Contributors

Saturday, August 31, 2019

Saturday, August 24, 2019

A Tough Week For the United States

Donald Trump's presidency has always been marred by his erratic personality. Each week brings some crazy pile of nonsense that chips away at his support. This time around it was attacks on the Fed chairman, trying and failing to buy Greenland for the oil reserves, and calling himself the "chosen one" while looking up to the heavens. The cherry on top was the latest round of tariffs coupled with an adolescent outburst towards US firms doing business with China.

All of this is perfectly in line with Trump's role as a Russian asset. Their goal is to erode our hegemony in the world and they are doing a good job of it. The stock market is all over the place, everyday people are taking financial hits as a result of the tariffs, and some of Trump's own supporters are beginning to question him.

“I voted for Trump in 2016 because I thought he was saying what everyone was thinking. But I’m disappointed,” says Debbie Dymek, an estate sale manager, as she pushes her cart through the aisles of a Meijer grocery store in Sterling Heights. “The bashing of everything and everyone, is that necessary? I’m an outspoken person, so when he says things that bother me, I know it must bother others.”

What Ms. Dymek likely doesn't understand is the army of trolls out there that love all of this. Most right-wing bloggers and commenters are rooting for the country to fall apart. They sooooo want this because of their emotional issues with authority figures. Trump has brought all these assholes out of their slimy holes and this is their time in the sun. The crazier Trump gets, the more they love it.

But average folks like these Iowa farmers aren't loving it anymore.

But fellow farmer Mike Holden, standing nearby, respectfully begs to differ. Though he has historically voted Republican 80% of the time, he doesn’t support Mr. Trump. He points out that farmers have no control over the weather, the cost of inputs like seed or machinery, or the price of grain, so they can’t pass on the cost of something like tariffs, which have driven the price of soybeans down by roughly 20%.

“We have enough uncontrollables,” says Mr. Holden, who raises beef and grows corn and soybeans. “We don’t need another one in the government.”

Mr. Ulch, who for years ran a fertilizer company on top of farming, had always wanted a businessperson to be president, so that he or she would understand “what goes on out here.”But he would have preferred someone like Mitt Romney. “To be honest with you, my vote [in 2016] was more against Hillary than it was for Trump,” he says – and that was before the trade wars hit. 

 “I’ll have a hard time voting for Trump again,” says Mr. Ulch.

So who will they vote for? Ms. Dymek gives us a clue.

“Warren?” she says, confirming that she named the Massachusetts senator correctly. “I like her because she’s forceful in a good way. I think she believes what she says.”

I'd ROTFLMFAO if Warren out populists Donald Trump and wins.


Friday, August 23, 2019

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Trump Stoking White Nationalist Attacks on Jews and Hispanics

If there was any doubt that Donald Trump is a white nationalist who is intentionally egging on white supremacists to attack ethnic and religious minorities, two stories from earlier this week should allay any doubts.

The first:
A Nazi sympathizer who threatened to butcher a Hispanic woman and boasted that President Trump would wipe out nonwhites in a “racial war and crusade” was arrested on charges of making threats, the F.B.I. said on Tuesday. 
Prosecutors said that the suspect, Eric Lin, 35, sent a barrage of chilling and gruesome Facebook messages to the unidentified woman, who lives in Miami. Mr. Lin was arrested on Friday in Seattle, where he had recently moved from Clarksburg, Md., but was charged in Miami. 
“This is a RACE WAR and ALL of you will DIE!” Mr. Lin wrote to the woman on Facebook in early June, according to a criminal complaint. The next day, he wrote, “You want to see what a real Nazi can do?” adding later that he was operating under the authority of Hitler. In July, he wrote that “I thank God everyday President Donald John Trump is President and that he will launch a Racial War and Crusade.”
No matter how much Trump denies that he is responsible for the massive uptick in anti-semitic and anti-Hispanic attacks, it is clear that he has inspired racists to kill Hispanics and Jews in shootings in the Walmart in El Paso and synagogues in Pennsylvania and California.

Then Trump himself accused American Jews of being disloyal:
President Trump said on Tuesday that any Jewish person who votes for a Democrat is guilty of ignorance or “great disloyalty,” intensifying his efforts to drive in a partisan wedge over religion and support for Israel even as he appeared to draw on an anti-Semitic trope.

Mr. Trump did not go into specifics about what he considered to be Jews’ disloyalty, but his language was reminiscent of the anti-Semitic smear that Jews have a “dual loyalty” and are more devoted to Israel than they are to their own countries.
How can American citizens who happen to be Jewish be "disloyal" to Israel? They're Americans! The current right-wing government of Israel, run by that petty criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, has occupied the Sudetenland West Bank and Gaza strip, turned Christian and Muslim Israelis into second-class citizens, and kept millions of Palestinians in ghettos reminiscent of 1940s Warsaw. American Jews, in particular, are quite conscious of how dangerously close Israel is to morphing into a clone of Nazi Germany.

Was Trump's father disloyal to Germany when he opposed Nazi Germany in WWII? (At least we assume he opposed Nazi Germany -- maybe he didn't. That would explain a whole lot about his son, wouldn't it?)

Donald Trump is this close to telling American Jews that they should leave the United States and "go back" to Israel, just like he told four women members of the House of Representatives to go back to the countries they came from -- when three of them were born in the United States.

When neo-Nazis hear Trump accusing Jewish Americans of "disloyalty" he's saying exactly what they're saying, giving them justification for murdering Jews. Any nuance about it being Israel they're being disloyal to will be lost -- the neo-nazis who love Trump will only hear that Jews are disloyal and conclude that Trump wants them to kill Jews.

And then Trump has the gall to call himself the king of Israel. Well, Donald, if you're king of Israel you are automatically disqualified from being president of the United States.

We'll expect your resignation in the morning.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Trump's Desire to Buy Greenland Proves Global Warming is Real

When we first heard about Trump wanting to buy Greenland it was surreal: it sounded too stupid to be true. Why would anyone want to buy a giant block of ice? 

Because, as Trump is constantly saying, global warming is a hoax, and if global warming is a hoax then Greenland is totally worthless glacier-covered real estate.

Trump was scheduled to make a presidential visit to Greenland, and initially denied that the trip had anything to do with Greenland:
Trump’s desire to buy Greenland, which is part of the kingdom of Denmark, was first reported last week by the Wall Street Journal. Two people with direct knowledge of the directive told The Washington Post that the president has mentioned the idea for weeks, and that aides are waiting for more direction before they decide how seriously they should look into it.

Trump is scheduled to visit Denmark in two weeks, although he said Sunday that his visit is not related to his interest in Greenland.
Well, guess what? Trump was lying. What a surprise! The only reason he agreed to go to Denmark was to cut a deal to buy Greenland. Since Denmark has zero interest in selling out the semi-autonomous island and its citizens to a Putin sycophant, Trump is pouting like a baby and staying home.
President Trump on Tuesday night abruptly canceled a coming trip to Denmark, writing on Twitter that because the country’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, “would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland,” they would meet “another time.”

Mr. Trump was scheduled to visit Copenhagen on Sept. 2 and 3, after being invited by Queen Margrethe II. The president was expected to participate in a series of bilateral meetings and meet with business leaders, and Ms. Frederiksen had underscored the importance of the session, calling the United States “Denmark’s most important and strongest ally in NATO.”
What's really going on? Greenland does have natural resources, which have until now been locked under miles of ice. That includes oil. A lot of it.

But the glaciers on Greenland have been melting crazy fast due to global warming caused by our burning fossil fuel -- July was the hottest month on record:
Last week, the world received yet another stark reminder of what's yet to come as temperatures at the highest point of the Greenland ice sheet rose above freezing and melted the snow there for the first time since July 2012 and perhaps only the third time in the last 700 years. The glacier-covered island lost 12.5 billion tons of ice in one day.
Yes, Greenland lost 12.5 billion tons of ice in a single day.

Since Trump wants to buy Greenland it proves that he knows global warming is happening, and that it's happening very fast. But the ice sheet won't melt in the next two years; it'll take decades even at the rate 12.5 billion tons a day. So why the sudden interest? (Other than Trump's childishly short attention span?)

The value of oil company stock depends in large part on its portfolio of proven reserves. They have been pumping oil and gas for almost a century and a half, and all the easily obtainable oil and gas has been extracted. That means oil company stock will start tanking as it becomes obvious that their proven reserves are being depleted.

They're already using techniques like fracking to get the dribs and drabs that are still locked in the earth's crust, but that will only last for a few more years. After that's all gone oil reserves will drop precipitously, as will their stock prices.

So oil execs have to go to places in the arctic that are melting down (Alaska, Siberia and Greenland) to get new oil reserves on the books, to avoid a meltdown in their bonuses.

Everything about Donald Trump is a lie. Global warming is a hoax, he says. He doesn't want to buy Greenland, he says. He's going to Denmark, but not to buy Greenland. It is now clear that he wants to Greenland because he knows global warming is real, that it is caused by mankind, and that it is happening faster than anyone expected, faster even than Al Gore thought it would happen, and Trump wants to be first on the block to get this new real estate.

You have to wonder whether Trump, the oil companies and other climate change deniers are intentionally working to accelerate global warming so they can cash in on what they think will be the coming real estate boom in the arctic.

What they don't understand that global warming will put all the real estate that they already own along the east coast -- including Trump properties in Florida and New York -- underwater long before Greenland will be suitable for serious exploitation.

It will force people living on coastlines to move somewhere else, causing even worse immigration pressure than we're experiencing now as billions of people living in coastal cities are forced to relocate inland.

Donald Trump is a disaster, making all our problems worse. What does anyone like this moron?

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Saturday, August 10, 2019

Gun Humpers To Join A Militia

In the wake of yet another round of domestic terrorism perpetrated by gun rights supporters, writer Jeff Yang has proposed something I have been calling for in terms of a solution: make everyone who owns a gun required to join a militia. Thus, the original intent of the 2nd amendment would be fulfilled.

That's why I want to share a solution that should resolve the logjam blocking sensible reform of gun ownership in this country — one that by all rights should get overwhelming support among American patriots of both parties. I call it the "Military Induction for Licensing, Instruction and Training In Arms" Act — the MILITIA Act for short. The proposal is simple: Anyone purchasing a gun should be required to enlist for military reserve service, spanning the entire period of their gun ownership. Under this proposal, being granted a handgun license would simultaneously and automatically register you to serve as a reservist in the Armed Forces branch of your choice — it's that simple. And it should be that simple ... because it's what the framers intended.

Yep. Let's see the gun humper haul their fat asses out for some fucking PT and "well-regulated" training with firearms. Anyone that fails to comply will be a felon.

We here a lot of bravado from gun humpers about the military and defense. Let's see if they can live up to those words. My guess is they can't because, in the final analysis, they are cowards.

Thursday, August 08, 2019

Saturday, August 03, 2019

Fear and Hate

This recent article in Newsweek summed up Trump and his supporters quite well. The daughter of segregationist George Wallace, Peggy Wallace Kennedy, was interviewed and drew some striking parallels and similarities between then and now.

"The two greatest motivators at (Dad's) rallies were fear and hate," said Wallace Kennedy. "There was no policy solution, just white middle-class anger."

Sound familiar?

Friday, August 02, 2019

Fat Asshole With A Gun






































The one thing I would add to this meme is for this asshole and all the other gun humpers out there who look like this to JOIN THE MILITARY. I'd love to see how long they would last...

Thursday, July 25, 2019

The New Motto of the United States: 45 es un títere

The incompetence of the Trump administration knows no bounds. This was emphasized at an event where Trump stood beside a fake image of the presidential seal that mocked him:


The real seal is on the left, and the one on the right was displayed at the event. The eagle has two heads instead of one (like the Russian double-headed eagle), it's got golf clubs instead of arrows in one claw, cash instead of a branch in the other claw, and the text reads "45 es un títere" (Trump is a puppet, in Spanish) instead of "E pluribus unum."

How did the White House let something like this go? How could they not have vetted the presentation? What sheer incompetence not to!

Trump is a clown. Trump's staff is packed with clowns. His cabinet is packed with clowns, half of whom are only acting clowns because so many of his administration have been forced to resign for ethical violations, or have resigned in disgrace for beating their wives or getting pedophiles off with a slap on the wrist, or have been fired because they won't stoop to Trump's level.

This presidency is a dumpster fire. I'm getting tired of repeating myself, but these people are all idiots who don't know what they're doing and don't care how much they screw up the country. The Republican Party is complicit.

I only hope that they haven't damaged the Republic beyond repair.

The person who made this seal should be given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, right after Trump leaves office and is indicted for all the crimes outlined in the Mueller report.

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

The Art of Redirection

A recent article in my local newspaper regarding Representative Jim Hagedorn, a Republican representing the 1st Congressional District in the southern part of my state, caught my attention because of this quote.

Hillary [Clinton] would have stacked the Supreme Court with radicals who would have taken away our individual liberties. In the next go-round, you’re going to see nothing different.

Let’s be clear on this tactic. It’s the same one used by the Nazis in the 1930s. Accuse the other side of the very thing you intend to do and demonize them while doing it. So, it’s not that liberals are the radicals. They actually want to uphold the rule of law. It’s the conservatives who are radical and want to install judges who will rewrite the law to their liking.

The problem is that "conservative" judges aren't all they are cracked up to be. Invariably, they are quite reluctant to overturn precedent. This is particularly true of Chief Justice John Roberts. It seems to also be true of Neil Gorsuch. Conservatives just like to know that a member of their tribe is in there and most of them don't care after that.

Liberals, on the other hand, do care that a good judge who understands the rule of law serves as a federal judge. Remember, we aren't tribal like the right. Our goal is reality and the truth.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Saturday, July 20, 2019

America at Its Best

As I write this it is 50 years to the minute since man first walked on the moon. I was only 11 years old, and it was long past my bed time when I watched Neil Armstrong descend the lunar module ladder and set foot on the surface of another world.

I was always a fan of the space program, but at that point pretty much everyone on the planet was united in awe of what human beings can accomplish when they put their minds to it. The men who landed on the moon were patriots, but they too understood that this accomplishment was much bigger than planting American flags on the moon. The plaque on the LEM's leg said it all:
Here men from the planet earth
first set foot upon the moon.
July 1969 A.D.
We came in peace for all mankind.
After the initial flush of excitement, landing on the moon became old hat, and the Apollo program was canceled with Apollo 17, after six moon landings (Apollo 13 experienced an explosion in a tank in the service module and its landing had to be canceled -- the crew barely made it back to earth).

There was another time when we all felt united by the space program -- a much sadder time. In January 1986 the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after launch, killing the whole crew. The mission had attracted a lot of attention in the press because a civilian, teacher Christa McAuliffe, was aboard.

It was horrible seeing the crazily winding plume of rocket exhaust on the screen, but the shock of the loss didn't really register in me until they showed a picture of the crew.

STS-51-L crew: (front row) Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair;
(back row) Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik
Three white guys, an Asian guy, a black guy and two women (one the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine). The Challenger crew represented the best of all of America. Not just entitled billionaires, white guys from Ivy League colleges, and hot-shot pilots.

This is what America is all about: anyone, from anywhere, can become an American and do anything if they work at it.

Now, that ideal has not always been met. And there are a lot of people these days who want to throw out that ideal completely, shut down our borders and kick everyone out of the country that they don't like.

The picture of the Challenger crew still brings tears to my eyes because of what it says about America when it's at its best. Donald Trump's Twitter account paid lip service to that ideal in a tweet a week after moving into the White House.

But it's clear that everything Trump has said and done since then has proved he doesn't believe any of it. He and his Republican lackeys represent America at its worst.

The Hillbilly Nuremberg

Welcome Those Who Flee Oppression


Friday, July 19, 2019

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Our Diversity Unites Us













Nativist and ethnic bigotry have been around since our country began. It’s not just nonwhites that been marginalized. The Irish, for example, have had a long history of being treated as subhuman. In Minnesota, Germans were persecuted during WWI simply because they were German. The CPS (Commission on Public Safety) patrolled the streets, arresting people for playing German music. The mayor of New Ulm was dismissed because he was German.

I say all this because we are all in this together. When people like Trump and his followers create a checklist for what it means to be American, we ALL lose, no matter what the color of our skin. It’s our diversity that unites us.











Wednesday, July 17, 2019

How To Propaganda

The cleverest trick used in propaganda against Germany during the war was to accuse Germany of what our enemies themselves were doing.

Political propaganda in principle is active and revolutionary. It is aimed at the broad masses. It speaks the language of the people because it wants to be understood by the people. Its task is the highest creative art of putting sometimes complicated events and facts in a way simple enough to be understood by the man on the street. Its foundation is that there is nothing the people cannot understand, but rather things must be put in a way that they can understand. It is a question of making it clear to him by using the proper approach, evidence, and language.   ---Joseph Goebbels, 1934.