Trump Is Losing the Trade War

The New York Times recently published an article by Neal Irwin "The Most Important Least Noticed Economic Event of the Decade." Irwin points out that between 2015-16 there was a sharp slowdown confined to the energy and agricultural sectors. This slowdown also affected manufacturers who are related to those sectors (like Caterpillar.) The Federal Reserve tightened its monetary policy in 2015, which led to a slowdown in economic growth. This slowdown, however, was felt mostly in the interior of the country; the coasts were unaffected. It could still explain why "middle America" voted for Trump.

According to a new study by the Federal Reserve show that Trump's trade wars have caused further losses in factory jobs. Not the result Trump promised. Trump's tax cuts at the same time, have only produced a stock market bubble which will eventually burst. All bubbles will burst: you don't need a degree in economics to know that.

Reflections on the Election in Britain

Boris Johnson--islamophobe, racist, misogynist--led the British Conservative party to victory. There goes the theory that the Brits are so advanced on gender issues. Johnson won by appealing to uneducated, uninformed white males (sound familiar?) Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn was the target of a smear campaign that labeled him an "anti-Semite." Nobody sees any kind of double standard here. Apparently, in Britain you can get away with any sort of bigotry except "antisemitism." This is a clear case of selective outrage.

British politics are structurally and culturally different from American politics. It is difficult to correlate political trends from one country to another. One example was the British elections of April 1992, which George Bush I thought was going to guarantee his reelection. It didn't.

One gets the sense the Britain, like the rest of Europe does not have a future, but only a past.

Trump's Orangeface Explained

In an article posted on Vox "Could this be Trump’s orange makeup?" by Cheryl Wischhover it turns out that Trump's weird orange coloring comes from using a cosmetic called Bronx Colors which is made by a Swiss company. The stuff is unavailable here in the states. That is the reason that Trump needs a constant supply of new shirts because the stuff leaves stains on his collar.

The new line from congressional GOPers is that the impeachment inquiry is driven by mere "dislike" of Trump. It seems that Trump has dragged down the entire GOP down to his juvenile mentality: presumably, if you liked Trump, you would let him get away with anything he wants. Does Trump ever stop to think why people dislike him? That would take too much effort.

Call It For What It Is

The revelations around Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump's anti-immigrant policies including family separations, show that his links with the so called "white nationalists." Miller is not only a racist, but a sadistic psychopath, who hopefully will meet a harsh reckoning someday. Miller, by the way attended Duke University, where he associated with neo-Nazi Richard Spencer. Keep that in mind since Miller likes to cry "anti-Semitism" whenever he is criticized.

The term "white nationalism" is nothing more than an attempt to disguise white supremacism. It is an attempt to camouflage the ugliness of Ku Kluxers and skinheads and make it seem respectable. White supremacism is the same vile garbage, no matter how they try to dress it up.

A New Wannabe Fuhrer

Nick Fuentes has emerged as the newest wannabe racist fuhrer of the altright. Fuentes, who is 21 years old, spews the typical rash of racism, anti-Semitism and islamophobia, which utters with increased shrillness. He also advocates violence against anyone he doesn't agree with. Information on Fuentes is scarce. According to an article in Wikipedia (in Spanish) Fuentes claims he dropped out of Boston University after receiving threats. In an interview with The Tab Fuentes admitted he is "25 percent Mexican" and justifies his position by all kinds of illogical gobbledygook (ie. by quibbling about the definition of "race.)

Perhaps we should stop using the term racism and instead use the term bigotry, because it is more generalized and inclusive.

Another One Bites the Dust

Murray Energy Corp., a big coal mining corporation has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Bob Murray — the chairman, president and CEO , is big time Trump supporter. He donated $300,000 to Trump's inauguration. In spite of Trump's attempt to boost coal by reducing environmental protections and even pushing for subsidies, coal continues to decline. This time it's economic realities that are at work, not environmentalism.

The Truth About Jeff Bezos

Recently a 48 year old man named Billy Foister died while working at an Amazon warehouse. This has brought new attention to the abusive and dangerous conditions that exist at Amazon. Meanwhile, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, is reputed to be "worth" $150 billion and is currently working on a scheme for private space flight. It has now become apparent the Bezos has ruined entire industries, primarily in the retail sector, and is subjecting his employees to crude exploitation. And we're supposed to admire Bezos? Maybe we should put him in a rocket and shoot him into space.

Clarence Thomas: Racial Pessimist or Vulgar Opportunist?

Vox recently published an article by Sean Illing titled "The racial pessimism of Clarence Thomas: Corey Robin on Thomas’s black nationalism and why more people should understand it." It is a lengthy article, and of course it examines how Clarence Thomas advocates a weird mixture of "Black nationalism" and Booker-T-self-help-nonsense.
Toward the middle of the article there is an interesting exchange. According to Illing:

"Thomas’s opposition to affirmative action or really any attempt at improving race relations looks a lot different to me after reading your book. You argue that Thomas isn’t objecting to these things because he denies the underlying injustices but rather because he rejects anything that smacks of “white paternalism.”

Robin responds: "For Thomas, it means that there’s an assumption among white liberals that the job of the American ruling class through the state is to improve the lot of African Americans and to use the state to rectify these past injustices. And Thomas just doesn’t believe that it’s impossible to remedy these injustices, he also believes that the acts of paternalism end up perpetuating the injustices."

The thing is that Thomas himself owes his position to the "paternalism" of white conservatives. So what's the difference? Clarence Thomas is pernicious stooge who has sold out his own people to the racist white establishment.

Willing Seller, Willing Buyer

Trump's farm bailout, to compensate farmers for his ridiculous trade policies, has so far cost us $28 billion. Now the automobile bailout of 2009 only cost $12 billion. Remember how Rick Santelli started the "Tea Party" back in 2009, supposedly against "wasteful spending?" Santelli has now turned into a Trump stooge, which shows that he was full of shit all along. In terms of farm subsidies, it is clear that a GOP voting block is selling its votes for cash, and Trump is using public funds to buy their votes. The Trumpers say that they don't want to pay to support immigrants. So why should we pay to support GOPers?

Justice at Last?

Amber Guyger, ex-Dallas cop, was convicted of killing her African-American neighbor and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. It is extremely rare for a white cop to be convicted of killing a black person, as we all know. Maybe Guyger's crimes was too egregious: she barged into the victim's (Botham Jean) apartment because she thought it was her own. How idiotic is that. Guyger's sense of white privilege is so enlarged that she thought she could get away with killing a black man. And Yes, Amber Guyger is a racist. She made racist text messages, including one in which she disparaged the observance of Martin Luther King day, writing that participants should get "pepper spray in the genital area." Guyger mad several other such messages, which explains what her motivation was.

Tony Blair: The Presumptuous Hypocrite

Tony Blair, ex-UK PM, appeared on the Fareed Zakariya show on Sunday, adding his weight to the anti-immigrant crusade. It's odd because in the UK Blair isn't as popular as he used to be. In fact he is widely detested by both the left and the right. Blair, with brittle and smarmy presence, likes to pose as a great moralist but he actually made a career out following whatever trend seemed to be popular. Hence his jump onto the anti-immigrant bandwagon. Let us remember the mendacious way in which he jumped into the Bush admin. invasion of Iraq. If he became a Bushie there's no reason why he shouldn't become a Trumper because--appearances aside--the two things are basically alike.

Enough With Woodstock Already!

This year marks the 50th anniversary of another annoying event: Woodstock. Supposedly it was a great thing for a bunch of hippies to take drugs and wallow naked in the mud. I suppose if you like mud (I don't). The original Woodstock was actually a bust that lost its investment. Woodstock was also the beginning of the end of the counterculture. Four months later the Altamont Free Concert degenerated into a nightmare of violence and the "good vibes" were gone.

Woodstock was turned into a quasi-myth, a kind of obsession. In the early eighties Steve Wozniak put on the Us festivals which only lasted for a couple of years--because they were money losers. The 1999 Woodstock festival turned more into a redo of Altamont. There was an attempt to do a Woodstock 50th anniversary but the whole thing fizzled. Maybe it's a sign to let the whole Woodstock myth go.

Susan Saranadon is Still Stupid

Susan Sarandon, at a rally for Bernie Sanders, referred to Elizabeth Warren as a "republican." This is rich considering the despicable role that Sarandon played during the election of 2016. Sarandon is typical of the ultra-leftists who convinced themselves that Hillary Clinton was somehow a greater evil than Donald Trump. People like that really are stupid. You have to wonder about Sanders himself, whether associating with Sarandon reflects badly on him.

Immigration & Customs Enforement: Are They Stupid or Evil?

Last week ICE raided several businesses in Mississippi. They didn't catch any actual criminals. Just people working at jobs that Americans don't want. A publicity stunt most likely. Though they had a negative impact on several families.

Just to show what ICE has been doing. Jimmy Aldaoud, a Michigan man, was departed back to Iraq even though he wasn't born in Iraq. Aldaoud, was actually born in Greece. Aldaoud suffered from diabetes and schizophrenia. Aldaoud died in Iraq because he couldn't get medication. He was a victim of Trump's "toughness."

So are the morons at Immigration and Customs enforcement stupid or are they evil? Maybe they're both at the same time.

Yes, It Is Trump's Fault

This Saturday, August 3 2019, there was a massacre at a Walmart in El Paso Texas. Twenty people were killed and 26 injured. The shooter was a 21 year old white male from Allen Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The shooter deliberately targeted Hispanics and said so on a "manifesto" he posted.

I would go to the particular Walmart with my mother. She would fill her prescriptions at the pharmacy before she passed away in 2014.

These shootings have become more frequent since Donald Trump became President. According to Susan Miller at USA Today there have 250 mass shootings this year in 215 days. Trump himself keeps riling up racism and xenophobia while opposing any attempt at gun control. Trump not only has blood on his hands, he's got it all over himself.

Yes, Begin Impeachment Proceedings

To much has been made about Robert Muller's appearance, but Muller was always more of a bureaucrat than an advocate. But let's look at what we have on the Trump administration so far.

*Paul Manafort-Trump's campaign chairman convicted on tax and campaign fraud

*Rick Gates-Manafort's deputy pleading guilty to conspiracy against the US

*Michael Cohen-Trump's lawyer, guilty of tax fraud and bank fraud

*The shady Trump Tower meeting of 6/9/2016 involving Donald Jr. and Jared Kushner

*Everybody knows that the Russians interfered in the 2016 election and continue trying to interfere in American elections.

Under any other circumstance these facts would indicate conspiracy (not "collusion.") House Democrats should proceed with impeachment hearings against Trump. In 1998 House Gopers impeached Bill Clinton over a lousy blowjob. Donald Trump is obviously guilty of something worse. But what if Senate GOPers block impeachment? Let them be seen covering for Trump's crimes and see what happens.

Tolerance Must Be Mutual

Kathy Zhu, an obnoxious Trumper and bigot, just lost her title of Miss Michigan for making racist and Islamophobic tweets. Zhu now claims to be a victim of "discrimination". As if being a bigot were her "right." The racists who rally around Trump are making an absurd claim that they are not racists even if they make racist remarks. If you make racist remarks, or defend those who do, then you are a racist. Those who practice intolerance have no claim to tolerance themselves.

As Karl Popper wrote:

Less well known is the paradox of tolerance: Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. — In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.

The Space Race Was A Waste of Money

This week is the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo moon landing. Everybody is treating it some big accomplishment but if you stop and look at it the whole thing was a waste of money and time. The cost of the Apollo program from 1961-73 was $25,400,000,000 which in today's money is about $153 billion. At about the same time the Vietnam War cost the US $161 billion which in today's money is about $969 billion. With the money that was squandered on the space race and the Vietnam War we could have instead provided everybody with free healthcare, free college, and maybe even free housing.

The space race was actually a horse race between the US and the USSR. When the Cold War ended the space race became pointless. Also the costs no longer seemed worthwhile which is why interest in space exploration died. George W. Bush talked about going back to the moon and more recently Trump has also talked about it. But the costs/benefits ratio no longer seem compelling to a debt ridden America. The only ones who benefitted from the space race were a few white guys.

It Rained On His Parade

Last Thursday we saw Trump's disgusting attempt to turn the fourth of July into an electoral rally. Trump wanted a totalitarian rally with tanks and missiles rolling down Pennsylvania avenue. But it rained. Trump had to hide under a shelter less his comb over wouldn't collapse. He then gave a rant--don't call it a speech--where he reached new depths of incoherence. He mentioned something about airports during the revolutionary war. WTF? Even Trump's Russian "friends" made fun of the whole affair. It was really pathetic.

Trump and George III

As we get ready to remember the Fourth of July, it would be a good idea to read the Declaration of Independence and notice how much Donald Trump has in common with George III (aside from the puffy facial features.)

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.


For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

And finally:

. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Trump's Policy Is Child Abuse.

More people continue to die crossing the US border. Recently the bodies of a 26 year old man and his 23 month old daughter were discovered near Brownsville, Tx. Both of them had drowned while trying to cross the Rio Grande. This as pictures of how immigrant children are being held by CPB; held without soap, toothbrushes, and sleeping on concrete floors with "blankets" made of aluminum foil. The Trump administration has made child abuse its policy.

Naomi Wolf:Crackpot and Charlatan

Naomi Wolf is a professional man-hater who keeps herself in the media spotlight in spite of being a preposterous liar. Wolf has a long history of making claims that are demonstrably false: such as that eating disorders kills thousands of women each year. Mostly recently, in her latest book she claimed that hundreds of men in Victorian Britain were executed for sodomy. It turns out that she misinterpreted the term "death recorded." The curious thing is that many people in the media treat this is a problem of fact checking. They seem to be willing to absolve the author in question of any responsibility for what she herself writes. She justifies her falsifications with what has become the standard feminist excuse: "my truth." It should come as no surprise that the latest generation of feminists, the MeToofers, have adopted the same tactic of falsification and insistence that their demands come before the rights of anybody else.

The Man Behind the Curtain

Thomas Hofeller was a GOP operative and "gerrymander expert" who helped create GOP legislative majorities in Alabama, Texas, Virginia and North Carolina. Hofeller died recently and it has been revealed, via jump drives and hard disks, that the Trump administration's attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census is really a ploy to diminish the voting power of Hispanics. That should be proof of discriminatory intent. It also shows what the real agenda of the GOP has been all along.

White Privilege and White Entitlement Under Trump

Donald Trump wants to give a $16 billion farm bailout to mostly white farmers, who are his biggest supporters. This is an egregious example of a politician buying votes. None of this would be necessary if it weren't for Trump's disastrous trade wars. But whites, being whites, feel entitled to get all kinds of special "help."

At the same time racist whites are outraged because Wrangler Jeans has entered into a partnership with hip-hop artist Lil Nas X. Racist whites have taken the election of Trump as a signal to bring back old fashioned bigotry.

Insanity and Evil

Another minor, a 16 year old Guatemalan boy, died in Border Patrol custody. The reality of Trump's border policy is destroying the goodwill of people around the world. Trump, and the idiots who voted for him, think that power is about throwing you weight around. Now Trump is talking about using the Insurrection Act--passed in 1956, another dubious piece of Cold War legislation--to send the military to stop immigration. That would be the worst abuse of power in American history.

Is Trump's immigration policy insane or evil? In the end, it might turn out to be both.

Don and Mike's Stupid Adventures

Since Donald Trump became president the price of gasoline per gallon has risen by more than 70 cents. Trump and Pompeo have provoked Venezuela and Iran with their threats. Recently Trump has sent a carrier group to the Persian gulf, probably to provoke Iran. Trump thinks that a foreign policy "win" will improve his electoral chances in 2020. In the end we will end up paying $10 for a gallon of gas and we'll know whom to blame.

No Really, Stay the Hell Out of Venezuela

The Trump administration continues to fail in removing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The attempt to stage a "popular uprising" fizzled. Now Juan Guaido, the supposed hero of democracy, is now calling on the US to "intervene" (actually invade and install him in power). The Trump administration, anxious for a foreign policy "win", might very take the bait. The results will be probably be devastating for both the US and Venezuela, over the longer term. But the long term is a non-issue in today's politics.

Last week the NY Times published an article "Juan Guaidó’s Uprising Failed. What’s Next for Venezuela?" by Michael Shifter and Bruno Binetti. It is basically an argument for an invasion, which calls into question whether the NY Times really is a liberal organ. Shifter and Binetti repeatedly refer to Maduro as a "dictator," even though Maduro was actually won an election which was more fair and democratic than America's last presidential election. The situation in Venezuela is not the "failure of socialism" but rather a testament to the American ability to wage economic warfare. Nobody questions the American power to destroy--Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Haiti--though we have lost the right to say that we represent democracy.

Will the NRA Implode?

Over the weekend NRA President Oliver North was ousted after losing a power struggle with CEO Wayne LaPierre. There are allegations of financial impropriety and the NRA is $43 million in debt. Strange considering that the NRA is supposed to be a non-profit organization. Recent reports indicate that the NRA is more of a cash cow that LaPierre and his cronies have been using to live the baby boomer dream. It's too early to tell if this will affect the NRA's power. The NRA, as an organization, doesn't need to exist.

Yes, Impeach Trump

The impeachment of Bill Clinton in 1998 established that the President is not above the law. Considering that the whole episode was about nothing more than a lousy blow job, in comparison Donald Trump has definitely tried to obstruct justice. What his motives were or whether he succeeded is irrelevant; the fact that he attempted it is grounds for impeachment. Of course Democrats should continue to press for the unredacted Muller report as well as getting Trump's tax returns. But impeachment should still remain on the table.

Some worry that the impeachment will fail because Senate GOPers won't vote to impeach Trump. But even so, Trump will still be damaged (Like Andrew Johnson in 1868). Congressional GOPers will have to go on record that they protected Trump's crimes.

Family of Crooks Part 2

Maryanne Trump Barry, the elder sister of Donald, resigned from the Federal bench on 4/10/2019. She resigned in order to avoid an ethics investigation that she participated in a fraudulent tax scheme with her siblings (including you know who). Maryanne Trump has the same puffy facial features and petulant lips as he little brother: the Trumps, in spite of being blond are really ugly people. They are also a bunch of scumbags and crooks.

Don't Cry for Julian Assange

Julian Assange finally got kicked out of the Ecuadoran embassy in London and was promptly arrested. Assange and Wikileaks helped Trump get elected in 2016. Various numbskulls, like the ones on counterpunch, are taking umbrage. These are the same imbeciles who still believe that Hillary Clinton was a greater evil than Donald Trump. Nobody who helped Trump can call himself a progressive. Wikileaks merely engaged in exposure for the sake of exposure: tabloidism. Wikileaks is another symptom of the tabloidization of the culture which made Trump possible. Of course if Assange is convicted by the Trump administration it will be a bitter irony. But then irony is the central principle of the universe.

David Frum Goes Trumper

David Frum, the so-called inventor of the "axis of evil," has gone from Bushie to Trumper with an anti-immigration article in the Atlantic. Frum merely recycles the same lies and fallacies about immigrants while making it seem like he's adopting a "moderate" position. The reality is that immigration, both legal and non-legal, has been DECLINING for the last two decades. (Let us leave aside the question of why fewer people want to come to America--maybe no social safety net and random violence from white thugs.) Frum merely seems to be repeated the trajectory of the conservative movement. Conservatives have no ideas on domestic and foreign policy, and they can't even say they are the party of law and order, after how they have been covering up Trump's crimes. Thus the only thing conservatives have is appealing to xenophobia.

History shows that you don't appease racists--you fight them any way you can.

Seriously, We Need to Stop Glorifying Criminals

In the midst of all the terrible things happening in the world, the strange case of Anna Sorokin has still come to public attention. Sorokin, posing as a German heiress named "Anna Delvey," will go on trial for stealing services of several New York hotels. In fact, Sorokin's targets already recovered their losses, by raising rates on the ordinary consumers. The problem with crime is that in the end, we all lose.

It is said that "outlaw worship" exists as a phenomenon in American culture. One egregious example is how the confederate terrorist Jesse James was turned into a "folk hero" on the basis of distortions and falsifications. About 90% of the Jesse James legend is fiction. Things have grown worse over time. Notice how mass murderers like Charles Manson and Ted Bundy became celebrities. Then many mass shooters seem to be motivated by the desire to become "famous," which shows how twisted the moral discourse in this country has become. The twisted cult of celebrity means that celebrities are actually admired for their supposed ability to get away with anti-social and even criminal acts. This was another factor in the rise of Trump: the Trumpers admire him because of his ability to get away with it.

What the Trumpers don't realize is that eventually they too will be harmed by the results of his actions. It keep coming back to the same thing: in the end we all lose.

Border Horror Continues

Revelation of the atrocities resulting from Trump's anti-immigration polices keep coming forth. A 10 year old Guatemalan boy was drugged and sexually assaulted at a detention center in Texas. Two Guatemalan sisters, aged 19 and 17, were sexually assaulted by a member of Customs & Border Protection. So who are the real rapists and perverts? It turns out that the immigration systems itself is full of criminals.

Netanyahu Comes Clean

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that Israel was not a state of all its citizens but only of jews. Though widely seen merely as an election ploy, it is also an admission of what the situation in Israel has devolved into. Israel has degenerated into a racist regime like Rhodesia or Apartheid South Africa. Criticism of Israel can no longer be silenced by cries of "anti-Semitism," a term which in today's context, is nothing more than a shibboleth.

Bigots have no right to demand tolerance.

How the GOPers Stole North Carolina

It turns out that Mark Harris, the alleged winner of North Carolina's 9th District, used fraud. The actual scheme was done by a good named Leslie McCrae Dowless, who apparently tampered with absentee ballots. According to Vox (North Carolina operative indicted in ballot fraud scandal that led to new House election) the scheme went this way:

•State investigators said Dowless had used absentee ballot request forms for prior elections to “pre-fill” forms for the 2018 election and sent out workers to find the voters so they could sign the forms and request a ballot — they described this as “Phase One.”


•The workers allegedly presented the forms to Dowless and received a payment from him, based on how many they brought in, and then sent the forms to the board of elections.
•At least 780 absentee request forms were allegedly submitted by Dowless or one of his workers.
•For “Phase Two” of the operation, investigators said, Dowless sent out workers to collect the absentee ballots from voters.
•Some of the ballots the workers collected had not been signed by witnesses or had not been sealed and the workers again took those ballots to Dowless and received payment in return.
•Dowless held on to the returned ballots and instructed workers to falsely sign as witnesses for some of the ballots he collected, according to investigators.
•To avoid raising the suspicions of state officials, the ballots were mailed in small batches, from post offices near the voters’ homes, and the workers made sure that the dates of their signatures and even the ink they used matched that of the voters.
•Britt affirmed much of the investigators’ case in her testimony, testifying that she had collected ballots, that Dowless had instructed people to sign ballots they had actually not been there to witness, and that she had signed her mother’s name on some ballots so they would not raise suspicion from the state board.
•Britt testified that if the ballots were left unsealed and there were elections left blank, she would fill in some of the empty offices — again, this was done to avoid arousing suspicion from state election officials. (She did say she had never filled in Harris’s name on a ballot, because voters would usually fill in at least the congressional race and a few others.)
•Britt also testified that Dowless had reached out to her shortly before Monday’s hearing and provided her with a statement so she could plead the Fifth during her testimony.

Collecting an absentee ballot for another person and falsely witnessing a ballot — two of the allegations made in the witnesses’ testimony — are violations of state law, according to state investigators.

Britt, Andy Yates and John Harris have been emphatic that Harris was not aware of the plan. Investigators and Democratic lawyers still grilled Yates about his failure to identify Dowless’s prior criminal history while he was working for Yates’s firm on Harris’s campaign. John Harris also told the board that he had warned his father that Dowless might have conducted illegal electioneering in previous elections — but his father hired Dowless anyway.

State investigators also said they had not been able to conclude whether early voting numbers were improperly shared with third parties, one of the other allegations that had been made in the sworn affidavits that jump-started the fraud scandal.

The number of not-returned absentee ballots in the Ninth was unusually high

Most of the attention has focused on two counties in the Ninth: Bladen and Robeson, in the southeast corner of the state near the South Carolina border. Notably, each of the affidavits provided by Democratic attorneys involved voters in Bladen County, and one man said that Dowless himself had stated he was working on absentee ballots for Harris in the county.

Bitzer documented the unusual trend in those counties: They had a much higher rate of mail-in absentee ballots that were requested but not returned, compared to other counties in the Ninth District.





Michael Bitzer/Old North State Politics

And at the district level, according to Bitzer’s calculations, the Ninth had a much higher rate of unreturned absentee ballots than any other district in North Carolina.




Bitzer also found that the share of votes Harris received from mail-in absentee ballots in Bladen was remarkably high. It was the only county where the Republican won the mail-in absentee vote, earning 61 percent to McCready’s 38 percent.

Strangely, though, based on the partisan breakdown of absentee ballots accepted in the county, Harris would have needed to win not only all the Republican ballots but also almost every single ballot from voters not registered with either party and a substantial number of Democratic ballots as well.





In other words, according to the data, Harris seems to have benefited from an oddly high share of votes in these two counties, where an operative of his was allegedly working. Now substantial evidence of ballot tampering has been presented at a state hearing that could, at its conclusion, lead to a new election being called in the North Carolina Ninth.

So it seems that it's actually GOPers who are stealing elections.

The Real Horror on the Border

On February 14, a 24 year old Honduran woman who had been detained by the Border Patrol went into labor and gave birth to a stillborn child. This shows the fakery of the Trump admin.'s claims to being "prolife." Which only proves once more that the only "border crisis" was caused by Trump's own cruel stupidity.

At the same time, many Texas ranchers, who consider themselves strong Trumpers, don't want the government to seize their land to build a border wall. Trumpers in general support Trump only if it doesn't cost them anything.

The White Male Menace

This weekend brought news of another fucked up white man wanting to show his racial superiority by going on a killing spree. Christopher Hasson, a Coast Guard Lieutenant, was stockpiling weapons and planning to go on a killing rampage against liberals and progressives. He wanted to kill people and establish a "white homeland."

This draws attention to the growing infiltration of white supremacists into the armed forces. That those people are a threat is quite clear. This comes as news that the US Army discharged 500 immigrants last year. The Trump administration believes that immigrants are a threat. But the real menace comes from the white degenerates who support Trump.

The End of Wealth Worship?

Last week Payless Shoes announced it was shutting down for good. The retail sector continues to get hit and nobody really knows how it will end. The culprit is Amazon and its narcissist boss Jeff Bezos. Last week also saw the demise of Amazon's plan to build a "second headquarters" in Queens New York.

Kara Swisher published in the New York Times "Amazon Isn’t Interested in Making the World a Better Place." Swisher demolishes the myths behind the Amazon deal.

"What it is, to use a Big Apple term, is meh, yet another indication that the dulcet attractions of tech have lost their charm for many and that the business — which has been this country’s most innovative and promising and often its most inspirational — is just that: a business, like any other, out for itself and itself alone, and most definitely not changing the world for the better."

Swisher points out the problems with the proposed deal:

"It cut too close to home for many, who wondered why, in an era when all kinds of public services are being cut and the city’s infrastructure is crumbling, a trillion-dollar corporation was getting so much. When it was revealed exactly how much — $3 billion in tax breaks after largely secret negotiations between civil potentates like Gov. Andrew Cuomo and faceless Amazon execs — the situation was ripe for disruption."

And of course Amazon's promise of 25,000 jobs was probably exaggerated.

Swisher finally sums up the larger problem:

"But no one wanted to end up like San Francisco — which has become a modern hellscape even as internet companies build their airy HQs and become ever richer. There, tax giveaways only exacerbated income inequality and offered no solutions."

The scandal that big corporations can get away with paying little or no taxes has to end. Maybe this is the beginning of the end.

The Most Disgusting Show on Earth

Donald Trump came to El Paso, Texas acting like the unwanted guest. It probably happened because the mayor of El Paso is himself a GOPer. Maybe a Democrat would have told Trump to get lost. The show started with Don Jr. ranting against "loser teachers." Then Don Sr. came out and started ranting against the media. He outdid himself because one of the MAGA hat thugs present attacked a cameraman from the BBC.

There is one bright spot. Trump's immigration efforts will eventually fail, because they are based upon lies.

Texas GOPers and Dirty Racist Politics

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Secretary of State David Whitley (both GOPers) are now claiming that 95,00 non-citizens voted in Texas elections. These accusations have turned out to be unsupported. GOPers, from Trump on down, are using these false accusations to engage in voter suppression tactics. Because as everyone knows, the fewer people vote, the better GOPers do at election time.

Innocent Victims of Stupidity and Ignorance

There is a measles outbreak in Clark County Washington. Thirty one cases reported most are children under the age of 10. The area has low vaccination rates and is under the influence of anti-vaxxers. Measles, is a very dangerous disease, which can lead to blindness, deafness, mental retardation, and even death. Vaccination rates have been dropping due to the misinformation spread by anti-vaxxers, generally crackpot naturists, conspiracy nutters, and dumb ass celebrities. The BBC reports that measles are also spreading in Europe: 41,000 cases in the first six months of 2018.

It is necessary that all of us start thinking with our heads, and stop listening to the pseudo-science on tv and the internet. Stupidity isn't harmless: stupid people can do a great deal of harm when they set their minds to it.

Pamela Smart and Feminist Hypocrisy

Pamela Smart, who back in 1990, sexually abused a 16 year old boy and manipulated him into killing her husband, has now become a feminist cause, with the likes of Gloria Steinem, Eve Ensler and Kate Millet now supporting her. Smart, who is serving a life sentence, ought to be grateful she wasn't executed. This spectacle shows the effects of feminist ideology, which holds that women are always the victims and men are always the predators. Of course, a man who engaged in exactly the same actions as Smart would be seen as a monster and wouldn't have anybody's sympathy. If gender equality were really the goal, we would have to say that Smart got exactly what she deserved. She is a murderer and a sexual predator. What Steinem and Ensler really want is nothing more than the pursuit of white female privilege.

Trump is Impotent, Impudent, Impertinent

Coming off a weekend in which Trump passed up an opportunity to deny he was working for Putin, it's clear that Trump is in fact Putin's stooge. Rudy Giuliani now admits that the Trump campaign might have colluded with Putin but that Trump didn't know about it. Giuliani, a bad lawyer defending a crooked client, suddenly transformed from pit bull to poodle. This coming after it was revealed that Trump is hiding his conversations with Putin. Guilty knowledge anyone?

House Speaker Pelosi has now disinvited Trump from giving the State of the Union of address. Until he reopens the government. Or he could submit it in writing. The question is can Trump actually write?

At Least He Kept It Short

Donald Trump gave his first oval office speech last night. It was the first time since becoming president almost 2 years ago. It didn't go well. He came across as a puffy faced geezer with a raspy voice and a do-it-yourself hair weave. Trump only looks "good" in carefully staged rallies.

There is little point in attempting a point by point rebuttal of Trump's speech. Basically, it was a pack of lies. The only "crisis" at the border was created by Trump himself. As for the current government shut down, it will continue until enough Senate GOPers realize it's having a negative impact upon their own constituents.

It Would Be Tiresome If It Weren't So Terrible

Things just keep getting worse for the Roman Catholic Church. There are now reports of sexual abuse being committed by nuns. It's so weird really. The cultural kitsch of another age--"The Sound of Music," "The Lilies of the Field" etc.--managed to convince Americans--even Protestants--that there was something sacred about nuns. There really is not segment of the Catholic church that has not been tainted in some way or another. The Catholic church should just declare bankruptcy and disappear--like Toys R'Us.