Get The New York Times Today, Folks

Great, even important op/ed piece today from The New York Times.

End Our National Crisis 

"The case against Donald Trump"

CORRUPTION

ANGER

CHAOS

INCOMPETENCE

LIES

DECAY

The Worst President in Modern History

HIS UNAPOLOGETIC CORRUPTION BY MICHELLE COTTLE

WHEN SCIENCE IS PUSHED ASIDE BY JENEEN INTERLANDI

HIS DEMAGOGY BY JESSE WEGMAN

HIS FAKE POPULISM BY FARAH STOCKMAN

HIS INCOMPETENT STATESMANSHIP BY SERGE SCHMEMANN

Let's do this, folks.

86 45

BYEDON

Rather Frightening Facts About This Trump Presidency

I was especially struck by an article today in The Atlantic.

Donald Trump Is a Lame-Duck President

There are some things about this that need to be pointed out.

First, I and a lot of people out here think this is true, unequivocally.

Second, that he is or is considered to be a "lame duck" President in not only his first term but in the first seven months of his presidency is incredible. It's stunning. It is, again, as so much of his presidency, unprecedented. Not only has this never happened before to a president at any time in his presidency but it's stunning it has become so and yet more stunning because he's done this to himself. His own actions and words and miscalculations have brought this upon him.

Third, it may well be good because his judgment is so poor on so many topics facing the nation but...

It's bad for the nation because he's not leading, he's not governing. He's not doing nor is he now able to do those things for which he was put into office. This is just one indication of what the nation can expect with this being true.

It's bad news for stocks 

if Trump is now a lame duck

Lots of us warned about a President Trump.  Lots of us warned last year. Lots of those who did warn were Republicans, too. 

Now it's become true and those "chickens have come home to roost", so to speak.

We warned of a Trump presidency. We feared it. Now our fears have come true. Here are, already, some of the things that have been written and said about our nation, due to this man and his presidency.

The G20 proves it. The world no longer 

looks to America for leadership

Gergen: Trump no longer seen 

as world leader at G20

Because of Trump, 

U.S. No Longer World's Most Powerful Country

U.S. Has 'Resigned' As 

Leader Of Free World, Says Fareed Zakaria

Even people in his own political party are questioning him, if not out and out against him.

GOP senator questions Donald Trump's 

stability, competence

2 GOP senators question Trump's competence

Trump Comments on Race Open Breach 

With CEOs, Military and GOP

Lindsey Graham: 

'Half of what Trump does is not OK

McCain threatens to block 

Trump's Pentagon nominee

We now fear for our nation, for our nation's strength, our nation's future.

Links:

Washington Post Gloats: Trump is Lame Duck President

Why a Lame-Duck Trump Is Even More Dangerous 

Mark this date: Donald Trump is now a lame-duck president

Donald Trump Is Already a Lame Duck

Trump Disbands Manufacturing And Business Advisory Councils

Amid wave of defections, Trump's business, jobs councils disband

Trump shuts down CEO advisory councils

Now charities are dumping Trump, too

16 Charities Have Cancelled Fundraisers At Mar-A-Lago

How Donald Trump Fails Logic and Presidential Thinking

Quote of the Day -- On the President-Elect

From Professor Robert Reich today from his Facebook page.

The 538 members of the Electoral College will meet December 19 to choose the president. Below you will find the list of those presidential electors, by state.

States in which a majority of citizens voted for Trump have electors who will presumably cast their ballots for him. But no federal law requires them to do so.

In fact, the reasons the framers of the Constitution created an Electoral College that could override the will of a majority of voters (who in 2016 chose Hillary Clinton by a majority of over 2.5 million votes) was to avoid

(1) a demagogue, or 

(2) someone controlled by foreign powers, or 

(3) someone incompetent to serve office.

Trump fits all three categories.

Texas elector Christopher Suprun wrote in a New York Times op-ed published Monday that he does not plan to vote for Trump because the president-elect is "someone who shows daily he is not qualified for the office." He urged others to rally behind a Republican alternative.

I ask you to find the addresses of the Trump electors, write to them, and ask them to use their authority under the Constitution to choose someone other than Donald Trump, for all the above-mentioned reasons.

List of United States presidential electors, 

2016

The Citadel project: someone please tell me we learned lessons here

There is a good and important article in the Star today, telling the details of just what the ill-fated Citadel Project on the East side ended up costing the city and where the money went (see link below). While it's good to know that not all the money--or even most of it--went to some crooked developer, the fact is, the city still took an expensive beating on it. In the end, it seems there are two things to consider from this ill-conceived mess. The first is the cost to us, the citiznes who have to pay for this: "The city will issue 20-year bonds for the $15 million, with debt service estimated at more than $1.2 million per year — tax dollars that could otherwise have been spent on basic services. The city hopes new revenue from future development can cover at least part of the debt service, but that can’t happen until something is built there." The 2nd important thing is that we learn from this. Hopefully the "takeaway" from this whole mess is that you do research, first, on any self-proclaimed developer so you know they're worth what they say they're worth and that they can then do what they say they can. Is that so much to ask, that we learn a good lesson here and avoid this kind of mistake in the future? Link: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/06/3356910/citadel-plaza-drags-to-an-end.html

169 North Shutdown at Municipal Airport

So 169 Highway was shutdown yesterday for a water main break at the old Municipal Airport.

Today is day two.  It's still shut down.

Mind you, it's cold--very cold--but how long, exactly, is this going to be shut down and closed off?

Someone needs to tell the Mayor this is a major entry to the city.

Somebody also needs to tell this mayor that Kansas City used to be considered "The City That Works".

We'd like that back, thanks very much.

Link:  http://www.fox4kc.com/news/wdaf-watermain-break-169highway-121310,0,2861795.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+wdaf-news+(FOX4KC+Local+News)

More of us need to call for the Funk's resignation

I see from over at Tony's KC Blog that the KC Tribune has an article just now by Daniel Starling calling for Mayor Funkhouser to resign.

Here, here!

Attaboy!

Good for him!

It won't happen but, really, more of us--out here on blogs, and everyone across the city--should call for this clown to call it a day on his Mayorship.

What a mess.

We've had it.

We have decidedly not become "The City That Works" he promised. Far from it.

Streets unrepaired in good weather--unplowed in bad.

Steel plates on holes.

Bad morale downtown.

Lawsuits left and right.

Heck, he's bad to have just because of the expense of his rule.

Let it be said again: Mayor Mark Funkhouser--and his wife--need to go.

And they should do the honorable, intelligent thing and resign.

They won't but that's what should happen.

Once again, thank you George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and all, for your incompetence

$40M fuel theft from Army prompts global manhunt

April 16, 2009 11:46 AM EDT

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia - A former U.S. Army contractor convicted of stealing $40 million worth of fuel from a military base in Iraq is helping authorities search the globe for other suspects in the case.

The thefts occurred in 2007 and 2008 from Camp Liberty in Baghdad.

Former Army contractor Lee Dubois has pleaded guilty and faces up to 10 years in prison. A sentencing hearing scheduled Thursday in Virginia was postponed.

A second suspect was arrested January in Guam and awaits indictment. Court records indicate other suspects have scattered around the world and that Dubois has been cooperating with investigators to locate them.

The thieves used fraudulent paperwork to withdraw tens of thousands of gallons (liters) per day from the base.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press

We'd have loved to have been wrong

In 2000, there were a great deal of us who were concerned about having George Walker Bush as our President--at all, let alone for 8 full, inglorious years.

And while the same is true of Ronald Reagan, at least with him we survived and he didn't totally ruin the country. Sure, his administration did things that were illegal and unconstitutional, too, like George has done and is doing, but even he didn't have the cajones and outright, outrageous ignorance to take his administration and our country too far.

Then came George.

Before Molly Ivins died, God bless and rest her soul, she warned us what kind of spoiled child/dolt we were dealing with here.

And the family, too--she warned us about them, as did Kevin Phillips.

But now, here we are, at the end of George's 2 crime- and cronyism- and incompetence-ridden terms and the only things we can say are that 1) we'd have loved to have been wrong about him (that he really wasn't that stupid and/or irresponsible) and 2) I told you so.

The only satisfaction and vindication about having suffered this fool for 8 years is that now, the chickens have come home to roost, so to speak.

To wit:

Time Magazine recently ran an article, summarizing this President's tenure and resultant effects on the country. I will only give two paragraphs of the full article (which, as a matter of fact, isn't even all about George, he's incidental):

"It now seems clear that George W. Bush will be remembered for symmetrical disasters. His presidency began with the destruction of the Twin Towers by al-Qaeda terrorists. It is ending with the devastation of the Twin Trillions — the money spent on a foolish war in Iraq ($653 billion and counting) and on the bailout of a financial industry gone hog wild during the Reagan-initiated Era of Deregulation. Bush has revived Big Government in the worst possible way: the middle class will pay, in perpetuity, for the sins of the powerful."

More:

"It is hard to put a smiley face on this stinker. A crash — and this one seems a doozy — usually announces the arrival of hard times. The real economic woe is yet to come, as credit dries up and the economy slips into recession. The power of the next President seems destined to be severely constrained by huge debts and diminishing tax receipts — unless he finds some creative ways out of the morass ..."

(A link to the full article is here:
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1844157,00.html)

So I come back to a question I've posted before and asked many times:

Can someone please tell me what was ever conservative about George W. Bush?

--His administration reached government further into American's personal lives than any other in the history of our nation.

--He spent more money than any other President, again, in the history of this country.

--He used our military, against our Constitution and international law, to go into another country, preemptorily, unilaterally and without cause, to attack them and oust their leader, however much a tyrant he was.

--He has now taken nearly one trillion dollars of this country's tax money--our money--and given it to private business because unregulated banks manipulated us into a nightmare economic scenario.

and so much more.

I repeat: WHAT WAS, EVER, CONSERVATIVE, ABOUT GEORGE WALKER BUSH?

As a last mention: I will also say again, if you voted for George W. Bush, even once, let alone--God forbid--twice, WE BLAME YOU.

I'm not kidding on that last part.

This is how well things are going--and have gone--in Iraq

Iraq. It drives me crazy.

First, the claim that we "had to invade", is such a boldface lie that has been either accepted, denied or ignored, you'd think the American public would be in an uproar.

But no, of course not.

Then, there's the mis-managed debacle that it's become that's so maddening. There's a report out, just this morning, about a prison that you and I--the American taxpayer--paid for, to the tune of 40 million dollars (I always have to spell those out) and it will never be used. Unbelievable. And yet not, right? Not with this administration. You can see the full, original story here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080728/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_vacant_prison

The contract was originally awarded and didn't go well, right from the start, it's reported.

But that's only a small portion of the insanity.

"In a companion report also being released Monday, Bowen (Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction) said the prison was part of a $900 million Parsons contract to build border posts, courts, police training centers and fire stations. It was one of 12 contracts awarded in 2004 in hopes of restoring Iraq's infrastructure."

But wait, there's more:

"Of 53 construction projects in the massive Parsons contract, only 18 were completed."

"As of this spring, Parsons had been paid $333 million. More than $142 million of that — or almost 43 percent — was for projects that were terminated or canceled."

This from the "conservative" President. This from the "conservative", "shrink government" Republicans. Right.

Some of the problems seem like they might have had easy and obvious ways to avoid, too:

"Bowen said only about 10 U.S. contracting officers and specialists were working on the $900 million contract, whereas 50 or 60 would be assigned to a comparable undertaking in the United States."

It was never completed. It was never done right. But the company awarded the contract, Parsons, got 31 million dollars for their efforts. 31 million dollars for a job they never finished. The other 9 million dollars went to subcontractors. Sweet deal, eh?

But wait! There's still more:

"And the choice of Parsons — in retrospect — was part of a far bigger web of alleged shortcomings by the conglomerate in Iraq."

"This is the worst performing contractor that we have identified" among the seven firms so far studied in Congress-mandated reviews of Iraqi projects, said Bowen."

Why is this administration getting off so free and easy? Why aren't people raising bloody hell?

"Bowen said his agency has done 120 audits on Iraqi projects. "And they tell an episodic story of waste," he said."

What is it going to take to get this administration to take responsibility for the deaths, injuries, destruction, waste, corruption, graft, payoffs and lack of responsibility they've inflicted on the United States--and the world?

Why aren't you people madder than hell?

In a completely separate but definitely related story, the Bush Administration announced this morning that the 2008 deficit will set a record.

No, no. Don't get upset or anything.

This is an easy one

Did you hear of or see this quote from that illustrious deep-thinker, John Bolton, former US Ambassador to the United Nations? About that Bush Administration, he said that the Bushies ability, now, to speak to other, hostile countries amounted to "the intellectual collapse of the Bush Administration."

What they do is stupid and what they say is even dumber.

The "intellectual collapse" of this group is like a child jumping off a street curb.

There are so many places to start, on how ignorant this administration has proven itself, both nationally, within the country, and internationally that I just won't. If you want to see things about this, go to The New York Times homepage on the net (www.nytimes.com) or read some of my past posts or go to some of the links on this page. Really, it's just too easy.

But for John Bolton, of all people, to say that this group is capable of an "intellectual collapse" is just too much. In the first place, there aren't too many people who would put him on a pedestal of admirable, deep thought, let alone this "current occupant" and Darth Cheney or Condoleeza or "Rummy" or Wolfowitz or any of the rest of the whole kittenkaboodle. There's just been too much stupidity. Historical stupidity. Tragical stupidity and ignorance.

What isn't frustrating should be good for a laugh--a deep, belly-laugh.

And this is one of those.

More Proof that this White House is against Americans

...at least, the "little guy".

Until before the current Presidency, I always believed that our government in the United States was, at it's core, still for the "little guy" in America. Sure, the fat cats--the rich people, the corporations and all the rest--could easily, for a thousand dollars here or 50,000 there, still buy a Congressman or favorable legislation. But when it came down to the ultimate good of the American public, our health, say, or other, much bigger issues, I was convinced that our government could and would protect us.

And along came "W".

Holy cow, this Big Oil/Big Business bozo is totally, 100% committed to getting all he and his administration can get for his uber-rich, fatcat friends and associates. And by associates, I mean "other people who also have lots of money."

Anyway, now this, today--more proof of how this White House is against America:

Cheney wanted cuts in climate testimony

By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer Tue Jul 8, 9:53 AM ET

Vice President Dick Cheney's office pushed for major deletions in congressional testimony on the public health consequences of climate change, fearing the presentation by a leading health official might make it harder to avoid regulating greenhouse gases, a former EPA officials maintains.

When six pages were cut from testimony on climate change and public health by the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last October, the White House insisted the changes were made because of reservations raised by White House advisers about the accuracy of the science.

But Jason K. Burnett, until last month the senior adviser on climate change to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson, says that Cheney's office was deeply involved in getting nearly half of the CDC's original draft testimony removed.

"The Council on Environmental Quality and the office of the vice president were seeking deletions to the CDC testimony (concerning) ... any discussions of the human health consequences of climate change," Burnett has told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

The three-page letter, a response to an inquiry by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the panel's chairwoman, was obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. Boxer planned a news conference later in the day...

...Senate and House committees have been trying for months to get e-mail exchanges and other documents to determine the extent of political influence on government scientists, but have been rebuffed.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press.

See the entire story here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080708/ap_on_re_us/cheney_climate
______________________________________________________

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen of the United States. More proof, as though we need it, that this government is for Corporate America, Big Business, Big Money Interests, Wealthy People (like your tax break, folks?), Big Oil and the like. From "W" and Dick on down, this is them vs. the U.S., us.

President Eisenhower, way back when, was right. Ralph Nader has been right all along. Molly Ivins was right, God bless her... and this is no way to run a country.

I hope it's not too late to get our country back.

Our government: 289 million dollars for a 21 year old they don't even like

Military contract spurs anger in Congress
By LESLEY CLARK
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON | Military officials promised changes Tuesday after congressional outrage erupted over how a 21-year-old on a State Department “watch list” was awarded a $298 million arms deal.

An investigation found that Efraim Diveroli was granted the contract even though he, his company, AEY, and a supplier he worked with were on a watch list for suspicious international arms dealers, said Rep. Henry Waxman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The California Democrat said that the awarding of the contract revealed a “fundamentally flawed system,” noting that Defense Department officials had overlooked AEY’s “long record of failed and dubious performance.” That record included delivering damaged helmets to Iraq.

“It appears that anyone — no matter how inexperienced or unqualified — can win a lucrative federal contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars,” Waxman said.

Back to yours truly: I'd like to personally thank, here, the Bush Administration and the Department of Defense for both protecting our country, obviously, and spending our hard-earned money so wisely. (NOT!)

More from "W's" Administration

Yet more evidence today that this administration will go down as more corrupt, inept, greedy, incompetent and filled with graft than Warren G. Harding's--or any other:

Ideology-Based Hiring at Justice Broke Laws, Investigation Finds

By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 25, 2008


Senior Justice Department officials broke civil service laws by rejecting scores of young applicants who had links to Democrats or liberal organizations, according to a biting report issued yesterday.

The report by the Justice Department inspector general and the Office of Professional Responsibility concluded that a pair of high-ranking political appointees who are no longer with the department had violated department policy and the Civil Service Reform Act by using ideological reasons to scuttle the candidacy of lawyers who applied to the elite honors and summer intern programs.

In one instance, steering committee member Esther Slater McDonald deemed "unacceptable" an applicant who professed admiration for the environmental group Greenaction and passed over another with ties to the Poverty and Race Research Action Council, the report said.

McDonald, who left the Justice Department last year and now works for a law firm in the District, sent colleagues a Nov. 29, 2006, e-mail in which she complained about "leftist commentary and buzzwords" in applications. Many of the underlying documents, on which McDonald and others wrote comments, were destroyed before the probe began, according to the report.

Auditors also criticized Michael J. Elston, former chief of staff to the deputy attorney general, for failing to supervise McDonald and for weeding out candidates on his own based on "impermissible considerations." Elston may have denied one Stanford Law School applicant because she had written a law review article about gender discrimination in the military, the report said. Elston left the Justice Department last year amid questions about his role in the firing of nine U.S. Attorneys. He now works at a private law firm.

McDonald and Elston did not return calls for comment yesterday. Experts said they are unlikely to face sanctions for what investigators called deliberate "misconduct" because they have left government employment.

Traditionally, the highly coveted intern and honors jobs had been awarded based on merit. But in 2002, top Justice Department officials moved to give political appointees more control, prompting complaints from the career ranks. The problem flared up again in 2006, when hundreds of applications were rejected for questionable reasons, according to the report.

Candidates for the Honors Program that year whose résumés indicated liberal affiliations were weeded out at three times the rate of conservative-leaning applicants, investigators said. San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam, who was later fired for reasons that remain under investigation, reached out to no avail to Elston over the decision to reject a candidate who had won a prestigious appellate clerkship with a Democratic judge.

Peter Keisler, then chief of the Justice Department's civil division, called Elston after several applicants to his unit were denied, including a Harvard Law School graduate and former Justice summer intern who had worked as a paralegal at Planned Parenthood, the report said.

The honors and intern program report is the result of the first in a series of investigations into the role that politics may have played in law enforcement and hiring decisions at the Justice Department over the course of the Bush administration. Studies focusing on hiring and enforcement in the troubled civil rights division, the rationale for the U.S. attorneys' dismissal, and the role played by former Justice Department officials including Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales could be issued soon, according to lawyers following the issues.

Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, who replaced Gonzales last year, said he has taken steps to overhaul the hiring process. Considering politics in hires for career slots is "unacceptable," Mukasey said in a statement.

Former Justice Department officials from both Democratic and Republican administrations said the study underscores the challenge for the next president.

"The Honors Program at DOJ has always been the 'A-List,'" said Nicholas M. Gess, a Justice official under President Bill Clinton. "The next attorney general will be stuck with many from the 'B-List."

From this link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/24/AR2008062400819_pf.html

Side note, back to yours truly: I bet most Americans don't know this happened, don't know about any of the events listed here, aren't aware of any real controversy and don't know the laws their own President's Administration is, yet again, breaking.

Pay attention, people!

And now this...

Headline from 19 minutes ago:

Ex-Government Officials Say the Bush Administration Ignored Iraq Corruption

By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer

Get the whole story at this link:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080512/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq_corruption



Okay, folks, let's get this straight:

They lied to us about why we should go over there;

They lied to us about why we should attack a sovereign, foreign nation WHICH IS AGAINST INTERNATIONAL LAW;

They lied to us about the "enemy" having weapons of mass destruction, and it's been proven;

They lied about "winning", prematurely;

They lied to us and to themselves about it being a "fast" war (we're going into our seventh--yes, that's seventh--year);

They lied to us about this being a "cheap" war (we're at ONE-HALF A TRILLION DOLLARS now, and still counting);

They lied to us about not losing very many soldiers (we're over 4,000);

They didn't have a plan for the country once they created their power vacuum;

They blew up the country--and continue to do so;

We are now rebuilding same country--THAT WE BLEW UP;

They've given away millions of sweetheart deal contracts;

They didn't compete these same multi-million dollar contracts;

They've literally HANDED OUT millions of dollars in COLD HARD CASH (yeah, there's a good idea, huh?);

They cannot prove that Iran has been supplying arms, in large quantitities, to Iraqi insurgents;

and just generally screwed everything up for the last 7 years and now this--proof positive that this same Bush Administration IGNORED multi-million dollar corruption by the officials in Iraq that we're supposed to be helping and who are supposed to be helping us rebuild their country.

You gotta' be kidding me.

If you were either the bad guys--who want us there to kill us--or the good guys--who want us there so they can take our money--WHY WOULD YOU WANT THE US TO LEAVE??

Oh, yeah, great plan, George. You just keep outdoing yourself.


News flash: John McCain wants to continue on this "path of progress."

(Bang head on wall here).

I'm going to end today's post with a quote from the end of this same article by Senator Byron Dorgan, Head of the Democratic Policy Committee--and then a question: "It is a cruel irony if we are appropriating money next Thursday or did appropriate money last month or last year and that money ends up actually providing the resources for an insurgency in Iraq which ends up killing Americans," said Dorgan, D-N.D.

So the question is, WHY AREN'T YOU ANGRY AND DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THIS?