The Bizarro World That Is the Presidency of Donald J "Jenius" Trump

 Did you see this breaking news today?

Court orders Donald Trump to pay legal fees in Stormy Daniels suit

Seriously, you couldn't make up stuff this wacky, this insane that's come from this President and his Presidency the last 3-1/2 years. If it were a TV show, no one would believe it. It's too outrageous. Way too outrageous.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES HAS GOT TO PAY THE LEGAL FEES OF A SEX WORKER

AND HE HAD HER PAID $130,000 TO BE QUIET ABOUT THEIR TRYST DURING HIS POLITICAL CAMPAIGN FOR THAT OFFICE

How is this guy still there?
How is he still in the White House?
How is he still in charge?

What Democrat could have said and/or done all this guy has and still be in office?

And Evangelicals---ostensibly Christians and "moral people"---supposedly support this guy, still support this guy.

Thanks, Republicans!  You and your boy are SPECIAL!

86 45

BYEDON

Happy Birthday to Kansas City's Own Count Basie!

Yes sir and ma'am! Happy birthday, Count Basie! If only posthumously...

From Wikipedia:

William James "Count" Basie (/ˈbeɪsi/; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984)[1] was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, Basie formed his own jazz orchestra, the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and their first recording. He led the group for almost 50 years, creating innovations like the use of two "split" tenor saxophones, emphasizing the rhythm section, riffing with a big band, using arrangers to broaden their sound, and others. Many musicians came to prominence under his direction, including the tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, the guitarist Freddie Green, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison, plunger trombonist Al Grey, and singers Jimmy Rushing, Helen Humes, Thelma Carpenter, and Joe Williams.

So you know... How did he get that nickname?

Early career

Around 1920, Basie went to Harlem, a hotbed of jazz, where he lived down the block from the Alhambra Theater. Early after his arrival, he bumped into Sonny Greer, who was by then the drummer for the Washingtonians, Duke Ellington's early band.[11] Soon, Basie met many of the Harlem musicians who were "making the scene," including Willie "the Lion" Smith and James P. Johnson.

Basie toured in several acts between 1925 and 1927, including Katie Krippen and Her Kiddies (featuring singer Katie Crippen) as part of the Hippity Hop show; on the Keith, the Columbia Burlesque, and the Theater Owners Bookers Association (T.O.B.A.) vaudeville circuits; and as a soloist and accompanist to blues singer Gonzelle White as well as Crippen.[12][13] His touring took him to Kansas City, St. Louis, New Orleans, and Chicago. Throughout his tours, Basie met many jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong.[14] Before he was 20 years old, he toured extensively on the Keith and TOBA vaudeville circuits as a solo pianist, accompanist, and music director for blues singers, dancers, and comedians. This provided an early training that was to prove significant in his later career.[15]

Back in Harlem in 1925, Basie gained his first steady job at Leroy's, a place known for its piano players and its "cutting contests." The place catered to "uptown celebrities," and typically the band winged every number without sheet music using "head arrangements."[16] He met Fats Waller, who was playing organ at the Lincoln Theater accompanying silent movies, and Waller taught him how to play that instrument. (Basie later played organ at the Eblon Theater in Kansas City).[1] As he did with Duke Ellington, Willie "the Lion" Smith helped Basie out during the lean times by arranging gigs at "house-rent parties," introducing him to other leading musicians, and teaching him some piano technique.[17]

In 1928, Basie was in Tulsa and heard Walter Page and his Famous Blue Devils, one of the first big bands, which featured Jimmy Rushing on vocals.[18] A few months later, he was invited to join the band, which played mostly in Texas and Oklahoma. It was at this time that he began to be known as "Count" Basie (see Jazz royalty).[19]

Here's the important part:

Kansas City years

The following year, in 1929, Basie became the pianist with the Bennie Moten band based in Kansas City, inspired by Moten's ambition to raise his band to the level of Duke Ellington's or Fletcher Henderson's.[20] Where the Blue Devils were "snappier" and more "bluesy," the Moten band was more refined and respected, playing in the "Kansas City stomp" style.[21] In addition to playing piano, Basie was co-arranger with Eddie Durham, who notated the music.[22] Their "Moten Swing", which Basie claimed credit for,[23] was widely acclaimed and was an invaluable contribution to the development of swing music, and at one performance at the Pearl Theatre in Philadelphia in December 1932, the theatre opened its door to allow anybody in who wanted to hear the band perform.[24] During a stay in Chicago, Basie recorded with the band. He occasionally played four-hand piano and dual pianos with Moten, who also conducted.[25] The band improved with several personnel changes, including the addition of tenor saxophonist Ben Webster.

When the band voted Moten out, Basie took over for several months, calling the group "Count Basie and his Cherry Blossoms. "When his own band folded, he rejoined Moten with a newly re-organized band.[26] A year later, Basie joined Bennie Moten's band, and played with them until Moten's death in 1935 from a failed tonsillectomy. When Moten died, the band tried to stay together but couldn't make a go of it. Basie then formed his own nine-piece band, Barons of Rhythm, with many former Moten members including Walter Page (bass), Freddie Green (guitar), Jo Jones (drums), Lester Young (tenor saxophone) and Jimmy Rushing (vocals).

The Barons of Rhythm were regulars at the Reno Club and often performed for a live radio broadcast. During a broadcast the announcer wanted to give Basie's name some style, so he called him "Count." Little did Basie know this touch of royalty would give him proper status and position him with the likes of Duke Ellington and Earl Hines.

Basie's new band which included many Moten alumni, with the important addition of tenor player Lester Young. They played at the Reno Club and sometimes were broadcast on local radio. Late one night with time to fill, the band started improvising. Basie liked the results and named the piece "One O'Clock Jump."[27] According to Basie, "we hit it with the rhythm section and went into the riffs, and the riffs just stuck. We set the thing up front in D-flat, and then we just went on playing in F." It became his signature tune.[28]

From New York and the East Coast to Kansas City then Chicago.

Links:

Count Basie

One O'Clock Jump - Count Basie - YouTube

Huge, Fantastic Presidential News Breaking This Morning!!

It's yet another tough, tough day for the Trumpster today, campers. Check out this incredible, breaking news from just this morning 

Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon arrested on fraud charges in border wall fundraising scheme

Federal prosecutors say Bannon and three associates illegally funneled money from the “We Build The Wall” fund

Truly incredible. And wonderful.

Not done there, yet more good---no, great news.

Judge rejects Trump’s latest bid to shield his tax records from Manhattan district attorney

NEW YORK — President Trump’s latest attempt to block the Manhattan district attorney from obtaining his tax records was rejected by a federal judge Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero threw out the latest lawsuit brought by Trump’s lawyers which had argued that a subpoena to Mazars USA, Trump’s accounting firm, was “overbroad” in its request for documents and that it amounted to “harassment.” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. argued repeatedly that the subpoena, issued by a grand jury, was legally valid and tied to a legitimate criminal investigation.

And then one last breaking story today.

Prosecutors looking to reinstate indictment against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort for mortgage fraud

The case was initially dismissed due to its similarity to the federal charges

The Manhattan District Attorney's office fought Thursday to reinstate the indictment against President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, according to court documents filed in the case.

Manafort had been charged in New York for allegedly conducting a yearlong residential mortgage fraud scheme before the case was dismissed in December due to its similarity to earlier federal charges.

The Manhattan DA's office argued, according to court filings, that the state's double jeopardy law contains an exception that would allow the case to proceed.

Isn't it a beautiful day, ladies and gentlemen?

So. herewith, a summary of this Trump, very Republican Party administration so far, to date:

• Rick Gates: Convicted
• Paul Manafort: Convicted
• George Papadopoulos: Convicted
• Mike Flynn: Convicted
• Michael Cohen: Convicted
• Roger Stone: Convicted
• Steve Bannon: Arrested, charged with fraud
• Donald Trump: Impeached

"Only the best people..."

"So much winning..."

Thanks, Mr. President!

Thanks, Republicans!

86 45

BYEDON

VOTE!!

And VOTE BLUE!!

The Donald Trump/Republican Party Election Platform 2020

In a nutshell.

Vote Trump?

Vote Republican?

I don't think so.

Four Different Formal Groups of Republicans Against Trump

Four, four different groups of Republicans now that formed formal organizations to defeat the sitting President of their own political party.

The Lincoln Project

Republican Voters Against Trump

Right Side PAC

43 Alumni for Joe Biden

And there's this, too, from The Guardian (link below):

A set of Republican national security officials has also emerged in opposition to Trump.

That group hasn’t given itself a name yet, and includes the former Bush homeland security adviser Ken Wainstein, and John Bellinger III, who served in the state department. The group is looking to rally national security officials away from Trump – either by supporting Biden or writing in someone else.

I'm telling you, folks., this is completely unprecedented in our nation's entire history.

Vote.

And vote blue.

#BlueWave

86 45

BYEDON

Links:

Republican rebels come together to take on Trump

A slew of organized Republican groups have sprung up to do all they can to defeat Trump in November

Anti-Trump Republican groups urge GOP voters to support Joe Biden for president

This President President Just Took Three Big Broadsides in 24 Hours

Yes, really, SO much going on and honestly, precious little of it good or positive for this President Trump.

First up, this was released yesterday.

Former DHS official blasts Trump, endorses Biden

Miles Taylor, who served as the Department of Homeland Security's chief of staff, in a video endorsement of Biden said that working under the current administration was "terrifying."

"What we saw week in and week out, for me, after two and a half years in that administration, was terrifying. We would go in to try to talk to him about a pressing national security issue — cyberattack, terrorism threat. He wasn't interested in those things. To him, they weren't priorities," Taylor says in the video, which was produced by the group Republican Voters Against Trump.

Taylor said that many of the things President Donald Trump wanted DHS to do were impossible and in some cases illegal. He characterized the president as vindictive and self-centered.

"Given what I have experienced in the administration, I have to support Joe Biden for president. And even though I am not a Democrat, even though I disagree on key issues, I'm confident that Joe Biden will protect the country, and I'm confident that he won't make the same mistakes as this president," Taylor, who was at DHS from 2017 to 2019, adds in the video.

That was brutal.

Then this came out this morning, in the last hour or two. And check the source.

Bipartisan Senate report describes 2016 Trump campaign eager to accept help from foreign power

The report highlights some never-before-seen evidence, including allegations about women and potentially compromising material tied to Trump trips to Russia

WASHINGTON — In a thousand-page bipartisan report released Tuesday, the Senate Intelligence Committee said the Trump administration obstructed its investigation with "novel claims" of executive privilege. It painted a portrait of a Trump campaign eager to accept help from a foreign power in 2016.

The Senate report, the most detailed account to date of the Trump campaign's embrace of Russian election interference, also asserted that the allegations that Ukraine interfered in the election — which President Donald Trump perpetuated — originated with Russian intelligence agencies.

The report highlighted some never-before-seen evidence about Trump and Russia, including three allegations of potentially compromising material relating to Trump's private trips to Russia that were unconnected to the dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele...

..."Russia and other countries took advantage of the Transition Team's inexperience, transparent opposition to Obama Administration policies, and Trump's desire to deepen ties with Russia, to pursue unofficial channels through which Russia could conduct diplomacy," the report said. "The lack of vetting of foreign interactions by Transition officials left the Transition open to influence and manipulation by foreign intelligence services, government leaders, and co-opted business executives."

It added, "Russian officials, intelligence services, and others acting on the Kremlin's behalf were capable of exploiting the Transition's shortcomings for Russia's advantage. Based on available information it is possible — and even likely — that they did so."

On Ukraine, the report said that Russian-government operatives from late 2016 until at least January 2020 consistently spread "overlapping false narratives which sought to discredit investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 elections and spread false information about the events of 2016."

I personally, strongly recommend reading that entire article.

And there's more from and about this, too.

Senate report finds Manafort passed campaign data to Russian intelligence officer

Between even just these two events in the last 24 hours, this President took a couple of big, big hits, folks. And with these revelations on his campaign working with the Russians, etc., it's two big problems for him, among at least a few, if not several others, not least of which is the State of New York looking into prosecuting him.

Trump Flails Against Growing Financial Probe 

in New York

Thirdly and finally, this was announced yesterday.

Appeals court lets emoluments case against Trump continue

This President always was in over his head, so to speak. It's my contention he never knew what he was getting into because he clearly never knew our government and/or what's involved or what it takes.

As I keep saying, thanks, Republicans.  That's quite the guy you foisted on us all.

On Trump Trying to Dismantle the USPS--and Likely Our Democracy. And Nation

So here is what's going on with this many-layered situation. First this.

USPS Removes Mailboxes

Followed, also, amazingly, by this.

Postal Service plans to remove 671 high-volume mail processing machines

An internal US Postal Service document obtained by NBC News reveals plans to remove 671 high-volume mail processing machines from postal facilities across the country. The document, circulated in June, is broken out by region and city/state.

Heck, our own Kansas City Star reported it did, in fact, happen here locally.

Postal Services removes mail machines in Kansas, Missouri

Can you imagine working for the Postal Service, walking in and seeing the mail sorting machine gone? Where does that happen? In what industry do they REMOVE automating equipment? Anywhere?

Then this came from the Orange Man's mouth himself.

Trump Admits He’s Trying To Stop Mail-In Voting With USPS Sabotage

Trump admitted that he is trying to stop mail-in votes from being counted with USPS sabotage during a Thursday Fox Business interview.

Once again, this President shows he wasn't/isn't smart enough, bright enough to even keep his mouth closed, keep quiet about his plans, nefarious and blatant as they are.

With all that, this is where we are now.

House Oversight Committee calls for 'urgent' hearing with Postmaster General

The House Oversight Committee is calling for Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to testify at an "urgent" congressional hearing later this month amid growing concerns about whether cost-cutting measures will leave the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) ill-equipped to handle a rise in mail-in voting.

It seems the Trump's Postmaster General may have some significant conflicts of interest.

Amid political controversy, postmaster general's stock holdings come under renewed scrutiny

USPS head Louis DeJoy reportedly owns millions of stock in mail processor

With this President trying to under-fund or de-fund the Postal Service and the House Democrats planning to have the Postmaster General this coming week, here are some things I'd like to ask the head of the Postal Service, that Postmaster General, just now:

• Do you deny that 671 mail sorter machines--or some number--have been ordered out of our postal service facilities across the nation?
• Why are they being taken out? 
• How does taking mail sorting machines out make any sense at any time but especially now when we need the postal service and all you do for this most killing pandemic in over 100 years?
• Why are post office mailboxes being carted away?
• How can anyone think this isn't to keep people from voting this Fall?
• Can you testify now, under oath, that you own no other investments that have to do with mailing or shipping of any sort in our nation?
• Can you testify here under oath that you would in no way benefit from having our United States Postal Service ceasing to exist?
• Can you testify here, now, under oath that it is not now nor will be in the future your goal or the goal of your boss, this current President, to end the existence of the United States Postal Service?

I hope someone asks them.

This, however, is how and where it gets difficult.

What Really Scares Voting Experts About the Postal Service

No matter what Trump says, the USPS has the money and the capacity to handle a huge surge in mail-in ballots. But new restrictions could disrupt the election.

President Donald Trump and his allies might well succeed in undermining the United States Postal Service’s ability to handle an expected surge in mail-in ballots this fall. But the biggest immediate threat to voting by mail isn’t blocked funding.

Trump acknowledged yesterday that he opposes a major stimulus deal with Democrats in part because he wants to stop an infusion of $25 billion to the Postal Service ahead of the election. “They need that money in order for the Post Office to work, to take in these millions and millions of ballots,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo. But the president doesn’t want more voting by mail, and he doesn’t want the Postal Service to have any more money to help with it. “If we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money. That means they can’t have universal mail-in voting. That means they can’t have it.”

Democrats see the president’s comments as slam-dunk evidence of what they have been charging for weeks: that Trump is sabotaging the November election by purposely degrading the ostensibly independent Postal Service. They have assailed the appointment as postmaster general of a Trump donor, Louis DeJoy, who has moved rapidly to reorganize the Postal Service’s leadership and institute cost-cutting measures that have already resulted in slower mail delivery. Those service changes, rather than the congressional fight over funding, are what alarm advocates for mail-in voting the most. At stake is nothing less than the integrity of the election itself, which to a large degree rests on whether tens of millions of ballots can get into mailboxes and then back to their precincts in time to count.

Keeping in mind this, overall, from our own Constitution.

8 U.S. Code § 1701.Obstruction of mails generally

Whoever knowingly and willfully obstructs or retards the passage of the mail, or any carrier or conveyance carrying the mail, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 778; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(B), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2146.)

I would never have thought a President, even this one, would attack and try to dismantle, destroy our Postal Service.

Unreal where we are.

Then this President said this.

Trump says it could take 'months' or 'years' to know election results

Have we become, are we already some Third World banana republic backwater?

Are we going to tolerate this?

I'm sure as Hell not if I can do anything about it.

First, we can't respond to a pandemic---but all other nations can---and now this?

Oh, Hell no.

Once again, one more time, thanks, Republicans.

Covid-19: A Very Current International Comparison

 Check that out. This was yesterday. Deaths from this pandemic in 7 different allies and us, the United States of America. 

The world's richest, "most advanced" nation.

1,120 Americans died yesterday. Now, more than 168,000 Americans dead from this pandemic.

We're exceptional, all right.

Thanks, Mr. President.

Thanks, Republicans.

Quote of the Day -- Presidential Edition

 

“Has there ever been a president so utterly devoid of scruple, so naked in his ambition to steal an election? Trump is so terrified of losing that he’ll take the entire system down with him. Our post office. Our elections. Our very democracy. His depravity is boundless.” 

--Rep. Adam Schiff, D-CA

And the answer, of course, is no. There has never been a President this low.

Thanks, Republicans.

What This Pandemic Is and Is Not, Here In America

I found this on the interwebs, on Facebonkers, today and thought it good to the point of important.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but you need to know how silly you look if you post some variation of, "Welcome to Socialism..."

You are not seeing Socialism. What you are seeing is one of the wealthiest, geographically advantaged, and productive capitalist societies in the world flounder and fail at its most basic test. Taking care of its people.

This crisis is not about the virus.

This crisis is about the massive failure of our, "Booming economy," to survive even modest challenges. It is about the market dissonance of shortages in stores, even as farmers/producers destroy unused crops and products. This crisis is about huge corporations needing an emergency bailout within days of the longest Bull Market in our history ending and despite the ability to borrow with zero percent interest rates.

This crisis is about corporatized healthcare systems being unable and ill equipped to provide basic healthcare, at the same time they post record profits. It is about crisis response depending on antiquated systems nobody remembers how to operate.

But most of all, this crisis is a direct result of the politicization of every aspect of our society for the benefit of a privileged few. The vilification of education, science, media, natural rights, rural lifestyles, urban lifestyles, charity, compassion, and virtually everything else for brief political gain has gutted our society.

What you are seeing is a quarter century of technological brilliance being reduced to a narcissistic popularity contest. You're seeing the folly of basing the health and welfare of an entire society on personal greed. You're seeing all the necessary tools, for us to shrug off this crisis, go unused while people argue over who should get the credit and profit. Even worse, you're seeing vital help withheld because recipients might not, "deserve it..."

You're seeing a lot of things nobody thought they'd ever see, but you're not seeing Socialism...

"Doing nothing for others is the undoing of ourselves."  -- Horace Mann

-- Paul Field

Quotes of the Day -- Hopeful, Presidential Edition

 

First this:

Bill Pascrell, Jr. @BillPascrell

Tonight I’ve made a criminal referral to the New Jersey Attorney General asking him to empanel a grand jury to look at subversion of NJ election laws by donald trump, louis dejoy, and other trump officials in their accelerating arson of the post office.

5:21 PM • 8:14 PM

Pascrell represents New Jersey's 9th Congressional District.

Then this one:

Rep. Eric Swalwell @RepSwalwell

I don’t say this lightly: when we escape this Trump hell, America needs a Presidential Crimes Commission. It should be made up of independent prosecutors who look at those who enabled a corrupt president. Example 1: Sabotaging the mail to win an election. #SaveThePostOffice

6:14 PM • 8/14/20

Links:

House Democrat files criminal referral accusing Trump of subverting election

Trump admits he's refusing to fund the US Postal Service to sabotage mail-in voting

And here's precisely why this President wants to dismantle the USPS:

A Record 76% of Americans Can Vote by Mail in 2020

This is as it should be in the middle of the worst, most killing international pandemic in the last more than  100 years.

Then check this out.

International body says voting problems 'could harm integrity' of US election

Trump and the Republicans will turn us into a banana republic backwater yet.

Republican President Donald J Trump

 Here you go. Republican Party President Donald J Trump in the words of members of his own staff.

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Thanks, Republicans.

This Republican Party President Donald J Trump

 Yes sir and ma'am, this Republican Party President Donald J Trump, in the words of some of his own now former staff members.

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Thanks, Republicans!

Ten Reasons We Should be Able to Vote by Mail

 You would think the largest, most killing international pandemic in over 100 years would be enough by itself, wouldn't you?

Meanwhile, we have this excuse for leadership, doing this.

Trump admits he's refusing to fund the US Postal Service to sabotage mail-in voting

Disgusting.

Un-American.

Thanks, Republicans.

Contact your Congressional representatives---especially your Senators--and especially you, Missourians, since they're both Republicans.

Contacting Congress

Covid Relief? From this Republican Party Senate??

 Fugedaboudit!

Senate leaves until September without coronavirus relief deal

Thanks, Republicans!

Meanwhile:

America is Having the Mother of All Social Collapses

Y'all are terrific.

Really.

Entertainment Overnight -- Birthday Edition

 Yes sir and ma'am, wishing a Lee's Summit, Kansas City metropolitan area very happy birthday wish to our one and own Pat Matheny, born this day, August 12, 1954!

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Hope it was a great one!

This Article Out of Australia Should Hurt and Concern Every American

We are witnessing the fall of a great power

A bit, but most, of the article:

Tragically, American exceptionalism - 'we are the first and best democracy on Earth' - contributes to the self-delusion of indestructibility. There is nothing automatically self-correcting in US democracy.

Look at the US now. Its president is so psychiatrically disordered with narcissism that he is incapable of dealing with the COVID-19 crisis in a coherent, empathetic way. Everything he says and does is through a prism of himself. He has now turned his whole re-election campaign into one of race hate, law and order and a bizarre invention of a threat from "left-wing fascists".

But worse, the US seems to have a national self-delusion that once Trump loses and is gone, everything will return to normal. The delusion extends to a belief that the COVID-19-stricken economy will bounce back to normal in a V shape.

Trump is as much just a symptom of the underlying rottenness as an integral part of it, even if his sucking up to authoritarian leaders in Russia, China and North Korea is unprecedented.

The underlying weakness in present US democracy is that partisanship has become so extreme that the nation is incapable of dealing with the major issues that face it. COVID-19 has illustrated that starkly, with every word and act predicated on party allegiance. Meanwhile, other problems like race, police violence, gun control, inequality, the health system, climate change and energy policy go unattended.

The motives of "the other side" are routinely vilified without evidence. The Democrats are blamed for everything. The Republicans can do no wrong. And to a lesser extent, vice versa. My side of politics, right or wrong.

In a vicious cause-and-effect circle, the imperative of winning at all costs corrodes the political process, and the corroded political process makes winning at all costs even more imperative.

The Trump presidency has made all this worse, but the seeds were there long before. He has appointed incompetent ignorant toadies to the most senior positions in his cabinet and the bureaucracy. He has undermined the Supreme Court with appointments based on politics, not law.

For a long time, the electoral process has been corrupted by state governors drawing unfair electoral boundaries so that the Republican Party is grossly over-represented in Congress compared to its vote, and has won the presidency twice this century with a minority of the vote.

The electoral process has also been corrupted by runaway bribery through political donations.

Another vicious circle has emerged. The politicised Supreme Court from 2010 on has refused to control corporate and individual political donations - thus favouring the Republicans.

Donations from billionaires, mainly to the Republicans, consequently boomed from just $17 million in 2008 to $611 million in 2018 - and rising. This results in policies more skewed to the wealthy and conservatives, and therefore greater inequality. These policies include engaging in wars in remote places where the only real US interests are those of war profiteers. In turn, these policies result in more donations from billionaires, who get repaid manyfold, and who now have as much if not more control of the process than voters.

Tragically, American exceptionalism - "we are the first and best democracy on Earth" - contributes to the self-delusion of indestructibility. There is nothing automatically self-correcting in US democracy. Even the so-called checks and balances are not working - they are causing gridlock, rather than adding a bit of mild caution to a system that is overall supposed to be geared to problem-solving, not political point-scoring.

The system has become so warped that those disenfranchised, disempowered and disenchanted are taking to the streets, questioning the legitimacy of the whole system.

The only question is whether the taking to the streets can break these vicious circles, or whether it is just another step in the decline and fall of a great power.

If that doesn't give any adult American pause, I don't know what would or will.

I say again.

Thanks, Mr. President.

Thanks, Republicans.

Links:

That explains this:

Americans are giving up US citizenship in record numbers

As if to maybe, maybe make we Americans feel slightly better--if even just slightly--this article was at the end of the above.

Joe Biden's VP pick is a watershed moment in American democracy

Ladies and Gentlemen, I Give You Donald J Trump

Herewith, Donald J Trump:

~Got his own birthday wrong when trying to vote.

~Got his own father's place of birth wrong.
~Got his own wife's name wrong.
~Called his own son "Melania's kid" (he does get credit for getting her name right that time).
~Repeatedly wandered away from Melania because he forgot she was with him.
~Waddled away from signing ceremonies forgetting to have signed anything (at least twice).
~Asked where Giuliani was when Rudy was sitting right in front of him.
~Thinks he talked with "Tim Apple".
~Thinks his own Secretary of Defense is named "Mark Esperanto".
~Thinks people need to have an ID to buy groceries (at least twice).
~Thinks tariffs are paid to the federal government (numerous times).
~Thinks people don't know that President Lincoln was a Republican (which, of course, means he didn't know).
~Thinks he met the president of the Virgin Islands (he is the (so-called) president of the Virgin Islands).
~Thought he was in Fairfax when he was in Fredericksburg.
~Thought there was a mass shooting in Toledo when it happened in Dayton.
~Thinks we have a "Marine Core".
~Has a Russian Soyuz spacecraft depicted on his official Space Farce coin.
~Thinks Nambia, Nipple, and Button are all countries.
~Waddles around in public stuck to toilet paper (at least twice).
~Waddled away looking for a gigantic limo that was parked right in front of him.
~Thought he got "beautiful letters" from the Boy Scouts and the NFL (both of whom denied sending any).
~Called Detroit a "titty".
~Referred to the USA as the "United Straits of America" (maybe it will be by the time he's done).
~Thinks there were airports during the Revolutionary War and that we rammed the ramparts.
~Thinks he invented the phrase "priming the pump".
~Had Kellyanne Conway try to convince people "covfefe" is a word and his supporters would know what it meant.
~Thinks injecting people with light bulbs and disinfectant might be a viable medical procedure.
~Talked about the attacks on 7-Eleven.
~Thinks Colorado is building a wall.
~Can't even spell "coronavirus," much less, mitigate it.
~Thinks we can nuke hurricanes.
~Tried to pass off a hurricane map he altered as official.
~Thinks there's a "Noble" prize.
~Doesn't exercise because he thinks people have a "battery" that will get depleted.
~Thinks he personally redesigned naval warships to be "more beautiful" and "less expensive," like "yachts with missiles on them".
~Considers being able to waddle down a ramp at a snail's pace without falling over ("Look, Ma! I didn't even use the handrail!" and drink water with one hand are major accomplishments that he should brag about.
~Refers to himself in the third person so he can praise himself on the extremely rare occasions when he actually does his job.
~Uses pseudonyms like "David Dennison," John Miller," "John Baron," and "John Barron" to praise himself.
~Thinks increased testing spreads Donnie's Covfever.
~Brags about passing a cognitive test given to people suspected of having serious mental deficiencies.
~Thinks he visited "Paradise" California. There is no such place.
~Wanted William Barr to determine the "oranges" of the Mueller investigation (twice).
~Thinks astronauts travel in "capsicles".
~Thinks windmills cause cancer.
~Thinks we have a national park called "Yo! Semite!"
~Thinks there's a country called "Thighland".
~Thinks stealth fighters are literally invisible.

Now that we've covered senility, lets move on to creepiness:

~He said he would like to date his own daughter.
~He told a minor he would probably date her someday.
~Let Princess Nepotisma sit on his lap long after it was appropriate.
~Told Howard Stern he could call her "a piece of @ss".
--Speculated on Tiffany's future breast size when she was an infant.
~Walked in on teenagers, including minors, intentionally, in their dressing rooms because he thought owning the pageants made it OK for him to be a lecherous, leering old man.
~Has been accused of sexual impropriety by about 2 dozen women, at least one of whose lawsui is currently working its way through the legal system.
~Bragged about grabbing women by the genitals. Cavemen didn't even do that.

Thanks, Republicans.

Quite the guy you foisted on us all, pushed off on the nation.

You must be so proud.

So much winning.

Links:

Coronavirus: US surpasses 5 million confirmed cases

Trump on Americans Dead From COVID-19: 'It is what it is'

America has more coronavirus deaths than other countries

Coronavirus: Why America Has More Deaths Than Any Other

Lots of Republicans and Conservatives Drubbing This President Today and Lately

 I'm telling you, all kinds of negative press is coming out today on this President and all I'm seeing is actually from Republicans themselves. Herewith, a list.

First from David Brooks and The New York Times:

Where Do Republicans Go From Here?

The party looks brain-dead at every spot Trump touches

Jonathan V. Last thinks President Trump is here forever. Last, the editor of The Bulwark, a conservative site that’s been hostile to Trump, argues that if Trump loses in November, he’ll claim he was cheated out of the election. He’ll force other Republicans to back up his claim. He’ll get a TV show, hold rallies, be coy about running again in 2024.

He’ll still be the center of everything Republican. Ambitious Republicans will have to lash themselves to the husk of the dying czar if they want to have any future in the party. The whole party will go Trump-crazed and brain-dead for another four years.

I salute Last for coming up with a post-2020 scenario even more pessimistic than my own!

Next up, a story and link from a conservative and Republican who has a new book out on this President and his political party.

Veteran GOP Strategist Takes On Trump — And His Party — In 'It Was All A Lie'

Veteran political consultant Stuart Stevens has spent years working as a strategist for Republican campaigns, including the presidential bids of Bob Dole, George W. Bush and Mitt Romney. But Stevens didn't support the party's candidate in the 2016 presidential election — and he wasn't alone.

"In 2016, when I went out and attacked Trump on television," he says, "I would say maybe a third of the party hierarchy would email me and thank me for doing this."

But Stevens notes that many of the Republicans who had privately voiced concern about Trump changed their tune on election night. "I started getting emails like, 'Could you maybe delete that email?' " he says.

"It's an extraordinary contradiction," Stevens says. "I've never heard any Republican office-holder speak of President Trump as if he should be president. ... They know he shouldn't be president. [But] he is president, and they still support him."

And that story, of Mr. Stevens' new book, is so good, here's another article on it.

Longtime GOP strategist says he’ll ‘work with Democrats’ to defeat Trump

Stuart Stevens is one of the Republican Party’s most successful campaign strategists, with a career spanning decades. In his revealing new book, “It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump,” Stevens admits the GOP uses race as an issue to divide Americans and win elections -- and says the party has abandoned its principles in the Trump era.

This next one is especially brutal, not just on Trump but on the entire Republican Party. And it's tough not just on this President and not just on the Republican Party--that's a lot--but it's brutal on Missouri's own Senator Josh Hawley, too, here folks.

Conservative Columnist Explains Why GOP May Not Deserve To Have A Future

“Trump’s entire presidency has been an affront to what conservatives used to think their movement was all about,” wrote Max Boot of The Washington Post

Conservative columnist Max Boot explained in his latest column in The Washington Post why the GOP “doesn’t deserve to have a future” if its best alternative to Donald Trump is four senators who’ve enabled the president every step of the way.

Boot, a vocal critic of the Trump administration, recalled a column by The New York Times’ David Brooks that suggested “a high-minded debate to define the nature of the GOP is underway” among Republican Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Josh Hawley, (Mo.), Tom Cotton (Ark.) and Ben Sasse (Neb.).

“But I’m sorry, I can’t take any of their high-minded blather seriously,” Boot wrote in his op-ed Monday. “Not when they have spent the past four years acting as enablers for the worst president in U.S. history — or at least the worst in the past 151 years.”

Boot asked “what is conservative about” multiple Trump scandals, policies and controversies that the four senators either endorsed or remained silent about.

“Trump’s entire presidency has been an affront to what conservatives used to think their movement was all about,” Boot wrote. “And yet at every step of the way, Rubio, Hawley, Cotton and Sasse have been Trump’s willing accomplices.”

Next up is this from right next door in Nebraska:

Sasse responds to Trump: 'America doesn't have kings'

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) on Monday defended his opposition to President Trump's use of executive orders to address the coronavirus pandemic, hours after the president publicly called the GOP senator out over his criticism.

Sasse — in a note tweeted from his campaign account and signed "Gym Rat" — indicated he would rather have the discussion privately with Trump but added "since you moved our conversation from private to public, here we are."

"On the topic that had you mad this weekend: No president — whether named Obama or Trump or Biden or AOC — has unilateral power to rewrite immigration law or to cut taxes or to raise taxes. This is because America doesn't have kings," Sasse wrote.

Finally today is this from former Republican member of the House of Representatives Joe Scarborough, now from MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program:

‘Wake up and read some history’: Joe Scarborough blasts ‘stupid’ Trump in epic rant

On MSNBC Tuesday, Joe Scarborough ripped into President Donald Trump’s ignorance, and outlined how it is threatening the entire country, telling him to “wake up and read some history.”

“I remember talking to them. I remember other people going and talking to them, and Jared’s opinion and Donald Trump’s opinion was we don’t need to know history because look what happened in the past,” said Scarborough. “In fact, they were saying they didn’t even need to know about Middle East history. You know, tried to talk to Jared about 1967 boundaries, about the ’73 war, about Camp David, just about all of it. And the attitude remained, I don’t need to know about history, stop talking about what’s been done in the past because everybody failed.”

“If you had just listened to what General Mattis said, and other advisers were trying to tell you, we’d be in a much better place right now,” said Scarborough. “But no, you had your own ideas about North Korea … you were stupid enough to believe you could go over there and talk to a communist who put people through paper shredders, you were stupid enough to believe you could play Apprentice with him. You got used and fooled, and America is in more danger today from North Korea than ever before. You thought you could invite the Chinese over to Mar-a-Lago for dessert. Oh, isn’t this good dessert? You thought you are going to win over President Xi? You followed him along like a little puppy dog.”

I'm telling you, folks, it's unprecedented in our nation and our nation's history how many people from this President's own political party want to make sure he isn't reelected.

On to November!

VOTE!!

And VOTE BLUE!!

Links:

A devastating indictment of the Republican Party from a GOP insider

GOP Finance chairman raises concerns about Trump push to make payroll tax deferral permanent

Kasich on decision to speak at Democratic convention

Dr. Ranney: 'Absolute abdication of responsibility' by executive branch on COVID-19 response

GOP Finance chairman raises concerns about Trump push to make payroll-tax deferral permanent

Kentuckians Turn on McConnell as Economy Implodes

Poll: 59 percent of voters disapprove of Trump's decision to share videos promoting hydroxychloroquine

Donald Trump, According to Another Republican

From very conservative and long-serving Republican Party member Steve Schmidt @SteveSchmidtSES:

I find it necessary to reach for the language and colorful colloquialisms of my native land, New Jersey, in order to express my feelings about today’s event in Bedminster. It was a fucking travesty. Truly. An utter Fucking disgrace.

The President of the United States of America stood behind the Seal of his office framed by American flags and his private club’s membership,slurring and raving about his victimization. His titanic self-pity was only exceeded by his dishonesty and uncontrolled lying. His lying was only subordinate to his staggering idiocy, ignorance, ineptitude and incompetence. |

The incompetence, even after all this time, shocks the conscience. 162,000 Americans are dead and the economy is shattered. So many more will die. The evictions, foreclosures and small business closings are just beginning. We are in the early hours of one of the greatest tragedies in our country's history. None of it had to be, but it has happened because Donald Trump is President. His malice, stupidity, ego and insecurity are a lethal combination.

He has wrecked this country in less than four years. He has induced a national nosedive, a decline that is precipitous, dangerous and humiliating. The world is more dangerous. American soldiers are hunted like animals by Taliban killers who are paid bounties by Russian killers and Trump does nothing but kowtow to Putin and advance his agenda.

Trump has divided the country and pitted Americans against each other. He has loosed violence against peacefully assembled U.S. citizens and deployed militarized paramilitary forces to escalate tensions in American cities in the name of law and order, when the real purpose and mission is to stoke the embers of chaos and create fear. Fear, built on a mountain of lies, is the autocrat's sword and shield. Trump stokes fear to abuse his power and press forward with his assaults on the rule of law, our essential constitutions and our national comity, all in the name of his corruption, aggrandizement and cult of personality.

It is a despicable hour in the life of this country. This will be ended because it must end. We will lose the country if Trump isn’t repudiated. Make no mistake about the intentions of a President who is openly undermining the 231-year-old tradition of American elections. He is undermining the legitimacy of the coming election with no regard for the consequences to liberal democracy here and around the world.

Fascism didn’t rise in the 1930s because it was strong. It rose because Democracy was weak. American Democracy is weak, decayed and led by an illiberal man who would cancel the election, lock up his political opponents, enrich his friends and remain in power for life.

Trump is the greatest failure in American history. No American has failed history’s test in a more spectacular fashion. His stoking of racial tensions and a cold civil war in our land will live in infamy. His disgrace will be eternal.

Thanks, Republicans.

The World Is Looking on in Disbelief, if not Horror, America

 For a bit of what Italy and Europe and the world are seeing as they look on at America.

Europe stunned by American coronavirus response as US approaches five million infections

The United States' failure to contain the spread of coronavirus has been met with astonishment and alarm in Europe

"'We Italians always saw America as a model,' said Massimo Franco, columnist with daily Corriere della Sera. 'But with this virus we've discovered a country that is very fragile, with bad infrastructure and a public health system that is non-existent.'"

Much of the incredulity in Europe stems from the fact that America had the benefit of time, European experience and medical know-how to treat the virus that the continent itself didn't have when the first Covid patients started filling intensive care units.

Yet, more than four months into a sustained outbreak, the US is about to hit an astonishing milestone of five million confirmed infections, easily the highest in the world.

Thanks, Mr. President.

Thanks, Republicans.