Just Tryna Keep Up

Liberal. Factual. Considerate.

[niteskolar]

Opinion | The Real Problem With Trump’s Rallies

There are a lot of similarities between the president and George Wallace of Alabama. But there’s also one big difference.

Historian Kevin M. Kruse on the similarities between presidential candidate and segregationist George Wallace and Donald Trump:

Mr. Wallace’s words electrified crowds of working- and middle-class whites. “Cabdrivers and cattle ranchers, secretaries and steelworkers, they hung on every word, memorized the lines, treasured them, savored them, waited to hear them again,” noted an Esquire profile. “George Wallace was their avenging angel. George Wallace said out loud what they nervously kept to themselves. George Wallace articulated their deepest fears, their darkest hates. George Wallace promised revenge.”

Mr. Trump has tapped into that sentiment, winning over white voters with a willingness to buck “political correctness” and voice their anger and anxieties directly. “He says what we’re thinking and what we want to say,” noted a white woman at a Trump rally in Montana. “We wish we could speak our mind without worrying about the consequences,” explained a white man at a Phoenix event. “He can speak his mind without worrying.”

By articulating their audiences’ hatred, both men effectively encouraged them to act on it.

[niteskolar]

America’s Indefensible Defense Budget

The sheer size of the military establishment and the habit of equating spending on it with patriotism make both sound management and serious oversight of defense expenditures rare. As a democracy, we are on an unusual and risky path. For several decades, we have maintained an extraordinarily high level of defense spending with the support of both political parties and virtually all of the public. The annual debate about the next year’s military spending, underway now on Capitol Hill, no longer probes where real cuts might be made (as opposed to cuts in previously planned growth) but only asks how big the increase should be.

A parable, to begin: in 2016, the 136 military bands maintained by the Department of Defense, employing more than 6,500 full-time professional musicians at an annual cost of about $500 million, caught the attention of budget-cutters worried about surging federal deficits. Immediately memos flew and lobbyists descended. The Government Accountability Office, laying the groundwork for another study or three, opined, “The military services have not developed objectives and measures to assess how their bands are addressing the bands’ missions, such as inspiring patriotism.” Supporters of the 369th Infantry Regiment band noted that it had introduced jazz to Europe during World War I. How could such a history be left behind? A blues band connected effectively with Russian soldiers in Bosnia in 1996, another proponent argued, proving that bands are, “if anything, an incredibly cost-effective supplement” to the Pentagon’s then $4.5 billion public affairs budget.

When the dust cleared, funding for the bands was not cut, because the political cost entailed in reducing the number of them by, say, half would have been enormous. The resulting $250 million in annual savings, on the other hand, while a significant sum for most government agencies, would have produced the almost unnoticeable difference of three one-hundredths of one percent in the Pentagon budget.

The sheer size of the military establishment and the habit of equating spending on it with patriotism make both sound management and serious oversight of defense expenditures rare. As a democracy, we are on an unusual and risky path. For several decades, we have maintained an extraordinarily high level of defense spending with the support of both political parties and virtually all of the public. The annual debate about the next year’s military spending, underway now on Capitol Hill, no longer probes where real cuts might be made (as opposed to cuts in previously planned growth) but only asks how big the increase should be. […]

[historyxcomplex]

The shutdown has exposed Trumponomics for what it is: a disaster | Robert Reich

When the president is proud to close government and proud to slash taxes for the rich, American workers get shafted

Federal spending accounts for just over 20% of the total economy. When that spigot is turned halfway off, as it is now, demand for goods and services necessarily drops. The result is less investment and slower growth.

Right now some 800,000 government employees aren’t collecting paychecks. Nor are hundreds of thousands of government contractors being paid. None of them can buy as much as before.

It’s just another aspect of Trumponomics, which stands for the highly dubious proposition that prosperity comes from cutting taxes on corporations and the wealthy, while squeezing American workers – the people who do most of the buying.

[justsomeantifas]

jeff bezos: now that i’m the richest man on the planet with a net worth of over 100 billion dollars

jeff bezos: how about i create new ways to fuck over my employees and underpay them

jeff bezos: i’ve got it, i’ll legally not pay them while they’re still on the clock, and i’ll get the supreme court to agree with me

me: 

[invaderxan]

Jeff Bezos currently has a net worth of $133.2 billion. 

It’s remarkable to me that he could personally afford to fix Puerto Rico’s critical infrastructure, and still be among the top 10 billionaires in the USA afterwards. He could afford to completely repair Puerto Rico and still have enough money to be in the top 20. 

Jeff Bezos could afford to personally end world hunger for a year and still be among the top 10 US billionaires. He could feed the entire planet for 3 years and still be in the top 20.

If you had $133.2 billion in a savings account with an interest rate of 0.06% (the average rate), you would receive $79.9 million in interest every year without having to do anything. All he needs to do is keep breathing, and he will make 57 times more this year than an average US citizen will make in their entire lifetime. 

He could spend $80 million this year and would not even notice its absence.

It’s estimated that it would take $55 million and a year of work to fix Flint, MI’s water supply. 

I’m just saying. 

[ceekari]

I can’t imagine having that kind of money and NOT trying to help others with it.

[millennial-review-deactivated20]

[saywhat-politics]

The Real Culprit for Trump and Kavanaugh: Asshole Culture

They’re rich and smug and obnoxious, and they think morality is for poor people. And they’ve done more to wreck this country than any other group. Enough.

Asshole Culture has carved out a very clear, unsavory role in American film, literature and life. Entitled, wealthy bros who take what they want, treat everyone around them like shit and then rise to positions of power is a common trope in our mass culture. And, if you have been following the news recently, you know that it exists at the highest levels of the U.S. government.

[foxagandizeme]

Trump tells bizarre lie, claims interview where he admitted firing Comey over Russia was 'fudged'

Donald Trump started the morning with a string of allegations, including accusing NBC and Lester Holt of “fudging my tape on Russia.” Wh

Donald Trump started the morning with a string of allegations, including accusing NBC and Lester Holt of “fudging my tape on Russia.” Which would appear to be a claim that Holt had somehow altered or edited the interview that he conducted with Trump on May 11, 2017, just after Trump fired James Comey. In that interview, Trump admitted that the reason for Comey’s firing was that he refused to halt the Russia investigation.

Trump: In fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story. 

Since that interview, Trump has neither backed away from that statement nor made any public claim that Holt altered the interview. In fact, both Trump and attorney Rudy Giuliani have adopted the “article two powers” defense, arguing that Trump can fire anyone he wants for any reason. Why Trump is now making a claim that Holt “fudged” the interview in some way isn’t clear. It’s even less clear why Trump would believe that Holt already “got caught” fudging the interview or that it “hurt [NBC] badly.”

It’s possible that somehow Trump has conflated together that interview with Lester Holt over confusion about contradictory statements from Michael Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis. However, in recent days, Trump has showed no hesitation to drag unsupported conspiracy theories from the depths of the alt-Reich web directly into his tweets—such as yesterday’s claim that China had hacked into Hillary Clinton’s email. Trump may be surfacing some alt-Reich claim that technology for modifying what people appear to do or say in a video, so called “deep fakes” were used to make him appear to say that thing that … he said, and hasn’t denied saying for over a year.

That’s just a guess. Sometimes Donald Trump’s morning tweets are a growl of semi-articulate rage from the great orange Bulk. More often, they’re point by point recaps of whatever Steve Doocy is saying at the moment. Honestly, we should all be grateful that Fox apparently gives Trump some sort of direct feed. Otherwise, half his tweets would consist of numbers we should all dial to Buy Gold Now. But on other days, and with increasing frequency, Trump’s tweets appear to be coming from the level so far down the hole the rabbits have been left behind. This is one of those mornings. 

And the clearest message these fresh tweets deliver is: Trump is really, really afraid.

[foxagandizeme]

The Neoconservative Comeback

by Lawrence Wilkerson To those who are strongly opposed to Donald Trump, his present troubles no doubt resonate positively. The looming pros

While Trump is frantic over the walls closing in from his fealty to Russia, his campaign ties to Russia and their conspiracy against the United States electoral process, his corrupt, villainous administration and his obstruction of justice, that group of George W. Bush era neoconservatives that brought us the worst foreign policy disaster in United States history is back with their eyes on war with Iran, finishing Syria and possibly even North Korea.

[This article by Lawrence Wilkerson is a must read.]

[foxagandizeme]

Criminal Justice Reform Is on the Midterm Ballot

Andrew Gillum wants to fix his state's broken carceral system. He's not alone among Democratic nominees for governor.

Andrew Gillum wasn’t expected to win Tuesday night’s Democratic primary for the Florida governor’s race, even after he won Senator Bernie Sanders’s endorsement weeks ago. The 39-year-old Tallahassee mayor was outspent five-to-one by the frontrunner, and even more so by the two billionaires in the race, but he triumphed nonetheless—a key victory for the insurgent progressive wing of the Democratic Party. If he prevails in November, Gillum would be only the second black governor in the South since Reconstruction and Florida’s first Democratic governor since 1999.

In his victory speech, Gillum highlighted an issue that’s received short shrift from Florida policymakers in recent years. “Beneath my name is also a desire by the majority of people in this state to see real criminal-justice reform take hold,” he told a crowd of supporters at his Tuesday night victory rally. “The kind of criminal-justice reform which allows people who make a mistake to be able to redeem themselves from that mistake, return to society, have their right to vote, but also have their right to work.”

The message could apply anywhere in the United States. But it carries greater resonance in Florida, which ranks among the most carceral states in the union. While crime has plummeted nationwide since the early 1990s, Florida’s prison population hasn’t seen significant declines. Instead, the number of people serving more than ten years in prison tripled between 1996 and 2017. Lawmakers abolished parole for most crimes by 1993, which requires the state to keep many prisoners behind bars who don’t pose a danger to society. Even today, the state has shirked the broader reform-oriented trend on both the left and the right.

Gillum has campaigned on a platform that could change that.

[theartofthegentleman]

[whitepeopletwitter]

Don’t forget that there is always someone to help us in return.

[not-safe-for-democracy]

via IG: occupydemocrats

[the-collegiate-catholic]

kimberly yam summing up what it’s like to live as a POC kid in America and making this Asian Latina cry

[klbmsw]

EXACTLY

[justtrynakeepup]

Judge's ruling invalidates FEC regulation allowing anonymous donations to 'dark money' groups

One group said the ruling could be a "major game changer."

A U.S. District Court judge on Friday issued a ruling invalidating a Federal Election Commission regulation that has allowed donors to so-called dark-money groups to remain anonymous, the latest development in a years-long legal battle that could have major implications for campaign finance.

Judge Beryl A. Howell ruled the FEC's current regulation of such groups, including 501(c) 4 non-profits, fails to uphold the standard Congress intended when it required the disclosure of politically related spending.

"The challenged regulation facilitates such financial 'routing,' blatantly undercuts the congressional goal of fully disclosing the sources of money flowing into federal political campaigns, and thereby suppresses the benefits intended to accrue from disclosure ... ," wrote Howell, an Obama appointee to the D.C district court. The decision is likely to be appealed.

The decision paves the way for new requirements that could force nonprofits to disclose donors who give least $200 toward influencing federal elections. (Social-welfare nonprofits such as Crossroads GPS are allowed to spend money on elections so long as it's not their "major purpose.")

In the post Citizens United era, spending by these groups has ballooned, but they have largely avoided having to report individual donors as a result of the FEC's belief that their names only need to be disclosed in limited circumstances.

[vagabondretired]

Earlier this week, CNN obtained copies of a recorded conversation between Donald Trump and Michael Cohen. The pair can be heard discussing buying the rights to Karen McDougal’s story from American Media, Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer, so they can permanently bury McDougal’s claim that she had a yearlong affair with Donald Trump in 2006. Audio forensics expert Ed Primeau transcribed the tape for CNN and this key part of the conversation jumps out:

In the tape, Cohen said “we’ll have to pay” to purchase the rights to McDougal’s story. The audio forensics expert concluded that Trump then responded with, “I’ll pay with cash,” to which Cohen immediately replied, “no, no, no,” several times, appearing to reject the idea of paying with cash.

Cohen went onto explain that he’d spoken with Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, about setting up a phony company to make the payment.

“I’ve spoken to Allen Weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up,” Cohen tells Trump. “So, I’m all over that. And, I spoke to Allen about it.”

Now the Wall Street Journal reports Allen Wesselberg, who has worked for Donald Trump for decades, has received a subpoena to testify before a Federal grand Jury.

[liberalsarecool]

Dee-licious.

[liberalsarecool]

Shameless. Zero respect for his wife. Trump has no idea when he is being set up to be exploited - he thinks he is charming these women. They see a $150,000 payday.