Month: September 2020

Let us begin by acknowledging that this was not a debate to see who would be a better President for the next four years. At least, not for Donald Trump. Donny wanted all Americans to know that, in his view, he is the only person who should be President… really, for the rest of his lifetime. Any other outcome would simply be fraud, in his view.

For those disgusted by his performance last night, you must understand that this was a strategy. He did not go into the debate trying to win a single voter. He went into this debate to rally his “troops.” As well, part of his strategy appeared to be an attempt to suppress the vote by convincing people not to vote. He wants to make people so frustrated that they give up completely on the election process.

I will admit that he managed to get under Biden’s skin during the first part of the debate. Adding to the issue is the stutter that Biden has had his entire life. I imagine it was a nightmare scenario for Biden to maintain any vocal calmness when Trump kept talking over him. Biden’s stutter did come out a bit, but I will give him credit for getting himself under control.

Trump’s strategy last night was to throw as many lies against the wall to see what would stick. Part of that was to take as many shots as possible at Biden’s family, especially Hunter Biden. He took those shots to the point of distraction, and even annoyance.

Chris Wallace was very ineffectual during the first half of the debate. Trump ran as roughshod on him as he did on Biden. It became my fervent wish that Wallace had the ability to turn off Trump’s mic. Alas, he didn’t.

Wallace finally called Trump out on his interruptions. Trump attempted to deflect to Biden. Wallace called him out a second time.

Where the tide turned, whether Trump just ran out of steam, or, he knew he had no wind for his argument, was when the subject of race relations came up. Joe Biden admitted that the US needed to do more. That was big.

He then landed some solid body blows on Trump by providing examples of his divisiveness, eg. calling neo-Nazis “very fine people” in Charlottesville, and his bible photo op, in DC, where peaceful protesters were teargassed so Trump could walk to a church near the White House.

On a side note, it needs to be pointed out how this particular incident shows the level of Trump’s casual sadism. He did not need to teargas the protesters. However, in his mind, this shows that he has the power to hurt people. Trump has shown, time and time again, how much he likes this power. For him, it is a game.

Trump turned back to his racist dog whistles when he made his tired argument that the suburbs will disappear under Biden because he will let minorities in. I do not think Trump has been to the suburbs lately. They are not nearly as white as he thinks, or wants, them to be.

Trump then turned to putting troops on the streets to quell the protests. That is never a good look for any American politician. For the President of the United States, it is just an announcement that fascism is his favorite form of government.

Chris Wallace asked Donald Trump, directly, to denounce far-right terror groups that have been on the streets attacking the protesters. As expected, Trump deflected. First, he started ranting about Antifa and the left-wing terrorist protesters. When Wallace persisted, and Biden taunted him, Trump actually sent out a call to action.

He said, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.” Of course the right is trying to lean on the stand down part of that statement. However, we all know what he said. He told them to stop for now, but when he needs them to be violent, he will let them know.

For those that don’t see this for what it is, today, the Proud Boys began selling a t-shirt with ‘stand back, stand by’ on it. They also claim that their membership applications spiked after the debate. To them, this was their call to arms.

When you add this to Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the election, it is a very scary scenario. Trump has made it clear, and reiterated last night, that he will only accept the results of a free and fair election. But, he has also stated that the only way he will lose is if the Democrats cheat. So, Trump will only accept the election results if he is declared the winner.

In the end, Trump just began throwing accusation-filled crap at Joe Biden’s son, Hunter. Biden, by now, had found his composure, so nothing landed. Luckily, this had a predictable effect on Trump. He got silent and pouted. Sadly, it did not last.

At the end, Biden called for calm as the results are tabulated. He reminded the country that he would be a President for all, not just “his” people. Trump, once again, stirred his pot of divisiveness. He called for his followers to go to the polls and “watch closely.”

How anyone can not see this for the voter intimidation tactic that it so obviously is baffling to any rational mind. Chris Wallace had to remind Trump that his campaign agreed to certain rules for the debate that Trump continued to violate. If the Biden campaign is smart, they will cancel the rest of the Presidential debates. For Trump, that is not their purpose anyway.

There was no winner last night. I can say, however, that Trump was the loser. His “strategy” only served to cement the view that he is a petulant child without the temperament to be President of the United States.

I want to talk more about Florida today. I can usually find something in the state to discuss, given that Governor DeSantis (read: DeathSentence) has his mouth sewn to Donald Trump’s ass in the most twisted human centipede imaginable, and that is saying something. His canceling of added unemployment benefits recently is about to destroy a Florida city that was already on the edge prior to the pandemic.

Disney World has just announced that they are laying off 28,000 cast members over the next couple of days. 9,000 of these layoffs will be full-time members. A good majority of these people will be people who have been furloughed since the pandemic began, so they have already not been collecting paychecks since March. Many of them were collecting enhanced unemployment benefits, but those are at an end, because Governor DeathSentence ended them early, declaring that the state cannot afford them any longer.

Universal Studios Orlando has already gone through more than one round of layoffs affecting thousands of employees. Many of them have made careers at Universal that have lasted 20+ years. Let me also be clear, these are reported as layoffs as it is a nicer word, but all these individuals are being permanently separated from these places of employment. In other words, they are being fired.

Some would question why they are doing this. Most people do realize that there will be a Covid spike now that Governor DeathSentence has fully opened Florida back up again. Why not keep these people on paper so they can activate them as needed because theme park workers are going to get sick as well as everyone else in the state. Replacement workers will be needed.

The answer is far more sinister than you want to imagine. Seaworld is the third major theme park in Orlando. Like her sister parks, Seaworld furloughed, and then laid off, a good percentage of their workers. When it came time to bring them back, they required them all to re-apply/re-audition for their previous jobs. Being hired back meant a cut in pay as everyone brought on was technically a new hire.

I fully expect this to be the same game plan for Disney. Why do I think this? Prior to the announcement, Disney shut down an orchestra that played in the park for 37 years. It is common knowledge to theme park workers that the musicians union is more powerful than Disney itself. In order to terminate a musician at Disney, you have to shut down a show, make a minor change so it is a different show, and re-cast minus those musicians that they wanted gone.

I fully expect casting notices to go out for Disney within the next month (cast members are cast, not hired). Universal has put out some audition notices to replace laid-off entertainment employees. Whether this will be the case for non-entertainment employees at Universal has yet to be seen. The only given will be a cut in pay across the board.

Pay at the theme parks is already inadequate for their employees to make ends meet. There is more than one documentary, and an independent film, that detail how many theme park workers live week-to-week in cheap motels, and some even live in their cars in the parking lots of these parks.

Imagine how much worse it will be when pay is less than it is now? How many of these laid-off employees will be homeless within the next two to three months? There are no jobs in Florida to replace the jobs they have now lost and no enhanced unemployment.

We need to expand on our discussion of Trump and his debt issues. Mostly, we, as Americans, need to understand who Trump owes this money to. For those who do not realize, this is a matter of national security.

His debt is almost a half a billion dollars. We need to be worried about who actually owns this debt. There are many differing ramifications from the various possibilities.

Let us say, for instance, that his debt is only owned by a bunch of Wall Street bond jocks. That isn’t so bad, is it? At least it is owned by Americans, right? Wrong. We already know that Trump was more than willing to sell out rank and file Americans to ensure the richest of the rich got billions in tax breaks while breaking the treasury. That happened his first year in office.

Let’s imagine that his debt is owned by a criminal enterprise. Remember, Donald is leveraged to the hilt. He has no way to pay this money back when it comes due. What kind of favors… what federal prosecutions would just disappear as a favor? All he would need to do is find an Attorney General willing to be loyal to him over the US Government. That could never happen, could it? Except it already has with William Barr.

Maybe we should look at a third possibility. What if that debt is owned by a foreign government? A government like Russia. How would this be possible? They would need a bank that they could launder the money through. No bank would do that, would they? I mean, Deutsche Bank is reputable, right? There are no investigations into them for money laundering, are there? Yes, there are.

But, why would the Russians do this? Maybe to gain control in areas of the world that have been previously protected by US interests. As part of the bargain, the reputation of the US is destroyed internationally. But why should that matter as long as Trump finally gets his tower in Moscow?

But, why would Trump actually allow Russia all of this just for a hotel? It seems like Russia would have to have something else on him to ensure his compliance. It has always seemed odd to me that Russians buy an inordinate amount of Trump properties in the US, and around the world for higher than market value. Why would they do this? There could be no reason other than… money laundering for the Russian mob and corrupt politicians.

It would be very bad indeed if this information was ever made public. Donald would not be a happy man. Maybe Donald should kiss Putin’s ass at every available opportunity. Yeah, that would certainly help.

Of course, maybe none of this is true. Then again… maybe all of it is true.

I used to be convinced that Trump’s desire to be re-elected stemmed solely from his concern that he would be headed to jail once he left office. That is, until I saw the information that has been published about his tax return. Now, I am convinced that a part of his desire to stay in office is that the Presidency becomes a new way for him to avoid paying his bills.

First, Trump very possibly misused a tax provision that provided him a refund of more than $70 million. He is currently being audited over this, and if disallowed, he will owe the IRS approximately $100 million in back taxes and penalties alone. As well, Trump has been funneling money to his daughter, Ivanka. But, instead of either of them paying gift tax on the money, he has called it contractor fees. Ivanka then declares the money as income.

There are other tax fraud schemes that the whole Trump family uses to avoid paying their fair share, but it is not necessary for me to list each one. More details will come out over the next few weeks, I am sure. For now, I want to talk about how Trump will likely use a second term to avoid paying his gargantuan debt.

Donald Trump is currently responsible for over $400 million in loans and debt. Much of this money comes due over the next four years. If he is re-elected, it would be hard to imagine how his lenders would be able to call in those debts, or to foreclose on the properties involved in those loans. I have no doubt that Bill Barr would bring to bear the entire force of the Federal government against any attempt. But, that would probably not be necessary as Trump could use the Presidency itself as a shield against any legal action.

For these reasons, and future prosecution that he is currently shielded from as President, Donald has no choice but to fight tooth and nail to remain in the White House. His efforts to call the election into question, and his current attempt to place an extreme conservative onto the Supreme Court to tilt the balance of power, are just a part of his machinations.

As a side note, it is amusing to note that these revelations are still managing to give the masses something to discuss that avoids the actual problem. Trump has managed not to pay taxes for several years. He also managed to only have to pay $750 in taxes his first two years in office. This is a major topic of conversation on social media and is distracting from the real issues that are laid out in this article.

I have no doubt that more will come out. I also have no doubt that any of this will have absolutely no effect on the opinion of his base. But, we must keep up the fight. Our future depends on it.

Let’s talk about Florida for a moment. This week, Governor DeSantis (read: DeathSentence) has decided that FL is ready to move to Phase III of re-opening. This means that bars and restaurants can re-open at full capacity, requiring only limited social distancing. It also means that gyms are allowed to open to full capacity, but that has already happened in practice during Phase II.

On top of that, he has issued an edict that restricts local municipal governments from enacting mask requirements. DeSantis (still read: DeathSentence) infamously declared that the State of Florida will enact no mask requirements during the entire pandemic. He has also parroted Donald Trump’s words about how this pandemic is not bad and will disappear soon.

Now, it should be noted that Florida has never even reached CDC (Centers for Disease Control) guidelines for Phase I re-opening. There has never been a documented 14-day downward trajectory of cases in the state. ICU beds are over 80% in most of the state. Being lower than this is in the guidelines for Phase I. As well, positive tests need to be below 10% of tested population for 14 days to enter Phase III. This has not happened.

Currently, the State of Florida is averaging more than 2,000 positive Covid-19 cases EVERY SINGLE DAY. To help with the math, this is more than 14,000 positive cases a week. As of this writing, Florida stats for Covid-19 stand at nearly 700,000 cases over the course of the pandemic, and nearly 14,000 deaths as a result of these infections.

What is most worrying about Phase III is that it allows visitors back into senior living facilities. Seniors are a high-risk group for Covid-19 infection and death. The virus has never been controlled in the state, but DeSantis has no problem placing the most vulnerable of his constituents at risk. Admittedly, this part surprises me considering seniors tend to vote conservatively.

Why is this happening? Because Trump wants it and DeSantis is the back end of that human centipede. As well, Covid wave 1.5 will have a suppressive effect on voting. Democrats will be less likely to go vote.

Yes, they can vote by mail, but remember, Trump has spent the past month working to delegitimize these votes. Senator Rick Scott (read: Voldemort) is now pushing legislation that would limit the time allowed to vote the mail-in and absentee ballots. In his bill, states would have 48 hours, and any votes not counted in that period would just not count. This is voter suppression in the worst way. Luckily, this bill has no chance of becoming law.

This is a war for the soul of the United States. Let us be clear: Governor Ron DeSantis is a war criminal.

Can we talk for a moment about how Donald Trump is flat-out trying to bribe his way back to re-election? He is making no attempt whatsoever to hide his criminality.

It really all started months ago when he decided to have his name placed on the physical stimulus checks that were sent out to Americans. But, don’t worry. If you were able to get direct deposit of your stimulus money, Donny was kind enough to spend good money to send you a letter, that he signed, to let you know that the Dept. of the Treasury sent you stimulus money.

Now, why would he want his name on the check? Why would be spend government money to send you a letter with his signature? Trump wants you to believe you received that money only because he was President. It was not because Congress passed a (let’s make rich people richer) stimulus package. No. It was because Trump was President. NOT!

He then decided to send $13 billlion to Puerto Rico for hurricane relief. Mind you, this is finally for 2017 hurricane relief. Up until now, he has held almost $100 billion in funds because he has been very vocal about how corrupt he thinks the PR government is.

Up until this year, PR has only received $3.3 billion dollars for hurricane relief. Oh, and they did get paper towels. Trump threw them himself at a press conference. Trump even discussed selling PR, or maybe trading it for Greenland.

In May, the Trump administration decided that a second round of stimulus money was needed for farmers. Of course, the reason they need the money is because of Trump’s easy-to-win (not so easy, as it turns out) trade war with China… or is that Jhina? He destroyed agricultural exports in this country and then took credit for getting 10% of the original exports back.

His latest bribe? Trump is now sending $200 gift cards to 33 million seniors to help with prescription costs. He has promised these cards will be delivered prior to the election. But, he swears it is not a bribe.

He swears none of it is a bribe. He is desperate. He knows he has no chance of winning a non-rigged election. This is just another avenue he is using to try and steal American democracy.

As I see yet another unarmed, innocent human being shot and killed by the police, I question why they reach for what should be a last resort tool. How did we get here? If I look at statistics from around the globe, it’s not even close. In 2018 US police officers killed 1011 people. In the same year, Canadian police killed 36, Austrian politzei… 18, Great Britain... 6.  Beyond that, Australia... 2 and Japan had zero. When you examine gun laws in each of those countries, you find some of the most comprehensive gun laws in the world, except the US, where it’s the most lax.

So why are US cops killing people at such an egregious rate? Did this behavior begin because of the abundance of guns on the streets? Or is there another reason for 36 times the number of police-related murders?

I tend to believe that with the surplus of guns in our streets, cops have been trained to expect a gun, which leaves them to always anticipate a gun, thus, a violent encounter.

I know this won't matter at all, but here it goes. Guns do kill people, that's what they are made to do. They kill people purposefully and accidentally. In the last 100 years or so, guns that can kill a lot of people at one time have been made available to the general public. In all of the most recent mass shootings, the guns were legally purchased, so, the "black market will never go away" argument doesn't hold water. As well, the idea that more people need guns doesn't stand up. In America, there are 101 guns for every 100 citizens. Clearly, there are enough guns around, if that were the solution.

In the UK, there are 50-60 gun deaths per year or about 1 gun death per 1 million in population. In contrast, the US has 160 times that rate, or 8,100 gun deaths per year (2014), even though the US population is only 6 times that of the UK.

No one in favor of gun laws is suggesting that enacting tougher laws will completely eliminate gun deaths. Only those opposed to gun laws seem to see that at the end goal, which, since it is unattainable, shouldn't even be attempted. Seat belt/car seat laws did not eliminate accident deaths, but they significantly curtailed them. Likewise, drunk driving laws did not eliminate drunk driving deaths, but they have decreased them by 51% since 1982. Since it didn't get rid of drunk driving deaths, should we go back to having no laws against drunk driving?

As someone without a background in law, I try to understand historical context, the development and adaptation of laws, and the analysis of historical facts. The Second Amendment was not written for an AR-15. Period. People living in the late 18th century could not fathom such a weapon any more than they could imagine rocketing to the moon and back. There is no practical reason for a person to own a weapon of mass destruction. None. An individual arsenal (or even a combined arsenal of like-minded people) would have zero chance of defeating the government/military, if it decided to become totalitarian.

So, I ask you, why continue to sell these killers of children and other innocents? I don't mean guns/rifles generally, but semi-auto, high capacity rifles, bump stocks, etc. No one is suggesting that you're automatically bad person for owning them. At some point, though, an individual's desire to do/have something (AR-15s, drunk drive, not seatbelt their children) is outweighed by the damage to society.

Please just think about this. Rather than immediately responding and calling me a liberal snowflake who doesn't know anything, just think about the stats. Think about all those kids, and the adults who died trying to save them. There has to be a solution.

The Trump Administration has never pretended that they would abide by election results. Trump has always stated that he would see what happens and make his decision then. While he is telling this to the press, he is telling his supporters that any result that does not have him winning will be fraudulent.

The GOP is doing everything they can to make sure that Trump remains President no matter the results of the election. The push to place another justice on the Supreme Court is part of this plan. GOP leadership knows that they cannot trust Chief Justice Roberts, who is a conservative, to vote in their favor no matter what. John Roberts is still a man of integrity, who will vote his conscience and will not place party over country.

Given this, the GOP needs a 6-3 super majority on the supreme court. It is highly likely that John Roberts will vote against the wishes of the GOP in the election issues that will come to their attention. Without the Supreme Court, the GOP will not be able to contest the results of the 2020 election with any chance of winning.

As of this writing, Donald Trump still refuses to commit to a peaceful transfer of power should he lose. His administration is also actively discussing ways they can circumvent the results of the popular vote. This would include convincing states run by the GOP to bypass any popular vote that does not go their way and appoint electors loyal to the GOP.

The Constitution only provides that each state appoint electors that will vote for the President. States have a long tradition of letting those electors get appointed based on the popular vote in each state, however, this is not a requirement. Some states have passed laws requiring this, but most certainly, not all have.

Should this happen, and should the Dems contest these actions in court, the GOP wants to make sure that a conservative Supreme Court is seated to ensure that the theft of the American Presidency can move forward with some pretense of legality.

We are now past the point where a civil war is a possibility. In my opinion, a civil war is now an inevitability. How that war looks is still a matter of contention. I highly recommend reading this article, published on medium.com:

https://medium.com/@mikeselinker/a-wargame-designer-describes-our-four-possible-civil-wars-cf5b2e980099

In the meantime, if you own guns, I would highly recommend you clean them and make sure you are well acquainted with their use.

By now we all know that Senate Republicans are trying to pack the Supreme Court with a 6-3 conservative majority. Of course, not just any conservatives, but with the worst conservative religious zealots he can find. I would say the GOP is filled with hypocrites right now, but this is not the case. They have been telling us who they are for years.

The Democrats in Congress are finally showing signs of life and anger. They are letting GOP leadership know that, if they follow through with their intentions to nominate another justice this close to an election, nothing will be off the table should Dems come to power. One of the options that Dems have placed on the table is to add justices to the Supreme Court.

This is not without precedent. There have been six occasions where the number of justices has been changed, either increasing or decreasing, since the formation of the court in 1790. There have been nine justices for over 150 years.

In an effort to stop the Dems from increasing the number of justices, House Republicans have decided to try and run some cover for the Senate. Representative Jim Jordan (R-Douchebag-who-has-no-problem-letting-athletes-get-raped) is now pushing legislation that will limit the number of Supreme Court justices. Of course, in the House of Representatives, this legislation has no chance whatsoever of passing.

I hope the Dems have actually grown a pair for this fight. For some reason, they have stuck with a strategy of appeasement for almost two decades now. They seem to think that if they are nice to the GOP, that the GOP will be nice back.

You cannot be nice to a bully and expect to earn respect. All that will happen, and has happened to the Dems, is that the bully will be emboldened to push further. Mitch McConnell has shown, time and time again, that he has no problem taking advantage of any situation presented to him.

This is a street fight. The Dems better be ready to get dirty.

William Barr, the Attorney General of the United States, has declared three American cities as “anarchist jurisdictions.” No one is quite sure what that means just yet, but it should be of no surprise that the three cities are in blue states. They are New York City, NY; Portland, OR; and Seattle, WA.

In doing this, he seeks to withdraw Federal funding from those cities. Likely, the courts will stop this from ever happening, but money could be withdrawn before the fight is over. These monies are used to provide needed social support for the populations of those cities.

This is just a part of the ongoing attack that the Trump administration has been waging on blue states, and basically anyone Trump considers a political enemy. However, this is a fight that may backfire spectacularly on Trump, and his lickspittle Barr. In fact, this is an avenue that the Dems can use to fight back against Trump and his Supreme Court nomination scheme. It would be a risky move, but it certainly would create a nightmare scenario for Trump.

Every state pays into the Federal budget. Then this budget is used to provide states with federal dollars for services provided for their populations. This method is designed to prevent poorer states from not being able to provide for their constituents.

One of the reasons that the government runs a deficit is because most of the states take more from the fed than they pay into it. Most Americans don’t know how this system works. Politicians use that ignorance to manipulate populations.

Right now, the GOP is claiming that blue state bailouts will bankrupt the government. This is not an avenue they should be following. It is no secret to those in the know that traditionally red states take far more from the government than traditionally blue states.

There are eight states that are referred to as “giver” states. This means they pay more into the federal budget than they take out of the budget. The other forty-two states are referred to as “taker” states.

Of the eight “givers,” six of them are traditionally blue states. Of the biggest “takers,” the majority are traditionally red states. In fact, the largest “taker” state is Kentucky, the state represented by Mitch McConnell, the majority leader of the Senate.

It might be time for blue states to, at least, threaten to withhold their contributions to the Federal budget. Trump has never made the slightest pretense that he wants to be President to the entire nation. It that is the case, maybe the part of the nation that he wants to subjugate should begin to look after their own interests.

It is safe to say that blue America is more able to take care of themselves than red America.