What are Americans to make of Donald Trump’s insistence that he would have won the popular vote but for “millions” of fraudulent votes?
I suppose the first thing we need to do– as my mother used to admonish me– “Consider the source.” As Philip Roth memorably described Trump in an interview published by the New Yorker,
“[he is] ignorant of government, of history, of science, of philosophy, of art, incapable of expressing or recognizing subtlety or nuance, destitute of all decency, and wielding a vocabulary of seventy-seven words that is better called Jerkish than English.”
Given that (actually, somewhat understated) description, I suppose it is pointless to expect Trump to understand even the most basic aspects of America’s electoral system–especially when his ego requires not understanding it.
Challenged by people who do understand how voting works (including the difference between registering to vote and casting a ballot), Trump has announced an “investigation” into “rampant” voter fraud, to be headed by Mike Pence. As Ed Brayton reports,
So now he says Pence will be leading the investigation. Why Pence? You have an entire department of the DOJ that specializes in voter fraud and voting rights. Pence seems to be his dumping ground. He says really stupid things and then leaves it to Pence to clean up after him. As for the allegations themselves, he offers this defense:
Shortly before announcing the Pence-led commission, Trump dug in on his false allegations of voter fraud and insisted he had been vindicated by, well, “many people.”
“Many people have come out and said I am right,” the president told O’Reilly. He offered no additional support to his claims.
This is an argument made by someone who doesn’t understand basic reasoning. “Many people” believe the moon landings were fake. Many people believe they’ve talked to aliens. Many people think the earth is 6000 years old. The number of people who believe in those things provides precisely zero evidence that they are true.
Ignore, for purposes of this post, the fact that careful academic studies and legal investigations have consistently found virtually no in-person voter fraud–the sort of actual fraud that is used to justify those “Voter ID” laws that are really intended to suppress turnout by poor and minority voters.
The “evidence” Trump has repeatedly cited for his insistence that there is “massive voter fraud” is the fact that lots of dead people remain registered, and many others are registered in two locations.
Think about that.
Now, it would be great if state-level offices responsible for maintaining voter rolls could purge people immediately after they die; it would also be great if everyone moving to a new house or new state notified those offices of the move. (I’ve never even thought about adding that to my moving “to do” list, and I bet no one reading this has either.)
Earth to Donald: If people vote twice (or once, if they’re dead) that’s fraud. Being registered in two or more places for a time after dying or moving is not, and it’s very common.
You know, if Trump understood anything about the government he is inexplicably leading, he could avoid repeatedly making a fool of himself.
Nice to laugh in the morning…until one realizes it is no laughing matter
Trump would still be an idiot even if he did know hiw government works.
Well Sheila; my little old Irish mother gave me the same advice, “Consider the source!” My source throughout the 2016 presidential campaign was to attempt to watch both candidates; granted, I could not stomach Trump’s rallies for long. I came to rely on the ELEVEN Trump yard signs in my very small neighborhood (1 north/south street 5 blocks long, 1 street curving north 3 blocks long, 1 street curving south 3 blocks long, intersecting at 1 east/west street 2 blocks long). There were numerous Trump signs outside the neighborhood, one Hillary yard sign and one Hillary sticker on an SUV window.
My polling place is now the health facility at East 16th and Arlington where I waited outside in the 1 1/2 block long line to vote. After filling in the Democratic straight ticket oval, a poll worker took me by my right arm (which I use to hold my cane to stay upright) and moved (pushed) me to the ballot machine which rejected my ballot…twice. The worker was visibly upset because I inserted my ballot a second time before she could stop me. Taking me again by my arm, she told the man in line behind me not to insert his ballot till she returned and pulled me to a second machine which accepted my ballot – BUT – was my vote counted? Why did the man behind me have to wait at the machine which rejected my ballot twice before inserting his ballot? Was this voter fraud of a different sort?
Another disabled woman was removed from the voting area by security and made to sit in the lobby while security checked her drivers license. There were 2 or 3 people obviously with her who accompanied her and waited till she was cleared, then they were all escorted back into the polling room ahead of those of us in line. I voted in my first election in 1958 and have never been subjected to this treatment, had my ballot rejected – twice – or witnessed another voter (also handicapped) escorted out by security and made to wait for clearance. Should I apply somewhere to have Pence add investigating this polling place in his home state or just accept the possibility that my vote was not counted?
Campaign advisers who surrounded Trump at the beginning of his jaunt, quit because of Trump’s ego. The slogan, “Let Donald, be Donald.” was a bit more than they could handle.
The problem is Trump isn’t a polished liar. Back in 2008, when I heard presidential hopeful, Barack Obama, claim to be a progressive candidate for POTUS, I was elated for joy. As opposed to the Wall Street darling, Hillary Cinton, Barack was going to bring progressive policies into the White House.
Once elected POTUS, his cabinet was selected by Citibank, laying the groundwork for the greatest theft ever recorded. Trillions went to bail out the financial industry from the fraud they committed on world wide investors, and NOT ONE banker went to jail. Not a single one.
Barack’s participation in this theft opened the door to the Libertarian Koch brothers strategy of eliminating our corrupt government completely. Fox News, and all the university professors across the country getting their pockets lined by Koch’s dirty money, were more than welcome to oblige with the stance that government, and government alone is corrupt, and must be replaced by an “equitable free market system”.
As Cornel West has written, “Barack sold us out.” Louis Farrakhan was a little more blunt.
The truth is Bernie Sanders is a rare exception in Washington, and the corrupted DNP worked diligently to defeat him. We need to be asking ourselves, why? We need to be writing about, why?
Why did the democratic party work so hard with the media to ensure their donors retained access to the White House? Money and power.
The problem is the Democratic Party didn’t care about the people. They were more interested in their donors and what they wanted. By the way, what do most greedy people want?
Now, flash forward eight years, and guess what happened once Trump won???
You know, “Drain the Swamp” populist outsider…what did he do?
Exactly the same thing as Barack Obama did in 2008, except this time it was Goldman Sachs.
Even the billionaire Trump turned to the financial elites to run the show in Washington. The same folks who run the show for the entire GOP and DNC. He handed over the White House to the establishment – the group he promised to boot out of Washington. LOL
Both political parties are owned by the Economic Elite. Albert Einstein told us that in the 40’s. As long as Americans vote for politicians working within our corrupted two-party political system, guess what?
We keep switching one party for the other, but guess what? The rich get richer and the poor are getting much poorer. The Oligarchs are running the show and own the entire political class, the media, and the universities. Those who say it is “rigged” are correct.
Obama made great speeches. We liked him and his family. However, he didn’t do squat for the people. Obamacare was a republican construct and lined the pockets of Big Pharma and Insurance.
We need professors and the media to work for the people. Use your protected tenure to speak out against oppression by the Economic Elite against the working class. We need the media to serve the people once again, and use the power of free speech to hold the Donor Class, the Oligarchs accountable for the Kleptocracy we’ve become in the USA.
I have complaints about the voting place at the last election, but I have something on my mind right now that bothers me more. Yhe former will wait.
It is time this month to renew my drivers license this month, ans for the first time ever, the BMV reminded me by postcard. They also informed that the new license will be “secure” ID. I need bring with me my birth certificate or passport, two other pieces of ID, and two pieces that prove where I live.
I immediately checked my cards and found what I needed. What worries me is how difficult it will be for people who live far from where they were born – especially if it was in a poor or rural area. I also can imagine how inconvenient it would be to come up with a current address if that person had moved recently and was indigent or not the one to pay the utilities. Many people today rarely receive personal mail.
Probably the reason I feel so uneasy about this is that when I needed a birth certificate
peonto, my daughter was forced to leave work early to identify me as her mother.
Can’t you just see the mess at the polls? Why was I unaware of this new law when it passed?
Todd,
Wow! That was magnificent. Maybe the laughing FOOLS will start to listen. But don’t bet on it.
It’s easy to assume that Don the con ordered Pence to run this witch hunt under the control of his massive ego shattered by the realization that most Americans saw through his flimsy facade and refused to worship him.
Another take, which will be revealed in due time if true, is that Pence, Trump’s GOP handler, suggested it to Trump, and the result of the investigation will be further ways to make voting difficult for the average Democrat.
Don is dumb, no question, but to the the GOP who told us how dumb up until he defeated all of their candidates in the primary, he is the wellspring of power but only if Pence can control him.
Those of us committed to democracy will have to carefully watch Pence, not the ever attention grabbing Trump to see when he turns this debacle into another power grab turning a mere error in national judgement into a dynasty.
Todd, what would be the state of our economy today if Obama had not “bailed out” Wall St and Detroit?
Pete,
You’re right. The economy is better, but the politics are much worse. No doubt, it was a Catch 22 situation. Consequently, the FOOLS, talking about the Democratic Party and their followers, allowed someone like Donald Trump to be elected President. And after all of that, can you believe it, they still act like FOOLS.
I think it was Chris Hayes who noted that Mr. Trump’s talk of those registered in multiple states would give him an ideal place to look for voter fraud. Each of his adult children is registered in two states.
You can count among the LOSERS, but I’m not a FOOL.
Todd; we learned one major lesson during President Obama’s administration – that the president of the United States is not the most powerful elected official in this country. Congress rules the president; read your Constitution, the Legislative Section is listed first, followed by the Executive.
We are now faced with this current president – Trump – as being the most powerful elected official in this country because he has full support of the Republican Congress which stopped President Obama at almost every turn…they ran the country from 2010 and continue running it today. Trump claims voter fraud then brags that he won by huge numbers but has put Pence in charge of investigating his claims of voter fraud. The media reports “fake news” unless it parrots his every word; he claimed the election was “rigged” before November 8th and accused the media of “rigging” it. All I saw on any channel I turned to was Trump, the media helped elect him with their almost 24/7 FREE publicity throughout the election. And don’t forget that we who are old enough, have been subjected to the media coverage of Donald Trump’s marital, sexual affairs, abuses of women, bankruptcies, forcing small businesses out of business by refusing to pay for services and work done, his grand openings and not so grand closings fiascos, for the past 30 years. I was 1 of more than 17,000 who publically and directly contacted 500 Mile Race officials to get Trump removed from driving the pace car to lead the start of the race a few years ago. Removing him from the pace car was relatively easy – removing him as president will only be done when the Republicans have his huge, black signature on the bills they want enacted into laws and he has lost his usefulness to them.
Todd,
“Barack’s participation in this theft opened the door to the Libertarian Koch brothers strategy of eliminating our corrupt government completely. Fox News, and all the university professors across the country getting their pockets lined by Koch’s dirty money, were more than welcome to oblige with the stance that government, and government alone is corrupt, and must be replaced by an “equitable free market system”.
“We need professors and the media to work for the people. Use your protected tenure to speak out against oppression by the Economic Elite against the working class. We need the media to serve the people once again, and use the power of free speech to hold the Donor Class, the Oligarchs accountable for the Kleptocracy we’ve become in the USA.’
Like you pointed out, at the deepest level, it’s the oligarchy. And when the opposition finally has the guts to fight them and the system they can control, we might have an outside chance of moving toward some type of equilibrium. But until that happens, America will continue on its ill-fated course, probably “laughing all the way.”
I think that we need to remember the things that cause public debt like unemployment and wars and tax cuts. They are the enemy.
My now-deceased wife used to tell me that we will never clean up our political cesspool until we take the money out of politics. She was and is right but look around. We have not only not taken money out of politics but have greased the skids (see Citizens United, McCutcheon et al.) for giant infusions of even more money, which insures that the fusion of money and politics is accelerating at a steroid pace with a corresponding and measureable loss to our democratic institutions.
What to do if our democracy (self-government) is to be preserved? Cater to those politicians who are more idealistic than greedy (such as our forefathers, who considered public service to be noble); provide for public funding of elections; reverse court decisions that allow unlimited corporate and other political contributions as well as in-kind contributions; ceaselessly identify sold out politicians as sellouts etc. I could go on, but time and space limit such an undertaking – you get the drift.
Our democracy is not only at risk with billionaires in government with the Trumpites and his totally unrepresentative cabinet dedicated to further erosion of our democracy; I here note that our democracy has long since been taken over by an electoral process that puts such a rich elite in a position to control government in the first place. It seems to me that there have always been rich people who want to control government and who are willing to pay for the honor. The problem is how do we keep such a small but obscenely rich cabal from attaining their goal at the expense of our democracy.
“We the People” has become a bad joke as of late with the rich ruffians not at the gate but rather ruling the castle. We serfs need to figure a way to expel the king and his court from our castle of democracy. It’s our castle, not theirs, and we badly need to have our voices heard in order to limit their greedy excesses. I am thinking national strikes etc. such as the French have used effectively to limit excesses in government and am open to any suggestion short of revolution to save what is left of our democracy. The hour is late and the stakes could not be higher since without democracy, there is no good reason to even have a country. We have no choice but to resist if what is left of our tattered democracy is to survive, wounded as it may be.
Pete,
“I think that we need to remember the things that cause public debt like unemployment and wars and tax cuts. They are the enemy.
What about fascists? The enemies I know have two feet and can walk and run.
FWIW- Mitch McCTurtle sez he will NOT allocate any money for the fraud witch hunt.
Gerald,
“The problem is how do we keep such a small but obscenely rich cabal from attaining their goal at the expense of our democracy.”
“I am thinking national strikes etc. such as the French have used effectively to limit excesses in government and am open to any suggestion short of revolution to save what is left of our democracy.”
Now we are starting to make sense. You have correctly stated the problem as well as the answer.
I’m thinking about the NFL and many of its top players. I’ve been thinking about that for the last twenty-five years or so. I’m owed a favour or two. Its day will come, hopefully not too late.
As you have reminded us, General or national strikes were the successful instruments used by the opposition to the Popular Front which won the election for control of the government in the mid 30’s in France.
As I best remember the above manoeuvre was my suggestion in 1991, just before the Bush-led opposition caved in leading to the VICTORY in the nation-wide battle for one man [person], one vote that took place in Dallas.
It’s all about communicating to the OLIGARCHY IN THEIR LANGUAGE. It’s not that difficult to learn with the right motivation.
Marv, my concern that prompted that last post is unified opposition. Our chances of getting the real problem solved go down if we blame the DNC or other forces generally on “our” side but maybe not specifically.
We are in the same situation as our founders were. Compromise is essential for progress.
Is a strike that far-fetched:
“If there was ever any question about whether or not Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel for the national anthem was a divisive issue in the 49ers’ locker room, that question was answered this week with a resounding no.
The quarterback was named the winner of the team’s Len Eshmont award on Friday, which is the most prestigious team award that the 49ers hand out each season. The award was voted on by San Francisco players and is given to the 49er who “best exemplifies the inspirational and courageous play of Len Eshmont,” according to the team’s website.
The award was established in 1957 after Eshmont died. Eshmont was a member of the 49ers’ first team in 1946, and spent four seasons with the team before moving on to a coaching career at Navy and Virginia.
By winning the Eshmont Award, Kaepernick joins a hallowed list of past 49ers players who have been given the award that includes Joe Montana, Steve Young, Roger Craig and Jerry Rice.
Not only was this Kaepernick’s first time winning the award, but it was also his first time winning any team award during his six seasons in San Francisco.
Kaepernick has been a controversial figure in the NFL this year after he decided in August the he would be kneeling during the national anthem as a way to protest racial injustice. Although many people — including NFL commissioner Roger Goodell — disagreed with Kaepernick’s form of protest, his decision never appeared to become an issue in the 49ers locker room.
Back in October, offensive lineman Joe Staley said Kaepernick’s protest wasn’t causing any kind of divide in the locker room.
“I feel the locker room is really close,” Staley told CSN Bay Area. “I don’t feel any of that division people from the outside are saying at all. I wouldn’t need to tell you if there was. I think any kind of division like that is pretty evident. I don’t think that’s going on at all.””
As for Kaepernick, he said on Wednesday that staying focused this season hasn’t been that difficult for him, despite the controversy.
“When I step into this building my focus is football and what I have to do to try to win and try to help this team win and I think our players, our coaches all have that same mentality,” Kaepernick said. “So, to me it’s an easy environment to come into and work and make sure you’re staying focused on that.”
[From the internet]
Pete,
I agree unification is important. However, it can’t be created all at once. It first has to be “ignited.”
Pete,
We have to change the CONTEXT. The DNC can’t do that. They will fight any efforts for change. They will have to be dragged into any unified front.
Todd @ 7:43 am, I agree with your comments. Max Baucus a Democrat Senator stopped any consideration of a single payer plan for Health Care in the Senate.
Like all things Trumpet his Method of Operation is to aggressively accuse others of bias, unfair treatment, or personal attacks. It is not one big lie, it is numerous lies and distortions. The best analogy I have is what is called a “Flash Bang” or stun grenade. Per Wiki -it is a non-lethal explosive device used to temporarily disorient an enemy’s senses. It is designed to produce a blinding flash of light and an intensely loud “bang” of greater than 170 decibels without causing permanent injury. The senses of vision and hearing are severely impaired.
The Voter Fraud is just one more Flash Bang attack and smoke screen. Since the states have control over the voting process, times, places, etc., Pence will have to dive into each state. That is not the purpose of this “investigation”. The purpose is IMHO to make it more difficult to vote.
The latest Trump Flash Bang attack was his charge of ‘under-reported’ terror attacks by the Media. The idea behind this is two fold. One the Media has and was conspiring not to report on terror attacks. I suppose the conspiracy involved a desire on the “Liberal Media’s” part to protect Obama by not reporting them. The second part is to feed on the American Paranoia. (They are out to get us and we got find them, they are everywhere, they are everywhere.) This piece would allow any draconian domestic spying and possibly pre-emptive arrests with out due cause, or other constitutional protections. We may even need to torture some just to get to the Truth.
Trumpet >> “And in many cases, the very, very dishonest press doesn’t want to report it. They have their reasons, and you understand that.” This feeds into the Trumpkins world view – The Media is dishonest and the source of Truth rests solely, and exclusively with the Trumpet. The second piece is the obedience to Authoritarians by the Trumpkins vs a Rule of Law.
This so called president is a pathological liar!
Pete,
“We are in the same situation as our founders were. Compromise is essential for progress.”
Our situation is much more difficult. Our founders had unlimited potential. What is our potential? Take a look at the statistics.
Todd:
There is much that is right in your analysis of Wall Street insiders and their money having far too much influence at all levels of government in this Country, but particularly in the White House from Bill Clinton through W Bush to Obama. Now under the Orange Wonder, there’s not even a pretense that they haven’t been given the keys to the place and can plunder at will.
Nonetheless, IMO there is one huge difference between what is taking place in the White House under Trump than under his recent predecessors (or what would have taken place in a Hillary White House). That is the question that has been festering ever since Trump brought Kelly Ann Con(weasel) and Steve Bannon in to run his campaign, who in turn foisted Pence on Trump as VP: Who is really in charge and running the White House? Or stated another way: Who is using who? (There’s a crude epithet that would aptly describe what’s happening that I will refrain from using here.)
In just the few short days he has been in office — it seems like years already — I think it has become evident, if it wasn’t already, that Bannon, Conway and the Alt-Right are using both Trump, his new Wall Street buddies, and the Republican “fellow travelers” in Congress in an attempt to start a “new world order.”
If that is the case, which I think is becoming increasingly clear, they don’t care if Trump is a demented idiot and gets the U.S. in all kinds of trade wars or even shooting wars with other countries. They don’t care if he says stupid things that are patently false. In fact the more the better. They don’t care if the environment is polluted. They don’t care if people can’t get affordable health insurance. They don’t care if kids don’t get a good education. They don’t care if the mass rounding up of illegal immigrants and imprisoning them causes chaos, riots, and damages our economy. They don’t care if the Wall Streeters and bankers cause another collapse of the economy.
Bannon staunchly believes, as he told Time Magazine, that for the “new world order” — I shudder to think what their “new world order” might look like — to be imposed , there first must be major disruptions of the present order such as major war(s), depression, rioting, and on and on. The policies Trump has tried to impose by executive order — all written by Bannon and his Alt-right buddies — and the people Trump has nominated to run federal agencies appear to be designed to do exactly that; cause chaos and disruption in the hopes of destroying the U.S. government as it exists so they can take power and impose their “new world order.”
That leaves only one other meaningful question. Will the Republicans in Congress — currently the only effective check on Bannon/Trump/Pence — or at least a few of them in the Senate, wake up in time, and realize that they too are being used? Unfortunately at the pace Bannon is moving, I don’t think we have time to wait until 2018 and hope the Democrats can take control of the Senate in hopes of saving our Constitution and Country. Very depressing thoughts for a very beautiful February morning here in Southern AZ.
Can’t wait to see those beautiful mornings in AZ David F.
Gerald’s late wife was right, we HAVE to get money out of politics. We have to. There is no other way to solve this problem on either side of the aisle.
Here is an item to note: Democrats Are Desperate for Bernie Sanders’ Email List. Sanders, who raised $218 million online from a record 2.8 million donors, rewrote the rules of email fundraising during his campaign by relentlessly courting small-dollar contributors.
Democrats have made no secret they covet Sanders’ list, which Sanders controls through his Senate campaign and the political nonprofit he founded, Our Revolution. The decision on what to do with it rests with Sanders.
===================================================
As I read this article I thought what unmitigated brass, that the Democratic Establishment that did what ever they needed via DNC and Super Delegates to scuttle Sanders now wants his list. As if some how if the Democratic Establishment Party has my name they are good to go. I contributed and voted for Bernie Sanders because of what he represented not the Party Label!!!
==================================================================
Further from the article the correct conclusion was drawn: former Sanders staffers and consultants scoff at the demand for the list. The way they see it, clamoring for access misses the point. The list wasn’t the campaign’s secret weapon; Sanders was.
“They keep thinking it’s the list,” says Becky Bond, who as a senior adviser to Sanders helped build the candidate’s national organizing operation. “It’s so crazy. It’s like someone who buys a $12,000 bicycle and thinks they can win the Tour de France.”
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/01/democrats-desperate-bernie-sanders-email-list
When the courts and congress are in republican ownership, who do we turn to for defending the constitution and our constitutional rights? Should we start petitioning the Kochs for support?
Donar lists are not much help against FASCISM. What a farce.
And the biggest voter fraud just happened when Pence voted to breaking the tie for DeVos. You can kiss our education system good bye now. Unless of course, she got a backbone and decided that she should step down considering the 24 hr boycott of her from half the Senate. You know, I’m just a dreamer!
This is hysterical and not in a funny way at all. I’m so angry.
AgingLGrl,
Try and relax. It’s going to get worse. It’s like an elevator dropping all the way to the basement.
Consider the source. There are few real professions where someone with Gregg Phillips’ resume would be welcome. We’ve never met, but our paths have crossed many times. When the Clarion Ledger called me to ask about hims, the instant I heard his name I laughed out loud. It’s like being asked about Cheech Marin or George Wallace. You know what’s coming next. I’m quoted at the end of this article, but there are more below that do an excellent job of detailing his long sordid past.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2017/01/26/voter-fraud-probe-traced-back-to-ex-mississippi-welfare-head/97094430/
I knew about him when all of this stuff went down and he was involved with suspicious contracts in Texas, just after I left the Texas Workforce Commission, avoiding the takeover by his dear friend.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/news/houston-chronicle-report-prompts-probe-of-state-agency/
But nothing compares to Stephen Colbert’s takedown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn1m3IRztfk
Please correct the hims… I may have made a typo or two.
Updated:
Consider the source. There are few real professions where someone with Gregg Phillips’ resume would be welcome. We’ve never met, but our paths have crossed many times. When the Clarion Ledger called me to ask about him, the instant I heard his name I laughed out loud. It’s like being asked about Cheech Marin or George Wallace. You know what’s coming next. I’m quoted at the end of this article, but there are more below that do an excellent job of detailing his long sordid past.
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2017/01/26/voter-fraud-probe-traced-back-to-ex-mississippi-welfare-head/97094430/
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/28/gregg-phillips-donald-trump-s-voter-fraud-guru-blasted-as-a-revolving-door-hustler.html
I knew about him when all of this stuff went down and he was involved with suspicious contracts in Texas, just after I left the Texas Workforce Commission, avoiding the takeover by his dear friend.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/news/houston-chronicle-report-prompts-probe-of-state-agency/
But nothing compares to Stephen Colbert’s takedown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn1m3IRztfk
AgingLGrl; the entire Senate Hearings on these cabinet posts and high level appointments and the votes have all been a foregone conclusion. “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” The results today were deliberately drug out over the Secretary of Education, “full of sound and fury” – a dash of hope – to give it a bit of drama ending with a tie vote to be broken by Pence. Pence who wants all schools to be Charters and all students to attend with vouchers; the same goals of DeVos who wants our school system to become “God’s Kingdom”. Appointing DeVose gives Republicans access to her billions (Republicans can never have too much money at their disposal), puts her on the road to her private “God’s Kingdom” educational system and aligns Trump with easy access to her brother, Eric Prince, who organized Blackwater USA. Troops will be at Trump’s disposal when he gets his war; what we have witnessed over the past days was a setup deal to cover the automatic acceptance of all of Trump’s appointees.
“Voter Fraud…One More Time” In actuality, these Senate Hearings and appointments have all been a continuation of the same voter fraud. We need to seriously delve deeper into the Republicans who appeared to be against some of these appointments – the same way they said they did not support Trump before the election, yet voted for him – to get more information regarding payoffs and future campaign donations. The same pressure needs to be applied to the Democrats; give them no quarter.
The best thing anyone can do at this point is to try and get off the elevator before it crashes. It ain’t going upward anytime soon.
In order to do so, I would strongly recommend reading “Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order 1940-44” by Robert Paxton (New York: Columbia University Press, 1972, 200l) Table of Contents, before you take the ride down.
Table of Contents:
Chapter II. The National Revolution p. 136 [Sixth Floor]
Moral Order: The Church p. 148 [Fifth Floor]
Moral Order: Education and the Young p.155 [Fourth Floor]
Moral Order: The Family p. 165 [Third Floor]
Escape from Class and Competiton: Corporatism in Power p. 210 [Second Floor]
From Persuasion to Constraint: The Emerging Police State p. 221 [First Floor]
The National Revolution and Fascism p. 228 [Basement]
#%@*^? [Sub-basement]
I remember in my youth that I had a part time job as an elevator operator. I didn’t know how dangerous it could become over the years.
This all happened in France because of the “phoney war” the French Generals led before the outbreak of W.W. II. They capitulated much like the scenario that is being played out day by day here in the U.S.
I’m just glad I don’t have any children or grandchildren that will go to public schools in the next decade after what happened today. I will have many extended family members attending like great nieces and nephews once removed so let their parents that were educated in public schools make up the slack. It’s going to get ugly. Batten down the hatches. A storm is coming.
Welcome, Joe Adams! You’re my neighbor just to the south, state-wise! Tie a knot in your rope and hang on here!
Joe and all, I could not pass up the following beautiful quote from Cree Indian Philosophy. We will see much, if not all of it, take place in the next four years…or maybe even the next four weeks.
“Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, and the last stream poisoned, will we realize we cannot eat money.”
Betty,
That’s a great quote. What we have to do is PROVE the EFFECT of the damage to the trees, to fishing, and the waterways as soon as possible. The same goes for the Trump/Pence administration.
We have to find the best way to PROJECT the future. We can’t wait for it to appear, especially so right now with the Trump/Pence administration.
Betty – Your Cree statement about the beginning of the end is right on and may have presaged coining of the term entropy (the ultimate result of the degradation of matter and energy in the universe) by the 19th century German physicist Rudolph Clausius, who also formulated the second law of thermodynamics. Those Crees understood much more than for what we credit them, and such insights suggest that they had some innate understanding of environmental impact in their society. Too bad the rest of us aren’t as smart as the Crees in our mad rush to entropy sooner than necessary with calls from the fossil fuel right for abolition of the EPA, oil pipelines, coal mining executives et al. We are apparently yet to learn that lots of Koch and Wall Street money does not give us cleaner water and air; quite the contrary. When will we learn? Ever?
So let’s see – I voted for Jimmy Carter in Michigan (first time), Jimmy Carter in Maryland (second time), Walter Mondale in New Jersey, Mike Dukakis in California and Bill Clinton in Illinois.
I am sure I was registered in at least two and maybe five states at one time.
I may still have an open Illinois registration, so I better watch out. Mike Pence may be coming for me.