Posts Tagged ‘FBI’
2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ABC NEWS, ALTERNET, BARACK OBAMA, BENEDICT ARNOLD, BOEING, CBS NEWS, CHRISTOPHER LASCH, CLEAR CHANNEL COMMUNICATIONS, CNN, CONSOLIDATED EDISON, CORPORATE TAXES, CORRUPTION, DRUDGE REPORT, EDUARDO SAVEREN, EPA, FAA, FACEBOOK, FBI, FDA, FORBES MAGAZINE, GENERAL ELECTRIC, GROVER NORQUIST, MEDICARE, METROPCS COMMUNICATIONS, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, NPR, PG&E CORPORATION, POLITICO, PUBLIC CAMPAIGN, REPUBLICAN PARTY, RICHARD M. NIXON, RUSH LIMBAUGH, SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER, SOCIAL SECURITY, STEPHEN DECATUR, TAX AVOIDANCE, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DISCOURSES, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, THE WASHINGTON POST, TIME, TREASON, TWITTER, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, USA TODAY, VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS, WALL STREET, WEALTH GAP
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on March 18, 2019 at 12:28 am
On May 13, 2012, Forbes magazine ran an Op-Ed piece under the headline: “For De-Friending The U.S., Facebook’s Eduardo Saverin Is an American Hero.”
Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York angrily disagreed.
Chuck Shumer
“It is scary. It is a scary, absurd place where even a tax dodger who renounces America for his own 30 pieces of silver is celebrated as a patriot and an American hero.
“It is perverse. I am appalled by making heroic a man who renounces citizenship to escape a tax rate of capital gains of 15%.
“No one gets rich in America on their own,” Schumer said. “And when people do well in America, they should do well by America. I believe the vast majority of Americans believe this, too.”
From that Op-Ed piece:
“Saverin’s flight from the U.S. is yet another reminder of the superiority of a national consumption tax that in a perfect world would be implemented in concert with the abolition of the I.R.S.”
It’s tempting to imagine a world without an agency to collect taxes. But it’s nightmarish to contemplate a world where there were no taxes to pay for
- A powerful military to protect us;
- An FBI to combat terrorism and organized crime;
- An FAA to safely regulate airline traffic;
- Agencies to repair roads;
- Agencies to erect public buildings (such as schools, courts and libraries) and
- Agencies (such as the EPA and FDA) to protect us from predatory businessmen.
The Op-Ed piece further asserts that “you cannot limit the power of the Federal Government if its officials hold the power to tax incomes.”
Every nation in history—whether a democracy or a dictatorship, whether capitalist, socialist or communist––has understood the absolute necessity for collecting public revenues. And it has created means by which to do so.
“When individuals resist governmental hubris, we should exalt their actions.”
We should, in short, celebrate those who come to the United States to make fortunes they could not make anywhere else––and then, when they do, turn their backs on their adopted country.
We should rejoice that they have stuffed billions of dollars more into their already-fat pockets and left their supposed fellow countrymen to shift for themselves.
“In an ideal world the Federal Government should implement a consumption tax. And if, as a result, poor people suffer because they’re taxed at the same level as rich ones, fine.
“Everyone should know how much it costs to run the government.”
Of course we should have a “regressive” tax that “hits low incomes at the same percentage as high ones.”
Of course, those who are barely able to feed their families or can’t afford medical care should pay as much in taxes as a rich parasite who, like Mitt Romney, throws out $10,000 bets like so many dimes.
“If the Federal Government can’t fund all its programs because rich people like Saverin refuse to pay taxes, then U.S. taxpayers generally will have to make good for the missing taxes. It’s the fault of Congress that it cannot put an end to any program.”
For billionaires like Saverin and the well-heeled types who subscribe to Forbes, it doesn’t matter whether “the Federal Government can’t fund all its programs.”
San Simeon, estate of William Randolph Hearst
Greed-obsessed “swells” like Saverin:
- Don’t depend on Medicare—they can easily afford the best doctors money can buy;
- Don’t have to depend on Social Security to see them through old age;
- Don’t have to worry about standing in food bank lines;
- Don’t need to rely on police departments—if they’re threatened, they can easily afford round-the-clock bodyguards;
- Don’t need consumer protection agencies; if they’re victimized by unscrupulous businessmen, they can hire platoons of lawyers and private detectives.
A contemporary writer who warned of America’s abandonment by its privileged classes was Christopher Lasch. In his posthumously published last book, The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy [2005] he wrote:
“There has always been a privileged class, even in America. But it has never been so dangerously isolated from its surroundings.
“George Bush’s [the president who served from 1989 to 1992] wonderment, when he saw for the first time an electronic scanning device at a supermarket checkout counter, revealed…the chasm that divides the privileged classes from the rest of the nation.”
Until recently, wrote Lasch, American cultural and economic elites willingly shouldered civic responsibilities. But in post-modern capitalism, a professional elite defines itself as entirely separate from civic concerns.
The new elites flourish through enterprises that operate across international borders. The rich in America have more in common with their fellows in Europe or Asia than with the vast majority of their fellow Americans who don’t share their comfortable surroundings.
Thus, the privileged class in America—the top 1%—has separated itself from the crumbling public services and industrial cities that are used and lived in by the rest of the country’s citizens.
Even worse, our society has condoned their exalted status. The dust jacket blurb for James Patterson’s crime-thriller, NYPD Red, says it best:
“NYPD Red is a special task force charged with protecting the interests of Manhattan’s wealthiest and most powerful citizens.”
It’s time to protect the 99% of America’s citizens against the predators of its 1% wealthiest.
2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ABC NEWS, ALTERNET, BARACK OBAMA, BENEDICT ARNOLD, BOEING, CBS NEWS, CHRISTOPHER LASCH, CLEAR CHANNEL COMMUNICATIONS, CNN, CONSOLIDATED EDISON, CORPORATE TAXES, CORRUPTION, DRUDGE REPORT, EDUARDO SAVEREN, EPA, FAA, FACEBOOK, FBI, FDA, FORBES MAGAZINE, GENERAL ELECTRIC, GROVER NORQUIST, MEDICARE, METROPCS COMMUNICATIONS, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, NPR, PG&E CORPORATION, POLITICO, PUBLIC CAMPAIGN, REPUBLICAN PARTY, RICHARD M. NIXON, RUSH LIMBAUGH, SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER, SOCIAL SECURITY, STEPHEN DECATUR, TAX AVOIDANCE, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DISCOURSES, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, THE WASHINGTON POST, TIME, TREASON, TWITTER, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, USA TODAY, VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS, WALL STREET, WEALTH GAP
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on March 15, 2019 at 12:07 am
Americans need to realize that a country can be betrayed for other than political reasons. It can be sold out for economic ones, too
On May 15, 2012, Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin renounced his U.S. citizenship.
Born in Brazil, the 30-year-old Saverin became a U.S. citizen in 1998 but had lived in Singapore since 2009.
Eduardo Saverin
Giving up his citizenship allowed him to avoid paying taxes on billions of dollars on capital gains when Facebook launched its IPO on May 18, 2012.
Singapore does not have a capital gains tax.
And America’s extreme Right couldn’t have been happier.
Take Rush Limbaugh, the Right-wing talk-show host. The Rush Limbaugh Show airs throughout the U.S. on over 400 stations and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United States.
When Limbaugh speaks, his “dittohead” audience listens—and acts as he decrees.
Rush Limbaugh
“So if it’s a more favorable tax haven that you can find elsewhere and you go there,” asked Limbaugh, “why is it automatically that you are unpatriotic?
“Why is it automatically that you are a coward, that you are not paying your fair share? It’s this whole class envy thing rearing its head again.”
For Limbaugh, the villain isn’t a billionaire who turns his back on the country that gave him the opportunity to become one. No, the villain lies in those who believe that even wealthy businessmen should behave like patriots—instead of parasites.
“But [Barack Obama is] out there demonizing successful people every day,” said Limbaugh, “targeting successful people every day, running a presidential campaign based on class warfare, trying to get the 99% of the country who are not in the top 1% to hate the 1%, to literally despise ’em.”
Consider the implications of this:
On November 1, 2011, Forbes magazine reported that, in 2007, the richest 1% of the American population owned 34.6% of the country’s total wealth, and the next 19% owned 50.5%.
Thus, the top 20% of Americans owned 85% of the country’s wealth and the bottom 80% of the population owned 15%.
According to Limbaugh’s philosophy, the bottom 80% of the population owning 15% of the country’s wealth should pay homage to the top 20% of Americans who own 85% of the country’s wealth.
In short, they should “know their place” and not expect the moneyed few to pay their fair share of taxes.
Of course, this is to be expected of Limbaugh—whose own wealth makes him a multi-millionaire.
In 2001, U.S. News & World Report noted that Limbaugh had an eight-year contract, with Clear Channel Communications, for $31.25 million a year.
And according to a July 2, 2008, Matt Drudge column, Limbaugh signed a contract extension through 2016 that is worth over $400 million.
And Limbaugh wasn’t alone in his praise for Saverin.
Another right-winger who defends those who run out on their country is anti-tax activist Grover Norquist.
On May 7, 2012, two Democratic Senators—Chuck Schumer of New York and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania—introduced legislation designed to tax expatriates even after they have left the country.
Their “Ex-PATRIOT Act” would have imposed a mandatory 30% tax on American investments for those who renounce their citizenship and would also prohibit individuals like Saverin from re-entering the country.
But the bill died in committee.
In 2013, Schumer and two other Senators added similar provisions to a major immigration reform bill. But their amendment was not included in the version of the bill that passed the Senate.
“Saverin has turned his back from the country that welcomed him, kept him safe, educated him and helped him become a billionaire,” Schumer said at a press conference. He added that it was time to “de-friend” the Facebook co-founder.
Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATF) said that targeting people that turn in their passports reminded him of regimes that had driven people out of the country, only to confiscate their wealth at the door.
Grover Norquist
“I think Schumer can probably find the legislation to do this,” said Norquist. “It existed in Germany in the 1930s and Rhodesia in the ’70s and in South Africa as well. He probably just plagiarized it and translated it from the original German.”
On the floor of the Senate, Schumer denounced Norquist in return:
“I know a thing or two about what the Nazis did. Some of my relatives were killed by them.
“Saying that a person who made their fortune specifically because of the positive elements in American society, in turn, has a responsibility to do right by America is not even on the same planet as comparing to what Nazis did to Jews.”
Chuck Schumer
Schumer added that he found it troubling that conservatives would lionize someone like Saverin, who was called “an American hero” by Forbes magazine.
On May 13, 2012, Forbes—which describes itself as “The Capitalist Tool”–had run an Op-Ed piece under the headline: “For De-Friending The U.S., Facebook’s Eduardo Saverin Is an American Hero.”
“Can you believe it?” asked Schumer. “An American hero? Renouncing your citizenship now qualifies as heroic for the hard Right-wing?”
“This has gone so far, this idolatry they have taken to such an extreme end, they make Eduardo Saverin into their patron saint. In the name of low taxes for the wealthy, they have lionized an inherently unpatriotic person.”
2016 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, ABC NEWS, AFFORDABLE CARE ACT, ALTERNET, AP, ARNOLD SCHWARTNEGGER, BANDY X. LEE, BARACK OBAMA, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CIA, CNN, CONSERVATIVE POLITICLA ACTION CONFERENCE (CPAC), CRAIG MALKIN, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DEMOCRATS, DONALD TRUMP, FACEBOOK, FBI, FIRST AMENDMENT, FLETCHER KNEBEL, GAVIN NEWSOM, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL, HILLARY CLINTON, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (ICE), IVANKA TRUMP, JOHN T. GARNER, JOSEPH STALIN, KIM JONG-UN, LANCE DODES, LIBEL, MERYL STREEP, MICHAEL COHEN, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NARCISSISM, NBC NEWS, NEIL YOUNG, NEWSWEEK, NIGHT AT CAMP DAVID, NPR, NUCLEAR WEAPONS, OBAMACARE, PARANOIA, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, PSYCHOSIS, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, ROBERT S. MUELLER, ROD ROSENSTEIN, RUSSIA, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOCIOPATHY, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DANGEROUS CASE OF DONALD TRUMP (BOOK), THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE MEDIA, THE NATION, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, TIME, TWITTER, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, VIETNAM, VLADIMIR PUTIN, WIRETAPPING
In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on March 8, 2019 at 12:59 pm
Donald Trump’s appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference on March 2, 2019 was an occasion for rejoicing among his supporters.
But for those who prize rationality and decency in a President, it was a dismaying and frightening experience.
For two hours, Trump gave free reign to his anger and egomania.
Among his unhinged commentaries:
“We have people in Congress that hate our country.”
If you don’t agree 100% with Trump on everything, you’re a traitor.
“He called me up. He said, ‘You’re a great President. You’re doing a great job.’ He said, ‘I just want to tell you you’re a great President and you’re one of the smartest people I’ve ever met.'”
Trump attributed these remarks to California’s liberal governor, Gavin Newsom. On February 11, 2019, Newsom announced the withdrawal of several hundred National Guardsmen from the state’s southern border with Mexico—defying Trump’s request for support from border states.
Donald Trump at CPAC
“You know if you remember my first major speech—you know the dishonest media they’ll say, ‘He didn’t get a standing ovation.’ You know why? Because everybody stood and nobody sat. They are the worst. They leave that out.”
Once again, he’s the persecuted victim of an unfair and totally unappreciative news media.
“And I love the First Amendment; nobody loves it better than me. Nobody. I mean, who use its more than I do? But the First Amendment gives all of us—it gives it to me, it gives it to you, it gives it to all Americans, the right to speak our minds freely. It gives you the right and me the right to criticize fake news and criticize it strongly.”
Trump has repeatedly called the nation’s free press “the enemy of the people”—a slander popularized by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. And while Trump brags about his usage of the First Amendment, he’s used Non-Disclosure agreements and threats of lawsuits to deny that right to others.
“For too long, we’ve traded away our jobs to other countries. So terrible.”
While this remark—like virtually every remark Trump made at CPAC—got rousing applause, he failed to mention that his own products are made overseas:
- Ties: Made in China
- Suits: Made in Indonesia
- Trump Vodka: Made in the Netherlands, and later in Germany
- Crystal glasses, decanters: Made in Slovenia
- And the clothing and accessories line of his daughter, Ivanka, is produced entirely in factories in Bangladesh, Indonesia and China.
“By the way, you folks are in here—this place is packed, there are lines that go back six blocks and I tell you that because you won’t read about it, OK.”
He’s obsessed with fear that the media won’t make him look popular.
“So we’re all part of this very historic movement, a movement the likes of which, actually, the world has never seen before. There’s never been anything like this. There’s been some movements, but there’s never been anything like this.”
Trump sees himself as the single greatest figure in history. So anything he’s involved with must be unprecedented.
“But I always say, Obamacare doesn’t work. And these same people two years ago and a year ago were complaining about Obamacare.”
In 2010, 48 million Americans lacked health insurance. By 2016, that number had been reduced to 28.6 million. So 20 million Americans now have access to medical care they previously couldn’t get.
“But we’re taking a firm, bold and decisive measure, we have to, to turn things around. The era of empty talk is over, it’s over.”
- Trump has boasted that he and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un “fell in love.” Then he met with Kim in Vietnam—and got stiffed on a deal for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.
- On July 16, 2018, Trump attended a press conference in Helsinki, Finland, with Russian President Vladimir Putin. There he blamed American Intelligence agencies—such as the FBI, CIA—instead of Putin for Russia’s subversion of the 2016 Presidential election.
“I’ll tell you what they [agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement] do, they came and endorsed me, ICE came and endorsed me. They never endorsed a presidential candidate before, they might not even be allowed to.”
Trump can’t stop boasting about how popular he is.
“These are hard-working, great, great Americans. These are unbelievable people who have not been treated fairly. Hillary called them deplorable. They’re not deplorable.”
On the contrary: “Deplorable” is exactly the word for those who vote their racism, ignorance, superstition and hatred of their fellow citizens.
A FINAL NOTE: Trump held himself up for adoration just three days after Michael Cohen, his longtime fixer:
- Damned him as a racist, a conman and a cheat.
- Revealed that Trump had cheated on his taxes and bought the silence of a porn “star” to prevent her revealing a 2006 tryst before the 2016 election.
- Estimated he had stiffed, on Trump’s behalf, hundreds of workers Trump owed money to.
And, only two days earlier, Trump had returned from a much-ballyhooed meeting in Vietnam with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un. Trump hoped to get a Nobel Peace Prize by persuading Kim to give up his nuclear arsenal.
Instead, Trump got stiffed—and returned empty-handed.
2016 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, ABC NEWS, AFFORDABLE CARE ACT, ALTERNET, AP, ARNOLD SCHWARTNEGGER, BANDY X. LEE, BARACK OBAMA, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CIA, CNN, CONSERVATIVE POLITICLA ACTION CONFERENCE (CPAC), CRAIG MALKIN, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DEMOCRATS, DONALD TRUMP, FACEBOOK, FBI, FIRST AMENDMENT, FLETCHER KNEBEL, GAVIN NEWSOM, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL, HILLARY CLINTON, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (ICE), IVANKA TRUMP, JOHN T. GARNER, JOSEPH STALIN, KIM JONG-UN, LANCE DODES, LIBEL, MERYL STREEP, MICHAEL COHEN, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NARCISSISM, NBC NEWS, NEIL YOUNG, NEWSWEEK, NIGHT AT CAMP DAVID, NPR, NUCLEAR WEAPONS, OBAMACARE, PARANOIA, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, PSYCHOSIS, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, ROBERT S. MUELLER, ROD ROSENSTEIN, RUSSIA, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOCIOPATHY, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DANGEROUS CASE OF DONALD TRUMP (BOOK), THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE MEDIA, THE NATION, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, TIME, TWITTER, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, VIETNAM, VLADIMIR PUTIN, WIRETAPPING
In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on March 7, 2019 at 12:10 am
“Is this man simply crazy, or is he crazy like a fox?”
That was the question that Bandy X. Lee, an assistant clinical psychiatry professor at the Yale School of Medicine, wanted to answer.
And she tried to do so as the editor of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.
“It doesn’t take a psychiatrist to notice that our president is mentally compromised,” she and colleague Judith Lewis Herman asserted in the book’s prologue.
According to Dr. Craig Malkin, a Lecturer in Psychology for Harvard Medical School and a licensed psychologist, Trump is a pathological narcissist:
“Pathological narcissism begins,” Malkin writes, “when people become so addicted to feeling special that, just like with any drug, they’ll do anything to get their ‘high,’ including lie, steal, cheat, betray and even hurt those closest to them.
“When they can’t let go of their need to be admired or recognized, they have to bend or invent a reality in which they remain special despite all messages to the contrary. In point of fact, they become dangerously psychotic. It’s just not always obvious until it’s too late.”
Lance Dodes, a retired psychiatry professor at Harvard Medical School, believes that Trump is a sociopath: “The failure of normal empathy is central to sociopathy, which is marked by an absence of guilt, intentional manipulation and controlling or even sadistically harming others for personal power or gratification.”
But an observer didn’t need to be a psychiatrist to feel frightened by Trump’s behavior at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on March 2.
For two hours, in National Harbor, Maryland, Trump delivered the longest address (so far) of his Presidency—and of any American President.
“You know, I’m totally off script right now,” Trump said early on. “This is how I got elected, by being off script.”
And from the moment he embraced an American flag as though he wanted to hump it, it was clear: He was “totally off script.”
“How many times did you hear, for months and months, ‘There is no way to 270?’ You know what that means, right? ‘There is no way to 270.'”
Once again, Trump reveales his obsession with his win in 2016—as if no one else had ever been elected President.
“If you tell a joke, if you’re sarcastic, if you’re having fun with the audience, if you’re on live television with millions of people and 25,000 people in an arena, and if you say something like, ‘Russia, please, if you can, get us Hillary Clinton’s emails. Please, Russia, please.'”
Here he’s trying to “spin” his infamous invitation to hackers in Vladimir Putin’s Russia to intervene in an American Presidential election by obtaining the emails of his campaign rival. Which they did that same day.
“So now we’re waiting for a report, and we’ll find out whether or not, and who we’re dealing with. We’re waiting for a report by people that weren’t elected.”
It doesn’t matter to Trump that America’s foremost enemy—Russia—tried to influence a Presidential election. What matters to him is that the report may end his Presidency.
“Those red hats—and white ones. The key is in the color. The key is what it says. ‘Make America Great Again’ is what it says. Right? Right?”
Color matters. Words, ideas don’t.
“Now, Robert Mueller never received a vote, and neither did the person that appointed him. And as you know, the attorney general says, ‘I’m going to recuse myself.'”
Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller and Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein are career Justice Department officials. They weren’t voted into office.
“Number one, I’m in love, and you’re in love. We’re all in love together. There’s so much love in this room, it’s easy to talk. You can talk your heart out. You really could. There’s love in this room. You can talk your heart out. It’s easy. It’s easy. It’s easy.”
Trump apparently finds it easy to fall in love—with Right-wing audiences and Communist dictators such as Kim Jong-Un.
“And from the day we came down the escalator, I really don’t believe we’ve had an empty seat at any arena, at any stadium. They did the same thing at our big inauguration speech. You take a look at those crowds.”
Once again, he must brag about how popular he is and how many people want to listen to him.
“A few days ago I called the fake news the enemy of the people. And they are. They are the enemy of the people. Because they have no sources, they just make ’em up when there are none.”
By January 21, 2019, The Washington Post found that Trump had made “7,645 ‘false or misleading claims.” He is in no position to talk about integrity.
“But we’re going to have regulation. It’s going to be really strong and really good and we’re going to protect our environment and we’re going to protect the safety of our people and our workers, OK?”
To “protect our environment,” Trump appointed Andrew R. Wheeler, a former coal company lobbyist, to head the Environmental Protection Agency.
2016 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, ABC NEWS, AFFORDABLE CARE ACT, ALTERNET, AP, ARNOLD SCHWARTNEGGER, BANDY X. LEE, BARACK OBAMA, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CIA, CNN, CONSERVATIVE POLITICLA ACTION CONFERENCE (CPAC), CRAIG MALKIN, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DEMOCRATS, DONALD TRUMP, FACEBOOK, FBI, FIRST AMENDMENT, FLETCHER KNEBEL, GAVIN NEWSOM, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL, HILLARY CLINTON, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (ICE), IVANKA TRUMP, JOHN T. GARNER, JOSEPH STALIN, KIM JONG-UN, LANCE DODES, LIBEL, MERYL STREEP, MICHAEL COHEN, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NARCISSISM, NBC NEWS, NEIL YOUNG, NEWSWEEK, NIGHT AT CAMP DAVID, NPR, NUCLEAR WEAPONS, OBAMACARE, PARANOIA, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, PSYCHOSIS, RAW STORY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, ROBERT S. MUELLER, ROD ROSENSTEIN, RUSSIA, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOCIOPATHY, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DANGEROUS CASE OF DONALD TRUMP (BOOK), THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE MEDIA, THE NATION, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, TIME, TWITTER, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, VIETNAM, VLADIMIR PUTIN, WIRETAPPING
In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on March 6, 2019 at 1:10 pm
“One man in the free world has the power to launch a nuclear war that might destroy civilization: the President of the United States. What if that man were mentally unbalanced?”
That is the premise of the 1965 novel, Night at Camp David, by Fletcher Knebel.
At the time of its release, its plot was considered so over-the-top as to be worthy of science fiction:
Iowa Democratic Senator Jim MacVeagh is summoned to Camp David, the Presidential retreat, by President Mark Hollenbach. MacVeagh is expected to become Hollenbach’s next Vice President. But he becomes alarmed that Hollenbach is clearly suffering from intense paranoia.
He wants to develop a closer relationship between the United States and Russia—while cutting ties with American allies in Europe. Moreover, Hollenbach believes the American news media are conspiring against him with his political enemies.
Only one person possesses evidence that Hollenbach is losing his grip on sanity—his mistress, Rita. Desperate to retain his power, Hollenbach orders the FBI to investigate both MacVeagh and Rita.
So why was a 53-year-old novel released in 2018? The answer lies in two words: Donald Trump.
In a November 30, 2018 review of Night at Camp David, Tom McCarthy, national affairs correspondent for the British newspaper, The Guardian, writes:
“The current president has seen crowds where none exist, deployed troops to answer no threat, attacked national institutions – the military, the justice department, the judiciary, the vote, the rule of law, the press – tried to prosecute his political enemies, elevated bigots, oppressed minorities, praised despots while insulting global allies and wreaked diplomatic havoc from North Korea to Canada.
“He stays up half the night watching TV and tweeting about it, then wakes up early to tweet some more, in what must be the most remarkable public diary of insecurity, petty vindictiveness, duplicity and scattershot focus by a major head of state in history.”
From the beginning of his Presidency, Trump aroused fear—based not only of what he might do, but that he might be mentally unbalanced. Consider:
On March 4, 2017, in a series of unhinged tweets, he accused former President Barack Obama of tapping his Trump Tower phones prior to the election:
“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”
“Is it legal for a sitting President to be ‘wire tapping’ a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!”
“I’d bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!”
“How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!”
A subsequent investigation by the Justice Department turned up no evidence to substantiate Trump’s foray into Presidential libel.
Donald Trump
Trump’s shoot-first-and-never-mind-the-consequences approach to life has been thoroughly documented.
From June 15, 2015, when he launched his Presidential campaign, until October 24, 2016, he fired nearly 4,000 angry, insulting tweets at 281 people and institutions. The New York Times needed two full pages of its print edition to showcase them.
Among these targets were:
- His Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton
- His fellow Republican Presidential candidates
- Actress Meryl Streep
- News organizations
- President Barack Obama
- Comedian John Oliver
- The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
- Singer Neil Young
- The state of New Jersey
- Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
And during his first two weeks as President, Trump attacked 22 people, places and things on his @realDonaldTrump Twitter account.
Trump’s vindictiveness, his narcissism, his compulsive aggression, his complaints that his “enemies” in government and the press are trying to destroy him, have caused many to ask: Could the President of the United States be suffering from mental illness?
One who has dared to answer this question is John D. Gartner, a practicing psychotherapist.
John D. Gartner
Gartner graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University, received his Ph.D in clinical psychology from the University of Massachusetts, and served as a part-time assistant professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University Medical School for 28 years.
During an interview by U.S. News & World Report (published on January 27, 2017), Gartner said: “Donald Trump is dangerously mentally ill and temperamentally incapable of being president.”
Gartner said that Trump suffers from “malignant narcissism,” whose symptoms include:
- anti-social behavior
- sadism
- aggressiveness
- paranoia
- and grandiosity.
“We’ve seen enough public behavior by Donald Trump now that we can make this diagnosis indisputably,” says Gartner, who admits he has not personally examined Trump.
More of that behavior was on full display on March 2, 2019 at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, National Harbor, Maryland.
For more than two hours, Trump delivered the longest speech (so far) of his Presidency to his fanatically Right-wing audience.
Facing a hostile Democratic House of Representatives and a potentially explosive report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Trump threw down the gauntlet.
ABC NEWS, ALTERNET, AP, BARACK OBAMA, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DONALD TRUMP, FACEBOOK, FBI, HEINRICH HIMMLER, HERMANN GORING, JOSEPH GOEBBELS, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, MICHAEL COHEN, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NPR, OMAROSA MANIGAULT, PLAYBOY MAGAZINE, POLITICO, RAW STORY, REUTERS, SALON, SCHUTZSTAFFEL, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, THE APPRENTICE, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, THIRD REICH, TIME, TV GUIDE, TWITTER, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, UPI, USA TODAY, USA TODAY ADOLF HITLER, WIRETAPPING
In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on March 1, 2019 at 12:04 am
In April, 1945, Berlin, capital of the Third Reich, was under siege by the British and Americans from the West—and by the Russians from the East.
On April 20—Adolf Hitler’s 56th birthday—his two most important ministers visited him for the last time.
One minister was Hermann Goring, who still commanded the remnants of the once-powerful German air force, the Luftwaffe.
Hermann Goring
Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-15607 / CC-BY-SA 3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 de
The other was Heinrich Himmler, absolute ruler of the Schutzstaffel, or “Protection Squadron.” His empire encompassed the black-uniformed secret police and a network of extermination camps throughout Eastern Europe.
Heinrich Himmler
Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R99621 / CC-BY-SA 3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 de
In the ruins of the Reich Chancellery, Himmler and Goring swore unswerving loyalty to Hitler.
Then, on April 23, Goring sent him a telegram. It proposed that, with Hitler trapped in Berlin, the Reichsmarshall, as his designated successor, should assume leadership of the Reich.
Hitler, furious, refused permission and ordered Goring’s arrest and execution. But Goring eluded the SS units and surrendered to the Americans.
Then, on April 28, the BBC reported that Himmler had tried to open surrender negotiations with the Western Allies.
Now Hitler screamed that Himmler—“the True Heinrich”—had committed the worst treachery he had ever known—and ordered his arrest.
On April 29—one day before he committed suicide—Hitler declared Goring and Himmler traitors and stripped them of all their Nazi party and state offices.
Both would commit suicide by poison—Himmler before he could be tried as a war criminal, and Goring before being hanged as one.
Now, fast forward 73 years later.
Attorney Michael Cohen had long been Donald Trump’s fixer. “If somebody does something Mr. Trump doesn’t like,” he told ABC News in 2011, “I do everything in my power to resolve it to Mr. Trump’s benefit.”
Michael Cohen
IowaPolitics.com [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D
Then, in April, 2018, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York began investigating Cohen.
On April 9, 2018, the FBI, executing a federal search warrant, raided Cohen’s law office, his home and his hotel room. Agents seized emails, tax and business records and recordings of phone conversations that Cohen had made.
(On August 21, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts, including tax fraud, bank fraud and campaign finance violations. In December 2018, he was sentenced to three years in federal prison and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine.)
While the media speculated that Cohen was expecting a Presidential pardon, Trump washed his hands of his former fixer: “Michael Cohen only handled a tiny, tiny fraction of my legal work.”
On July 25, Cohen offered a response in kind: A leaked tape of a phone conversation he had had with Trump before the latter became President.
It focused on buying the rights to a Playboy model’s story where she claimed to have had an affair with Trump years earlier.
Trump, furious, blasted Cohen in a tweet: “What kind of a lawyer would tape a client? So sad! Is this a first, never heard of it before? Why was the tape so abruptly terminated (cut) while I was presumably saying positive things? I hear there are other clients and many reporters that are taped – can this be so? Too bad!”
The revelation that he had been secretly taped by his own lawyer proved especially embarrassing for Trump. On March 4, 2017, he had accused President Barack Obama of illegally wiretapping his phones during the 2016 election.
Without citing any evidence to back up his libelous claim, he tweeted: “Terrible! Just found out that [Barack] Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”
Subsequent investigations by the Justice Department turned up no evidence to substantiate Trump’s assertion.
But after the release of the Cohen tape, worse was to come.
Omarosa Manigault had become a Trump favorite by generating huge ratings for his “reality series” The Apprentice during its first, seventh and 13th seasons on NBC.
Omarosa Manigault
By Glenn Francis of PacificProDigital.com
Her behavior toward other contestants was marked by insults, egomania and ruthlessness. As a result, she soon became the “woman America loved to hate.”
TV Guide included her in its 2013 list of “The 60 Nastiest TV Villains of All Time.”
During Trump’s Presidential campaign, she was named Director of African-American Outreach. In an interview with Frontline, she boasted: “Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump. It’s everyone who’s ever doubted Donald, who ever disagreed, who ever challenged him.”
In January, 2017, Omarossa moved into the White House—where she became as antagonistic toward her government colleagues as she had those on The Apprentice.
On December 12, 2017, she was forcibly removed from the White House grounds.
Trump tweeted her a goodbye: “Thank you Omarosa for your service! I wish you continued success.”
Apparently he didn’t expect her to attain that success at his expense.
On August 8, 2018, news broke that Omarosa had secretly taped Trump during several phone conversations in the White House. And that she planned to use these tapes to promote an upcoming—and highly critical—book on the President.
The book—Unhinged-–was released on August 14, 2018.
"HAMILTON", ABC NEWS, ALTERNET, AP, ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, BARACK OBAMA, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DONALD TRUMP, FACEBOOK, FBI, HILLARY CLINTON, JAMES COMEY, JOHN OLIVER, MERYL STREEP, MIKE PENCE, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, NBC NEWS, NEIL YOUNG, NEWSWEEK, NPR, POLITICO, RAW STORY, REUTERS, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, TIME, TWITTER, TWITTER RULES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY
In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on February 28, 2019 at 11:52 am
On May 9, 2017, President Donald Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey.
Reports soon surfaced that his reason for doing so was that Comey had refused to pledge his personal loyalty to Trump.
Just 72 hours after firing Comey, Trump issued a threat to him via Twitter: “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”
And Twitter’s reaction to such a blatant threat?
Silence.
James B. Comey
From the start of his Presidency, Trump has put his ambitions, excuses and rants on social media. And this has unnerved foreign leaders as well as Trump’s fellow Americans.
As CNN Political Analyst Julian Zelizer outlined in a July 3 article:
“Putting aside the specific content of the recent blasts from the Oval smart phone, the President’s ongoing Twitter storms make all leaders uneasy. The heads of government in most nations prefer a certain amount of predictability and decorum from other heads of state.
“To have one of the most powerful people in the room being someone who is willing to send out explosive and controversial statements through social media, including nasty personal attacks or an edited video of him physically assaulting the media, does not make others….feel very confident about how he will handle deliberations with them.”
On December 12, 2017, Trump used Twitter to attack New York United States Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
Kirsten Gillibrand
Gillibrand was among six Democratic senators who called for Trump’s resignation after sexual harassment allegations forced three Republican and Democratic members of Congress to resign.
Trump tweeted: “Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office ‘begging’ for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!”
“I see it as a sexist smear. I mean that’s what it is,” Gillibrand replied in a press conference. “It’s part of the President’s efforts of name calling and it’s not going to silence me, it’s not going to silence me. It’s intended to silence me.”
So how does this behavior apply to “The Twitter Rules”?
Abuse: You may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so. We consider abusive behavior an attempt to harass, intimidate, or silence someone else’s voice. [Italics added.]
On February 17, 2017, Trump tweeted: “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!”
On July 2, 2017, Trump tweeted a video showing him punching a man with the CNN logo superimposed on his head during a WWE wrestling match.
And on August 15, the President retweeted a cartoon photo of a “Trump Train” running over a CNN reporter.
Yet Twitter’s Terms of Service state:
Hateful imagery and display names: You may not use hateful images or symbols in your profile image or profile header. You also may not use your username, display name, or profile bio to engage in abusive behavior, such as targeted harassment or expressing hate towards a person, group, or protected category. We will begin enforcing this rule on December 18, 2017. [Italics added.]
So how do Twitter’s top executives justify allowing these repeated violations of “Twitter Rules”? On September 25, the company tweeted:
“We hold all accounts to the same Rules, and consider a number of factors when assessing whether Tweets violate our Rules.
“Among the considerations is ‘newsworthiness’ and whether a Tweet is of public interest. This has long been internal policy and we’ll soon update our public-facing rules to reflect it. We need to do better on this, and will.”
Twitter has never acknowledged publicly that Trump has violated any of its guidelines. It rarely even acknowledges Trump’s tweets.
So what gives?
Money.
Trump’s apologists have fiercely defended his tweetstorms, claiming they allow him to bypass the media and “communicate directly with the American people.”
One of those apologists is former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who said: “I believe it’s really important to have these conversations out in the open, rather than have them behind closed doors.”
Jack Dorsey
In April, 2017, Twitter announced that it had added 9,000,000 new users, its largest quarter-over-quarter jump in two years.
“We believe Twitter is the best at showing you what’s happening in the world and what’s being talked about,” said Anthony Noto, Twitter’s chief financial officer.
“Having political leaders of the world as well as news agencies participating and driving that is an important element to reinforcing what we’re the best at.”
In short: Trump is good at attracting more Twitter users. and if the company needs to overlook his blatant and repeated violations of its “Twitter Rules,” so be it.
Twitter has been so plagued by trolling that potential investors like the Walt Disney Company refused to taint their own reputations by partnering with it.
But that hasn’t led high-ranking Twitter executives to end their Faustian pact with the biggest Twitter troll of all.
And, as all devotees of the Faust legend know, there comes a time when the Devil wins the bargain.
"HAMILTON", ABC NEWS, ALTERNET, AP, ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, BARACK OBAMA, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DONALD TRUMP, FACEBOOK, FBI, HILLARY CLINTON, JAMES COMEY, JOHN OLIVER, MERYL STREEP, MIKE PENCE, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, NBC NEWS, NEIL YOUNG, NEWSWEEK, NPR, POLITICO, RAW STORY, REUTERS, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, TIME, TWITTER, TWITTER RULES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY
In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on February 27, 2019 at 12:03 am
According to “The Twitter Rules,” posted on the Twitter website:
We believe in freedom of expression and open dialogue, but that means little as an underlying philosophy if voices are silenced because people are afraid to speak up.
In order to ensure that people feel safe expressing diverse opinions and beliefs, we prohibit behavior that crosses the line into abuse, including behavior that harasses, intimidates, or uses fear to silence another user’s voice.
Context matters when evaluating for abusive behavior and determining appropriate enforcement actions. Factors we may take into consideration include, but are not limited to whether:
- the behavior is targeted at an individual or group of people;
- the report has been filed by the target of the abuse or a bystander;
- the behavior is newsworthy and in the legitimate public interest.
Abuse: You may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so. We consider abusive behavior an attempt to harass, intimidate, or silence someone else’s voice.
Unwanted sexual advances: You may not direct abuse at someone by sending unwanted sexual content, objectifying them in a sexually explicit manner, or otherwise engaging in sexual misconduct.
Hateful conduct: You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease. Read more about our hateful conduct policy.
Hateful imagery and display names: You may not use hateful images or symbols in your profile image or profile header. You also may not use your username, display name, or profile bio to engage in abusive behavior, such as targeted harassment or expressing hate towards a person, group, or protected category. We will begin enforcing this rule on December 18, 2017.
So much for the official version of what Twitter users—and non-Twitter users—can expect from those charged with policing Twitter.
Which leads to the question: Why hasn’t Twitter policed—and purged—the single greatest abuser of its “Twitter Rules”: Donald Trump?
Consider:
Donald Trump’s tweet-first-and-never-mind-the-consequences approach to life has been thoroughly documented.
From June 15, 2015, when he launched his Presidential campaign, until October 24, 2016, he fired nearly 4,000 angry, insulting tweets at 281 people and institutions. The New York Times needed two full pages of its print edition to showcase them.
Donald Trump
Among these targets were:
- His Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton
- His fellow Republican Presidential candidates
- Actress Meryl Streep
- News organizations
- President Barack Obama
- Comedian John Oliver
- Obamacare
- Singer Neil Young
- The state of New Jersey
- Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
His Twitter assaults have often dominated entire news cycles for days on end.
As President-elect, he continued these assaults—such as the one on November 18, 2016.
On that evening, Vice President-elect Mike Pence attended a Broadway performance of the hit musical “Hamilton.”
After the curtain call, the actor Brandon Victor Dixon—who plays Aaron Burr—respectfully addressed Pence:
“We are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our friends, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights. But we truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us.”
Dixon—who is black—was rightly alarmed.
Trump had received the open and enthusiastic support of the Ku Klux Klan, American Nazi Party and other white supremacist groups. Since his election, white thugs had assaulted blacks and other non-whites across the country.
Trump’s reaction to Dixon’s plea came in two Twitter rants:
“Our wonderful future V.P. Mike Pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of Hamilton, cameras blazing. This should not happen!”
And: “The Theater must always be a safe and special place. The cast of Hamilton was very rude last night to a very good man, Mike Pence. Apologize!”
And during his first two weeks as President, Trump attacked 22 people, places and things on his @realDonaldTrump account.
Then, on March 4, 2017, in a series of unhinged tweets, Trump accused former President Barack Obama of tapping his Trump Tower phones prior to the election:
“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”
“Is it legal for a sitting President to be ‘wire tapping’ a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!”
“I’d bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!”
“How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!”
Thus, without offering a shred of evidence to back it up, Trump accused his predecessor—on Twitter—of committing an impeachable offense.
President Barack Obama
On May 9, 2017, Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey.
Reports soon surfaced that his reason for doing so was that Comey had refused to pledge his personal loyalty to Trump.
Trump had made this “request” during a private dinner at the White House in January.
Another unpunished violation of Twitter’s Terms-of-Service was about to occur.
2016 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, ABC NEWS, ALTERNET, ANDERSON COOPER, ANDERSOON COOPER 360, ANDREW MCCABE, AP, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DONALD TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP JR., FACEBOOK, FBI, IVANKA TRUMP, KGB, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NPR, PARODY, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, RAW STORY, REUTERS, ROBERT S. MUELLER, RUSSIA, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, TIME, TREASON, TWITTER, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, VLADIMIR PUTIN
In History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on February 22, 2019 at 2:31 pm
Appearing on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 on February 19, former FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe said it is possible that President Donald Trump is a Russian asset.
Andrew McCabe
“This President is undermining the role of law enforcement, undermining the role of our intelligence infrastructure and negatively impacting the men and women of the FBI, and across the intelligence agencies, (and their) ability to protect this country on a daily basis,” McCabe said.
With this in mind, it’s time for a musical salute to the country’s would-be Commissar-in-Chief—and those treason-supporting Republicans who keep him in power.
* * * * *
ACT ONE: THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY VLAD
(To be sung to the tune, “With a Little Help From My Friends”)
What would you think if I ripped off some kids?
Would you walk out and not vote for me?
Lend me your ears and I’ll feed you a line
And I’ll try not to laugh cynically.
Oh, I get by with a little help from my Vlad.
Mm, I can lie with a little help from my Vlad.
Mm, you’re gonna fry with a little help from my Vlad.
What do I do when the bank calls me in?
(Does it worry you to be in debt?)
How do I feel when I need rubles fast?
(Do you worry Vlad might say “Nyet”?)
No, I get by with a little help from my Vlad.
Mm, I can lie with a little help from my Vlad.
Mm, you’re gonna fry with a little help from my Vlad.
I just need someone named me.
As long as it’s me–me–me–me!
(Would you believe in a love at first sight?)
Yes, it happens with a mirror all the time.
(What do you see when you turn out the light?)
It stays on so that my face can shine.
Oh, I get by with a little help from my Vlad.
Mm, I can lie with a little help from my Vlad.
Mm, you’re gonna die with a little help from my Vlad.
I need a Gestapo that kills.
As long as it kills I get thrills.
Oh, I get by with a little help from my Vlad.
With a little help from my Vlad.
* * * * *
ACT TWO: THE DONALD TRUMP PRESIDENCY
THE TRUMPY SKUNKY
(To be sung to the tune of “The Hokey Pokey”)
Trump lets the Russians in,
He kicks the press corps out.
He slips Vlad secret stuff
And he gives a “Treason!” shout.
He does the Trumpy Skunky
As he sells the U.S. out.
That’s what he’s all about.
He dares not tell the truth
‘Cause his whole life’s just a lie.
He does the Trumpy Skunky
As he sells the U.S. out.
That’s what he’s all about.
Trump tells interpreters:
“Don’t let on what I do.”
He lives to spread his hate
Just like all good Fascists do.
He does the Trumpy Skunky
That’s what he’s all about.
Trump lets the Russians in
He kicks his lawyers out.
He screams “I’m innocent!
And he gives a “Treason!” shout.
He does the Trumpy Skunky
That’s what he’s all about.
* * * * *
ACT THREE: RETRIBUTION FOR TREASON
TRUMPY TRAITOR
(To be sung to the tune, “Rockin’ Robin”)
He Tweets in the White House all the day long
Screamin’ and a-schemin’ and a-doin’ what’s wrong.
All the Special Agents in the FBI
Hope he goes to prison till the day he’ll die.
Trumpy Traitor (tweet tweet)
Trumpy Traitor (tweet tweet)
Go Trumpy Traitor
‘Cause they’re gonna bust your ass tonight.
Every act of treason, every act of crime—
America has never seen a bigger slime.
Bob Mueller’s ready, the cops are closin’ in
To put a grand finale to your reign of sin.
Trumpy Traitor (tweet tweet)
Trumpy Traitor (tweet tweet)
Go Trumpy Traitor
‘Cause they’re gonna bust your ass tonight.
Well, Eric’s getting ready for his next big steal
While Daddy hugs Ivanka—who lets out a squeal.
Don Junior’s got the Russians coming once again—
It’s party-time for traitors and their lives of sin.
He Tweets in the White House all the day long
Screamin’ and a-schemin’ and a-doin’ what’s wrong.
Handing out secrets to the KGB
The biggest Right-wing traitor that you’ll ever see.
Trumpy Traitor (tweet tweet)
Trumpy Traitor (tweet tweet)
Go Trumpy Traitor
‘Cause they’re gonna bust your ass tonight.
Well, Eric’s getting ready for his next big steal
While Daddy hugs Ivanka—who lets out a squeal.
Don Junior’s got the Russians coming once again—
It’s party-time for traitors and their lives of sin.
He Tweets in the White House all the day long
Screamin’ and a-schemin’ and a-doin’ what’s wrong.
Handing out secrets to the KGB
The biggest Right-wing traitor that you’ll ever see.
Trumpy Traitor (tweet tweet)
Trumpy Traitor (tweet tweet)
Go Trumpy Traitor
‘Cause they’re gonna bust your ass tonight.
2016 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, ABC NEWS, ALTERNET, AP, BBC, BILL CLINTON, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CNN, DAILY KOS, DONALD TRUMP, FACEBOOK, FBI, HILLARY CLINTON, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, IMPEACHMENT, JAMES COMEY, JOSEPH STALIN, KEITH SCHILLER, KENNETH STARR, MIKE FLYNN, MONICA LEWINSKY, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, NPR, POLITICO, RAW STORY, REUTERS, ROBERT MEULLER 111, ROD ROSENSTEIN, RUSSIA, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SERGEY KISLYAK, SERGEY LAVOV, SLATE, SPECIAL PROSECUTOR, TAPES, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DISCOURSES, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE PRINCE, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, THE WASHINGTON POST, TIME, TWITTER, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UNITED STATES SENATE, UPI, USA TODAY, WHITEWATER
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on February 15, 2019 at 12:10 am
Hear that sound?
It’s the sound of Niccolo Machiavelli laughing at President Donald J. Trump.
Machiavelli (1469 – 1527) was an Italian Renaissance historian, diplomat and writer. Two of his books continue to profoundly influence modern politics: The Prince and The Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy.
The Prince has often been damned as a dictator’s guide on how to gain and hold power. But The Discourses outlines how citizens in a republic can maintain their liberty.
Niccolo Machiavelli
In Chapter 26 of The Discourses, he advises:
I hold it to be a proof of great prudence for men to abstain from threats and insulting words towards any one, for neither the one nor the other in any way diminishes the strength of the enemy—but the one makes him more cautious, and the other increases his hatred of you, and makes him more persevering in his efforts to injure you.
If Trump has read Machiavelli, he’s utterly forgotten the Florentine statesman’s advice. Or he decided long ago that it simply didn’t apply to him.
Consider his treatment of James Comey, the former FBI director whom the President fired on May 9, 2017.
James B. Comey (By Federal Bureau of Investigation)
In a move that Joseph Stalin would have admired, Trump gave no warning of his intentions.
Instead, he sent Keith Schiller, his longtime bodyguard and henchman, to the FBI with a letter announcing Comey’s dismissal.
Trump had three reasons for firing Comey:
- Comey had refused to pledge his personal loyalty to Trump. Trump had made this “request” during a private dinner at the White House in January. After refusing to make that pledge, Comey told Trump that he would always be honest with him. But that didn’t satisfy Trump’s demand that the head of the FBI act as his personal KGB chief.
- Trump had tried to coerce him into dropping the FBI’s investigation into former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn, for his secret ties to Russia and Turkey. Comey had similarly resisted that demand.
- Comey had recently asked the Justice Department to fund an expanded FBI investigation into contacts between Trump’s 2016 Presidential campaign and Russian Intelligence agents.
On May 10, 2017—the day after firing Comey—Trump met in the Oval Office with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Donald Trump
Kislyak was reportedly a top recruiter for Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence agency. He has been closely linked with former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and fired National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.
“I just fired the head of the FBI,” Trump told the two dignitaries. “He was crazy, a real nut job. I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”
Two days later, on May 12, Trump tweeted a threat to the fired FBI director: “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press.”
It clearly didn’t occur to Trump that Comey might have created his own record of their exchanges. Or that he might choose to publicly release it.
But shortly afterward, that’s exactly what he did.
News stories surfaced that Comey had written memos to himself immediately after his private meetings with Trump. He had also told close aides that Trump was trying to pressure him into dropping the Russia investigation.
The news stories led to another result Trump had not anticipated: Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein yielded to demands from Democrats and appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller III as a Special Prosecutor to investigate Trump’s Russian ties.
A Special Prosecutor (now euphemistically called an “Independent Counsel”) holds virtually unlimited power and discretion.
In 1993, Kenneth Starr was appointed Special Prosecutor to investigate Bill and Hillary Clinton’s involvement in “Whitewater.” This was a failed Arkansas land deal that had happened while Clinton was still governor there. It had nothing to do with his role as President.
Starr never turned up anything incriminating about Whitewater. But he discovered that Clinton had gotten oral sex in the Oval Office from a lust-hungry intern named Monica Lewinsky.
Clinton’s lying about these incidents before a Federal grand jury led to his impeachment by a Republican-dominated House of Representatives. But he avoided removal when the Senate refused to convict him by a vote of 55 to 45.
Finally, Trump’s implying that he had illegally taped his conversations with Comey was yet another dangerous mistake, with four possible outcomes:
- If Trump had such tapes, they could and would be subpoenaed by the Special Prosecutor and the House and Senate committees investigating Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.
- If Trump had such tapes and refused to turn them over, he could be charged with obstruction of justice—and impeached for that reason alone.
- If he had burned or erased such tapes, that, too, would count as obstruction of justice.
- If he didn’t have such tapes, he would be revealed as a maker of empty threats.
Eventually the truth emerged: Trump didn’t have such tapes. This claim was just one more in a long series of Trump lies and slanders.
As Machiavelli also warns: Unwise princes cannot be wisely advised.
Bureaucracybuster's Blog 
2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ABC NEWS, ALTERNET, BARACK OBAMA, BENEDICT ARNOLD, BOEING, CBS NEWS, CHRISTOPHER LASCH, CLEAR CHANNEL COMMUNICATIONS, CNN, CONSOLIDATED EDISON, CORPORATE TAXES, CORRUPTION, DRUDGE REPORT, EDUARDO SAVEREN, EPA, FAA, FACEBOOK, FBI, FDA, FORBES MAGAZINE, GENERAL ELECTRIC, GROVER NORQUIST, MEDICARE, METROPCS COMMUNICATIONS, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, NPR, PG&E CORPORATION, POLITICO, PUBLIC CAMPAIGN, REPUBLICAN PARTY, RICHARD M. NIXON, RUSH LIMBAUGH, SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER, SOCIAL SECURITY, STEPHEN DECATUR, TAX AVOIDANCE, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DISCOURSES, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, THE WASHINGTON POST, TIME, TREASON, TWITTER, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, USA TODAY, VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS, WALL STREET, WEALTH GAP
PUBLIC ENEMY #1: THE RICH: PART TWO (OF FOUR)
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on March 18, 2019 at 12:28 amOn May 13, 2012, Forbes magazine ran an Op-Ed piece under the headline: “For De-Friending The U.S., Facebook’s Eduardo Saverin Is an American Hero.”
Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York angrily disagreed.
Chuck Shumer
“It is scary. It is a scary, absurd place where even a tax dodger who renounces America for his own 30 pieces of silver is celebrated as a patriot and an American hero.
“It is perverse. I am appalled by making heroic a man who renounces citizenship to escape a tax rate of capital gains of 15%.
“No one gets rich in America on their own,” Schumer said. “And when people do well in America, they should do well by America. I believe the vast majority of Americans believe this, too.”
From that Op-Ed piece:
“Saverin’s flight from the U.S. is yet another reminder of the superiority of a national consumption tax that in a perfect world would be implemented in concert with the abolition of the I.R.S.”
It’s tempting to imagine a world without an agency to collect taxes. But it’s nightmarish to contemplate a world where there were no taxes to pay for
The Op-Ed piece further asserts that “you cannot limit the power of the Federal Government if its officials hold the power to tax incomes.”
Every nation in history—whether a democracy or a dictatorship, whether capitalist, socialist or communist––has understood the absolute necessity for collecting public revenues. And it has created means by which to do so.
“When individuals resist governmental hubris, we should exalt their actions.”
We should, in short, celebrate those who come to the United States to make fortunes they could not make anywhere else––and then, when they do, turn their backs on their adopted country.
We should rejoice that they have stuffed billions of dollars more into their already-fat pockets and left their supposed fellow countrymen to shift for themselves.
“In an ideal world the Federal Government should implement a consumption tax. And if, as a result, poor people suffer because they’re taxed at the same level as rich ones, fine.
“Everyone should know how much it costs to run the government.”
Of course we should have a “regressive” tax that “hits low incomes at the same percentage as high ones.”
Of course, those who are barely able to feed their families or can’t afford medical care should pay as much in taxes as a rich parasite who, like Mitt Romney, throws out $10,000 bets like so many dimes.
“If the Federal Government can’t fund all its programs because rich people like Saverin refuse to pay taxes, then U.S. taxpayers generally will have to make good for the missing taxes. It’s the fault of Congress that it cannot put an end to any program.”
For billionaires like Saverin and the well-heeled types who subscribe to Forbes, it doesn’t matter whether “the Federal Government can’t fund all its programs.”
San Simeon, estate of William Randolph Hearst
Greed-obsessed “swells” like Saverin:
A contemporary writer who warned of America’s abandonment by its privileged classes was Christopher Lasch. In his posthumously published last book, The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy [2005] he wrote:
“There has always been a privileged class, even in America. But it has never been so dangerously isolated from its surroundings.
“George Bush’s [the president who served from 1989 to 1992] wonderment, when he saw for the first time an electronic scanning device at a supermarket checkout counter, revealed…the chasm that divides the privileged classes from the rest of the nation.”
Until recently, wrote Lasch, American cultural and economic elites willingly shouldered civic responsibilities. But in post-modern capitalism, a professional elite defines itself as entirely separate from civic concerns.
The new elites flourish through enterprises that operate across international borders. The rich in America have more in common with their fellows in Europe or Asia than with the vast majority of their fellow Americans who don’t share their comfortable surroundings.
Thus, the privileged class in America—the top 1%—has separated itself from the crumbling public services and industrial cities that are used and lived in by the rest of the country’s citizens.
Even worse, our society has condoned their exalted status. The dust jacket blurb for James Patterson’s crime-thriller, NYPD Red, says it best:
“NYPD Red is a special task force charged with protecting the interests of Manhattan’s wealthiest and most powerful citizens.”
It’s time to protect the 99% of America’s citizens against the predators of its 1% wealthiest.
Share this: