the issues are still fresh.

Trump did a video of his 1st 100 days. He will withdraw from TPP. This brought an onslaught of reaction from Australia,Japan and even China. He said he would negotiate a series of bilateral agreements--by the way they already exist except for Vietnam.

He also said he would review the visa process. And start securing the border--what about the Wall?

Overall pretty weak tea. This morning his spokeswoman said he would not pursue prosecution of Hillary Clinton. Last I looked it isn't up to him. Rep. Chaffetz wants to continue to waste our money on his investigation. Kellyanne Conways said Trump's message would be a strong signal to Congress. 

It seems to me that resistance has to be on multiple levels. You have Trump and his nominees and policies and you have the Republicans and their crazy policies, which sometimes are separate. 

The NAACP, God Bless Them, are taking up the fight against Sessions. They also have the built-in D.C. corps of lobbyists to make their voice heard.

Nancy Pelosi has sent out messages that the Democrats are united against privatizing Medicare. 

Democratic Senators have raised where is the Replace Place to repeal Obamacare. Senator Schatz from Hawaii suggested the GOP just fix Obamacare and call it another name. CEOS from healthcare companies sent a letter to Trump that a replacement is necessary before any repeal discussion.

Trita Parsi of NIAC, an Iranian-American organization, told the Majority news that Iran likes business-minded leaders rather than Democrats like Hillary Clinton because they think a deal can be made. Parsi noted all the regime change people around Trump but noted that Trump's complaint against the Iran nuclear deal was that Americans couldn't do business with Iran. It was suggested the mullahs give him Trump Tehran for the peace.

But then again this afternoon a Trump surrogate said the Donald was prepared to fight WWIII.Now against whom this person wouldn't say.

A federal judge rejected my idea of just appointing Merrick Garland without a vote from Congress. Now I suggest appointing him during Christmas recess. It will be litigated and we many lose. But we gain a year with a slightly left Supreme Court. I'll take it.

President Obama is setting the record this afternoon for awarding the Medal of Freedom. Among the recipients are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Hanks, Robert Redford, Ellen Degeneres, Michael Jordan,among many others.

I'll be really lonesome when he goes.


Sunday, November 20, 2016

FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE:"THE MUSICAL MOJO OF DR.JOHN

CELEBRATING MAC AND HIS MUSIC."

This double disc has the big hits like Right Place Wrong Time","SUCH A NIGHT","RAIN","I WALK ON GUILDED SPLINTERS" as well as less known songs like "MY INDIAN RED" and "BIG CHIEF."

Accompanying Mac Rebbenack is Bruce Springsteen,the Neville Brothers,Mavis Staples, Terence Blachard, the late Allen Tousaint,and John Foherty.

This celebration was recorded live Saenger Theatre,New Orleans,Louisiana in 2016. 

Since Dr.John tweeted his farewell to Leon Russell, this felt appropriate because we don't know when we will hear great keyboards again.

Our family has heard Dr. John over the last few years at the Birchmere in Alexandria. Still great with his huge book of songs. He could play forever. 

TRUMP CONSIDERS MICHELLE RHEE AS EDUCATION SECRETARY, UGH!

THERE IS A PETITION CALLING FOR AN AUDIT OF THE NATIONAL VOTE

The dailykos has a petition to the Clinton campaign asking it to request an audit of the election. Edison Research says that the exit polls showed that Hillary won in North Carolina,Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida. Other concerns are that voting machines were hacked in these states and tripped the electoral college to Trump. There is enough smoke with the wide discrepancy between popular vote and the electoral college to make sure there wasn't a fire.

PENCE SAYS TRUMP WILL BRING BACK WATERBOARDING.

John McCain said he will oppose Trump's plan to bring back torture. He also said yesterday that Trump would be in court in a New York minute.

YES ,IT IS REALLY THAT AWFUL.

The reason it is important to constantly remind people Hillary Clinton won by over 2 million votes is that this gives the Democrats the mad ate to resist Trump's awfulness.

Paul Krugman earlier this week wrote about how the "privatizing Medicare" would be the worst campaign promise betrayal in our history. Josh Marshall today writes about why this is so important in terms of intergenerational finances. Social security and Medicare allowed a younger generation not to be trapped by impoverished parents so as to buy homes and afford college for their children.

Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III as Attorney General would gut the Civil Rights unit of DOJ and ensure the Voting Rights Act would be permanently gutted. Again Josh Marshall was on top of this. Sessions was for the KKK until he found out they smoked dope. This week he said he was joking. He had been denied a judgeship under Reagan because his own GOP colleagues though him too racist.

This morning Reince Preibus said Trump would not rule out a Muslim register. 

The last three day even the straight media have been raising the scores of conflict of interests of Trump and his whole family. In todays' NYT, Zephyr Teachout wrote a small piece on the "emolument clause" of the constitution which prohibits a President from receiving gifts , titles or money from a foreign entity. The Washington Post examines how Trump's hotel provides a problem in this case because foreign diplomats are booking rooms to curry favors with the Trump administration.

Bill McKibben writes in Readers Supported News that Trump has to choose between his domestic friends and upholding the Paris Climate Accords. If Trump abrogates the Paris Accord,various countries have resolved placing a carbon tax on American imports.  Trade war in another form.

In Peru, Obama recited his accomplishments before the Asian Pacific Economic Council. The Canadians said TPP was dead and the Chinese warned Trump he had to maintain free markets. In the meeting, countries felt China was the new global guarantor of free trade.

The Former head of the NSA said that Trump's National Security Advisor was not up to the job. The Obama administration wants to remove the present NSA chief because of the massive leaks by an employee and the fact the man went to New York to plead for his job with Trump.

Trump has been doing personal business during the transition . He met with an Indian firm with his daughter Ivanka. He then met with the Prime Minister of Japan again with his daughter and two sons in their capacity of being part of the transition team.

The New York Times reports that Obama will get back into the fray after the inauguration. He told aides he had planned to give Hillary the keys and taking off but he cares about democracy  enough not to be silent.

YOUR SUNDAY READING

From "UNSPEAKABLE" Chris Hedges talks with David Talbot about the most forbidden topics in America . Hot Books, 2016.

Hedges backed Jill Stein for President. He thought Bernie Sanders didn't take on the national security state and agrees with Cornel West that Barack Obama has been an Uncle Tom.

p.132
"Like all civilizations careening to collapse , we have become hostage to complex structures, and ever more intricate specialization, to exploit diminishing resources. Technocrats rule us. They are trained and indoctrinated in elite schools. They function as systems managers. They only know how to serve the system. They cannot critique it or challenge it. They are devoid of creativity or the ability to think independently. They will maintain the system ant all costs. They will plunder and squander resources o serve global capitalism, even as these resources are being destroyed or exhausted. On some level they are idiots.
The systems and technologies designed to exploit these resources will eventually become useless. Economists call this the "Jevons paradox". The result is widespread systems collapse. This is where we are headed. And it will come at the end with a dizzying speed. Collapse means a sever weakening or destruction of centralized power. It means a shortage of basic amenities ,including food and water. It means a violent scramble for diminishing resources. Law and order breaks down.

…….Interlocking systems will suddenly no longer be able to sustain each other. This breakdown, therefore, will be nonlinear. It will not be defined by a single event such as rising temperatures. We will see entire ecosystems and social and political institutions that sustain life--which make a complex society function-- disintegrate, probably at roughly the same time..

….A pervasive and ruthless security and surveillance apparatus along with a heavily militarized police embowered to use indiscriminate lethal force, will turn industrial nations into climate fortresses to keep out refugees--we are already seeing this in Europe and along our border with Mexico--and make sure that a restive and desperate population inside these fortresses remains frightened and under control. The elites will retreat to protracted compounds where they will have access to services and amenities ,including food,water and medical care, denied to the rest of us. It will become the world Hobbes fear."






Thursday, November 17, 2016

TRUMP FLOATS MITT ROMNEY AS SECRETARY OF STATE.

BILL O'REILLY TELLS TRUMP TO KEEP THE PARIS CLIMATE ACCORD.

ON LAWRENCE O'DONNELL,DAVID FRUM ARGUES WEW MAY HAVE TO REMOVE TRUMP FOR HIS

psychological problems using Article 25 of the constitution on presidential disability.

But David did make a point that here in Washington the national security establishment is going ape over Trump choosing Mike Flynn as his chief NSC adviser. They feel he is "compromised" and represents the penetration of Russia into our political system. I've heard this directly from national security types myself.

CORRECTION: JONATHAN GREENBLAT of THE ADL SAYS HE WILL REGISTER AS MUSLIM.

(your normal links to this website should work.)

"So I pledge to you now, because I care about the fight against anti-Semitism,that if one day in the United States, if one day Muslim-Americans will be forced to register their identities, then that day this proud Jew will register as a Muslim.

Because fighting prejudice against  the marginalized is not just the fight of these minorities. It is our fight. Just as the fight against anti-semitiucism is not only the fight of the Jews. It is everybody's fight."

Read his full statement. Bravo!

A GOOGLE NOTICE: They changed https for an encrypted one

YOU CAN ACCESS THIS SITE at https://stoogeland.blogspot.com. I have been informed it is now encrypted.

AFTER ADL BLASTS GANNON

The American Jewish Committee and the Islamic Society of North America have joined together to create a joint task force to fight anti-Muslim bigotry and anti-semiticism as well as cooperate on other mutual concerns.

The head of the AJC said he would gladly register as a Muslim on a registry.

CLINTON AT 63 MILLION-3rd HIGHEST VOTE COUNT in HISTORY, MORE THAN ANY WHITE MAN.

MEDICARE PHASEOUT DUE SUMMER OF 2017

Josh Marshall has the Medicare phaseout down. His posts for the last two days suggest it will be introduced this coming summer.

But Talkingpointsmemo suggests repealing Obamacare will take years. Lamar Alexander (R.Tenn) suggests it has to be done implement ally. Meanwhile new enrollments have shot up after Trump won.

President Obama at his press conference in Europe suggested that all presidents get protested and suggested that those people concerned with the issues he raised in the campaign should not stay silent. This seems a follow-up to his statement in his conference call to supporters where he said he would take a few months off and be speaking out again on things he is concerned with.

Not much to reliably report about the transition other than it has been rocky and the Trump people have been dangling names out there for cabinet posts that may or may not be real. For instance, Governor Nikki Haley has been bandied about for Secretary of State. Apparently, Rudy has too many conflicts of interest. 

Federal Reserve chief Janet Yallen ,who has been criticized by Trump, will not quit before her term is up next year.

It is clear the the zone for resistance must begin on immigration. Trump people have mentioned the registry of Muslims again. They mention the internment of Japanese as a precedent. They do this without realizing that the country by now thought this was wrong. 
Trump has more leeway on deportations. So it is totally appropriate for universities and schools to protect their undocumented population. And major schools around the country are doing just that. 

It seems a clear point of legislative resistance is to demand hearings on every move by the Trump administration. House Republicans promise a streamlined process to get their agenda across. It falls on Democrats to make sure that doesn't happen. Apparently Senate Republicans are getting a bit skittish about this and don't want to get rid of the filibuster or forego hearings on either personnel matters or policy.

John Kerry was in Morocco at the Climate Change Congress and warned our country that it can't go back. Over 300 companies engaged in climate change policies have sent a letter to Trump not to backtrack on these promises because they mean America's prosperity and their future profits. China weighed in that Trump must observe the Paris Accords. Easier for them to say because he owes their national bank $300 million.

President Obama at a press conference with Angela Merkel warned of threats to democracy and transatlantic relationships if the United States does not uphold its commitment to NATO.

Hillary is only 114,000 votes behind in Florida. It is becoming more obvious that Comey really did affect the election. Apparently the first sign of this was suburban women not voting in full strength for Hillary. That the message of the campaign was accurate. By the way, she still is winning the popular vote and the lead widens.


Monday, November 14, 2016

KEITH ELLISON ANNOUNCES RUN FOR DNC CHAIR WITH 40 ENDORSEMENTS.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM TRUMP

On Josh Marshall's show, Josh Green says he has no idea what to expect. Trump doesn't have policies, only preferred outcomes. The issues of importance to his voters are wages,immigration and law and order. 

He says what is a pattern is that Trump is surrounded by the B & C team of Wall Street advisers that are just slightly straighter than Madoff. Bannon is an ex-Goldman Sachs guy, which is why Newt said he wasn't anti-semitic because he had worked in finance. But he is also surrounded by has-beens and hacks who never made it in the GOP pantheon.

Bannon told Green that their "revolution" wants to restore pure capitalism and American values." and is inspired by Brexit and the European Right. 

Trump himself told Green that he wanted to make the Republican Party,the ":Worker's Party" and that he had no intention to cut Social Security or Medicare. 

Green sees Trump clashing with Ryan on a whole host of issues, primarily because Ryan depends on GOP funders that are for liberal trade policies.

Where Green sees a possible compromise between Ryan and Trumpism is on the reform of corporate income tax and bringing the $2 trillion from abroad and taking some of that money and putting it into an infrastructure bank. And unlike Obama's stimulus Plan,Trump would pout his name on every bridge built so that everyone knew where the infrastructure came from. To this day,voters have no clue that huge stretches of highways in Ohio were built by Obama. 

To satisfy the Right and show he is against crony capitalism, he would eliminate the EXIM bank. Trump would not sweep away Nafta but probably make a symbolic modification. His wall on the Mexican border would be merely symbolic. 

Green says Trump is not animated by ideas and he won't bring in Democrats to sort of create a middle. 

But Green says the trouble comes with so many people who are incompetent being part of the administration and what problems they will set off that we can not anticipate.

He thinks Trump will be allowed to do alot of symbolic things and basically will buy or accept the Republican party line.

The Josh Marshall Show Podcast With Josh Green Of Bloomberg News.

TPM's Josh Marshall has a podcast which brings in brainy people to discuss the current political situation. The podcast in question was an interview with Josh Green of Bloomberg News who has good sources in the Trump world. 

Green talks about how Trump won and when his analytical people knew. One of the issues was that 2012 exit polls were worse than the ones before and skewed the polling for 2016. The 2012 exit polls had the electorate younger and less white than it was. President Obama won over the rural white working class which Hillary did not.

These are people graded 04, 55-year old,infrequent voting whites. The other is the division that hurt Hillary in Florida was older English-speaking Hispanic voters, which made the difference there.

Green went down to San Antonio before the election to see Trump's analytic team. Trump had more people in San Antonio than at Trump Tower. The analytic team were a bunch of astrophysists called the Cambridge Aanlytica, funded by billionaire Mercer and who are predominantly right-wing. 

At the time of his visit they ran thousands of simulations and found Trump only had 7.8% chance of winning. Their percentage was less than Nate Silver. Trump was losing Flirida and Ohio then.

However they noticed by October 18th that in the early voting blacks were down and rural, white voters were up. They felt that polls were undercounting the white vote and tore everything up and made a much whiter model. Even then Trump only had a 30% chance by election night.

But they ordered Trump to fly to Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. The results were that white votes were 10% above their model.

Hillary did what she had to do in Philadelphia but lost the state with Obama's white working class in the middle of the state. 

Did the Comey letter affect the race? as The Clinton camp complained. It did in Michigan and in Pennsylvania. About by 2% in each state.

RAHM EMMANUEL PROCLAIMS CHICAGO A SANCTUARY CITY.

TRUMP WANTS SECURITY CLEARANCES FOR HIS KIDS AND SON-LAW, EXCEPT TIFFANY.

CLINTON WINS NEW HAMPSHIRE.

E.U. RE-AFFIRMS IRAN DEAL DESPITE TRUMP.

WSJ REPORTS TRUMP DIDN'T KNOW HE HAD TO REPLACE ALL 4,000 STAFFERS IN WEST WING.

This is actually amazing. It shows the depth of his ignorance. The GOP breathed a sigh of relief because he choose Reince Preibus as his chief of staff. The problem is that Reince has never worked in government at any level. There is rumored to be all-out war in the Trump transition team.

Harry Reid went after Steve Bannon, reminding us that he is a sex abuser having been accused of sexual assault and is on record staying he didn't want his kids going to school with Jews. 

The Southern Poverty Law Center blasted Bannon as one of the prime supporters of ethno-nationalism in the country.

Right now,Trump has made conciliatory noises about Obamacare but then his spokeswoman said he would call a session of Congress on his inauguration day to repeal it.

Brainwrap our favorite expert on ACA. says that 1.5 million more people have already signed up this year on Obamacare.

Sunday, November 13, 2016

STEVE BANNON NAMED CHIEF WHITE HOUSE STRATEGIST.

This is actually a stunning move. We have had Republican Senators forced from office for less. Bannon is the major proponent of white nationalism in the country and has extensive ties with the European extreme right. His is a white nationalism that goes beyond the KKK. He has brought anti-semiticism back to the mainstream and out of the gutter. He also has led the campaign against Paul Ryan so that might lead to interesting fireworks. 

The new administration is not only repulsive in concept but in looks. Bannon's election stunt was to say that Obama was encouraging illegal immigrants to vote. 

I know people on the Right who love him because he tells it like it is.

Resist Now before they even take office.

FOR PERSPECTIVE

I commend "An Uncanny Era: Conversations Between Vaclav Havel and Adam Michnik." Yale. Edited by Elzbieta Matynia.

Not only do you get a sense of the resistance by the Central Europeans but both men talk about the rise of xenophobia,nationalism and anti-semiticism after the collapse of communism. Also they ponder the emergence of the extreme right including Le Pen.

Reading them, you would think we have been overtaken by the old ghosts of Europe. Rather than vice versa. 

RYAN WANTS TO PRIVATIZE MEDICARE IN 2017.

KELLYANNE CONWAY SAYS CLINTON AND OBAMA MUST STOP DEMONSTRATIONS.

BEFORE I FORGET:

Make Congress hold hearings on everything being considered. The GOP forced at least a year of hearings on The Affordable Care Act. Force them to do the same on every aspect of its modification and repeal.

The same holds true of any selection to the Supreme Court. 

Also the changes to financial regulations. Make them spell out its cost to the taxpayers in terms of loss of revenues.

The point here is that Trump and the GOP intend to rule, not govern. Force them to govern.

Every cabinet nomination should have to undergo hearings. The GOP left scads of Obama nominees high and dry. Obama never had a complete government as long as he was President. No reason to treat Trump differently.

THE UPRISING: PART II

++D.R. Tucker reminds us that demonstrations occurred at the inauguration of George W. Bush and Richard Nixon's in 1972. This year there are plans for larger protests to send to the world a message that Trump didn't win the election--Hillary's lead grows daily. 

REINCE PREIBUS NAMED CHIEF OF STAFF.

THE SPARK EVENT: GUILIANI DOESN'T RULE OUT PROSECUTING HILLARY.

If he is foolhardy to proceed, this would be an excellent occasion for mass protests and civil disobedience.

FORM OF PROTEST: SIGN UP FOR OBAMACARE.

THE POLITICS OF NONVIOLENT ACTION--GENE SHARP

Extending Horizon Books. 

The Methods of Nonviolent Action.

I like for the United States " bureaucratic obstruction' and non cooperation with enforcement agencies.
Sharp has also written shorter pieces like "the Anti-Coup" and "There are Realistic Alternatives".

Sharp's sections on Formal statements is vital for universities,professional organizations,and speeches. This seems to be step that is necessary the minute actions are taken by the Trump administration. 

Sharp's section on communication also has some fun ideas like Skywriting. Trump plans to hold rallies after elected. This is perfect for them. 

Sharp also discusses civil disobedience to "normal laws", those that are intended to make government's work easier. I would suggest that local refusal to deal with all legislation such as deportation is a possibility here.

If you are a college teacher, these books should be recommended whatever your discipline. 


FIRST FOREIGN LEADER TRUMP REACHES OUT TO --Le Pen.

ABOUT HIS FINANCIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Trump wants to leave his kids in charge of the business without putting it in a blind trust. That violates custom but is not illegal. Also not illegal is making money while you are President.

From all the authors and reporters who have investigated Trump, all agree American banks no longer would loan him a dime. Only Deutsche bank has. 

But if the banks want to get rid of Dodd-Franks,what will prevent Trump suggesting they loan his business money? And "Voila ,he pressures the GOP Senators to illuminate Dodd-Franks.

TRUMP TELLS 60 MINUTES WILL DEPORT OR IMPRISON IMMEDIATELY 3 MILLION.

LGBT RIGHTS

++Beside same sex marriage, the follow-out after the Trump victory is that the reforms President Obama put into place are threatened.  These are as mundane as prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against gays,allowing LGBT men and women to serve in the military.prohibiting the government itself from discriminating against LGBT men and women in civilian government jobs. Let alone the Hate Crimes legislation. Or discrimination as a consumer and in housing. 

That is jeopardized everywhere except on the East and West Coasts. 

DROWN WORLD

D.R. Tucker writes about the destruction of all climate change initiatives with the election of Trump. He urges Clinton actually to galvanize the states should won to pass climate change measures and to encourage solar energy and renewal energy. He points to California and Washington State resisting George W. Bush on this matter.

Otherwise he says conservatives own all the consequences for ever--the droughts,the hurricanes,the rising seal levels, the population displacement.

He raises the Keystone Pipeline which President killed before signing the Paris Accord. Yes TransCanada wants to still do it. I've written how it's nuts. It is no longer financially feasible and no one wants tar sands oil. 

However, the nominee for the EPA is a climate denier and funder of the Heartland Institute which propagates climate change denial. There may be a good chance of Trump eliminating the EPA.

HERO OF RESISTANCE: DIETRICH BONHOFFER

My grandfather knew Bonhoffer at Union  Seminary in New York City. Bonhoffer actually was more of a fundamentalist. He was appalled by how Americans treated African-Americans. When he left to go back to Hitler's Germany his clergy friends begged him not to go. My grandfather didn't live long enough to find out his fate. Instead one could talk about Martin Neimoller not Bonhoffer.

He went back to Nazi Germany and joined the Abwehr and plotted the assassination of Hitler from day one of his return. After a few failed attempts against Hitler, Bonhoffer's role was discovered and we learned after the war he was executed in a concentration camp.

For American evangelicals he became a hero to emulate against the policies of Barack Obama such as the Affordable Care Act and same sex marriage. But some evangelicals are concerned about climate change and immigrants.

I raise Bonhoffer because remember the students rebelled against Jerry Farwell,jr. for his support of Trump. The religious Right expect a big payoff from the Trump administration.

But what is a young Christian to do faced with a President who is a pedophile, a serial sexual molester,tax dodger and cheated students out of thousands for Trump U? Will not that horror being back memories of the real Bonhoffer?

AMERICA DIDN'T VOTE

There are 231,556,622 voters

46.9 % didn't vote.
25.6% voted for Clinton.
25.5% voted for Trump
1.7% for Johnson.

Despite the federal reversal of North Carolina's voting laws, the state's GOP proudly announced that because of early voting cutbacks black voting was down 8.5% from 2012 and whites were up 22.59%.

"THE CORRUPTION IS ENDLESS."

Please read Josh Marshall's column today on the age of corruption we are entering. 

"Trump himself is instinctively corrupt….Trump is so thoroughly corrupt in his dealings that it is probably fair to say that he doesn't recognize the concept of self-dealing as a problem in itself. He sees self-dealing and self-enforcement as a normal, meritorious way of doing things."

His followers tend to be grifters and they will expect bonanzas.

Marshall just wants to remind you that the lack of corruption in the eight years of Obama is not the new normal.

"WAGING NONVIOLENT STRUGGLE:

20th Century Practice and 21st Century Potential" By Gene Sharp.

Gene Sharp writes about the active technique of struggle and the various situations which is applied. The book contains case studies from the Russian Revolution of 1905 through Gandhi and the Civil Rights Movement to the modern democratic movements in Central Europe and the Balkans.

Sharp's work is valuable for discussing the different types of struggle and the different forces to be confronted.

I MUST RESIST

Bayard Rustin's Life in Letters.

Bayard was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Obama. The award was presented to his lifelong companion Walter Naegle. The watch Martin Luther King gave Bayard for his role in organizing the march on Washington is now in the Museum of African-American Culture and History. 

Bayard was my mentor and I asked him when we were in Grenada his regret. "Not fighting Hitler. If you must fight evil. That was evil."

His letters show you a lifetime of struggle.

D.R. TUCKER: "THE UPRISING: PART !"

In his Washington Monthly piece, D.R. Tucker sees the anti-Trump protests around the country as a positive sign that Americans have not been so psychologically crippled they don't know how to respond. He talks about his own experience in protests and how they do change people's attitudes. 

Frankly I am not so sure this is the best way to go but I do agree with his essay on music helping us overcome this darkness and keeping hope alive.

REMEMBER PRESIDENT OBAMA WILL STILL BE IN WASHINGTON FOR NEXT 3 YEARS.

Ending his term with the approval rating of Reagan at the end, he's still young and I hope will speak out and not take the year grace period Presidents do before appearing in public.

LEON RUSSELL DIES AT THE AGE OF 74 IN NASHVILLE.

WORD OF ADVICE: FIND SAFE SPACES WHERE YOU CAN TALK.

THINK ABOUT THIS.

Whatever you think about the Iran Nuclear Deal, the Paris Climate Change Treaty, TPP, or even NAFTA, they took years each to negotiate and other nations felt we acted in good faith. Interesting enough by a President who won over 50% of the vote and won electoral landslide and another President who won two terms and won electoral landslides.

Now Trump comes in and wants to dismantle them all. What effect will that have on the international order? Why would any country give us the time of day when as the Indians say,white man speaks with a forked tongue?

The same applies to arms treaties with Russia. A few in the Trump transition team opposed Reagan for his arms agreements with the Soviet Union, some of which still apply today.

Canadians says that ending NAFTA would destroy their domestic economy because they don't have a national distribution system. The Canadians are now searching out other trade partners because the United States is now considered unreliable and they must protect themselves.

The German people are horrified by Trump because they see Britain went, the United States went and now France may go. It is like a reverse Nazi Germany, leaving Germany as the leader of the rump coalition called the "Free World". 

NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS. MASHA GESSON

"AUTOCRACY:"RULES FOR SURVIVAL"

1. Believe the autocrat: He means what he says.
2. Do not be taken in by small signs of normality.
3. Institutions will not save you.
4. Be Outraged.
5. Don't make Compromises.
6. Remember the Future. Trump and Trumpism will not last forever.

Saturday, November 12, 2016

CUOMO DECLARES NEW YORK REFUGE FOR MINORITIES.

Also New York City and Los Angeles declare themselves Sanctuary Cities even though Trump had threatened the withdrawal of federal funds.

FLORIDA AG PAM BONDI JOINS TRANSITION TEAM.

CLINTON ON TRACK TO WIN BY

Larger percentage than Gore 2000,Nixon '68, and Kennedy '60.

Friday, November 11, 2016

THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO

A MILLION WOMAN MARCH ON WASHINGTON TO PROTEST THE INAUGERATION.

MICHAEL MOORE TO CREATE AN OCCUPY MOVEMENT AGAINST TRUMP.

THE SELECTION OF THE NEW DNC CHIEF. 


ALAN LICHTMAN NOW PREDICTS TRUMP WILL BE IMPEACHED.

CLINTON 63.4 MILLION, TRUMP 61.2 MILLION.YOU STILL WON.

And STILL MICHIGAN, NEW HAMPSHIRE HAVEN'T BEEN CALLED.

Even Wisconsin's results are in doubt.

Just saying.

ONLY 56.8% OF AMERICA VOTED:50% of MILLLENIALS

RESISTANCE CONTINUED

People around here have begun stumbling around how to respond. Some have started signing petitions to eliminate the electoral college,others have signed up for training on social issues and others are donating to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

But one thing to watch for as the new unitary Republican regime takes office is who is going to get the money. Already Paul Ryan has started his campaign to voucherize Medicare. This nonsense will sold on false information. Ryan claims Medicare is running out of money, while in fact it gained 11 years with Obamacare. He would privatize it, which would put health care financially impossible for the majority of senior citizens.

I have begun getting the drumbeat about Obamacare and its premiums and how the insurance companies are pulling out. Please keep in mind that Aetna threatened to leave because the DOJ won't give them a waiver on anti-trust regulations on their planned buy of Humana. And Marco Rubio wounded Obamacare when he eliminated the "bumpers" that provided the government for picking up Obamacare losses the first few years. Remember Obamacare capped insurance companies profits so that more money into health care. Also Obamacare resulted in an increase of taxes on the wealthy. 

If you recall the early days of this blog I commended Thomas Franks' "The Wrecking Crew". They are back.

Every so-called "reform" will be a transfer of wealth to corporations and the very wealthy--even before we get to tax breaks.

 I'm receiving all sorts of lists of how Obama ruined the country. Again the amnesia has then hold. There is no recollection of the global crash and virtually no awareness of the dire situation of our economy and its affects on people. So let's just start again now that we have total power--deregulating, eliminating anything that would prevent the crash again. This is a mentality found in the 19th Century where we experienced Crashes and Panics regularly.

The mood and tone is already changing. Yesterday, when Trump was in town he ate lunch at the Congressional Golf Club. When Obama was around from the beginning even to these days,there was always a buzz and excitement. Even is you didn't see him,you felt good. Yesterday,there was no curiosity and no let's just see the new President. Nothing just deadness. 

There is a tension even among Republican staffers in the House,many quitting or thinking abut quitting. They feel no one knows what will happen and they are not anticipating good things.And their side won.

Trump's transition team is recruiting people like Mr. Anti-immigrant ,Kris Kobachs and now rumored to be recruiting Pete Thiel as its head. The national security team is attracting some people I know that haven't been in government this century. 

So keep a close eye on the small stuff. It will have a vastly negative impact on your lives. For instance, it is highly likely that the new Attorney General will got the civil rights division of the Department of Justice. Little recognized but Eric Holder restored it after W and Obama put in more resources to aggressively fight housing discrimination, job discrimination and police brutality. In fact those things are considered a good by the incoming administration.

The right is going nuts over protests against Trump saying the Left--it's always the Left--who are not democratic. While they are?

Harry Reid issued a forceful indictment of Trump saying that his victory doesn't excuse his sins. Reid said he had two daughters and 12 granddaughters that bombarded him with anxious e-mails about what is to happen. Reid came out for the whole range of people who should be concerned and demanded Trump make "reassuring " statements. As my wife said,Trump won't and doesn't feel he has to.

The California legislature on the presidential election and how the state will uphold the values that America hold dear.

The KKK will hold a victory parade in North Carolina in December. 

Remember you are part of the New American Majority.

Thursday, November 10, 2016

LEONARD COHEN IS DEAD AT THE AGE OF 82.

HILLARY CLINTON IS OVER 60 MILLION.

Todays' news from DC is weird. yes, Obama met with Trump. 

1. The Radio News was that the IRS is not necessarily auditing Trump,it is trying to ascertain why he hasn't paid taxes in 25 years and whether that was legal.

2. The news of Russia's constant contact with the Trump campaign throughout the process is news.

3. Story about tomorrow's hearings about his University in San Diego.

4. A story about his foundation and the suits against that.

5. His vast conflict of interest with his businesses not put into blind trust.

6. Economists questioning his economics.

7. News about trump altering his view on repealing Obama care.

TOM COTTON SAYS WATERBOARDING IS NOT TORTURE. HERE WE GO AGAIN.

RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CONFIRMED THEY WERE IN TOUCH WITH TRUMP ALL THE TIME

Russia claimed throughout the campaign they had contact with the Trump campaign. The foreign minister said that Russia knows almost everyone of the entourage and have met them during the campaign. They suggested the united States would be less supportive of the "terroristic" regime in the Ukraine.  However,they denied the hacking of emails.

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

DYIING AMERICA

The Clinton voters should take heart that they are the new majority of the country. Her popular lead just grows as California's last two or three million votes are counted.

What will take office this coming January is a dead America. Sometimes I think literally. I received a list of Trump's proposed cabinet and it read like the list of the dying and demented. Few of the names have been relevant in this country since the 1990s. It is inconceivable to me these men--they are all men--have a clue about the challenges the country faces in the 21st Century. Some are in their early 70s, many have had multiple wives, all are rich,only one made it legitimately. The person who shared this with me thought it was impressive. It would have been the C team on the Obama Administration if that.

The Trump transition team doesn't have a real national security team yet. Those that have been named were fired from the military for staff abuse and mismanagement. Except for Treasury none of these people have ever shown any management skills. Oh, and Chris Christie made the list as Secretary of Commerce, if he isn't in jail before then. 

The Trump team is thinking about renewing the Keystone Pipeline. I guess to get back at Obama and pay off the Koch Brothers who have huge investments in the tar sands. But time has run out on that project both in terms of feasibility and profitability, No one needs tar sands oil. Justin Trudeau already ended it in Canada.

With our first wind farm offshore in New England already operative, The Trump Administration plans to end all subsidies or tax benefits to wind energy or solar energy. With the progress made so far in lowering the cost of producing solar panels does anyone really believe this technology can be halted?

Hillary Clinton had an ambitious plan to make us the alternative energy power in then world. That may be over for now but I can't believe we will go backwards.

On coal,Trump personally loves coal but out power plants now like natural gas,which is cheaper. Coal itself is cheaper and more abundant in South America,Europe and India. How is coal coming back?

This is Republican thinking from before George W. Bush when they wanted to create an energy empire in the Middle East. We don't need it.

The Obama Administration actually facilitated the first comeback in our manufacturing area since the 1990s. The Trump and the new Republican government is totally ignorant of this. It is advanced manufacturing pioneered by M.I.T. and others.

If the left behinds were going to get jobs,they would have had them by now or shortly will when the rest comes on line. But none will come from Trump's initiatives.

The Trump administration seems to be in a wayback machine. We are all acutely aware of their cultural primitivism ,which terrifies us, but their view of our own economy is even more frightening. 

I don't know whether this is ideology seeping through or rather the dense ness of their leader, who was not a captain of industry in any cutting edge enterprise. 

I said at the beginning of my website that Obama would only lead the transition away from the FIRE economy--Finance,Insurance Real Estate. Well, Mr. real estate is President and doesn't know he is an anachronism already. This isn't age-ism but a 70 year old fat man who hasn't built anything from the 1990s isn't "with it".

You may com pain about Clinton's wonkiness and President Obama's science days but they at least knew where the world was going.

Our election was in part a reaction to the speed of that change but it is happening anyway and can't be stopped. Or at least no more than 2 years. 

The Hispanic population is not going to get less. African-Americans are not going to be docile even while you have national stop and frisk. The millennials will not cease to be the digital mavens they are. Gays are not going back into the closet.

So you are watching the Dying America being inaugurated. I actually know some of these people. There is no future there. 

You might see a second stimulus package to build infrastructure. But that is to pay off Trump's campaign promises. Remember the GOP's treatment of Obama's second stimulus package. This is it as a brand new initiative. But what it will lack is John Kerry's vision of a private-public infrastructure bank. Instead it will increase the deficit. And,yes,pay off construction firms Trump is allied with.

This team will do mortal damage to the Paris Climate Change Accords. Why millennials voted for Jill Stein on climnate change issues when the crowing achievement of diplomacy will be destroyed is a mystery to me. But consider this amazing fact,the side agreements between the governments and companies provided over $7 trillion of investment in alternative energy sources. This will disappear.

And yes we will not be the global leader in this change. West Germany will continue to pursue its competitive edge.

Trump and all the republicans are committed to destroying the Affordable Care Act. I don't think they can this year. But next they will. What do you repeal? Mitch McConnell says a replacement will take time. How do you throw 20 million people off health insurance without killing a Vietnam War number of them and without stimulating massive lawsuits. And who can afford health insurance without it in place? Medicare also would be affected . All my preventive visits which now are free will cost me money. Am I going to get them? No. What society takes back a benefit?

I already explained in my posts on the ACA at the time of the debate--will there even be a debate this time?--that insurance companies already planted a gloomy forecast for their industry if no ACA were passed. Most said they would have to raise rates sky-high and insure less--not more people.

Remember President Obama printed a lost of promises he aimed to keep during his administration. Basically he kept 80% of them. That was how he measured the success of his presidency. Do you know what Trump would consider a success? I don't.

If he doesn't produce for the disenchanted--and he won't,they will just be even more bitter. I don't even want to get intone his tax plan which would be ruinous to the middle class. Even my son is already complaining about it. 

President Obama wanted to have us more systemically connected to the global community. This incoming administration feels like they want to go back to America First, which doomed the Republicans to a generation in the political wilderness. This is even Big State nationalism of Dick Cheney. 

I know they think they have a mandate to dismantle President Obama's legacy and go back to something they think existed in the 1990s. That is how backward the GOP has become. You can tear up all his executive orders you want, the man will inspire Americans for centuries. He is just such a person and his vision was so badly needed. They are stuck with him as a ghost.

And we are blessed with his vision for the real majority which lives in the future. I have no idea how these clowns will operate. It is better you set your sights on the North Star of your progressive values and not grow weary because unlike the past you know you have the majority of Americans behind you.