Anything Goes in America's Political Garbage Can

One person, one vote continues to be at risk with Red Team congress persons.  

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene advocated that people moving from Democratic-leaning states to Republican-leaning states should be temporarily barred from voting.

The congresswoman tweeted that "brainwashed people" moving from California and New York "really need a cooling off period."

Texans got a Red State cooling off period in February 2021 and hundreds of citizens died from hypothermia.  Greene's view that most Americans fit neatly into Red or Blue political team boxes is erroneous.  Many people consider themselves independents.    

Congress won't enact the public's long standing desire for voting to be made easier.  The Greene's of the world want to reduce voters to the people they actually serve.  

Voting will be much cheaper with only policy-making billionaires pulling the lever.  Just print a few hundred simulated paper ballots in the billionaires' private Votaverse.  

The rest of us have long been ignored.  It's like our five days with no heat, water or power during the Texas winter storm.  Elected officials designed the system that spectacularly failed, causing widespread harm and misery.  

America needs leaders.  Unfortunately our political system has been distorted to not to give us what we need.  It gives us the exact opposite, arrogant fools. personal profiteers and internet trolls.  .Lord help us all.

Update 1-2-22:  Rep. Taylor Greene has been permanently banned from Twitter, a private company with rules for participants.

Update 1-9-22:  Blue Team New York Mayor appointed relatives to key high paying positions in city government.  Red Team strategist Steve Bannon applied for a loan based on an expensive property he does not own.  These stories reflect the big money churn within the politically connected, unethical behavior and possible crimes.  Public trust, anyone?    

Update 1-16-22:  Chief political garbageman and former President Donald Trump offered a bunch of nonsense to his fans on the Red Team in Arizona.  Did people actually pay for that?  

Update 1-27-22:  Sending out mail-in ballot applications is OK for a Texas Congressman but illegal if done by local election officials.  Huh?

Update 2-2-22:  To stamp out the canard of voter fraud Texas banned the mailing of vote-by-mail applications by local election officials.  It did not bar Red Team incumbents from that very practice.  Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick did just that using official looking letterhead as did Rep. Dan Crenshaw.  I believe they have pointed out the speck in the other's eye while ignoring the log in their own. 

Update 2-9-22:  Rep. Greene tried to invoke Hitler's goon squad but instead cited cold Spanish soup.  Gestapo, Gazpacho.  Thank you Marjorie, I needed a good laugh.  

Ignorance is as ignorance does.  Add a dose of arrogance and things get squirrelly.  

Update 2-20-22:  A conservative retired federal judge said "the United States is locked "in a political war to the death" and that "American democracy hangs in the balance."

"Our leaders seem incapable or unwilling to lead us in this moment when we need leadership most. If our leaders refuse to lead us to where we want to go and need to be, then we must go there ourselves — and leave them behind," he wrote.

Update 2-26-22:  Malaprop Marj spoke to the Wingnut element of the Red Team.  Was it the Minestrone Militia?  Next up, CPAC.  Should it be renamed CrackerPAC?  It's an icy cold soup of crazy.  

Fox News commenter Cucker Tarlson joined Pormer Fresident Tonald Drump in praising Putin.

Malaprop Marj did no research into the person sponsoring the Wingnut event and claims she knew nothing of his white supremacist views prior to speaking.  This rings hollow.  Leaders lie to us in the workplace and in the political arena.  I am tired of it.  

Update 2-27-22:  Senator Mitt Romney said any Red Team leaders who would speak at a white nationalist conference are morons and called such views evil.

Update 3-19-22:  Red Team Rep. Mike McCaul called Cucker Tarlson an "organ of Russian disinformation."  I think we know which organ.

Update 4-5-22:  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene verbally insulted her Republican Congressional colleagues, calling them pro-pedophile.  A fellow GOP member called her comments "ludicrous" and "typical".

Update 4-9-22:  Florida's Red Team Governor Ron DeSantis compared a Blue Team Georgia governor candidate to Cuba's Raul Castro.

Update 4-22-22:  Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene suddenly developed brain fog while testifying in a legal case seeking to block her from running for reelection for her role in the Capital insurrection.  Like BP's Lord John Browne and Ivanka Trump her brain turned to jelly under legal inquiry.  Greene's social media accounts could jog her memory, but those words are what got her in court.  Ooooppppss.

Update 4-27-22:  A year later the Trump White House almost immediately shifted blame for the Capital Insurrection.  

Leaked texts have unveiled a Trump aide's plan to help the then-president deflect anger over the Capitol riot.  Jason Miller outlined tweets for Trump to send out, blaming "ANTIFA" and "crazed leftists" for the violence.  Miller also proposed a tweet accusing the "fake news media" of demonizing "peaceful and innocent MAGA supporters."

No truth at all.

Update 5-14-22:  Greene said Democrats are setting food plants on fire to advance a globalist agenda.  She didn't say if they were started with Jewish space lasers.

Update 5-30-22:  Greene said plant based meat is grown in a "peach tree dish."  Malaprop Marjorie is referring to what is called in real world a petri dish.

Update 6-19-22:  Former President Trump spoke to the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in Nashville.  FFC executive Ralph Reed said this of potential Red Team Presidential candidates for 2024.

“We figure the best thing to do is to provide a platform for those candidates and assist them, informally, by letting them know the best way they can connect with and make their case to those voters and pastors.  

“After that, we let the market decide.”

The market?  How about the faithful. It's time to throw out the money-changers and that includes those selling their soul for earthly gains.

Update 7-7-22:  Tucker Carlson blamed lecturing women as a reason for young males to use weapons of war on innocent Americans.  Next he'll blame the shootings on untanned ball sacks.

Update 7-10-22:  Unhinged Red Team behavior continues.

Update 9-27-22:   Tucker Carlson cheered the election of a neo-fascist Italian Prime Minister, an admirer of Mussolini. He also encouraged threats toward children's hospitals who provide gender affirming healthcare.

Update 9-28-22:  Tucker Carlson called hurricanes "a scam" just as Hurricane Ian and its 155 mph winds bear down on southwest Florida.  Can we get a live report from Tucker as Ian's eye-wall obliterates property?

Update 9-30-22:  Tucker could have given that live report from his property on Gasparilla Island, which got pummeled during the hurricane.  I bet Tucker has federal flood insurance for his island estate.

Update 10-12-23:  Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said a Red Team PAC meeting with a white supremacist was "a blunder."  The white supremacist is on record:

...has frequently praised Hitler and questioned if the Holocaust happened. He has called for “holy war” against Jews, said he wants the United States under authoritarian, "Catholic Taliban rule" and fantasized about marrying a 16-year-old when he is older because that’s “right when the milk is good." He has said that he would beat a "disrespectful" woman so hard that she would collapse like a building on Sept. 11, 2001. And he has routinely pushed conspiracy theories that claim there is an intentional, Jewish-driven effort to replace white people through immigration, interracial marriage and the LGBTQ+ community. “All I want is revenge against my enemies and a total Aryan victory,

Ed Meese Leads Red Team Cancel Culture

Former Attorney General Edwin Meese III joined other Red Team members in requesting the expulsion of Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger from the House GOP conference.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney, father of Rep. Liz Cheney, has conservative bona fides, like Ed Meese.

Ed Meese is a national treasure. He has advanced the best interests of the United States effectively, honorably, and courageously in one important job after another. It is worth recalling that Ed came to Washington to organize the Reagan presidential transition and then went on to play a central role as President Reagan’s closest adviser in a long list of important conservative accomplishments. It has been my privilege to know and learn from Ed over many years and a great honor to have served with him on the Trump presidential transition.” 

Consider this historical footnote:

In April 1980, Dick Cheney endorsed Governor Ronald Reagan for president, becoming one of Reagan's earliest supporters.

Ed Meese is pushing cancel culture against the conservative daughter of a Red Team peer.  Trump's ego supersedes friendships and family.  It takes courage to stand against Trump's brand of unthinking and uncaring.

Update 1-6-22:  Former VP Dick Cheney visited the U.S. Capital today, the one year anniversary of Donald Trump's Middle Aged Wilding.  Cheney remarked:

"I'm deeply disappointed we don't have better leadership in the Republican Party to restore the Constitution."  

"Well, it’s not a leadership that resembles any of the folks that I knew when I was here for 10 years -- dramatically."

Did Ed Meese hear that?

Red Team: Trump Party of 1

Business Insider reported:

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Republican leaders must "have a relationship with Donald Trump" in order to be effective.

There is no "relationship" with former President Trump, just complete fealty.  

Senator Lindsey Graham once confronted international strongmen.  Now he supports America's version to the point that Red Team candidates have to kiss the ring.

Update 12-14-21:  A number of Trump ring kissers asked White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to intervene with the President to stop the Capital insurrection.  However, Roman emperor Trump had carnage to take in before acting. 

Update 12-16-21:  Esquire reported:

They (Fox News hosts and Donald Trump Jr.) knew something fundamental: Trump was watching this unfold on TV and doing nothing to stop it. The Capitol of the United States was under attack, and the president didn't lift a finger.

Update 12-18-21:  Former Trump Chief of Staff Meadows has been described as "chief enabler to a president who was desperate to hold on to power."  Anyone under Trump is expected to enable the former President.

Update 1-2-22:  Former President Trump plans to hold a press conference from Maro Lago on January 6th, the one year anniversary of his white, middle aged Capital wilding.  Lord, help us all.

Update 1-4-22:  Trump intends to lie about January 6th, his national disgrace. Trump's ego maintenance is endangering our democracy.

Update 1-5-22:  Donald Trump cancelled his January 6th address/press conference on the one year anniversary of his followers overrunning the U.S. Capital in violent fashion.

Sixty percent of Americans polled believe an attack like the Capital insurrection conducted by the unhinged far right could happen again.  The far-right plans to harass local and moderate GOP officials and their children—people who are part of the same party—to pressure them out of positions overseeing elections or on school boards, in order to install more radical acolytes.  All in the service of one losing President.

Update 1-10-22:  Trump targeted two Red Team Senators.  He's after Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.  Round's Trump sin was to call the 2020 election "as fair as we've seen."  Like any bully Trump wants to control another politician's endorsement of Murkowski.  

Update 1-15-22:  House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in the aftermath of Jan. 6th that President Trump bore responsibility for the attack.  No more.  The public deserves answers however protecting the former president is Red Team Job #1.

Update 1-26-22:  Donald Trump suggested White House advisor Ivanka was being abused by the January 6th investigatory committee.  "They go after children."  No, they asked someone who has information pertinent to the investigation to cooperate.   

Update 1-30-22:  Former President Donald Trump continued his disparagement tour in Conroe, Texas.  There he said he could pardon the Jan. 6th insurrectionists while sending mobs against government agencies investigating Trump's possible illegal behavior.  In Trumpworld he makes the law so nothing he does is illegal.  That does not intersect well with reality.  A Republican government ethicist said Trump's giving aid to seditionists by pardoning them disqualifies him for the Presidency.  Lord, he's yours to handle because our democratic systems appear to be completely incapable of evicting him from political life. 

Update 2-3-22:  CNN reported "former President Donald Trump’s chilling comments at his Texas rally last week offering pardons to Jan. 6 rioters if he’s elected and calling for “massive protests” if prosecutors take action against him are signs that he’s in “burn-it-all-down mode."

Update 3-17-22:  The Red Team may be trying to dislodge the detritus blocking their throat.  National Review columnist Charles C.W. Cooke isn't swallowing Drump's distorted visions.   Cooke wrote:

The idea of selecting “extraordinary selfish” Trump to run in 2024 “should be absurd, risible, farcical, outré” and “the preserve of the demented fringe,” Cooke wrote.

The GOP is not short of candidates who haven’t lost an election and then “disgracefully lied about it for a year” or “inspired a riot in the service of that lie.”

Update 4-14-22:  Power couple Mitch McConnell (then Senate Majority Leader) and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao pondered how to manage a deranged Drump after his election loss.  There is no managing Drump who lives in a world of his own supreme malignancy.  

Update 5-16-22:  Trump told rallygoers he would write a book about the election in which he lost.  His title?  The Crime of the Century.  That would be serial perjury from a disgraced former President.

Update 5-29-22:  Trump called the insurrection "a hoax" at a Wyoming rally.  Seven people died as a result of Trump's right wing middle-aged wilding.   Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said Trump wants the Red Team to be "the party of me" where "everything has to be about him and his grievances." 

Update 6-6-22:  Pathetic loser Donald Trump called Former House Speaker Paul Ryan a pathetic loser.

Update 6-11-22:  Ex-President Donald Trump dissed daughter Ivanka after she told the January 6th House committee that she accepted Attorney General Bill Barr's conclusion that election fraud was minimal and insufficient to change the outcome of the election.  Trump's twisted ego steamrolls family members telling the truth under oath.  

“This is somebody who’s never changed. He doesn’t evolve. And as you said earlier, he has one thing he cares about, and that’s himself. That will never, ever change, no matter who gets in his way, no matter who gets hurt, even if it’s his kids.”

Update 8-17-22:  Trump's Ukraine fixer Lev Parnas detailed out the Trump "mob" family. 

Update 9-15-22:   Trump threatened civil unrest if he is indicted for taking classified information to Mar-a-Lago.

Texas Regulates Teaching Controversial Issues

The Texas Legislature dealt with pesky critical race theory, which is not taught in Texas public schools.  It did so indirectly.

A “teacher may not be compelled to discuss a widely debated and currently controversial issue of public policy or social affairs.” The law doesn’t define what a controversial issue is. If a teacher does discuss these topics, they must “explore that topic objectively and in a manner free from political bias.”

The problem arises in America's permanent political campaign where every issue is distorted for political advantage.  Public health is political.  Science is political.  Religion is political.  Nothing is not political.

Red and Blue political teams will flip/flop on an issue in a heartbeat for perceived advantage.  Consider how these groups can fight when they could agree and move forward.

In 2005 Randy Brinson, evangelical founder of Redeem the Vote, persuaded Democratic legislators in Alabama and Georgia to propose bills that would encourage Bible electives using a new textbook, The Bible and Its Influence, published by the Bible Literacy Project. Because that text had been reviewed by more than forty scholars (including this author), endorsed by some evangelical leaders, and successfully field-tested, Democrats saw such legislation as an opportunity to be religion friendly without violating the First Amendment.

Republicans in these states were not happy at the prospect of Democrats stealing their biblical thunder. One Georgia Grand Old Party senator accused the Democrats of “trying to put a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” and Georgia Republicans, who control both houses of the legislature, were able to scuttle the Democratic bill and pass their own version. Alabama Republicans managed to block their state’s bill in early 2006; efforts to revive it have stalled.

That was fifteen years ago.  The political battle field has since worsened.

Politics is not robust enough to supersede the study of various disciplines, much less incorporate them as sub-political units.  The manipulation of the public to drive voting is often crude and based on fiction, even outright lies.

For the Red Team truth is no longer truth.  Truth is loyalty to Donald Trump, a Person of the Lie.  The Blue Team sold its soul for money and power under corporacrat Bill Clinton.  Since then, it levered up its soulless bargain with financial devils.  Senators Manchin and Synema are Blue Team standard bearers.

Texas Reds prize themselves on independence.  That does not extend to the classroom.  

The law requires at least one teacher and one campus administrator at each school district to attend a civics training program that will teach educators how race and racism should be taught in Texas schools.

The Reds are regulating the teaching of thought.  They need citizens incapable of critical thinking, of considering actual U.S. history, wrestling with social concerns and arriving at opinions/strategies as to how elected officials should address those issues. 

Like the February freeze Texas elected officials designed a system to keep us in the dark.  It's chilling.

Update 12-30-21:  One person, one vote continues to be at risk with Red Team congress persons.  If they won't enact public will, Congress can just reduce voters to the people they serve.  Voting will be much cheaper with only policy making billionaires pulling the lever.  Just print a few hundred paper ballots in the billionaires' private votaverse.

No Mercy for the Heartbroken this Christmas

A United States Congressman had his family pose with guns for a Christmas picture.  He shared the picture on social media days after a deeply disturbed fifteen year old killed four schoolmates and wounded seven others.  

It is hard to see goodness or mercy in the Congressman's picture.

Those who are worn out and crushed by this mourning, let your hearts consider this:
This is the path that has existed from the time of creation and will exist forever.
Many have drunk from it and many will yet drink.
As was the first meal, so shall be the last.
May the master of comfort comfort you. 
Blessed are those who comfort the mourners. -- Jewish blessing of the Mourners

Yes, blessed are they. 

Update 2-9-22:  Rep. Massie confused correlation with causation with this:

“Over 70% of Americans who died with COVID, died on Medicare, and some people want #MedicareForAll?”

That's a surprising logic error for an MIT grad who majored in mechanical engineering. 

Trump to Sacrifice America's Credit Rating

Congress raised the debt ceiling three times under President Donald Trump.  Yet, former President Trump is encouraging the Red Team to trash America's credit rating.

"Old Crow Mitch McConnell ... must be fully prepared to use the DEBT CEILING in order to totally kill the Democrat's new Social Spending (Wasting!) Bill, which will change our Country forever," Trump said. "Use the Debt Ceiling, Mitch, show strength and courage."

Trump's scorched earth strategies feed his insatiable ego.  He does not care that they would harm his very supporters.

Using the debt ceiling as a political weapon, however, could well endanger the still-recovering economy. If the ceiling isn't lifted ahead of the deadline, the government could default on its multitrillion-dollar debt pile. Payments to federal workers and service members would freeze, as would Social Security benefits. Borrowing costs would skyrocket as the world loses faith in the US dollar's worth.

Trump burns anything in the path of his nonstop goal to increase his power and wealth.  The Lord will have to handle him.  He cannot take with him whatever ungodly sums he achieves on this earth.  That applies to all people, even the super wealthy and politically powerful.  

Update 12-9-21:  Trump shill Senator Lindsey Graham warned fellow Red Team senators they will incur the wrath of the former President if they allow Democrats to raise the debt ceiling.

Independent Voters Sour on Political Offerings

Independent voters in the U.S. are "feeling increasingly alienated from politics."  Yet, this is often the group that decides which political team, Red or Blue, wins an election.  

Just 37% of independents say they have confidence in the wisdom of the American people's choices on election day, compared to 48% of Democrats and 46% of Republicans.

America's permanent political campaign means the fight is always on and there are no constants in the battle.  Trillions in deficits run under the Red Team have no impact on inflation, yet ten months of running under the former President's budget caused skyrocketing inflation, attributable solely to a Blue White House.  

The Florida Senator pushing this line is the one of the richest in Congress and can easily afford to pay more for gasoline, food and housing.  Senator Rick Scott made his fortune in for-profit healthcare and Columbia/HCA settled with the Justice Department for $1.7 billion for committing widespread healthcare fraud.

HCA will pay nearly $620 million to resolve eight whistleblower lawsuits in which the government had intervened alleging that HCA systematically defrauded Medicare, Medicaid and other federally funded health care programs through schemes dating back to the late 1980s.

Attorney Rick Scott founded Columbia Hospital Corp in 1987.  He left in 1997.

When the federal investigation of Rick Scott’s former hospital company became public in 1997, the board of Columbia/HCA forced him out. Scott left with $300 million in stock, a $5.1 million severance and a $950,000-per-year consulting contract for five years.

In its settlement with the government, the company admitted to 14 felonies related to fraudulent billing and practices. Most happened under Scott’s leadership.

Scott claimed not to have known anything.

I saw from the inside CEO Rick Scott set aggressive, hard targets for hospital staff and how his C-Suite minions bullied that same staff for "performance."  Scott's management waterboarding caused people to do whatever was necessary to stop the pain.  Some quit, others were fired but many chose to do whatever it took to meet the target.  That could be done ethically or unethically.  If 30% of executives could cheat by backdating their stock options then some percentage of healthcare managers would take a similar path.  Rick Scott should have known, but that would mean being in relationship with real people.

Members of Congress say their body is like "high school."  High adrenaline, testosterone and a dab of estrogen are not a sound basis for governing.  Neither is making everything a hill to die on or consistently failing to accept responsibility.   

Rick Scott did his impression of former President Bill Clinton and Lord John Browne while under investigation.

 "I don't know what the def — your definition or anybody's definition of an 'agreement' is, or an 'offer' is, or 'promise' is," he said in the Jan. 16, 1997, deposition.

Rick Scott, a mergers and acquisitions attorney, said in a deposition that he didn't know the "exact" definition of "fiduciary duty" or even more commonplace terms.In one deposition, Scott pleaded the Fifth Amendment 75 times.

Virginia voters elected a chimera Governor that exported U.S. jobs to China, backed out of a public-private partnership leaving a $400 million hole and received $35 million from Texas taxpayers for cutting 35 jobs.  Virginia voters had a choice between a private equity executive and a private equity limited partner.  Not much of an offering there.  The executive won.

This independent voter wants elected officials to lead, not appeal to their constituents greatest fears while demonizing their political competitors.  Once the election is over, the job of governing begins.  That means doing what's best for the whole, not optimizing one team's political part or one's personal wealth.  

A great example looms, the raising of the debt ceiling.  The coming Red and Blue political clown car show has the potential to harm America's credit rating.  Together in their aggressive apart-ness, they just may do that.

Update 11-22-21:  The U.S. got labelled as a backsliding democracy for "declines in civil liberties and checks on government.”  Other concerns include an "increasing tendency to contest credible election results, the efforts to suppress participation (in elections), and the runaway polarization."

Update 11-27-21:  Generation Z'ers aren't enamored with America's Red and Blue political teams. 

Update 12-4-21:  Wingnuts are so emboldened they are running for office. Legislative agendas are not needed for the Red Team, according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. 

Update 12-19-21:  This statistic might be pertinent:

Nearly six in 10 — an unusually robust consensus at a time of deep political divisions — say they’re opposed to a Trump campaign (59 percent) or a Biden campaign (57 percent) in 2024. 

If politicians stick to ignoring public will it'll be Trump vs. Biden in 2024 unless God intervenes before then. 

Update 2-2-22:  To stamp out the canard of voter fraud Texas banned the mailing of vote-by-mail applications by local election officials.  It did not bar Red Team incumbents from that very practice.  Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick did just that using official looking letterhead as did Rep. Dan Crenshaw.  I believe they have pointed out the speck in the other's eye while ignoring the log in their own.  

Update 2-20-22:  A conservative retired federal judge said "the United States is locked "in a political war to the death" and that "American democracy hangs in the balance."

"Our leaders seem incapable or unwilling to lead us in this moment when we need leadership most. If our leaders refuse to lead us to where we want to go and need to be, then we must go there ourselves — and leave them behind," he wrote.

Update 10-14-22:  Red Team Gov. Ron DeSantis loosened voting rules for Red Team dominated counties with damage from Hurricane Ian.  No such declaration for Blue leaning ones with major flooding. 

Update 11-13-22:  Independent voters showed their disdain for Trump backed candidates in the Midterm elections.

Update 12-8-22:  Georgia voters rejected Trump candidate Herschel Walker for the U.S. Senate.  Independent voters dislike the Insane Red Team but also have no love for the Blue Lucys. 

Youngkin's Win Brings Ari Back

The Red Team victory for Virginia governor woke Ari Fleischer from his twelve year nap as a media consultant.   Yahoo News reported:

 "To put a finer point on what's happening in Virginia, particularly in the suburbs, what you really have - and this is the risk the Democrats have going into 2022 - is an anti-woke rebellion," Ari Fleischer, who served as White House press secretary under former President George W. Bush, said on Fox News Tuesday night.

Rabid Trumpians have no use for Ari's old boss, President George W. Bush.   But that's not the group that pushed Youngkin into the winner's circle.  Independent voters and Red Team members (who could no longer stomach "punch back harder" Donald Trump in 2020) switched from Blue to Red in the Virginia race.

Youngkin levered his appeal by toning down his hard right tendencies.  He hid his recent stint as a globalist, union partnering, ESG committed, diversity/inclusion loving private equity underwriter (PEU). 

Did Ari help Youngkin hide his tendency to monitor rush hour traffic in Beijing?  Was Fleischer behind Youngkin avoiding the thousands of American jobs he and The Carlyle Group sent to China via affiliate United Components Inc. during the Bush years?  How did Youngkin get to advocate for public-private partnerships but not have to explain how he left the Port of Corpus Christi a potential $400 million hole when Carlyle abandoned it lead developer role for Harbor Island expansion?

The Red Team sold independent voters a chimera in Glenn Youngkin.

(It's a) pattern that has spanned Republican and Democratic presidencies and Congresses: Private equity has conquered the American tax system.

Private equity firms have devised to help their managers avoid income taxes on the roughly $120 billion the industry pays its executives each year.

Glenn Youngkin and The Carlyle Group are tax avoiders, exported U.S. auto parts manufacturing jobs to China and abandoned their lead developer role and $400 million commitment to a Corpus Christi port expansion.

Update 11-6-21:  Youngkin's 17 year old son tried to vote for his father twice and was turned away.  One might expect young Youngkin to be educated on voting rules.  Maybe his father hasn't had that talk with him yet.  "Son, there's this thing called the policy making billionaire.  They get the government to stack the laws and steer the federal budget in their favor."

Update 6-7-22:  Ari is the spokesperson for the Saudi backed LIV golf tour.

Update 7-4-22:  Ari is the media coach for LIV. 

Media consultant Ari Fleischer, the Fox News political commentator and White House press secretary for President George W. Bush, has appeared at both LIV events and listened intently to how players answered questions.

Once it was clear players were giving the same talking points, a testy exchange occurred when some were asked how much media training they received, especially to address questions about human rights abuses happening in Saudi Arabia.

"Zero," Pat Perez said.

"Yeah, I mean, unless you want to do it yourself," chimed in Brooks Koepka.

When Koepka was told it was just a question he said, "I'm just giving you an answer, man."

Take the money and run boys.  Next LIV stop is Trump Bedminster where ex-President Trump is in residence.  I expect Jared Kushner to drop by if Affinity Partners is an equity holder in LIV. 

Don's Diatribe Coming to Social Media

Reuter's reported:

Former U.S. President Donald Trump will launch his own social media app, TRUTH Social, that he said would "stand up to Big Tech" companies such as Twitter and Facebook that have barred him from their platforms.

Ex-President Donald Trump has long lived his insatiable ego "reality."   How often do his delusions make contact with this world, much less remain consistent as he constantly seeks adulation?  

The word truth may lose all meaning until his site goes bankrupt.  

Update 11-20-21:   Don's Diatribe will file late with the SEC.  

Update 12-2-21:  Donald Trump's Truth Social missed its November projection to have a beta application up and running.

Update 9-1-22:  Don's Diatribe is not paying vendors and its SPAC deal with DWAC is in trouble.

Trump Manipulates Followers on Voting

 

Former President Donald Trump told his followers not to use the one method they have to impact the future of government.  The former President treated his people as pawns to go after the non-Trump portion of the Republican Party.  He threatened to sub-optimize the Red Team's future to maintain his fragile ego.  

Having worked for two narcissists in my career it took me a long time to realize the one thing that motivated those bosses, the need to optimize their image in the present moment.  

Trump calls the 2020 election the "most corrupt in the history of our country."  He cannot face the actual will of the country.  Enough people tired of his punch back harder persona, trail of illness and death from Trump's botching the pandemic response and inability to meet the most basic ethical standards.

Combine his insatiable ego and gluttony for revenge with advisors willing to submarine longstanding democratic principles and practices and America is in a precarious place.  I'd like to trust Republicans to deal with their problem but conservative pundits aren't inspiring in that regard

Conservative pundit Charlie Sykes on Friday lamented what he described as the “race to the bottom” to “see who can be the most MAGA” between Republicans in Florida, Arizona and Texas.

“I know that Republicans in Texas have been conservative for a long time but there was a time when conservative Republicans in Texas were not absolutely batshit crazy,” Sykes, founder of the conservative website The Bulwark, told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace in video shared online by Mediaite.

“Texas Republicans used to be respectable,” Sykes continued. “And now we are almost in this competition … between Florida, Arizona and Texas to see who can be the most MAGA, who can play the most hair-on-fire culture war games, because that seems to be this race to the bottom that we’re talking about here.”

Confusion is a strategy to get people off balance so they can be manipulated.  Trump is a master of sowing confusion and division.  For that our country pays a tremendous price.   

Update 11-14-21:   In 2021’s MAGAfied GOP, House Republicans who voted for a bipartisan infrastructure bill find themselves on the receiving end of death threats. “It’s amazing people want to kill me over paving roads and clean water,” Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.)

Public Will Not Translated into Law

Elected officials continue to ignore public opinion in four areas:

1.  Having rich pay more in taxes

2.  Tackling ridiculously high healthcare costs

3.  Making access to voting easier

4.  Restricting ownership of weapons designed to kill people on a modern day battlefield

The majority of citizens want action in these four areas and elected officials refuse to follow through.  In some cases public servants have gone against public opinion.  The Red Team dominated Texas Legislature received a 28% approval rating after restricting voting access in a recent special session.

Three Blue Team Congresspersons killed a provision that would allow Medicare to negotiate pharmaceutical prices.

Polls show that the idea of allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices is wildly popular.  Overall, 81 percent of respondents said they supported Medicare negotiations to regulate drug costs.

Donation records reveal the three to be large recipients of pharma contribution.  It's but the latest example of Congress serving economic elites, business interests and the billionaire class. 

Update 10-4-21:  Kevin McLaughlin's Common Sense Leadership Fund issued an ad calling tax increases "theft" and "stealing."   Dangerous framing by the Red Team.  

Update 10-20-21:  Blue Corporacrats "Just Say No" to tax increases on wealthy.  Which Senator will call David Rubenstein and tell him PEU carried interest is saved, yet again?

Update 10-25-21:  PEW Research supports how public will is consistently ignored:

Eighty-five percent of surveyed American adults said they wanted an overhaul of the country's political systems, while 66% said they wanted major changes to the US economy. Just over three-fourths of respondents said there needed to be major reform to the country's healthcare systems.

85% of respondents said they wanted major political reform in the US, but only 28% expressed confidence the system could change.  Most of those wanting major change aren't optimistic it can happen, and show little faith in the country's democratic processes.

Update 11-3-21:  71% of voters support raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.  The ultra rich win again according to uber-wealthy Larry Summers.  The Blue Team tax plan includes:

"No rate increases below $10 million, no capital gains increases, no estate tax increases, no major reform of loopholes like carried interest and real estate exchanges but restoration of the state and local deduction explain it."

Update 11-4-21:   Blue Team Senator Tim Kaine said public will equaled "purist demands."  In other words the rich continue winning.  Politicians Red and Blue love PEU.

Update 12-19-21:  While its not in the area of law I thought this statistic might be pertinent:

Nearly six in 10 — an unusually robust consensus at a time of deep political divisions — say they’re opposed to a Trump campaign (59 percent) or a Biden campaign (57 percent) in 2024. 

If politicians stick to ignoring public will it'll be Trump vs. Biden in 2024 unless God intervenes before then. 

Update 1-17-22:  “The preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.”  Offered by former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich.   By 2013 79% of Americans believed government was “run by a few big interests looking out for themselves.”  Politicians Red and Blue love PEU.

Update 5-29-22:  Texas Governor Greg Abbott has overseen responses to four massacres of Texans by deranged people with readily available weapons of war.  The latest in Uvalde, Texas was perpetrated on Robb Elementary School and may engage critical suburban moms.  

Update 6-8-22:  The reason American public will is ignored is gerrymandered districts.

Update 6-15-22:  Over half of Americans worry our country will cease to be a democracy in the future.  Will elected officials ignore this concern in addition to the others?

Update 6-19-22:  One Senator chose to insult the electorate when faced against public will.

Update 6-24-22:  70% of respondents want new federal legislation to ban members of Congress from stock trading, while 68% said such a ban should extend to lawmakers' spouses.  No action.

The Supreme Court struck down Roe vs. Wade taking away a right of a woman to control her body.  Americans’ support for abortion in all or most cases was at 80% in May 2021.

Update 10-22-22:   Communist China pretends it has gone past democracy with this horse hockey:

"China's whole-process people's democracy integrates process-oriented democracy with results-oriented democracy, procedural democracy with substantive democracy, direct democracy with indirect democracy and people's democracy with the will of the state."

I thought their deal for citizens was economic freedom.  The Chinese are just another version of earthly government managers looking for their own interests.  Citizen input will be constrained to surveys designed by the government, not by the people.  U.S. workers have completed enough employment surveys that provide no space for feedback on the crap sandwich they must eat every day. 

Update 1-16-23:  "A large majority of voters (83 percent) across party lines say they want to see Social Security expanded, not slashed, with the wealthy contributing their fair share in payroll taxes." 

Update 1-18-23:  Senator Joe Manchin said from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland:

"Our democracy will correct itself. The public and constituents will command that and demanded it that we correct it and come back to that sensible center."

Nice words for the billionaire class attending Davos to hear.   They are the constituents Manchin and most politicians hear.  The people, not so much.

Manchin and fellow Senator Kyrsten Sinema high fived each other in a Davos panel.  Together they blocked elimination of private equity's preferred "carried interest" taxation.  

Update 8-27-23:  Several Harvard professors gave four reasons why elected officials restrict abortion rights despite the majority's will.  One is "design of American political institutions."

Senator McConnell Blocks Jan. 6th Commission

House Majority Leader Mitch McConnel led the effort blocking the formation of a January 6th Commission.  His actions prevent a deeper, independent look at the insurrection and how its re-occurrence might be prevented.

The mother of Brian Sicknick, the Capital police officer who died after the rioting, pleaded with Red Team members of Congress for a bi-partisan commission.

"Not having a January 6 Commission to look into exactly what occurred is a slap in the faces of all the officers who did their jobs that day,” said Gladys Sicknick, who urged lawmakers to visit her son’s grave at Arlington National Cemetery.

Indications are Capital Police officers are in an abusive relationship, where their voice, mental and physical health do not matter.

"We have heard all of this support for police, police, police, and then your own police force is battered and bruised and now you drag your feet?" said another officer.

Optimizing a political party for the ego needs of Donald Trump is a very disturbing thing.  Senator McConnell is proving to be one of Trump's most powerful enablers.  Sad. 

Update 5-31-21:  Senate Republicans don't want an investigation to get to the root causes of the January 6th insurrection but demanded an investigation into the origins of COVID-19.   

The attack was the worst on the Capitol in 200 years. The protesters interrupted the certification of Biden’s win over Trump, constructed a mock gallows in front of the Capitol and called for the hanging of Vice President Mike Pence, who was overseeing the proceedings inside. Lawmakers hid on the floor of the House balcony as the rioters tried to break in, and senators evacuated their chamber mere minutes before it was ransacked. 

Irony enters when riot inciter Senator Josh Hawley wants COVID-19 origin information released.

"Let the American people see. Let the American people decide ... share the facts."

Those words could easily be said in favor of a January 6th bipartisan investigation.  That's what frosts this independent voter.  Both events killed people.  Both should be investigated for human understanding.  

Update 5-31-21:  Esquire columnist said "By failing to follow in the footsteps of these other bi-partisan commissions (some of which were related to foreign terrorist attacks, some domestic like the Jan. 6 insurrection), today’s Republican senators have put party above politics at a level so high, it should terrify us all. The worst is certainly yet to come.

Update 6-2-21:  McConnell further warmed deadly snake Donald Trump, who is telling friends he will be reinstated as President by August.  As there is no method for him to be reinstated, some consider Trump delusional.  That was clear long before January 6th, the day Trump unleashed his loyalists on the Capital. 

When mental pathology is accompanied by criminal-mindedness, however, the combination can make individuals far more dangerous than either alone.  

He is certainly of an autocratic disposition because his extreme narcissism does not allow for equality with other human beings, as democracy requires.

His emotional fragility, manifested in extreme intolerance of realities that do not fit his wishful view of the world, predispose him to psychotic spirals.

If one cannot have love, one resorts to respect. And when respect is unavailable, one resorts to fear. Trump is now living through an intolerable loss of respect: rejection by a nation in his election defeat. Violence helps compensate for feelings of powerlessness, inadequacy and lack of real productivity.

The treatment is removal of exposure.  For healing, I usually recommend three steps: (1) Removal of the offending agent (the influential person with severe symptoms). (2) Dismantling systems of thought control—common in advertising but now also heavily adopted by politics. And (3) fixing the socioeconomic conditions that give rise to poor collective mental health in the first place.

The challenge is disconnecting the Red Team from their severely damaged leader

When the mind is hijacked for the benefit of the abuser, it becomes no longer a matter of presenting facts or appealing to logic.  

That's the state of the Republican Party.  I said optimized to meet the ego needs of Donald Trump, but hijacked for the benefit of an abusive Trump is more succinct.

Update 6-27-21:  Republican House leadership finally met with Capital police officers and the mother of Officer Brian Sicknick.

Update 7-1-21:  Only two Red team members of the House of Representatives voted for a select commission to review the Jan. 6 insurrection. 

Update 7-21-21:  House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pulled his five nominees from the House committee reviewing the insurrection.  Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) "accused McCarthy of trying to “prevent” Americans from knowing the truth of how the Capitol attack occurred."

“The American people deserve to know what happened. The people who did this must be held accountable, it must be an investigation that is sober and gets to the facts,” she said, adding that, however “at every turn the minority leader has tried to get the people not to know what happened.”

Gross incompetence is all Republican leaders have to offer on the January 6th insurrection.   

Update 8-2-21:  The Red Team continues its shameless behavior regarding the January 6th insurrection.  Mitch is still slinking around in the background after Trump followers unleashed hell on the U.S. Capital.  

Update 8-5-21:  The Red Team "made a call to shift all blame away from Trump."  Independent voters fled the Trump train after he botched the COVID pandemic.  Deflecting the Jan. 6th insurrection with outright lies will keep independent voters away.  It took more than mean tweets to drive voters away.  It took Trump's callous indifference to people's lives, something the Texas legislature shares.  

Update 8-27-21:  Ex-President Donald Trump claimed executive privilege for himself and colleagues in regard to the House Select Committee on January 6ths request for documents from the White House and numerous government agencies. Capital Police officers filed a lawsuit accusing Trump, the Proud Boys and violent extremist groups of causing the deadly Jan. 6th riot/insurrection.

Update 9-1-21:  House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy threatened telecom companies that respond to House subpoenas for phone records regarding the Jan. 6th riot/insurrection.

Update 9-4-21:  "Republicans are doing everything they can to thwart Congress’ inquiry into the Jan. 6th attack on the Capitol, including by threatening to purge their party of members who participate in the select committee tasked with that investigation."

Update 9-12-21:   The committee may get to the bottom of the Jan.6th event with the help of two Republican members.

Update 11-1-21:  Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich claimed the people who stormed the Capitol were "agitators not associated with" Trump.

Update 12-4-21:  Wingnuts are so emboldened they are running for office. Legislative agendas are not needed for the Red Team, according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. 

Update 12-13-21:  The January 6th Capital insurrection was driven from the top according to former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.  This explains the Red Team's intransigence on the investigation.

Update 12-20-21:  Trump is nervous as the House select committee investigating Jan 6 revealed an "alarming strategy to stop Biden’s certification on 6 January, involving nearly the entire federal government and lieutenants operating from the Willard hotel in Washington"

Update 1-3-22:   House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is calling the committee investigating January 6th a "partisan political weapon."  The Sunday letter to his colleagues came after the public learned President Trump sat on his keister in the dining room next to the Oval Office watching the Capital attack on television, ignoring two requests from daughter Ivanka to intervene.  

Update 1-13-22:  Red Team members refuse to cooperate with the Jan. 6th Committee.  

Rep. Liz Cheney said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was trying to "cover up" what happened at the Capitol riot by refusing to work with the House committee investigating it.

How deep is the rabbit hole?  The public has no right to know.

Update 4-27-22:  A year later the Trump White House almost immediately shifted blame for the Capital Insurrection.  

Leaked texts have unveiled a Trump aide's plan to help the then-president deflect anger over the Capitol riot.  Jason Miller outlined tweets for Trump to send out, blaming "ANTIFA" and "crazed leftists" for the violence.  Miller also proposed a tweet accusing the "fake news media" of demonizing "peaceful and innocent MAGA supporters."

Did Mitch get any of these communications?

Update 1-2-23:  Senior Trump aide Hope Hicks wrote after Jan. 6th:

"...We all look like domestic terrorists now.”

That they did.  Many still do.

Update 1-16-23:  Trump called the Capital rioters "great patriots" and their deserved prison sentences "a disgrace."  Spoken like a Chief Domestic Terrorist.

Update 10-17-23:   Insane Red Jim Jordan is up for Speaker of the House.   Jordan helped plan the January 6th insurrection.

January 6th Commission Passed House

 

Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) voted against establishing a commission to investigate the January 6 attack on the Capitol.  Pfluger had called the insurrection "a day of needless violence" on Twitter.  He told San Angelo Live:

“This is completely and utterly un-American. I condemn all violence happening at the Capitol. We are a country of law and order. Laying siege to the Capitol building is in total opposition to our ideals. I could not be more disappointed,” Pfluger stated.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy promised on January 9th:

Congress will provide the full resources to bring perpetrators of Wednesday’s attack to justice.

President Donald Trump's ego was the root cause of the attack.  Thirty five Republican House members stood up to Trump's ongoing lies and belligerence.  

As an independent voter who last registered Republican I want to know what was going on inside the White House while Trump supporters ransacked the Capital, using its halls for a lavatory.  Pfluger and McCarthy walked past MAGA urine and excrement to vote against certifying Arizona's election results.

Two Texas Republican Representatives voted for the January 6th Commission.  Both are veterans, Tony Gonzales (Navy) and Van Taylor (Marines).  Both served in war theaters, Iraq and/or Afghanistan.  Time will reveal the price they pay for their courage.  Former President Donald Trump has a wicked vengeful side.  

The Senate will determine if a January 6th Commission is established.  Sen. John Cornyn earned a Master of Laws from the University of Virginia in 1984.  Senator Ted Cruz graduated from Harvard Law School in 1995.  Each experienced a violent mob intent on interrupting the election certification of Joe Biden as President.  

That experience made no difference for 175 Republican Congress members.  One went from barricading House Chamber doors to calling the day a normal Capital Tour.  

Flashback to the Benghazi investigation:

"I've got to get the facts. I don't want to sound naive, but facts do not come with a color associated," Rep. Trey Gowdy said in May 2014. "There are not Republican facts or Democratic facts or swing-state facts. There are just facts."

It appears the public will not get to hear the facts about what happened inside the White House while the riot raged.  This is extremely disturbing.   

Update 5-27-21:  The mother of slain Capital Police Officer Brian SicknicK is visiting the Capital today.  She will ask Republican Senators to support a bi-partisan commission on the January 6th insurrection that took the life of her son.   Capital Police describe an abusive relationship with many members of Congress whose lives they protected/saved that day.  "We have heard all of this support for police, police, police, and then your own police force is battered and bruised and now you drag your feet?" 

Update 10-30-21:  Donald Trump intended to keep power by any means. 

Update 1-3-22:   House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is calling the committee investigating January 6th a "partisan political weapon."  The Sunday letter to his colleagues came after the public learned President Trump sat on his keister in the dining room next to the Oval Office watching the Capital attack on television, ignoring two requests from daughter Ivanka to intervene. 

Texas Legislature Makes it Harder to Vote, Easier to Carry Gun in Public

 

The Texas House and Senate passed bills allowing Texans to carry holstered handguns in public without a permit or required training.  Law enforcement opposed permitless carry, which head to conference to work out differences between the bills.

A solid majority of Texas voters don't think permitless carry should be allowed, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll.

Most citizens and law enforcement don't want permitless carry in their communities.  Most people, outside those manipulated by former President and Liar-in-Chief Donald Trump, want to make it easier to vote.

Not the Texas legislature.

The right to vote is under attack, as are the people who protect that right.

Multiple states have passed or are considering new restrictive voting rules in response to the “big lie” that the 2020 election was stolen. There is, of course, no evidence of massive voter fraud in 2020 — and President Biden legitimately won the election — but that has not stopped unscrupulous politicians in states such as Arizona, Georgia, Texas, Florida and Iowa from considering new strict rules on absentee balloting, the ability to use a drop box, and even providing food or water to voters waiting in line.

These attacks on our democracy have received much attention. Far less noticed, however, have been provisions in these laws that penalize local election officials who administer our elections.

Texas already had the most restrictive voting laws in the U.S.  Just like permitless carry, new voting restrictions passed both the House and Senate.  Once differences are reconciled both the gun and voting bills will head to Governor Greg Abbott for his signature.

Texans experienced how much elected officials care for citizens during Winter Storm Uri.  We were left alone in the bitter cold and dark.  If they didn't care about our lives, what do they care about our voice?  Not a flip.   

Update 5-29-21:  Former Houston Police Chief Acevedo said law enforcement across the U.S. does not support permitless carry.  "It is not needed."  Texas Governor Greg Abbott has said he will sign the bill.  A solid majority of Texas voters don't think permitless carry should be allowed.

Update 2-3-22:   The Guardian reported "Officials in Texas are rejecting thousands of mail-in ballots ahead of the first 2022 midterm primary votes next month, raising serious alarm that a new Republican law is going to disenfranchise droves of eligible voters.

Texas Sen. Hughes, Drive-Thru Voting Occurred in Tom Green County

 Senator Hughes should know of drive through voting in Tom Green County.

I tried the drive through the afternoon of an ice storm  It was closed due to weather.  Little did I know it foreshadowed the February 2021 winter storm where the Texas Legislator failed citizens by the millions.

Should Senator Hughes bill pass poll watchers can video voters needing assistance.  Congressman August Pfluger wants my Social Security number on my ballot.  Will the poll watcher be able to obtain my SSN via video should Pfluger's bill get enacted?    

Update 7-11-21:  Yahoo reported:

What Abbott is looking to achieve, among other things, is a ban on 24-hour and drive-through voting, implementing strict new voter ID requirements for mail-in ballots, a prohibition on absentee ballot applications from being sent out proactively, and an expansion of the authority granted to partisan poll watchers.

But in the Senate hearing on Saturday, GOP Sen. Bryan Hughes, committee chair and author of S.B. 1, admitted to Sen. Royce West, a Democrat, that Republicans had not done, nor were they aware of, any studies analyzing the disparate impacts of voting restrictions on people of color.

The exchange followed an admission by Hughes to Democratic State Sen. José Menéndez that he hadn’t spoken with any outside advocacy groups such as the NAACP about how the bill could affect minority voters. There are “some minorities who are Republicans who support the bill,” Hughes noted in response to a subsequent question.

As for his proposed ban on 24-hour voting, Hughes said he had not heard of any fraud cases related to the practice during the 2020 presidential election.

Update 9-23-21:  Exactly how the Texas legislature restricted voting access in their law.   The key is being not customer oriented.  

Update 10-24-21:  An ASU government professor missed that Tom Green County had drive up voting when he summed up changes made by Hughes and company.  

Update 2-2-22:  To stamp out the canard of voter fraud Texas banned the mailing of vote-by-mail applications by local election officials.  It did not bar Red Team incumbents from that very practice.  Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick did just that using official looking letterhead as did Rep. Dan Crenshaw.  I believe they have pointed out the speck in the other's eye while ignoring the log in their own.  

Update 2-3-22:   The Guardian reported "Officials in Texas are rejecting thousands of mail-in ballots ahead of the first 2022 midterm primary votes next month, raising serious alarm that a new Republican law is going to disenfranchise droves of eligible voters.