Sweating the sheets orange

At this point our "so-called 'president'" is in a full-blown panic, likely sweating the sheets orange at night, tossing & turning as he imagines Mueller's noose tightening around his flabby neck.

Traitor Trump

I just looked back eight months ago at the post on the election and thought I should update a few key facts. First, the numbers I used on 11/11/16 were not certified and were inaccurate. While certain takeaways about turnout are still true, the numbers used changed. For example, Hispanics had the lowest turnout of any demographic, just under 50%, which helped elect Traitor Trump.

Traitor? Yes. The last time I wrote, we were all listening to adamant denials of any meetings with any Russians, period. Yesterday we listened to Kushner try to explain why he left four separate Russian meetings off his security clearance forms. Back to the election numbers...

Here is the most important set of numbers:

shitshow storms

Funny that I don't write on this blog for a year, then I write a post about Don the Con the day before the infamous "grab her pussy" tapes drop. Now the GOP is in open revolt, with 30 days to go, and with massive defections from their nominee. Enjoy the shitshow, folks!

election 2016

I voted for Bush twice and Obama twice. Spend more than five minutes reading through the material on this blog and you'll know in a hurry that I'm a liberal. How many people would even continue reading to find out what I think about this election? How many just shut down the minute you use a label like, "conservative" or "liberal" or "progressive"?

I want to say that I genuinely feel like this is not a normal election, and so serious reflection is called for. Our country is the greatest democracy the world has ever known. Democracy depends upon the citizens doing their civic duty and voting. Voting responsibly requires reflection and information.

Follow the money

It's still amazing that people want to use the "they both do it" excuse to blame politicians of both parties for being in the pocket of big-monied interests. The disparity between the parties is amazing, and the fact that the GOP has pushed hard for unlimited, anonymous campaign donations, while Democrats have pushed back with campaign finance reform laws, tells the whole story.

Follow the money, and you'll find the truth.

In financial terms, the Republican Party and its candidates are now more in line with their ties to corporate America and the rich. They have turned increasingly to large contributors — donors who make gigantic donations to “super PACs” and “social welfare” organizations that claim tax exempt status under the 501(c)4 provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. So far, 501(c)4 committees have successfully avoided publicly identifying their donors. No matter how used to all this we’ve all become, the numbers are striking. The amount of money flowing into federal campaigns — for Congress and the presidency — has been growing rapidly, doubling from $3.1 billion in 2000 to $6.3 billion in 2012. While overall spending increased by more than 100 percent from 2000 to 2012, spending by secretive political nonprofits, which do not disclose donors, has exploded 13-fold, from $24.9 million in 2000 to $335.7 million in 2012. Four out of every five dollars, or $269.5 million, raised by tax-exempt groups, most of which claim to be “social welfare organizations,” go to pro-Republican and conservative groups. These political nonprofits have become a key source of indirect support for Republican candidates. As Figure 2 shows, spending by conservative nonprofits has grown from $2.5 million in 2000 to $269.5 million in 2012. Liberal nonprofit spending has gone from $21.9 million in 2000 to $58.5 million in 2012.

Some disturbing trends are already emerging about the inability to regulate coordination between lobbyists, ultra-wealthy donors and campaigns. The influence of this money is more worrisome by the fact that the FEC can't seem to keep up with campaign finance disclosures anymore. A lot of this stuff comes down to common sense. If you vote for the party who is now helping billionaires to buy elections, you're contributing to the problem. Why is there even a "debate" on whether or not the Koch's SuperPAC is corrosive to our democracy?

If you can't beat 'em, rig 'em!

A few months ago I just shook my head as I read about the scheme to apportion electoral votes by heavily-gerrymandered districts. Obviously, Republicans can't win the popular vote in states where the majority of voters don't vote Republican. So instead they want to cut out the majority of voters (living in large cities) entirely. Lol.

...except it's true. Luckily the plan failed in Virginia.

So hey, guys, if you really want an amazing idea, here's one: do away with the Electoral College completely. Scrap it. It is a ridiculous waste of time and money to vote in our modern democracy the way we do and focus ONLY on "swing states". I know I have little incentive to vote, living in a deep red state like I do.

But of course Republicans would never support a measure to elect Executive officials based on popular vote. Since they'd lose even more than they already do now.