statcounter




Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Criticis of the State of the Dictatorship Speech

from:

Trump’s SOTU Speech Bristled With Fascist Politics

Authoritarian societies protect the powerful — not the poor or vulnerable — and Trump made that clear in boasting about tax policies that largely benefit the ultra-rich and major corporations. He lied about supporting workers’ rights and “restoring manufacturing rights” even as he continues to implement regulatory roll-backs that endanger both the environment and the health of workers and many other people in the U.S. His claim that he has launched the great American comeback is laced with death-dealing policies that range from criminalizing social problems, demonizing and punishing undocumented immigrants and their children, and laying claim to ultra-nationalist and white supremacist rhetoric that echoes the social and racial cleansing policies of earlier fascist societies. When Trump says in his speech “our families are flourishing,” he leaves out the misery and suffering he has inflicted on the many people who don’t fit into his white Christian notion of the public sphere, as well as on the immigrants and other people of color whom he has deemed disposable.

America is Dead, we live in the kingdom of Trump

Image result for Burning reichstag"

Burning the Reichstag 1933


The Republicans of U.S.Senate have united and marched the Republic off the cliff and into the world of fascist dictatorship. Should  there be  any doubt  that this  is the case consider:  

(1) The Senate just voted totally along party lines  to forgo a real trial eve though the House met it's constitutional mandate to require a trial. WE see in this the Repuboicans will do anything Trup tells them do do.

(2) Trump really does believe the constitution gives him unlimited power.

(3) Can there be any doubt he believes he's above the law? Clearly the Republican senators believe he's above the law.

Let's look at the the first step in Trump's power play advancing notions of unlimited power, Trump has been documented making several statements to this effect: "President Donald Trump on Tuesday inaccurately suggested the Constitution gives him the power to do 'whatever he wants' as president...While criticizing the former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference, Trump said, 'Then I have an Article 2, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president.'"[1] There is a much more through list in audio were many more of Trump's statements are recorded from  el presidente  Himself. The issues are discussed by John Iadarola and Brett Erlich. [2]

Of course Trump is way off base; That very section of the constitution (article II section 2) Limits the President's power by defining it and setting it in checks and balances.  One such check is impeachment which is spelled out in that very section,[3] There is also the oath of office: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." He swore to defend the constitution but he subverted the constitution by, among other things, scraping the impeachment trial,which is prescribed in the constitution. The house voted to impeach so they had to have a trail. But instead they had a coronation. This is very serious, the Republicans derailed justice they turned constitutional mandate for justice into  joke.

According to one version of Christian theology, St. Augustine no less: St. Augustine (354-430), "in Book IV of The City of God, relates the story about the pirate who had been seized and brought before Alexander the Great. The cheeky pirate asks Alexander what is the real difference between a pirate and an emperor apart from the scale of action."[4]

The actual quote:

Justice being taken away, then, what are kingdoms but great robberies? For what are robberies themselves, but little kingdoms? The band itself is made up of men; it is ruled by the authority of a prince, it is knit together by the pact of the confederacy; the booty is divided by the law agreed on. If, by the admittance of abandoned men, this evil increases to such a degree that it holds places, fixes abodes, takes possession of cities, and subdues peoples, it assumes the more plainly the name of a kingdom, because the reality is now manifestly conferred on it, not by the removal of covetousness, but by the addition of impunity. Indeed, that was an apt and true reply which was given to Alexander the Great by a pirate who had been seized. For when that king had asked the man what he meant by keeping hostile possession of the sea, he answered with bold pride, “What thou meanest by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, whilst thou who dost it with a great fleet art styled emperor[5]
That is what the Trump administration, is a criminal enterprise. Think about it, He's violated the  Emoluments clause in numerous ways (such as holding important meetings with foreign dignitaries at venues from which he profits), His daughter getting trademarks from China all the time [6] so on. Trump is so detached from reality there surely must be a group of people somewhere who are really  running things so it is an organized gang.

The one last ray of hope still shining: we must go all out to make sure the Republicans don't win the elections, . Take back the Senate, hang on to the house,take back back the white house.


here is Article II :
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articleii


Notes

[1],"Trump claimed Article 2 of the Constitution gives him the right to do 'whatever I want as president,' but that's not true," Business Insider  (Jul 23, 2019, 1:26 PM)
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-falsely-says-constitution-gives-him-unlimited-power-president-2019-7  (acessed, 2/1/20)

[2]  John Iadarola and Brett Erlich, "Trump Crowns Himself KingThe Damage Report, YouTube Video (Jan 31, 2020)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQw6tiPjpSU   (acessed, 2/1/20)

[3] Christina Zhao, "Article 2 Trends After Trump Falsely Claimsis it Grants Him Unlimited Powers as President..." Newsweek,  (7/23/19 )
https://www.newsweek.com/article-2-trends-after-trump-falsely-claims-it-grants-him-unlimited-powers-president-i-can-do-1450798  (acessed, 2/1/20)
states[4]Liberty Fund, Inc, "St Augustine States..." Online Library of Liberty published by Liberty Fund, Inc (2--4/2020)
https://oll.libertyfund.org/quotes/200
"Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established in 1960 to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. The Foundation develops, supervises, and finances its own educational activities to foster thought and encourage discourse on enduring intellectual issues pertaining to liberty."

[5] IbidSome translations say "Brigudages." I would use "gangs of criminals.'


from this post on Metacrock's blog

3 comments:

Anonymous said...
Dude, shut your ass hole. All that we are allowed to hear every day on the news is the LEFT! You guys just want to impose your stupid globalist schemes and tax everybody with taxes they can't afford and impose your global totalitarian state. You guys can't appreciate anything good that Trump has done for the economy just because he is a republican.
Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said...
I have allowed this comment in order to refute it.

Dude, shut your ass hole. All that we are allowed to hear every day on the news is the LEFT!

This is clearly not the case It; something right wingers say all the time but they Just don't think it Through. The media is ran by advertising. They make their money by selling time and space (for print media) to companies with money who want to advertise, they are never going to pitch a true socialist agenda.There are plenty of right wing media outlets. Most local news is very conservative and of course there is always Fox.

In my younger days I was the local contract for a group called "FAIR" which sought to do for the left what AIM does for the right. I know about the media.both sides make the same compliants about media because the media is really on the side of making money.


You guys just want to impose your stupid globalist schemes and tax everybody with taxes they can't afford and impose your global totalitarian state.

what a globalist? what is my globalist perspective? I think that's a catch phrase for anyone who doesn't blindly follow their demagogue.

You guys can't appreciate anything good that Trump has done for the economy just because he is a republican.

Trump did not cause the good encomium. It's the a tend that started with Obama when he saved us from economic collapse. In 2007 the Bush administration started saying we were on the edge of economic collapse, Dem Senator Dodd was one of the major voices. Obama took steps to halt the crisis when he first got into office.

The economy is not all that good either. Trump has done nothing good. Still waiting for a Repub to show me one thing he's done

Thursday, October 24, 2019

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/23/chaos-erupts-as-republicans-barge-into-trump-impeachment-inquiry-hearing

Republicans are using Brown shirt tactics to destroy impeachment investigation. This is not open democracy this is disruption. What if criminals and other people invaded the police and demanded to know what evidence they had found  in their investigation? This assumes the house committee is not the valid body to instigate,call your congressman demand they stop this.

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Phonegate: Oil and gas connection

Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth


Rachel Maddow just went on the Colbert show (Late Night) to plug her new book Blow Out.[1] The point of the book is abuses in the oil  and gas industry but in discussing the impeachment topic with Colbert she actually said enough to connect the dots and link the impeachment crimes to a brewing scandal in the oil and gas industry. Here is Publisher's Weekly's review of the book:

https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-525-57547-4


[Rachel] Maddow (Drift), host of MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, surveys Big Oil’s recent misdeeds, including Western oil companies’ support for Equatorial Guinea’s Obiang dictatorship, the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and blocking rules to regulate fracking practices that cause earthquake swarms and pollution in Oklahoma (while the same companies demand tax breaks). Anchoring the book is Russian president Vladimir Putin’s cutthroat petropolitics. Maddow contends he turned Russia’s oil and gas sectors into cesspools of corruption and inefficiency, seized well-managed private oil companies and arrested their CEOs, and made energy a foreign policy weapon while getting investments and technology from ExxonMobil. Maddow tells these stories in colorful, sardonic prose—she pillories Putin’s campaign “to piss in the punch bowl of free elections all over the civilized world”...[2]
That review is ultimately not kind as he thinks she does not connect enough dots. Perhaps that is the case I don't know. But the picture taking shape from those she clearly connects gives us a good idea that much more lies behind the phone call. Not that it was directly  about  the oil  and gas industry but it raises questions that the phone giving out of the transcript  might be a diversion from the brewing oil and gas problems. Even if that is too hair brained it is clearly the case that here lies more to investigate, the impeachment proceedings open the door to do so. Mind you the hair brain idea of connection between the book and telephone call is my  idea not her's. She is not that zany.

Another reviewer summarizes the book:

https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/14526/blowout


With her trademark black humor, Maddow takes us on a switchback journey around the globe, revealing the greed and incompetence of Big Oil and Gas along the way, and drawing a surprising conclusion about why the Russian government hacked the 2016 U.S. election. She deftly shows how Russia's rich reserves of crude have, paradoxically, stunted its growth, forcing Putin to maintain his power by spreading Russia's rot into its rivals, its neighbors, the West's most important alliances, and the United States. Chevron, BP, and a host of other industry players get their star turn, most notably ExxonMobil and the deceptively well-behaved Rex Tillerson. The oil and gas industry has weakened democracies in developed and developing countries, fouled oceans and rivers, and propped up authoritarian thieves and killers. But being outraged at it is, according to Maddow, "like being indignant when a lion takes down and eats a gazelle. You can't really blame the lion. It's in her nature."[3]

The oil and gas industry destroys enirinmentandcomunities, it doesnot bring review to thepeople of nationas crsedwith oil but rather dictatorship asiti hasto theRussiamns,
https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/behind-trumps-energy-dominance/


President Donald Trump has pledged allegiance to what he calls America’s “energy dominance.” This is good news for the oil and gas industry. We examine what this means for villagers in Alaska coping with climate change, Native American artifacts in Utah and birds flying over the U.S.  To find out, we talk with a former Interior Department official who became a whistleblower after helping relocate Alaska Native villages threatened by rising temperatures. We also examine the energy industry’s influence on the Trump administration and visit public lands in southeastern Utah, where parcels leased for oil and gas exploration contain sensitive Native American archeological sites.[4]

We know the phone call is, like wiretapping the Wategrate headquarters just the tip of the iceberg.


[1]"Late Night with Steven Colbert Interview Rachel Maddow," Wedesday,  CBS 11. Dallas Texas,Oct 2, 2019.

[2]"Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth" PW Publisher's Weekley, 8/12/2019 https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-525-57547-4
[accessed oct 2,2019]

[3]"Blowout," Bool Browse, Oct 2019
https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/14526/blowout
[accessed oct 2,2019]

[4] "Behind Trump's Energy Dominance," Reveal the center  for Investigative reporting, Amy Walters. Editors: Deborah George, Taki Telonidis and Marla Cone. Reporters: Zack Colman, Elizabeth Shogren and Jennifer Oldham.
https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/behind-trumps-energy-dominance/
[accessed oct 2,2019]

Monday, July 1, 2019

Image result for kids held at border

I quote:https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46682354
An eight-year-old boy from Guatemala has died in US government custody, officials say, the second migrant child to die in US detention this month.
The border agency says the boy died on Monday night hours after showing signs of illness. A Texas congressman named him as Felipe Alónzo-Gomez.
The child was detained with his father on 18 December after illegally crossing the US-Mexico border.
A seven-year-old girl died earlier this month just hours after being detained.
Jakelin Caal, also from Guatemala, developed a high fever and died of liver failure. Her funeral was held in her village on Tuesday. Thousands of migrants have travelled from Central America - mainly from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador - to the US border.
Many say they are fleeing persecution, poverty and violence in their home countries and plan to seek asylum in the US.
What do we know about the latest case?
In a new, lengthy statement, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said the boy, whose identity has not been officially confirmed, died at 23:48 local time(06:48 GMT) on 24 December. The cause of death is still unknown.
After being detained in El Paso, Texas, he and his father were taken to a local processing centre, where they spent two days. They were then sent to El Paso Border Patrol Station, where they were held for another two days.
On 22 December, they were transferred to Alamogordo Border Patrol Station, in neighbouring New Mexico.
On Monday morning, an agent noticed that the boy "was coughing and appeared to have glossy eyes". He was taken with his father to a hospital where he was diagnosed with a common cold and given Tylenol (paracetamol).

Pamela Wheelock Call senator Johnson. Head of the senate committee for Homeland Security and has oversight . He may not care, but call because you DO. 202-224-5323 Flood his phone.

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Tax Cuts failed (surprise!)

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/05/study-trump-tax-cuts-failed-growth-investment.html?fbclid=IwAR1wUfEkn-oHaIQ_SUuUk9LN1Is9O9ROfd2Q91mT6H3LgccSjiDTuHykXVQ

Study Finds Trump Tax Cuts Failed to Do Anything But Give Rich People Money

The Intelligencer
MAY 29, 2019

from the article:
The biggest effect of the Trump tax cuts is obvious: People who own businesses and other sources of concentrated wealth will have a lot more money, and the federal budget will have less. But the advocates of the tax cuts insisted it wasn’t about letting the makers keep their hard-earned money rather than handing it over to the takers. It was about incentivizing business to repatriate funds and ramp up its investments, thereby increasing growth and wages.
The Congressional Research Service, a kind of in-house think tank for Congress, has a new paper analyzing the effects of the Trump tax cuts. It finds that none of those secondary effects have materialized. Growth has not increased above the pre-tax-cut trend. Neither have wages. After a brief and much smaller than expected bump, repatriated corporate cash from abroad has leveled off.