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Art Metal ad, 1959

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1950’s US Highway ad via charles coriaty

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Trump’s Rage

Our country has to cower like a child in a house where an angry parent stamps around, throwing things. We are wondering “what will become of us?,” thinking “I hope he doesn’t come after me” and hoping we have the strength to stand up for whoever he attacks.

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Sobering. And all too true. Ht: MC

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Has anyone noticed the Trump situation’s similarity to “The Producers”?

Shocking, simply shocking, the behavior that Trump’s campaign engaged in. Working with such questionable people. Making such unkeepable promises. It’s all emerging now.

But it wouldn’t have been revealed — no one would have paid attention — if Trump had lost. Maybe that’s what they were counting on, like Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom.

If Trump had lost, there’d be no leaks. There’d be no FBI inquiry. His fans would have remembered the “great” health plan they could have had, and the wonderful non-NAFTA trade deals.

To quote Max: “How could this happen? I was so careful. I picked the wrong play, the wrong director, the wrong cast. Where did I go right?”

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What if Flynn’s Duplicity Hadn’t Leaked?

Amid a storm of complaints from Republicans about leaks and unmasking and unproved “surveillance,” let’s consider what might have happened if information about National Security Advisor Mike Flynn’s activities and lies hadn’t leaked. 

Would Flynn still be National Security Advisor today? 

Probably. President Trump didn’t let Flynn go based on known bad conduct. He waited until publicity made it impossible to keep Flynn on.

So in a world where no one had leaked the information, we’d have a top security official having tremendous influence in and access to major security decisions, not to mention random other matters*— a top advisor who was involved with, and possibly even controlled by, the Russian government at the highest levels.

Is that what Republicans wish had happened?

*(Flynn was one of Trump’s top advisors on a wide range of issues. Trump apparently consulted with him on whether a strong dollar was good or bad, for example.)

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Well, At Least Someone Else is Paying for the Golf Now

Looks like the main thing Trump has accomplished in office is getting the government to pay for his lavish lifestyle: the fabulous travel, the limos, the security, the golf. Even the PR and networking opportunities for his businesses.

By “the government” is paying, I mean of course the American people, or anyway those who pay their fair share of taxes. Cough.

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“It’s Dying” is a Euphemism for “We’ll Kill It’

Hey Americans. When Republican leaders say that Obamacare is “dying” or “it’s in a death spiral” what they mean is that they’re going to kill it. 

Any federal program depends on support from the governing parties. The Republicans have both houses of Congress, the Presidency, and they’ll increasingly have the courts. Obamacare wouldn’t fail if they wanted it to succeed.

It’s not enough to say “don’t let them abolish the ACA.” Even if Trumpcare fails to pass, Obamacare isn’t safe from harm, and the Republicans are 100% responsible for that. And in the case of health care, “We’ll kill it” can mean “We’ll kill you.” Literally.

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Applying the Commutative Property to Defense Spending

“If you don’t fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition” -- General Mattis.

Commutative property of mathematics: a + b = b + a.

President Trump has already promised to raise the defense budget sharply. Therefore, it could logically follow that he doesn’t need to fund the State Department. Is that the logic behind his proposal to cut State by 37%? If we have threats and war at the forefront, no need to pay the expenses of peace?

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Donald Trump Pays Too Much

If you read his history, you’ll notice that Donald Trump has a habit of paying way too much. 

When he really wants something -- the Plaza Hotel, an airline shuttle service, the Trump Taj Mahal, or Doug Flutie to quarterback his football team -- he will pay whatever it takes to get it. And in all those cases, and more, the result is a debacle: ruin, bankruptcy, loss.

It looks like he had Indiana pay way too much to the air conditioning company Carrier to get the company to keep jobs in the USA. Sounds like a terrible deal: $7 million from the citizens of Indiana to keep about 1,000 jobs in the state. And the CEO of United Technologies, Carrier’s parent company, said they’d be investing in automation to eliminate line jobs. So a lot of money spent for not many jobs now, and fewer jobs later.

Now it’s time to negotiate with Congress to get Trumpcare, his replacement for Obamacare, passed. 

He really wants it passed. You have to worry that he’ll pay way too much. 

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Jason Chaffetz’s “Let Them Eat Cake” Moment

Jason Chaffetz sound a lot like Marie Antoinette when he didn’t innately know an iPhone costs a lot less than health insurance. 

You could pass up the iPhone and it wouldn’t even cover a month of insurance for an older person.

Likely he doesn’t have to pay for either one.

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DERRY, NH—Admitting that he never fully understood the device’s capabilities, local man Andrew Thurston told reporters Thursday that he was learning about the majority of his Samsung Smart TV’s features from the trove of CIA hacking documents released by WikiLeaks. “Until I found out the CIA can hack into the microphone to listen in on your conversations, I had no idea my TV could even do voice activation,” said Thurston, 41, who only discovered that the 46-inch Samsung UNF7500 model that he had purchased in 2013 contained a built-in camera by reading that the CIA could be using it to spy on him. “I guess they can pull your web browsing data, too—I didn’t even know I could use the TV to search the internet. I thought it was just for watching Netflix and stuff. Man, there’s probably a whole bunch of other cool stuff I don’t even know about yet.” Sources confirmed that Thurston would not learn about most of the features included in his home’s smart thermostat, smart speaker, or smart baby monitor until subsequent CIA documents were leaked.

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All Workers Contribute to Corporate Political Donations. But They Don’t Have a Say Where It Goes.

Republicans have made much of the complaint that unions use workers’ mandatory dues to fund political campaigns. You could get a person worked up about that. Why pay for political efforts you don’t personally endorse?

But little has been made of how workers enable corporate tycoons to spend money on campaigns. Especially in the new “corporations are people” era.

Every worker contributes to the company’s bottom line. Does every worker support the company’s politics?

It’s fair to say nearly every worker materially contributes to the profit of a company and the wealth of its owners. CEOs and owners would be the first to say yes, they owe their ongoing success -- or most of it -- to their employees. Unless a company is losing a lot of money, every employee contributes more to their employer than they take home in wages and benefits. 

Does every worker agree with owners’ political views?

Certainly not.

In fact, workers at many companies are, by dint of making their bosses rich, unwittingly contributing to political movements that lower their own wages and reduce their own rights. And unlike with unions, workers don’t get to vote for their companies’ executives or ownership.

If the corporation is legally considered a person, whose is the will of the “person?” The governance of a corporation isn’t normally democratic, and doesn’t seem a good fit as a citizen within a democratic system of government.

There are countless real examples where employers have used corporate earnings to directly deprive their employees of rights or resources:

Workers at Hobby Lobby helped pay for the lawsuit that denied them birth control coverage in their health insurance.

Are all Carl’s Jr and Dominos Pizza employees anti-abortion? Their work has helped corporate owners back dozens of anti-abortion groups, including those who encourage violence against doctors -- possibly some of the same doctors who are treating employees. 

People who help make and ship Brawny Paper Towels, Dixie Cups and other products are paying for the Koch brothers’ political forays, which include fighting minimum wage and environmental laws that benefit their communities.

Even at the upper echelons of corporate society, a worker may disagree with the boss’s politics. Billionaire Trump backer Robert Mercer is a major donor who led Trump to hire Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway. The Wall Street Journal quotes a top executive at Mercer’s firm who’s happy to work for him but doesn’t like his politics: “Now he’s using the money I helped him make to implement his worldview.”

After the Citizens United case extended citizens’ rights to corporations, more of the fruit of laborers’ work has been put to use fighting laborers’ rights. 

Not only are workers unable to vote for the way their company spends profits on politics, they aren’t even able to learn about it.

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If Flynn Is Guilty, So Is Trump

Now-disgraced National Security Advisor Mike Flynn did not tell Vice President Mike Pence that he (Flynn) had colluded with the Russians prior to Trump’s inauguration. 

Now Flynn has been fired. Not for his contact with the Kremlin. For lying to Pence -- the Trump administration just “can’t trust” Flynn any more.

The problem with citing the “lack of trust” objection to Mike Flynn as a reason for his dismissal... is that Trump also knew, and also didn’t tell Pence. 

Both knowingly allowed Pence to lie on TV. One can’t be more disgraced than the other. 

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Maybe He Really Did Deserve It

Some of us were skeptical when Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize.

But now, maybe we can understand why. With all the might America holds, just keeping a lid on the crazies keeps the world more peaceful. 

So, with the new administration, is the lid off?

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(via Don’t Be a Sucker (1947) | U.S. War Department - YouTube)

Relevant. Timely.

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The White House has refused to send its spokespeople or surrogates onto CNN shows, effectively icing out the network from on-air administration voices.

“We’re sending surrogates to places where we think it makes sense to promote our agenda,” said a White House official, acknowledging that CNN is not such a place, but adding that the ban is not permanent.

A CNN reporter, speaking on background, was more blunt: The White House is trying to punish the network and force down its ratings.

“They’re trying to cull CNN from the herd,” the reporter said.

Administration officials are still answering questions from CNN reporters. But administration officials including White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and senior counselor Kellyanne Conway haven’t appeared on the network’s programming in recent weeks.

Spicer, speaking at an event at the George Washington University on Monday, denied that CNN was being frozen out, pointing out that he’s answered CNN’s questions in the regular daily briefings.

But, he added “I’m not going to sit around and engage with people who have no desire to actually get something right.”

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