Shitshow, Continued...

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NY Times -

The president-elect criticized a report in The New York Times about his early telephone contacts with foreign leaders. In a post on Twitter, he said he had made and received “calls from many foreign leaders despite what the failing @nytimes said. Russia, U.K., China, Saudi Arabia, Japan.”
In fact, The Times reported that Mr. Trump had taken calls from the leaders of Egypt, Israel, Russia and Britain, but said they had been conducted haphazardly and without State Department briefings that traditionally guide conversations with foreign leaders.
Of the transition effort, Mr. Trump wrote: “It is going so smoothly.”

In what world is it considered going "smoothly" when the State Department isn't briefing the President-Elect on foreign leaders, especially when said person has exactly zero foreign policy experience?

"In the flag-bedecked lobby of the State Department, next to the main reception desk, there is a sign that says “Transition.” It has been very quiet. The State Department confirms that, like the Pentagon and the Justice Department, it has not heard from anyone on President-elect Trump’s team, a week after the election."

Clearly things are going well.

What a Shitshow

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Multiple sources are reporting that Trump's transition team is woefully unprepared for the job.

The New York Times:

"The turmoil at the highest levels of his staff upended months of planning and preparation for a process that many describe as drinking from a fire hose even in the most orderly of circumstances — a period of about 70 days between the election and the inauguration on Jan. 20. During that time, the president-elect must assemble a team to take the reins of the massive federal bureaucracy and recruit, vet and hire 4,000 political appointees to help him run it."

Eliot Cohen, former Counselor to the US State Department:

“It became clear to me that they view jobs as lollipops, things you give out to good boys and girls, instead of the sense that actually what you’re trying to do is recruit the best possible talent to fill the most important, demanding, lowest-paying executive jobs in the world,” Cohen said.

and later on Twitter:

Trump's presumptive appointment for Secretary of State is Rudy Giuliani, but there may be some problems with that according to sources.

"Mr. Giuliani said he was one of dozens of prominent Americans who worked for the Iranian opposition group known as the Mujahedeen Khalq, or the M.E.K. — drawing payments at the same time it was on a State Department list designating it a terrorist organization. He sought to persuade the State Department to revoke its terrorist listing."

"...it is the lesser-known names that may draw the most scrutiny.

TriGlobal Strategic Ventures, a company that aims to “assist Western clients in furthering their business interests in the emerging economies of the former Soviet Union,” according to its website, is among the more obscure clients.

Records show Mr. Giuliani has had ties dating to at least 2004 to TriGlobal, a company that has provided image consulting to Russian oligarchs and clients with deep Kremlin ties. They have included Transneft, Russia’s state-owned oil pipeline giant, which is the target of Western sanctions imposed after President Vladimir V. Putin annexed Crimea and began meddling in Ukraine."

Everything about this is shaping up to be a grade-A catastrophe for America.

Hope everyone has their popcorn ready, because we're in for a disaster movie that not even Hollywood could write.

Family Ties

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Politico has a great article up on Trump's transition team issues. Here's a taste:

“The other pointed out that Kushner’s father was prosecuted and convicted for tax evasion, illegal campaign donations and witness tampering by Christie during his time as a U.S. attorney.”
— KENNETH P. VOGEL, NANCY COOK and ALEX ISENSTADT for POLITICO

I mean.. what could go wrong with this? I can't wait to see how Trump fights corruption when his own son in law's dad has been convicted by a former governor who is himself under investigation for corruption.

What the fuck, America? This entire thing is just getting weirder and weirder.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Trump's 100 day plan

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Since the entirety of the election conversation was dominated by non-policy discussion, and the little policy discussion that was available couldn't be vetted because it was literally impossible to know whether either candidate was telling the truth, or whether they were just saying the things that people wanted to hear... let's actually break down Trump's proposed 100-day plan.

...on Corruption and Special Interests

I'm feeling charitable. Let's start with the "good" - Trump's plan to reduce corruption in Washington.

  1. FIRST, propose a Constitutional Amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress;
  2. SECOND, a hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and public health);
  3. THIRD, a requirement that for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated;
  4. FOURTH, a 5 year-ban on White House and Congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service;
  5. FIFTH, a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government;
  6. SIXTH, a complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections.

In general, at first blush, it sounds... fine? A constitutional amendment to impose term limits is never going to happen. (Or is it? I mean, how wrong has everyone been so far this election?) A hiring freeze for federal employees? Ok, but that's obviously not happening from day one, since there will be a whole bunch of new faces in the cabinet to replace all those outgoing members. 2 for 1 on regulations? Hope everyone enjoyed breathing clean air while it lasted, because where do you think Congress is going to start removing regulations to make room for their new regulations? Somewhat obviously from the places where they already want to remove regulations: the environment. But more on that later. The lobbying restrictions are ok, maybe. I guess we'll see.

...on "Protecting" American Workers

The Bad. Or, "How I propose to pander to my base and fuck up the environment big time!"

  1. FIRST, I will announce my intention to renegotiate NAFTA or withdraw from the deal under Article 2205
  2. SECOND, I will announce our withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership
  3. THIRD, I will direct my Secretary of the Treasury to label China a currency manipulator
  4. FOURTH, I will direct the Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative to identify all foreign trading abuses that unfairly impact American workers and direct them to use every tool under American and international law to end those abuses immediately
  5. FIFTH, I will lift the restrictions on the production of $50 trillion dollars' worth of job-producing American energy reserves, including shale, oil, natural gas and clean coal.
  6. SIXTH, lift the Obama-Clinton roadblocks and allow vital energy infrastructure projects, like the Keystone Pipeline, to move forward
  7. SEVENTH, cancel billions in payments to U.N. climate change programs and use the money to fix America's water and environmental infrastructure

Holy shit, what did I just read here? NAFTA & the TPP? Sure, whatever. The TPP is already dead before Trump even takes office, NAFTA has largely been considered to be a wash, and labeling China a currency manipulator is pretty much a hollow gesture. But hang on, let's drill down (pun intended) into points 5, 6 & 7. Trump is basically rolling back environmental safeguards on a global scale. These, combined with his plan to roll back regulations that are undoubtedly going to be aimed at environmental programs is an absolute catastrophe for the environment. The problem with this isn't that it'll mean that LA is going to revert to being a shithole to exist in due to pollution, because thankfully state governments have a huge say in what happens with these kinds of regulations. Which is great if you like breathing air in California, but probably a lot worse if you thought that living in Oklahoma was going to mean you didn't have to deal with earthquakes, or you think that Florida and Louisiana make better states above the water line than below it. Whatever, I guess when they go, they'll know who to blame: the guy they voted for.

...on Security and the Constitution

The Ugly. Or "I already feel like drinking, and it's not even noon yet".

  1. FIRST, cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama
  2. SECOND, begin the process of selecting a replacement for Justice Scalia from one of the 20 judges on my list, who will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States
  3. THIRD, cancel all federal funding to Sanctuary Cities
  4. FOURTH, begin removing the more than 2 million criminal illegal immigrants from the country and cancel visas to foreign countries that won't take them back
  5. FIFTH, suspend immigration from terror-prone regions where vetting cannot safely occur. All vetting of people coming into our country will be considered extreme vetting.

Can you go ahead and list all those unconstitutional executive actions that you want to cancel? Ok, nominate a new SCOTUS judge, sure wish the Senate would have done their job last year when this first needed to be done, but whatever. Hope RBG doesn't die in the next 4 years. (And I really hope I didn't just jinx that.) Oh, look at this hilarious third point - cancel all funding for Sanctuary Cities. Have fun with that, because there are more than 300 of them. Now let's take a look at that fourth point carefully - the Donald wants to start removing more than 2 million criminal illegal immigrants, but already pledged not to hire any more federal workers. Good luck? They're not going to see themselves out. I'm not even sure what the 5th point really even encompasses, because 'terror-prone' regions could include places like Belgium, France, and the UK. Or maybe the Donald just means he doesn't want people from the top 25 or so countries on the Global Terrorism list. Who fucking knows, because that's some very vague wording.

...on Future Legislation

Oh boy, here we go. Let's just go through this point by point, shall we?

  • Middle Class Tax Relief And Simplification Act. An economic plan designed to grow the economy 4% per year and create at least 25 million new jobs through massive tax reduction and simplification, in combination with trade reform, regulatory relief, and lifting the restrictions on American energy. The largest tax reductions are for the middle class. A middle-class family with 2 children will get a 35% tax cut. The current number of brackets will be reduced from 7 to 3, and tax forms will likewise be greatly simplified. The business rate will be lowered from 35 to 15 percent, and the trillions of dollars of American corporate money overseas can now be brought back at a 10 percent rate.

Anyone remember that plan that was universally panned by anyone who understood the basic principles of economics? About which, the Tax Policy Center said this:

“The fundamental concern the plan poses is that, barring extraordinarily large cuts in government spending or future tax increases, it would yield persistently large, and likely unsustainable, budget deficits.”
— Tax Policy Center

Yeah, this is it. This is the tax plan that throws America under the bus, and grants huge tax relief to the wealthiest while giving a giant middle finger to everyone else. Congrats to all the people who voted for this horse shit. Good luck with your terrible school systems and abysmal infrastructure (wait, we'll get back to this momentarily)!

  • End The Offshoring Act. Establishes tariffs to discourage companies from laying off their workers in order to relocate in other countries and ship their products back to the U.S. tax-free.

You know that this works both ways, right? America manufactures a reasonably decent amount of products, and when you start adding tariffs to other countries' products, they will return the favor. About all this is going to mean for Americans is that you pay more for your cheap Walmart crap. Another big finger to the people who voted for him in middle America, but nobody said you have to be smart to vote.

  • American Energy & Infrastructure Act. Leverages public-private partnerships, and private investments through tax incentives, to spur $1 trillion in infrastructure investment over 10 years. It is revenue neutral.

"Revenue neutral"? Sure, I guess you could see it that way. What he means is that the federal government isn't going to pay for this. (Though this is actually helped along by something like 140 billion in tax credits for private companies, which to those of us who pay attention already makes this plan cost money.) What that does mean though is that Americans will pay for this. This will replace regular roads with toll roads. Infrastructure projects will be built in urban areas, but not in rural areas (another big finger to middle America), because companies are going to seek out places where they can make the most from their investments, and I'll let you know where that isn't: Rural America. Where you'll get infrastructure improvements: big cities.

“A private player might be glad to build a toll road in a dense metropolitan area, says Edward Alden, a senior fellow with the Council of Foreign Relations. Indeed: A June survey found 71 percent of Southern California drivers would pay up to $20 per commute if they could drive a traffic-free, new expressway.

Something like that has plenty of appeal to the private sector. But other needs? Not so much. “If you’re talking about upgrading the water system in Flint, they won’t be clamoring to get involved,” Alden said.”
— Wired Magazine
  • School Choice And Education Opportunity Act. Redirects education dollars to give parents the right to send their kid to the public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home school of their choice. Ends common core, brings education supervision to local communities. It expands vocational and technical education, and make 2 and 4-year college more affordable.

Oh man. Vouchers. Hope you didn't like education for those not born into wealth, because this is about to destroy public school funding. Listen, I'm a kid that grew up in a system that where my parents would have benefited greatly from vouchers on one hand (I was privately educated from 5th grade through high school), and would have been decimated on the other hand (my mom was a public school teacher for 30+ years). The rich don't need tax cuts through voucher programs to get their kids into private schools. This is just another giant finger to the people who need actual honest education reform the worst.

  • Repeal and Replace Obamacare Act. Fully repeals Obamacare and replaces it with Health Savings Accounts, the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines, and lets states manage Medicaid funds. Reforms will also include cutting the red tape at the FDA: there are over 4,000 drugs awaiting approval, and we especially want to speed the approval of life-saving medications.

Invest in big pharma. Do it now. If you're sick, enjoy being unable to get insurance, because the ACA was what prevented insurance companies from denying you due to pre-existing conditions. Also, the whole 'being able to purchase health insurance across state lines' thing. Worst. Idea. Ever. Not only will this not reduce costs, it'll also mean that Americans get worse health insurance, as companies race to the bottom to compete with states that have the lowest regulation on healthcare providers. Don't believe me? Check out what happened with the removal of that restriction on credit cards.

  • Affordable Childcare and Eldercare Act. Allows Americans to deduct childcare and elder care from their taxes, incentivizes employers to provide on-side childcare services, and creates tax-free Dependent Care Savings Accounts for both young and elderly dependents, with matching contributions for low-income families.

Here's the summary: this plan is great if you're middle or upper class, and complete crap if you're near the poverty line. It works by offering a tax credit to people for childcare, but that only works if you can afford childcare to begin with. So pretty much like every other plan Trump's offered.

  • End Illegal Immigration Act Fully-funds the construction of a wall on our southern border with the full understanding that the country Mexico will be reimbursing the United States for the full cost of such wall; establishes a 2-year mandatory minimum federal prison sentence for illegally re-entering the U.S. after a previous deportation, and a 5-year mandatory minimum for illegally re-entering for those with felony convictions, multiple misdemeanor convictions or two or more prior deportations; also reforms visa rules to enhance penalties for overstaying and to ensure open jobs are offered to American workers first.

Oh, the wall. So I guess tax payers are going to foot the bill for this boondoggle, since there is zero chance that Mexico will pay for this. Also, thanks for putting taxpayers on the hook for funding prison housing for illegal immigrants. I'm sure nobody will mind that. Oh, wait, you're not hiring new federal staff, so what's the deal here?

  • Restoring Community Safety Act. Reduces surging crime, drugs and violence by creating a Task Force On Violent Crime and increasing funding for programs that train and assist local police; increases resources for federal law enforcement agencies and federal prosecutors to dismantle criminal gangs and put violent offenders behind bars.

What surging crime are you talking about, Donald? Violent crimes are down. Non-violent crimes are down. ALL CRIME RATES ARE DOWN. 

  • Restoring National Security Act. Rebuilds our military by eliminating the defense sequester and expanding military investment; provides Veterans with the ability to receive public VA treatment or attend the private doctor of their choice; protects our vital infrastructure from cyber-attack; establishes new screening procedures for immigration to ensure those who are admitted to our country support our people and our values

Cyber attacks like the ones from your buddy Putin? 

  • Clean up Corruption in Washington Act. Enacts new ethics reforms to Drain the Swamp and reduce the corrupting influence of special interests on our politics.

Fuck it. Maybe you should start with yourself.

If you made it all the way through this, I congratulate you. I almost didn't. I need a drink.

Addendum: Oh yeah, and did you think that Wall Street was too corrupt and big banks needed reform and criminal prosecution? Good luck now, suckers. You just put the fox in the hen house.

Bread and Circuses

See: Wikipedia

"Bread and circuses" (or bread and games; from Latin: panem et circenses) is metonymic for a superficial means of appeasement. In the case of politics, the phrase is used to describe the generation of public approval, not through exemplary or excellent public service or public policy, but through diversion; distraction; or the mere satisfaction of the immediate, shallow requirements of a populace, as an offered "palliative". Its originator, Juvenal, used the phrase to decry the selfishness of common people and their neglect of wider concerns. The phrase also implies the erosion or ignorance of civic duty amongst the concerns of the commoner.

The Case for Changing Primaries

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So, right about now, America is sleeping on the eve of one of the most consequential elections in US history. Regardless about how you feel on the candidates, they couldn't be more different, and less representative of the American public as a whole. And that's a bad thing for a democracy. Electing a moderate Republican or a moderate Democrat to office should be the goal - these figures represent compromise, but in the end are able to form a stable government through bipartisan support.

When we start seeing hyper-partisan elections like we're seeing in 2016, the time has come to do something about it. We can't force the population at large to change their discussions around the candidates, nor is that a particularly good goal in a democratic society. What we can do is look at how we're arriving at our final two (or three, four, or however many) nominees.

There are concrete steps that we can take to improve the way that we handle our primaries, and I'd like to examine three that could be dramatically beneficial: open primaries, ranked choice voting system reforms, and increasing voter's candidate knowledge.

21 of our 50 states have some form of open primary. In most cases, this is truly open, but in many, only the Democratic or Republican primary is open, and in some, only open for those not affiliated with a political party. Open primaries allow for all voters to have a say in who their possible representation will be, regardless of the result going to the Democratic or Republican party. This means that regardless of who wins, there's a higher likelihood that voters at least feel included in who they're going to be represented by, which is something that we're struggling with in our current election. One great aspect of this reform is that all that is required is for one or both of the parties to make the decision to implement open primaries. Since primaries aren't mandated by law, and are strictly constructs of their respective parties, this is one of the easier ways to attempt to net a less partisan voting outcome. But open primaries alone aren't enough. A study of the 2012 California election by UC Berkeley found that open primaries aren't a complete solution. So open primaries aren't a magic bullet, they're just a partial solution.

One path forward would be to implement a ranked choice voting system during primaries. These systems can tend to create winners out of less divisive candidates by requiring candidates to seek second and third choice support rather than simply trying to get a majority. One of the things we saw in the 2016 primaries was that Trump managed to win a great number of state primaries with between 30-40% of the Republican vote. This means that not only is he less representative of the country as a whole (a Gallup poll from 2010 showed the country divided 31% Democratic, 29% Republican, 38% independent), but also not showing a majority even among his own party (Trump carried 44% of the primary vote, but much of that was because so many candidates ended up dropping out of the primaries from the initial field of 12). The benefits of ranked choice voting:

  1. Promotes majority support - The way in which the ballots are tabulated under RCV means that the final winner must have majority support. 
  2. Discourages negative campaigning - Because each candidate needs to court not just their own voters, but also those of their opponents, only candidates that share broad support can hope to win, and candidates have a much harder time finding support among other candidates' voters if they negatively campaign.
  3. Provides more choice for voters - RCV allows for a wider number of candidates while still retaining a simple voting solution.
  4. Minimizes strategic voting - RCV means that voters can choose to cast their primary vote for the candidate that they love, rather than for a candidate that they think of as the lesser of two evils. If we think about it from the perspective of the 2016 national election, people could vote for Johnson or Stein as their primary vote, without necessarily feeling like they might accidentally help elect Trump or Clinton by doing so.
  5. Mitigates impact of money in politics - Since RCV encourages positive campaigns, or campaigns on the issues that voters care about rather than negative campaigning, additional money doesn't necessarily translate to more votes if the candidate's stance on the issues aren't aligned with those of the voters.
  6. Saves money when replacing primaries or runoffs - There will always be a winner when using RCV.
  7. Promotes reflective representation - This is a little bit more subjective, but in general, RCV tends to be appreciated more by minority voters, at least according to studies on the subject.

Overall, ranked choice voting would be a great additional measure in the primaries to help reduce partisan divides. Like the idea of open primaries, RCV can also easily be implemented by the respective parties for the primaries, but could also be implemented on a national level if desired, though this would require legislation to change how the US votes as a whole, and that seems unlikely to happen right now.

So what's the last thing to consider?

Maybe the most important - increasing voter knowledge. Or maybe put another way, decreasing media misinformation. This is an issue that has been universally terrible for the 2016 election. With social media really coming to the fore, we've seen the rise of memes and click-bait sites being the source of peoples' opinions on the candidates, neither of which are good for an informed electorate. It is absolutely vital that we reduce the spread of viral misinformation.

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”
— Winston Churchill

When the American population seems generally confused as to the difference between facts and opinions, something has gone horribly, horribly wrong.

Two places to start here:

  1. Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites opt to block (or are regulated and required to block) the most partisan news sources.
  2. Independently sourced candidate rankings on trustworthiness added to the ballots, combined with stances on major issues.

Neither of these are uncontroversial. The first either requires self-censorship or an amendment to the Constitution, and the second requires painful legislation that would undoubtedly be difficult to pass. However, drastic times call for drastic measures, and our founding fathers weren't infallible. They knew that changes would be required to keep the government relevant. It's in our best interests to act when we see problems and carefully measure the outcomes of our solutions.

Let's all go into 2016 with the goal of fixing the process that we have and offering ways to do so, rather than stalemating government and then finding it so distasteful when they're unable to do their jobs because of partisan gridlock.

Kurt Eichenwald's 129 Findings on Trump

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Kurt Eichenwald, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, senior writer at Newsweek and New York Times bestselling author has spent the last 6 months investigating Donald Trump.

If you're surprised by any of this, well, that's unfortunate. If you disagree with it, then you're probably going to need to have a good argument as to why you know more about the subject than someone who has spent 6 months investigating him.

“1.Trump lied to Congress that he was not meeting with any Indian casino executives when documents and sworn statements show he was.
2.Trump testified under oath that he is willing to claim success on something even when he knows his claim is false.
3. Deutsche Bank concluded Trump net worth at $788 million when he was publicly claiming (and told bank) he was worth multiple billions.
4. Trump said under oath that he determines his net worth based on how he feels.
5. While Trump suggests he has an MBA from prestigious Wharton graduate school, only attended undergraduate program for 2 years. Has no MBA
6. Trump’s first project, given to him by his dad, lost money, according to state records. Trump has publicly lied that it made money.
7. Trump’s second project was a Broadway show. It bombed, closing after 96 performances. He lost his investment.
8. Trump’s claim that his dad gave him only $1m is a lie. His trust fund was $1 mill. Dad gave $10.4m for a bogus consultant job…(1 of 2)
8b. guaranteed $70 m loan, got him $35m credit line, laundered $3.35mill 2 Don in illegal casino deal, loaned $7.5m more (never repaid.) 2/2
10. As Trump claimed great success, tax returns showed not. In ‘78 lost $1.5M. In ‘79, lost $11.4m. No bankruptcy cause dad gave him more $
11. When Trump built Taj Mahal, testified under oath to NJ he’d only use bank loans, not junk bonds. No bank would lend. Used junk bonds.
12. Trump’s 3 casinos all competed with each other, which is why no banks loans. Taj took business from his other 2 casinos, crippling all.
13. Trump spent huge sums on airline, promising top elegance. People w/ airline experience said it couldnt work. It never turned a profit.
14. After Trump’s top casino execs died in accident, Trump took over running them. Large numbers of execs quit because of his management.
15. When Trump about to default on interest payment for casino, his dad/he broke law by having dad launder $3.35 mill through casino. (1/3)
16. Dad gave Trump another $150,000 loan next day, unreported to banks, in violation of bank agreement. (2/3)
17 Rules breaking in financing (money laundering from dad etc) resulted in sanctions against him from NJ casino commission. (3/3)
18. Trump banks were forced to make deal with him after bankruptcy of casinos because he personally guaranteed loans. If they went…(1/2)
18b…after personal guarantee, entire Trump empire would collapse and banks would lose billions. Banks loaned him tons more to save him. (2/2)
19. Trump was $3.5 bill in debt. Later, when banks bailed him out, he claimed in books he was $9.5bill in debt to make recovery look better.
21. Trump admitted under oath that, when he claimed he was $9.5 bill in debt in his books, it was a lie and he knew it.
22. No banks will lend to Trump except Deutsche Bank. In 2008, he defaulted on a $640 mill construction loan to them.
23. List of Trump failures: TrumpMortgage, TrumpFinancial, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, Trump Shuttle, http://GoTrump.com ...(1/3)
24. ..Trump Vodka, Trump Steaks, Trump Taj, Trump Castle, Trump Plaza, Trump Dubai, Trump University, Trump Toronto, Trump Hollywood..(2/3)
25. I could go on many more tweets listing Trump’s business failures. It’d be easier to list the Trump businesses that haven’t failed. (3/3)
26. In Trump University, Trump claimed to “personally select” teachers who would teach real estate secrets. He did not, they did not.
26. Unable to get bank loans because of his terrible record as a businessman, Trump began selling his name 4 use on other ppl’s projects.
27. Trump marketed projects of other developers as his own. Only those who read dense legal agreement’s fine print learned it was a lie.
28. Trump sold his name 2 incompetent developers whose projects collapsed, costing people who paid deposits millions while he made millions.
29. When condo buyers sued Trump for falsely claiming projects of other developers were his, he said they should have read the fine print.
30. Trump testified he did a favor to the condo buyers who lost millions by trusting him, because they avoided the real estate collapse.
31. In 1990, one of Trump’s lieutenants told me ““The thing you don’t understand about Donald Trump is that he’s mentally ill.”
32. I wrote about Trump 4 New York Times. First time we spoke, he lied to me in his first sentence. He told three more lies in 5 min call.
33. Trump lied that to WashPost in ‘87 that he knew stock market crash was coming and sold all his stocks. SEC filings prove it.
34. To escape liability for fraud, Trump argued that a “development by Donald Trump” is different than “a Donald Trump development.”
35. Trump wrote “Bill Clinton was great president,” denied it under oath then said wrote it be4 knowing of Lewinsky scandal of 10 yrs before
36. In 2008, Trump wrote, “I know Hillary, and I think she would make a great president.” Testified in 2016 he wrote it without thinking.
37. Asked under oath identities of professors at Trump U (there were none) Trump said “I know names, but I don’t know the identities.”
38. After saying under oath he knew the names of professors at Trump U (none existed) Trump could not name any.
39. When sued for saying other developers buildings were his, Trump said truth wasn’t in ads because there wasn’t enough room 4 the words.
40. Trump claimed to own 50% of a project when he owned 30%. His explanation under oath: “I always felt like I owned 50%.”
41. Trump said he was paid $1m for speech when paid $400,000. Under oath, he agreed he was paid 400, but said $1mill was still correct.
42. Trump has never released a real medical report. His father had alzheimers, which is genetic and could hit at about Trump’s age.
43. In 2007, Trump said his favorite book was his own, The Art of the Deal. Once he started running 4 president, he said it was the Bible.
44. When asked to give his favorite words from the Bible, Trump cited an Old Testament phrase that was the only one repudiated by Jesus.
45. When testifying under oath, Trump refused to answer questions 97 times about infidelities and suspected mistresses.
46. Trump has called for US military to commit 3 different war crimes. When told military would refuse, he said theyd do what he commanded.
47. Trump has directly insulted leaders of four allied countries, while offering effusive praise to Vladimir Putin.
48. Trump has refused to release the letter sent by the IRS to prove he is under audit, despite dozens of requests from many reporters.
49. An investigation of Trump’s partners reveals an enterprise with deep ties to global financiers, foreign politicians and even criminals.
50. Trump’s business interests run in direct conflict with the national security interests of the United States.
51. Trump revealed none of his partners or dealings with overseas entities in his financial disclosure to the FEC.
52. Trump receives $8 million a year from South Korea business w/ interests in nukes. He has called for SK to have nukes.
53. Trump’s efforts in India were first shot down by politicians. His business partner is now under investigation by police.
54. Trump’s conflicts in India are irreparable, and in issues with Pakistan, his financial interests lie solely with India.
55. Trump’s business partner in Turkey has been arrested for fraud.
56. Turkey’s president has told associates he will not allow US to use an airbase key to the battle against ISIS if Trump is president.
57. Trump’s first business partners in UAE were indicted on charges of fraud.
58. When a member of Saudi royal family criticized Trump, Trump attacked him as “dopey” and said he wants to control America w/ “daddy’s $”
59. Trump tried to strike a deal Libyan Investment Authority under Qaddafi, and offered murdering Libyan dictator a place 2 stay at his home
60.The father of Trump’s business partner in Azerbaijan is govnt official who US intelligence says launders money for the Iranian military.
61. Trump’s statement he would avoid conflicts by placing his company in a blind trust is a lie; what he describes is not a blind trust.
62. Trump told GOPrs at debate that he never pushed Jeb Bush for casino deal in Florida. Under oath a few years earlier, he said he did.
63. 1.In 1999, Trump’s company secretly violated Cuban embargo. Months later, in 1st run for president, Trump said he never would.
64. Trump officials were advised to hide the payments spent in violation of Cuban embargo as being related to charity work.
66. Trump calls for return to American steel. Yet he secretly used Chinese steel on his last 2 developments projects 2 increase his profits
67. Trump opted out of using steel on many buildings, instead purchasing concrete from businesses controlled by Genovese crime family.
68.To hide the ultimate source of his Chinese steel, Trump purchased it through a shell company based in the British Virgin Islands.
69. Money paid to the Chinese steel manufacturers went to repay loans from Chinese banks, which are arms of the state.
70. Trump has said he has been forced to use China to manufacture his clothing line because no one makes such things in USA. That’s a lie.
71. For Trump Chicago building, Trump obtained financing from George Soros. (Means nothing, but it terrifies conserv conspiracy theorists.)
72. During his time buying Chinese steel, Chinese companies were dumping steel on US market. That cost many steelworkers their jobs.
73. Trump hides his taxes, but we know: He lost $ in ’78-’79, paid no taxes from 91-93, lost $1B in ’95 and likely never paid taxes since.
74. Trump read manufactured, bogus Russian propaganda at a rally within hours of it appearing on the internet.
75. After promising to salvage precious artworks on a building for the Met, Trump had them jackhammered instead to save $32,000.
76. To explain his destruction of art, Trump posed as spokesman “John Barron” and lied that appraisers had called the works worthless
77. If Trump had simply invested $ he received from his dad in a mutual fund, he’d be worth far more than he is, a sign of bad bisiness.
78. Trump regularly cheats at golf, even revising scorecard after a match 2 transform defeat into victory, according 2 ppl who play w/ him.
79. Trump persuaded an elderly couple who ran an antique store to let him “try out” 2 valuable pieces, then refused to return or pay 4 them
80. Trump bought jewelry in Manhattan, then colluded with the store to ship empty boxes out of state so he could dodge New York sales tax.
81. Trump told a “friend” whom he sued over several years that he did so because the friend hadn’t given him enough praise.
82.When business execs came to his office, Trump bragged about his wife, Melania & showed them nude photographs of her from modeling days.
83. Trump reneged on a family-wide commitment to pay medical bills for his nephew’s severely sick baby because he was mad.
84. Trump engaged in a civil conspiracy to defraud union pension funds by hiring undocumented Polish workers, a court found.
85. When Trump wanted to force elderly out of apartments, shut off their heat/water and moved homeless into empty units…(1/2)
86. ...He decreased security for the building, and over 18 months, the number of burglaries of elderly in the building skyrocketed. (2/2)
87. Trump destroyed the United States Football league because he tried to use them to get an NFL team. NFL wouldnt have him.
88. Trump threatened to sue a magazine when it reported – truthfully – that sales prices at Trump Tower were falling.
89. During that suit threat, Trump claimed owner of magazine’s wife called him pleading to have a date with him. (1/2)
90. …magazine owner’s wife said Trump’s story of her begging for a date was ““the product of a juvenile mind.” (2/2)
91. When a securities analyst correctly said Trump casinos on verge of financial trouble, Trump threatened his employer till they fired him
92. After Trump got securities analyst fired 4 having correctly predicted casino downfall, he attacked jobless man in multiple newspapers.
93. Trump’s efforts to keep securities analyst unemployed 4 predicting casino collapse resulted in huge lawsuit Trump forced to settle.
94. Trump has repeatedly said in his rallies that he never settles suits. It is a lie. He has settled scores of them.
95. CFO of Trump casino passed out from exhaustion and dehydration caused by overwork. In response, Trump fired him.
96. Trump’s casino failures crippled his bond prices. When, years later, price went up a bit, he said proved people “love Donald Trump.”
97. Trump’s only public company never made any $ and wiped out investors. Through management deals, Trump sucked $80mill out of company.
98. When banks shut Trump out of loans because of his financial mismanagement, he started obtaining $ from Cayman Islands.
99. Trump’s companies destroyed or hid 1000s of emails and documents demanded in official proceedings in defiance of court orders.
100. Trump’s use of deception & false affidavits, as well as the hiding or improper destruction of documents, dates back to at least 1973
101. Trump’s companies destroyed or hid 1000s of emails and documents demanded in official proceedings in defiance of court orders.
102. When Trump sued 4 refusing 2 rent to minorities, falsely said govnt demanding he lease 2 welfare recipients who couldnt pay their rent
103. Trump filed complaint gainst prosecutors saying they did not formally tell him of discrimination case. A lie; phone records proved it.
104. For months after prosecutors filed discrimination case against Trump, refused to produce documents in violation of court orders.
105. After 6 mos. of refusing to turn over documents in discrimination case, Trump testified company had been destroying them whole time.
106. Because of refusal to abide by court orders and document destruction, court ordered that Trump had to let prosecutors search office.
107. Trump refused to allow prosecutors to search office when they arrived as scheduled in discrimination case, despite court order.
108. After Trump confronted some employees in discrimination case, they changed their sworn testimony. Others told govt they feared 4 lives
109. After finally settling housing discrimination case, Trump immediately returned to refusing to rent to African Americans.
110. Trump’s refusal to abide by settlement in housing discrimination case required government to sue him again to force compliance.
111. In 2009 case, ppl suing Trump 4 fraud asked if he had insurance. Said no. Years later, when insurance worthless, admitted he’d had it.
112. In lawsuit, critical question was what did Trump know before Jan 2001. All emails be4 that date destroyed be4 plaintiffs culd get them
113. Trump execs filed sworn statement that no email server existed before 2001. It was a lie, which they admitted after emails destroyed.
114. Not only did Trump company destroy emails sought in litigation under court order, they erased the backup tapes.
115. Confounded by Trump refusal 2 produce records, the court appointed an independent expert 2 find them. He was obstructed from his work.
116. Although Trump folk stopped indepdent expert from doing his job, he was able to discover many relevant documents had been destroyed.
117. Trump sued an author for correctly writing that Trump was worth far less than he said; Trump said he did it just to hurt the guy.
118. NATO allies believe that Putin is using Donald Trump’s naiveté or collusion to damage the US alliance with Western Europe.
119. Trump publicly stated, without explanation,that the information he received about Russian hacking in intelligence briefings was false.
120. Trump had no information to dispute the US intel briefings about Russian hacking/disinformation campaign other than Putin’s denial.
121. Trump’s refusal to accept findings in intel briefings has terrified NATO allies, who fear he’ll make policy decisions based on impulse
122. Shortly after publication of bogus article on Russian propaganda site, Trump campaign emailed it 2 reporters urging them to pursue it
123, At least three of Trump’s campaign advisors have been linked to financial connections to Russia, or have aided Russian propaganda.
124. Several of Trump associates currently under FBI investigation on allegations of illicit connections to Russia/Ukraine.
125. In August, a Trump associate met secretly at a school in Eastern Europe with a member of the pro-Putin faction in parliament.
126. Kremlin has file of compromising information on Trump, with surveillance videos taken while he was in Moscow, including in his hotel.
127. When Trump attacked Gold Star family, Kremlin halted hack campaign. Believed he was psychologically unbalanced and would withdraw.
128. By Oct., “buyer’s remorse” set in at Kremlin, which saw Trump as 2 unpredictable/unbalanced; feared could not anticipate his actions.
129. NATO allies have begun assembling intel files, including from Russian informants, about Trump out of fear he is compromised.”
— https://twitter.com/kurteichenwald

Left Behind

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The New York Times has an article up about how Evangelicals are feeling abandoned.

"He [Ryan Jorgenson] expects that more and more Christians will, like the Odgaards, suffer “persecution” for their beliefs."

Look - it's not persecution, folks. You don't have the slightest idea what religious persecution is like, and neither do I, because thankfully the founding fathers made sure to incorporate rules limiting the ability for Congress to pass laws abridging the freedom of religion into our Constitution.

What "freedom of religion" doesn't cover: treating someone differently because of their race, gender, religion or sexual orientation. That's also in our Constitution.

I can perfectly empathize with the fact that things are changing pretty fast, and that's not going to make everyone feel comfortable with things happening around them. But take a second and ask yourself if someone else's choices really have an effect on how you live your life. There's a 99.9% chance that your neighbor being different than you is a good thing.

Tax Relief For The Wealthiest?

 The analysis of the Ryan/Trump tax plan is in, and it's time to recognize that the party of fiscal responsibility has completely gone insane.

As a registered Republican for the last twenty years, it's been a bitter pill to swallow, but there is no other way to view this - the GOP has put the nation in danger fiscally, morally and internationally. It's time to stand up to party leadership and say enough is enough.

Trump isn't the answer. Religion isn't the answer. Abstinence from governance isn't the answer.

It's time to take a long, hard look at policy and realize that Grover Norquist and the religious right have sold the party a bridge in the desert, one that the American people are on the hook for.