;)
The Commentariat -- December 15, 2017
AP: "... Donald Trump thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for remarks he made Thursday 'acknowledging America's strong economic performance,' the White House said. The two presidents spoke by phone following Putin's annual press conference in Moscow." Mrs. McC: According to Rachel Maddow, U.S. media first learned of the conversation from a Kremlin readout.
Rosalind Helderman & Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "About a month after Donald Trump launched his presidential bid, a British music promoter suggested his Russian pop-star client could arrange for the new candidate to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to an email obtained by The Washington Post. The July 2015 offer by publicist Rob Goldstone came about a year before he set up a meeting for Trump's eldest son with a Russian lawyer who he said had incriminating information about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton." ...
... ** Greg Miller, et al., of the Washington Post write an extraordinary front-page piece on Donald Trump's refusal to accept Russia's successful attempts to swing the 2016 election to him. Among the intelligence James Clapper & Jim Comey shared with Trump during the transition: "Putin' specific instructions on the operation' to hack the election. "Rather than search for ways to deter Kremlin attacks or safeguard U.S. elections, Trump has waged his own campaign to discredit the case that Russia poses any threat and he has resisted or attempted to roll back efforts to hold Moscow to account.... Overall, U.S. officials said, the Kremlin believes it got a staggering return on an operation that by some estimates cost less than $500,000 to execute and was organized around two main objectives -- destabilizing U.S. democracy and preventing Hillary Clinton, who is despised by Putin, from reaching the White House." The WashPo report is based on "is based on interviews with more than 50 current and former U.S. officials, many of whom had senior roles in the Trump campaign and transition team or have been in high-level positions at the White House or at national security agencies." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Jonathan Chait: "Both the Post and the Times reported last month on Trump's habit of insisting even in private on defending obvious lies: that Barack Obama is not American, that Trump won the popular vote, that the voice on the Access Hollywood tape is not Trump's. Surely Trump knows what he said to Billy Bush. He was there. Trump either lies to absolutely everybody in his inner circle, or has the absolute power of self-delusion, sufficiently strong that his most apparently sincere protestations of his innocence mean nothing at all.... But it's quite possible his hair-trigger anger over the subject of Russia is a tactic designed to close off a subject on which his guilt runs very deep."
Natasha Bertrand of Business Insider: "Fourteen former national security, intelligence, and foreign policy officials who have served at senior levels in Republican and Democratic administrations recently wrote an amicus brief as part of a lawsuit brought against ... Donald Trump's campaign and Roger Stone, his longtime confidant. The lawsuit was filed in July by three private citizens -- Roy Cockrum, Scott Comer, and Eric Schoenberg -- whose personal information was stolen in hacks of the Democratic National Committee and published by WikiLeaks. The plaintiffs have argued that the Trump campaign, Stone, 'and those they conspired with arranged for the hacked information to be provided to WikiLeaks.' Among the former officials who filed the amicus brief on December 8 are John Brennan, a CIA director; James Clapper, a director of national intelligence; and Michael Hayden, a director of the National Security Agency; Avril Haines, a deputy national security adviser; Michael McFaul, a US ambassador to Russia; and Michael Morell, an acting CIA director.... Their message was clear: The Kremlin uses local actors to help amplify the scope and impact of its influence operations, including the one targeting the US election in 2016."
The Plot Thickens. Jonathan Chait: "The Republican party has spent the last two days in a frenzy of indignation over the disclosure that an FBI agent who worked on the Clinton and Trump investigations (and has since been removed) sent texts to another agent, who he was reportedly dating, criticizing Trump. The story was driven by the curious decision by Trump's Department of Justice to leak partial excerpts of the texts.... [It turns out] the main agent in question also wrote text messages criticizing Democrats.... His messages included calling Chelsea Clinton 'self-entitled,' and mocking Eric Holder. He wrote, 'I'm worried about what happens if HRC is elected.'... The scandal is that the Department of Justice selectively leaked private texts from its agents in order to placate the White House's desire to discredit the special counsel. And the news media let itself get suckered." ...
... Darren Samuelsohn of Politico: "Democrats pressed the Justice Department on Thursday to explain why it released salacious, anti-Donald Trump text messages exchanged between two FBI employees who are still under investigation for their work on the Russia special counsel investigation. Judiciary Committee ranking member Jerrold Nadler of New York and two other panel Democrats asked for a full review of DOJ's decision making that led to Tuesday night's release of about 375 texts that the FBI officials -- Peter Strzok and Lisa Page -- sent over a 15-month period during the 2016 presidential campaign." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Samuelsohn does not address the fact that the DOJ -- at Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein's behest -- released selective text messages, as Chait indicates, so Samuelsohn may have written this post before the WSJ reported that Strzok & Page were equal-opportunity critics. ...
... Benjamin Wittes of Lawfare: Rod Rosenstein's "behavior in this episode, in particular, has hardly done him credit. The release of private correspondence between two Justice Department employees whose correspondence is the subject of an active inspector general investigation is not just wrong. It is cruel.... Rosenstein here has, at a minimum, contributed to [the GOP] circus -- at the expense of his own employees." Wittes has a lot to say about the GOP's attempts to discredit the Mueller investigation, & it's worth reading. ...
... Josh Marshall: "... before [Wednesday's] hearing, the DOJ invited reporters to review all the texts between the two FBI employees -- seemingly far more access than Congress had even had. These were government documents -- texts on government devices. So the formal privacy claim is limited. But ... it's still a massive breach of privacy. Political and personal chit chat and sounding off between two lovers? The key point is there's no evidence either did anything wrong. The only conceivable purpose of doing this was to humiliate the two, damage Mueller's investigation and put wind in the sails of those pushing this pseudo-controversy.... This is a transparently political move on the part of the Justice Department. And since all tied to the Mueller probe falls under Rosenstein's purview, that's on Rosenstein....
... This whole episode is simply a disgrace. It is an example of how much the gravitational pull of Trump's corruption has already affected Washington, the federal government and the entire country. The corrupt and the desperate flock to him, the unprincipled defend him and even those who are I think mainly ethical people under normal circumstances -- I'm thinking of Rosenstein in this case -- are bent and deformed by the pull.
... Mrs. McCrabbie: If you're confused by all this, no wonder. The various accounts of what got leaked to whom & when are contradictory. We need a special investigator!
Trump's Data Teams Are Stonewalling Congress. Natasha Bertrand: "The ranking members of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees want to subpoena two of the data firms hired by ... Donald Trump's campaign team for documents related to their potential engagement with foreign actors like Russia and WikiLeaks during the election. Reps. Elijah Cummings and Jerry Nadler sent a letter to Cambridge Analytica's CEO Alexander Nix and Giles-Parscale cofounder Brad Parscale -- who also served as the Trump campaign's digital director -- in October.... The letter was also sent to the heads of Deep Root Analytics, TargetPoint Consulting, and The Data Trust, which were among the outfits hired by the Republican National Committee to bolster the Trump campaign's data operation. Whereas Deep Root, TargetPoint, and The Data Trust responded to the documents request, Cambridge Analytica did not. Parscale's response, moreover, was insufficient, the Democrats said." ....
... Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Special counsel Robert Mueller has asked data firm Cambridge Analytica to turn over documents related to campaign work for ... Donald Trump. The special counsel requested emails from any employees who worked on the Trump campaign as part of the ongoing investigation into election interference by Russia, reported the Wall Street Journal. The firm voluntarily complied with Mueller's request and turned over emails which had previously been provided to the House Intelligence Committee, the newspaper reported." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: This, too, is confusing. According to Nadler & Cummings, the Mercer-Bannon firm Cambridge Analytica did not comply; according to the WSJ story, the company did comply, & what they complied with was turning over documents the House committees already had. Huh?
Brian Fung of the Washington Post: "Federal regulators voted Thursday to allow Internet providers to speed up service for websites they favor -- and block or slow down others -- in a decision repealing landmark Obama-era regulations overseeing broadband companies such as AT&T and Verizon.... The 3-2 vote, which was along party lines, enabled the FCC's Republican chairman, Ajit Pai, to follow through on his promise to repeal the government's 2015 net neutrality rules, which required Internet providers to treat all websites, large and small, equally. The agency also rejected some of its own authority over the broadband industry in a bid to stymie future FCC officials who might seek to reverse the Republican-led ruling." ...
... Erica Pandey of Axios: "New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Thursday that he'll lead an effort by multiple states to sue the Federal Communications Commission over its decision to roll back net neutrality rules." ...
... Tom McKay of Gizmodo: "In a video with the conservative site Daily Caller's Benny Johnson -- the dude who got fired from BuzzFeed for plagiarizing Yahoo Answers -- Pai urged the country to understand that ... they'll let us continue to take selfies and other stupid bullshit. Pai then pantomimed things users will supposedly still be able to do, like being able to 'gram your food,' 'post photos of cute animals, like puppies,' 'shop for all your Christmas presents online,' 'binge watch your favorite shows,' and 'stay part of your favorite fan community.' All of these claims on what users 'will still be able to do' are actually questionable, seeing as under Pai's plan, ISPs could easily hit up their customers with crushing fees to let them access any of these services at reasonable speeds - particularly those binge-watching streaming services he claims to love so much.... One of the Daily Caller employees that danced alongside Pai in the video seems to be a proponent of Pizzagate...."
Abha Bhattarai of the Washington Post: "Ivanka Trump's fashion company on Thursday opened a new store in the lobby of Trump Tower, where it plans to sell handbags, jewelry and candles as part of broader push to bypass retailers and sell directly to consumers. The store in Midtown Manhattan -- currently the company's only bricks-and-mortar location -- comes after a number of high-profile retailers, including Nordstrom, stopped carrying the presidential daughter's line earlier this year. The company also recently began selling its wares ... directly on its website." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The lobby of Trump Tower is by law a designated public space, as required in the permitting process to construct the building. So I'm not sure the shop is legal inasmuch as it appears to be planted in a space that's just as public as a city park. Donald Trump has long taken liberties with the public space -- he sells MAGA caps & other Trumpycrap there now. The City's parks commission should shut down any shops, kiosks, signage, etc. that intrude upon the area designated for public use.
Flimflam Man to Fold His Cards. Rachel Bade of Politico: "Despite several landmark legislative wins this year, and a better-than-expected relationship with ... Donald Trump, [Paul] Ryan has made it known to some of his closest confidants that this will be his final term as speaker.... In recent interviews with three dozen people who know the speaker -- fellow lawmakers, congressional and administration aides, conservative intellectuals and Republican lobbyists -- not a single person believed Ryan will stay in Congress past 2018." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Maybe he thinks he'll be president by then. And he might be right. ...
... Jonathan Chait: "A major part of Ryan's motivation is that ... he has achieved his life's ambition by passing a gigantic tax cut for the affluent. But Politico also explains that Ryan hopes to end his tenure in a blaze of Randian glory." Ryan is planning to pursue "entitlement reform," & "may focus on ... vulnerable programs targeted to the very poor, like nutrition and housing assistance. It would be a final, fittingly Ryan-esque blow against the takers after having returned to the makers a large chunk of their hard-earned, or hard-inherited, wealth." ...
... Update: Looks like Ken W. has Ryan pegged in today's Comments.
Aaron Rupar of ThinkProgress: "During a news conference on Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan urged American women to have more babies, saying their lack of procreation was stunting economic growth.... Alluding to the fact that he's a father of three, Ryan added, 'I did my part, but we need to have higher birth rates in this country. Meaning, baby boomers are retiring, and we have fewer people following them in the work force.'... There's an obvious solution to the problem that Ryan completely ignores -- allowing more immigrants into the country to fill the jobs being vacated by retiring baby boomers. But instead of using his position as House Speaker to pursue immigration reform, Ryan has instead indicated he's on board with Trump's hardline anti-immigration positions, including the president's insistence on spending billions of dollars on a border wall." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Traditional family values still include keeping 'em barefoot & pregnant.
** Alan Rappeport & Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "House and Senate Republicans faced a new round of uncertainty on Thursday about the fate of their $1.5 trillion tax bill with the possible defection of a Republican senator, Marco Rubio of Florida, amid continuing questions about how the bill will be paid for and how much of the benefits will flow to low- and middle-income people versus corporations. Republicans, who reached agreement Wednesday on a merged version of the House and Senate tax plans, expect to unveil the final bill on Friday and vote on the legislation early next week so that it can be sent to President Trump before Christmas." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Increasing the child tax credit, as Rubio is insisting upon, is the policy side of Ryan's urging women to have more children. It's the brainchild of some "moderate conservative thinkers." As I recall, Douthat was a big advocate. Many Republican domestic policy objectives are part of a giant plot to restore & cement patriarchical norms. What frightened these guys about Roy Moore was not that he was an extremist kook but that, as a walking, talking exemplar of their own dark hearts, he would reveal the party's true aims. ...
... ** Paul Krugman: "As usual, Republicans seek to afflict the afflicted and comfort the comfortable, but they don't treat all Americans with a given income the same. Instead, their bill ... but whose shape is clear -- hugely privileges owners, whether of businesses or of financial assets, over those who simply work for a living.... The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center ... finds that the bill would reduce taxes on business owners, on average, about three times as much as it would reduce taxes on those whose primary source of income is wages or salaries. For highly paid workers, the gap would be even wider, as much as 10 to one.... (Yes, a lot of the bill looks as if it were specifically designed to benefit the Trump family.) If this sounds like bad policy, that's because it is.... Their disdain for ordinary working Americans as opposed to investors, heirs, and business owners runs so deep that they can't contain it." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: One reason Republicans get away with this is that business owners & investors are far more attuned to how legislation & other government actions will affect their bottom lines than are wage-earners. I don't know that Paul Ryan actually likes "makers" better than working people; he just knows the "makers" are watching him & working people don't have the time or inclination to analyze his flimflams.
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Reader Comments (15)
Will withhold any celebration at rumors of Ryan's impending retirement, but have to say that dropping out of political sight before the costs of his tax scam come due would show, poor at arithmetic as he may be, he does have some primitive survival sense.
Lawrence O'Donnell has a pretty clever take on Lyin' Ryan's step towards the exit. Obviously if he can get out in a year, all the detrimental side effects of his policies will have been put in place but the pain won't be felt significantly. Any further interviews will be met with an ardent incapacity to assume any responsibility for nefarious legislation cooked up in his back chambers with the direct line to the Koch brothers. Then, as the Trump train runs out of steam, O'Donnell predicts that he'll return to the scene, shit grin and all, to retake the GOP reins as Presidential candidate.
The Rubio "what bout the kids" political play also sounds like hollow words destined for future presidential ads. I'm thinking the Virginia sweep followed by the Georgian earthquake has Confederates looking to cover their asses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FkakUoUD4g
I’d like to think that, in a moment of clarity, the Lying One simply recognizes that he’s been a fraud these many years, a taker and a talker, but never a maker nor a doer. He’s passed a single (as in one) piece of legislation on his own in all the years he’s been on the public dole. That is shameful even for a member of the last few Confederate run congressional clown shows. Perhaps Ryan, surveying the enormous damage he and Trump and McConnell have done to this country, realizes he is not up to the task of doing anything to restore faith in a system they have worked so hard to break and has decided simply to run away and leave the mess to some hapless Democrat they can all pin the blame on from afar,
Or maybe he’s just looking for a cushy, quiet, enormously lucrative sinecure which will allow him to join the multi-millionaires and thoroughly enjoy the fruits of his crimes.
Either way he’ll go down as one of the most feckless, ineffective, most mendacious frauds in American history.
I would never wish cancer on anybody -- except Mo Brooks.
Karma's a bitch.
https://thinkprogress.org/mo-brooks-cancer-health-care-comments-0d472b2bc9ef/
TRUMP'S LIES VS. OBAMA'S
The NYT's has compiled these lies and if you want to read Obama's it will take you a matter of minutes; for Trump you might be in for a long haul unless you give up half way through.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/14/opinion/sunday/trump-lies-obama-who-is-worse.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=1
From what we are learning about Trump's daily doings it appears that he is being HANDLED. Giving him bad news makes him crazy? So his handlers pussy foot around him–-put the information that would upset him in writing in the daily brief knowing that he doesn't read? "Yes, we gave him that info, we covered our asses, but we didn't TELL him vocally––he goes into rages–-hurts our ears."
What the hell! Why on earth would we be handling this buffoon–-don't we WANT him to explode? Then the men in white coats can come and carry him away. Why are we protecting him?
I would think that a $1.5 trillion tax bill requires serious careful analysis. But apparently the bill's primary purpose is to give Christmas present to the POTUS.
@Marvin: Yeah, this having to ram through this tax bill so Trump can sign it for Christmas––why? He doesn't have much purchase left I would think––-the candidates he rallied for all lost, so how come these republicans are placating him? Since he's ignorant of what's in the bill itself and is lying about it–––oh, wait. It will be the first legislative victory? So they aren't doing this for Trump, but for themselves? If that is the case, why rush it? People are in the hallways screaming at you–-a man with ALS cornered Flake on a plane and begged him to do the right thing––"If not, I will die." Last night this same man was on Chris Hayes begging for support for his cause which is to stop this bill from going forward. "The people" stopped that healthcare bill, could we stop this monstrosity?
@PD. How? Our CT reps. & senators are already in our favor against this abortion of a bill and process.
What we're seeing is no less than the revenge of the capitalists--on any and everything that has stood between them and unquestioned, unlimited profit and complete control.
For a while there that democracy thing got in the way. Most people actually voted in their own interests to form a government that often made decisions based on a scientific assessment of what is real and what is not. Then we got Reagan, the Powell Memo, growing economic inequality, increasingly sophisticated methods of political manipulation (technical and psychological), and eventually the Pretender and his cabinet and party of fantasists.
Of course they are hell bent on shredding workers' rights (see recent NLRB decisions), on any regulation that interferes with profit (the open internet, Obama era regulations on train safety, the entire CFPB, which had the temerity to put the word "consumer" in its very name, a the list goes on, depressingly), and even science and the planet.
In our economic system, money and the power relationships money represents are apparently a very powerful intoxicant. For too many of those who have it, money and ownership shout their superiority. Of course, they disdain the workers who create their wealth. Their money has even insulated them from the world to such a degree that some of their mouthpieces have even been musing about the good ole days of slavery.
Intoxicated or just plain nuts, it's hard to say, but when your disdain for the vast majority of people and fact is as public as it is at present (ripping health insurance away from millions, raiding the treasury to benefit the already rich, all out in the open), when your assault on that treasury, your obvious preying on public lands for private profit and your denial of obvious arithmetic and scientific fact are making headlines, you better get in your licks while you can.
The capitalists are doing exactly that. Drunk on power, of course, but maybe also just a little bit scared by a niggling fear that one day soon all the realities they've been denying (economic, political, scientific) will rise up and bite them in the ass.
May I live long enough to see it.
.
There's "collusion" and then there's collusion.
In light of the little king's most recent wails about collusion, I'm thinking there may be an issue of definition at hand.
"On Friday morning, Trump reaffirmed to reporters, "there is absolutely no collusion. I didn't make a phone call to Russia. I have nothing to do with Russia. Everybody knows it."
First, whenever Trumpy says "everybody knows it", the fact is that almost no one knows it except for him. It's like his standby "believe me", which translates to "I'm blowing smoke up your ass but pretend I'm not". As for "collusion", at least Trump's definition, I'm beginning to think it's more like the recent Supreme Court decision to allow political corruption to go forward, merrily and unimpeded, unless and until they spot one guy handing a big bag full of cash to a politician with a note that says "This is so's you pass legislation helping my company".
For Trump, "collusion" means he calls Putin and says "Vlady, boychik, here's the deal. You help me ratfuck the election, I become president, and I give you whatever you want. Okay?"
He overlooks the actual definition of collusion (no quotes) which can be accomplished by simply looking the other way while the desired actions--illegal and underhanded actions, which these were--take place. You don't even have to have detailed knowledge of those actions. If you hire a guy to kill your business partner, just because you don't know whether it'll be in the library with the lead pipe or in the dining room with the candlestick, doesn't mean you're completely innocent.
And here are a few things that everybody DOES know: that the Trump campaign was in deep with Russians before, during, and after the election; that Russia DID attempt to mess with the election in Trump's favor; that Junior DID indicate great interest in receiving dirt on Hillary Clinton from Russians; and that just about everyone on Trump's staff was involved with Russians at one point or another.
None of these facts are in dispute. Except by President Cheat.
Confederates are great ones for rewriting history. Now they're getting into rewriting the dictionary.
Here's hoping that the new year brings us impeachment. No quotes.
The Portrait of Dorian Confederate
Before we leave Roy (the Molester) Moore in the crapper of history, I think it's useful to remember, going forward, that Roy Moore is not an anomaly. He is not an aberration or the result of some eccentric backwater experiment in political evolution gone wrong. He IS the Confederate Party. He is the soul of what that party has become over time.
If Paul Ryan can put on a nice suit and turn his hat backwards and grin stupidly while hefting barbells, and not look like a hideous monster, it's because the sins that he and McConnell and the whole kit and caboodle of them have committed and committed themselves to, have been inscribed, Dorian Gray-like on such as Roy Moore. He is the portrait of the Confederate Party. They might want to hide him away in a locked room upstairs at the RNC, but the hatred, bigotry, misogyny, racism, greed, ignorance, religious intolerance that he stands for is what made that party what it is today.
Democrats would do well to make copies of the Portrait of Dorian Confederate and circulate them widely during the upcoming mid-term elections.
Don't let these assholes escape the horror of their own warped and wizened souls.
The might deserve perdition, but I'll settle for defenestration.
Stocking Stuffers: Lumps of Coal and Federal Judges
A few weeks ago, we got a combination chuckle/shudder reading about one Brett Talley, ghostbuster and horror story writer whose wife works in the White House (surprise!), a guy with zero experience in a court of law, who was nominated by President* Asshole for a lifetime appointment as a federal judge.
Well, there are plenty more Trump nominees a whole lot worse than that schmoe.
How about Jeff Mateer, a something, something, something lawyer of sorts who works for the State of Texas? This idiot comes out and says that transgender children are "Satan's plan". Ooooh-Kaaaay. (By the by, this asshole got the seal of approval from both John Cornyn and Ted Cruz!!! And you thought you knew just how bad Cruz was? He's worse.)
Next?
Matthew Spencer Petersen, currently chair of the Federal Election Commission, with a big recommendation from far right wing groups, is in line for seat on the bench of the US district court in DC. Again, a lifetime appointment.
Think this guy is ready?
Here's part of the Q&A during confirmation hearings in the senate. And bear in mind, the questioner is John Kennedy (R-TX)!
KENNEDY: Have you ever tried a jury trial?
PETERSEN: I have not.
KENNEDY: Civil?
PETERSEN: No.
KENNEDY: Criminal?
PETERSEN: No.
KENNEDY: Bench?
PETERSEN: No.
KENNEDY: State or federal court?
PETERSEN: I have not.
It gets better:
KENNEDY: As a trial judge, you’re obviously going to have witnesses. Can you tell me what the Daubert standard is?
PETERSEN: Sen. Kennedy, I don’t have that readily at my disposal but I would be happy to take a closer look at that. That is not something I’ve had to contend with.
KENNEDY: Do you know what a motion in limine is?
PETERSEN: Yes.. I haven’t, I’m, again, my background is not in litigation as when I was replying to Chairman (Chuck) Grassley (R-Iowa), I haven’t had to um, again, do a deep dive.
"Deep dive"?? I think he means "Visit a courtroom one of these days".
Yeah, I know, it's funny. What's not funny is these are just a few of the jamokes being sent up faster than you can say "TREASON" by the little king, based on recommendations from the whackos. Remember that first guy? The ghosthunter weirdo? He was also on record defending the Klan.
As long as you're a demonstrably reliable Confederate quack, you don't need a whit of experience. And these are the people being recommended by an equally ignorant moron in the White House.
For the record, even Chuck Grassley was appalled by some of these guys. These three probably won't be deciding the nation's laws but guess what? Idiots ALMOST, but not quite as horrible, will.
Happy Holidays!
Ken,
All excellent points about the overweening capitalism run amok. The triumphalism is sickening. And stupid, really. We saw it yesterday when Ajit Pai showed his true colors as a sneering hero of the forces of unchecked capitalism, making fun of average Americans concerned that a natural resource, an unfettered internet, has been handed over to the oligarchs. His triumphalist gloating, his derision of those not on the side of Victory for Corporations, his contempt for those fearful of control being handed to the monied interests tags him as just another grasping, clutching Trumpist Myrmidon, another intellectually dishonest sad sack in a nice suit.
What eludes these people, strangely, for those who are supposed to be so smart, is that a more equitable, decent society benefits everyone. Maybe you won't make a 5,000% profit, but how about a 3,000% profit with some room for everyone including those in the middle and on the bottom?
The Age of Trump precludes caring about any but oneself. It is an era of disgusting self-obsession, greed, and lawlessness.
And I agree. If we're still around when such as these come a cropper, we'll get together and hoist a glass. Or three.
Now that they're getting rid of net neutrality we should call on all the internet providers to ban access to all of Trump's businesses (at the very least until he divests, like that would ever happen). Or have them charge a Mar-a-lago fee (200k/yr) to anyone wanting to visit his sites.
The RWNJ understand that words matter. We must also because it is a slow drip of mind washing that sabotages our causes. I was referred as "the Progressive Monster ... (who was taking over our lives) " and I retaliated with benefits of modern life that the "Progressive Monster" had fought for. Like Health and Safety Regs, Public Ed, Healthcare, Labor Laws, Universal Franchise, I'm preaching to the choir so I won't go on. I'll admit to some snark as I went on with policies have to be rolled back because not enough people are dying in coal mines these days, too many people are being educated and the wrong people are voting. Should be able to count the amendments on the fingers, apparently. So now the CDC is forbidden the use of certain "trigger" words that can't be used around snowflakes. This is really serious, and unless we want to live in 1984, the fictional one that the Regressives live in, we had better fight this.