January 30, 2017

"On Governance"

http://www.hussman.net/wmc/wmc170130.htm

Well worth the read, as usual.

January 29, 2017

Trump wants to enlist local police in immigration crackdown

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

PHOENIX (AP) - To build his highly touted deportation force, President Donald Trump is reviving a long-standing program that deputizes local officers to enforce federal immigration law.

The program received scant attention during a week in which Trump announced plans to build a border wall, hire thousands more federal agents and impose restrictions on refugees from Middle Eastern countries.

But the program could end up having a significant impact on immigration enforcement around the country, despite falling out of favor in recent years amid complaints that it promotes racial profiling.

More than 60 police and sheriff's agencies had the special authority as of 2009, applying for it as the nation's immigration debate was heating up. Since then, the number has been halved and the effort scaled back as federal agents ramped up other enforcement programs and amid complaints officers weren't focusing on the goal of catching violent offenders and instead arrested immigrants for minor violations, like driving with broken tail lights.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/presidential/20170129_ap_aa172d93370d4cef904417b327ae1638.html

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Political agenda, racial profiling. Wonder who will pay for local costs of enforcement? Yeah. Taxpayers.

January 27, 2017

"Hustling Hitler" by Walter Shapiro

A well-researched and somewhat lengthy book by a former Carter White House
speechwriter about his great-uncle, a flashy vaudeville impresario with a checkered
life. Indicted, arrested for selling the Nazis a boatload of scrap metal dregs, he was
never extradicted from California. He sold diamonds, jade, stayed in the era's best
hotels, bounced a few checks, and tried to sell jewelry to Mae West. but that was
after early days promoting burlesque and marrying his star performer.

It's a slow read because of the precision with which it is written, Shapiro uses the
language beyond well. The only book I've read that compares in my mind is "FDR"
by Jean Edward Smith; they are both wordsmiths in any sense of the term.

There's a lot of US history here too, the small cities in New York, and the historical
tools available to research one's ancestors: census, news articles, family lore, and
just plain shoe leather. You can tell the author is absorbed and proud of his ancestors
and his own research, and it's a gift for him to take the time to write this story before
it is lost to history.

January 26, 2017

President Trump's voter fraud allegation is 'a lie,' says California's top elections officer

Source: L.A. Times

With President Donald Trump rehashing last year's accusation of widespread voter fraud in California and elsewhere, the state's top elections official is also restating his take: It's not true.

"When the president says millions of illegal ballots are cast, that’s simply not the case," said Secretary of State Alex Padilla in an interview on CNN Wednesday. "It's a lie."

As was the case when Trump made the accusation in November , there's no evidence of such a broad attempt to sway the outcome in California. The president lost the Golden State to Democrat Hillary Clinton by almost 4.3 million votes.

Trump's announcement on Wednesday of a "major investigation" into voter fraud reignited the issue, even though there was also Republican skepticism in the wake of the new round of accusations.

Full story at the link

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-president-trump-s-new-voter-fraud-1485391926-htmlstory.html

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This has got to be the craziest story in a long time, and truly reveals for all
to see, that something is not right in the belfry.

He wins the election, is in office, and the popular vote count bothers him so
much that his is obsessed with voter margins in the states he didn't win.

You won. You move on. Nothing to gain here. Irrelevant. Yet he lacks the self-
control or the intelligence, or the judgment, or something, to simply drop it.

These prominent pundits, ok they're Democrats, dropping the mental illness
bombshell this week is telling. Prick this bubble as soon as possible.

January 20, 2017

Guides on How to Resist the Trump Agenda

HOW WE RESIST TRUMP AND HIS EXTREME AGENDA

By Congressman Jerry Nadler
http://www.jerrynadler.com/news-clips/how-we-resist-trump-and-his-extreme-agenda

http://www.jerrynadler.com/sites/jerrynadler2015/files/HOW%20WE%20RESIST%20TRUMP%20AND%20HIS%20EXTREME%20AGENDA.pdf

The Most Useful Guide to Resisting Donald Trump
It’s the Tea Party playbook, minus the nooses

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/12/the_tea_party_taught_us_how_to_resist_donald_trump.html

Robert Reich: Twelve ways to resist the Trump presidency
An hour of protesting a day for months on end will send a powerful message.

http://www.newsweek.com/robert-reich-twelve-ways-resist-trump-presidency-539411

_____________________________
Let's all get on the same page and defend our country!

January 5, 2017

How To Overwhelm The Media Stacking A Press Conference and Six Confirmation Hearings On One Day, Tr

https://mediamatters.org/blog/2017/01/05/how-overwhelm-media/214932

How To Overwhelm The Media

Stacking A Press Conference and Six Confirmation Hearings On One Day, Trump And McConnell Try To Avoid Scrutiny

President-elect Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have scheduled several Senate confirmation hearings for Trump’s cabinet picks -- as well as Trump’s first (and likely only) press conference of the transition -- on a single day next week. The strategy seems designed to ensure that the media is unable to devote sufficient scrutiny to each story and to reduce the possibility of an educated public responding.

Trump announced yesterday that he will hold a “general news conference” on January 11. It will be the first Trump press conference since July 27, a stretch of 168 days. By contrast, President Barack Obama fielded questions from the White House press corps 18 times as president-elect; President George W. Bush did so on 11 occasions.

Trump previously promised to hold a December 15 press conference to address the conflicts of interest his business empire creates for his presidency, but he canceled it. Those conflicts -- including the possibility that Trump will be in violation of both the Constitution and a contract with the federal government immediately upon taking office -- should be a top priority for journalists on January 11. But by refusing to give a press conference for so long, while simultaneously scaling back on media appearances, Trump has created such a backlog of potential issues that it will be impossible for reporters to give all of them the time and coverage they deserve.

Meanwhile, McConnell has done his best to fracture journalist attention by ensuring that six different confirmation hearings are scheduled for the same day. Wednesday will see hearings for Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the nominee for attorney general; ExxonMobil chairman Rex Tillerson, the nominee for secretary of state; billionaire conservative activist Betsy DeVos, for secretary of education; Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS), for CIA director; Gen. John Kelly, for secretary of homeland security; and Elaine Chao, for secretary of transportation.