Month: October 2020

It is a question that countless Americans have been asking themselves for four years now. The answer is multi-pronged, but not complicated at all. The short answer is because Americans are really prone to mob mentality. As we all know, IQ’s lower as mobs grow bigger.

As voters, we are a fickle bunch. We no longer understand the process. We insist on a candidate who gives us everything we want right away. Compromise is not an option. If we don’t get our way, we threaten, and in many cases follow thru, with not voting.

How many times have we heard a friend say, “My candidate did not get nominated, so I am not voting.” We have forgotten that politics are not a sprint. It is a marathon. As long as the needle is moving in the right direction, we can keep pushing for what we want.

When we decide not to vote, either out of spite or disinterest, the needle moves the wrong way. How much damage has Trump done that will take forever to fix? How far back has the needle gone in the wrong direction?

How else does a Trump happen? Let’s talk about that disinterest. How many times have we heard someone say, “Politics are hard.” or “Politics are boring.”?

This is what politicians want you to feel. If you do not show interest in politics, they get to do what they want. They get to corrupt the system. When we don’t care enough to pay attention, massive wealth is transferred to the rich and powerful. Corporations are declared people. Wages stagnate and the middle class dies.

Finally, at least for this article, a Trump victory happens because we are just plain gullible. EVERY SINGLE DAY, I see someone sharing the Facebook equivalent of the chain letter. In a few cases, the same stupidity gets shared year after year because people recycle it. I think we all remember the Facebook post that has circulated 2-3 times a year about how all your posts and photos will become Facebook property unless you post a nebulous statement saying they can’t. It lists a UCC code and the Rome Act, both of which have NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with this stuff.

The same people post the statement over and over again. Each time you point out the bullshit, they say, “Well, just in case.” Just today, a scam involving Lebron James went out. Somehow, by answering an easy and stupid question, he is going to give you $10,000.

Sometimes, I check these out just to see what the scam is. In this case, it is a phishing scam that tries to get you to provide personal and bank information to the scammer. How many people are going to lose their savings because of this? Or the Nigerian scam? Or any phishing scam? But, we do it… just in case.

And that is how Trump wins. Remember when he said, “What have you got to lose?” Democracy. That is what we have to lose.

Today, the Senate, on a completely partisan vote, confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. We all knew it would happen. It was inevitable. Still, it is a gut punch to every Dem and liberal in the United States.

The Courts are supposed to be non-political. This is the supposed reason for lifetime appointments. We do, however, know that this is not how things work in the real world.

Justices may refuse to speak about anything “controversial,” but it is not hard to figure out the biases of a nominee through their decisions and their writing. It is quite obvious why Amy Coney Barrett was nominated to the Supremes.

Next week, there is an important vote on the survival of the ACA, better known as Obamacare. Without Barrett on the Supreme Court, it is very probable that Chief Justice Roberts would have voted with the liberals on the bench, creating a 4-4 tie. When that happens, the decision of the lower court stands. That would mean that the ACA would survive.

Trump’s ego could not stand that. His signature move for his entire presidency was nothing more than to destroy Obama’s legacy. If the ACA survives, no credible claim to that end can be made.

There is another, far more sinister (if that is possible), reason Trump needs her on the Court. Trump hopes that, if he loses the election, it will be by a close enough margin that he can challenge the result in the courts. This way, when it goes to the Supreme Court, he can “legally” steal the election, much in the same manner George W. Bush did.

None of this happens without a tie-proof court. In other words, none of this happens without Amy Boney Carrot. Two GOP Senators opposed the nomination in the first place. Only one, Susan Collins, voted against her final nomination. I will assume this was a choice to try and keep her seat.

Susan Murkowski, who voiced her dissent on the nomination so close to an election, decided that she needed to vote to affirm her in the full Senate vote. In an interview, she tried to play circumspect about it. She noted that, in her opinion, the ACA should survive. She also felt that Barrett was a qualified choice for the court, even though she has minimal experience as a judge.

Basically, one of two things are happening with Murkowski. One thing for sure is that she is walking a tight rope. She is polling at a loss in a tightly contested Senate race. She may be pandering to Trump’s base, which is, for the most part, her base, to gain momentum. If so, she has lost any left-leaning, and some independent, constituents who may have voted for her in the past. The other possibility is that she knows she will lose and has decided to join in on the scorched earth policy.

None of that really matters. The Dems can take the White House, the Senate, and keep the House. However, the devils deal the GOP made with Trump ensures that the courts belong to them for the next 20 years at a minimum.

Trump’s latest executive order should really freak everyone out. Donald Trump now has the ability to do serious damage within the government service. If he wins the election, he effectively controls the government narrative ala 1984. If he loses the election, he poisons the well for Biden coming into office.

Trump has signed an order that moves many career government employees into a new category that strips them of employment protections. The new category affects government scientists, economists, managers and other key decision makers who would have previously been in protected career positions. Now, Trump would be able to fire them at will.

For those not paying attention, this would include Dr. Fauci, who has been able to push back against Trump because of the current protections for his job. Now, Trump could just fire him for not towing the government (read: Trump’s) line. That should terrify everyone.

Basically, if Trump wins the election, this allows him to create a government filled with his political appointees. Appointees that will fill positions once held by non-partisan, career employees. This will also allow Trump to control the government narrative. His reality will be the reality that the government feeds us. 2020 and beyond will all become 1984. Remember, Trump has already stated that we should not believe our lying eyes.

If Trump loses the election, this executive order allows him to create chaos on a level we have never seen. The election is Nov. 3, 2020. The new government would not take office until Jan. 20, 2021. In the intervening months, Trump could fire anyone in the government he wants and shut down the entire apparatus. He could cripple government services for months.

Yes, there would be no doubt that Biden will reverse this, and many other of Trump’s executive orders, but he will not be able to prevent the damage, especially during a pandemic. We already know the GOP will just sit by and watch him do it, providing the cover he needs. Given that they are about to take the same shellacking from voters, they have no impetus to do anything but help him.

In the city of Baldwin Park, in LA County, an arsonist tried to destroy an official ballot box. The did manage to set the box on fire, but they did not destroy it completely. Unfortunately, there were somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred ballots in the box.

How many were damaged beyond use has not yet been reported. What has been reported is that this was not just an act of childish mischief. Whoever did this had to work to get the box open enough to set the fire.

I imagine, as early voting continues, this will not be an isolated incident. It should be noted that most people who use the ballot boxes are likely Democratic voters. Donald Trump has never let up on his rhetoric about mail-in voter fraud. As well, when the State of California sent a cease and desist letter to the CA GOP, in regards to the ballot boxes they set up, the state Republican party just said no.

There is no longer a sense of order within the GOP. They take their lead from their “dear leader” and his only instinct is to foment violence. Well, he is succeeding. There is mental violence, physical violence, and moral violence against all established norms.

If you can, drop off your ballot at an early voting location. Drop it off at your local election commission. Trump will only ramp up the rhetoric in the next two weeks. That means the craziest of his followers will ramp up their efforts to disrupt the election process. We already know they are willing to use violent means.

Too many of my friends have told me not to watch Trump’s town hall on NBC. Watching it would give Trump a win by giving him ratings. Let me be the first to say… Shut the fuck up.

I love my friends. However, most of them don’t pay attention to politics outside of Presidential elections. Some of them pay attention every two years for Congressional elections. However, only one of my friends comes anywhere near as close as I do to paying regular attention to the politics of the United States.

I pay attention to what happens in Washington DC EVERY SINGLE DAY. It might be why I am always so morose. The majority of our nation either finds politics too hard or too boring.

That is the problem. That is why our politics are so corrupt. That is why a Donald Trump can find his way into the White House. We are asleep when it comes to our national, and local, politics.

It is also why we are so divided. We live in political bubbles. What we understand about “the other side” we get from commentary made by talking heads within our respective bubbles. To some extent, I fall into the talking head category. My audience is liberal Democrat and progressive. I do not pretend that I am trying to talk to conservatives. But, I listen to them.

To defeat an enemy, you must understand an enemy. So, yes, as hard as it is, I will listen to Donald Trump when he holds a town hall. He is not a smart man. He is, however, a cunning man. He knows that people underestimate him. He hates it, but he knows how to use it. This is the secret to his success over the entirety of his career, in business and in politics.

Oh, and for the record, it was the more entertaining of the two town halls. My only complaint with it is NBC deciding to go head-to-head with Biden. But, if you want to feel better tonight, the Trump town hall is the way to go.

Savannah Guthrie was an amazing moderator. I have a real political news crush on her right now. From minute one, she put Trump on his heels, and she kept him on the defensive for the entire town hall. She gave him no quarter to freely spew the bullshit we have grown so tired of. She has done, in one night, what the news should have been doing since he came down the escalator: making him justify himself. It was beautiful.

If you think you are not in a bubble because you have conservative friends and family on your Facebook friends list, you are living a delusion. Please stop. Most of all, please stop telling people, especially me, that I have to follow political rules designed to put me into your bubble.

I am a progressive. I see Trump as the second most dangerous man in the USA. (McConnell will always be #1) As far as I am concerned, voting for Biden is a moral imperative. But understand, Biden is a means to an end. If you think I am hard on Trump, wait until Biden gets into office and I begin to push a progressive agenda designed to help ALL Americans.

In the meantime, vote for Biden and shut the fuck up about ignoring “them.” That is why we are where we are in the first place.

I do not understand why the Senate conducts confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominees any more. They are so coached any more that nothing is ever learned from questioning them other than what a nominee’s children are doing. It is safe to say that we learned more about PJ, Tobin, and Squee than we did about Brett Kavanaugh’s actual judicial opinions.

The last three days of Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination hearing has taught us almost nothing more than that, if she needs to have an opinion on something, she first needs to consult almost everyone in the world before rendering said opinion. We also learned that she will not commit to recusing herself from any decision on the election without consulting her village either. Of course, we already know that she has been selected to help keep Trump in office.

The GOP is proud that she can credibly say that she has never consulted with the President about any issues. It means nothing. She has already been vetted by the Federalist Society. Every Republican judicial nominee is vetted by the Federalist Society.

I do not understand why the Democrats are still playing in this pool. I can only assume it is to continue trying to delay her nomination. To really convey her judicial viewpoints to the American people, the Dems should take a page from Al Franken during her nomination hearings in 2016. He knew he would get no substantive answers from her, so he just kept pressing on the stuff he knew she wouldn’t tell him. It was damning.

The best quote I have seen on this comes from The San Francisco Chronicle’s editorial board: Amy Coney Barrett’s elevation to the Supreme Court is proceeding with all the inevitability of a contagion.

Vote like the last Democratic candidate was predicted to have a 90% chance of winning and still lost to Donald Trump.

Vote like Joe Biden is in the same place as Clinton was in 2016.

Vote like Biden is actually an inspiring candidate and not just a bulwark against the loss of democracy in the United States.

Vote like you understand that it is easier to effect change in a democratic republic than a dictatorship.

Vote like one of the candidates was endorsed by the KKK and the Taliban.

Vote like almost 215,000 Americans have died from Covid-19, so far, and up to 400,000 are predicted to die before this is “over.”

Vote like the GOP is pushing a horrible Supreme Court pick that may help one candidate steal the election if they think they have a chance to contest it.

Vote like you understand we are a democracy, not a theocracy.

Vote because you know women have a right to make their own decisions for their own bodies.

Vote because you understand love is love.

Vote like you are not afraid of who is in the bathroom.

Vote because you know Donald Trump is an existential threat to half the citizens of this country.

Vote because Concentration Camps on US soil is an outrage we can not let become normal.

Vote because there are thousands of children who will never see their parents again.

Vote because religion belongs in the church not the classroom.

Vote because militias “observing” election polling places is intimidation we don’t need.

Vote because mail-in voting is not fraud.

Vote because one ballot drop box per county is election interference.

Vote because orange is not the new black.