Monday, March 26, 2018
While Rush Limbaugh keeps trying to find a way to rationalize Trump's signature on the omnibus, Laura Ingraham minced no words
On her radio show this morning she called this a betrayal.
And that's what it was.
Sunday, March 25, 2018
Robert Shiller: Great Depression tariffs did not plausibly, directly affect economic growth in a major degree
Everywhere we turn we hear the opposite. It's standard operating procedure to blame protectionism for the Great Depression. Shiller knows it can't be demonstrated from the data. Hence the psychological argument.
Quoted here:
Shiller said he did not believe there would be a significant inflationary effect to the U.S. from steel and aluminum tariffs, but he warned that heated trade rhetoric from both sides could send the American economy reeling into a recession.
"When you ask about the size of the impact on the economy, I think a lot of it is more psychological than direct, unless they really slam on tariffs," he said. The Yale economist pointed to the "most famous tariff war of all" during the Great Depression, which he said did not "plausibly, directly" affect economic growth "in a major degree," but it may have helped "destroy confidence" and willingness to plan for the future.
"It's exactly those 'wait and see' attitudes that cause a recession," he explained.
Freedom who loves must first be wise and good
Freedom who loves, must first be wise and good;
But from that mark how far they rove we see,
For all this waste of wealth, and loss of blood.
-- John Milton (1608-1674)
Saturday, March 24, 2018
CNBC story on conservative anger with Trump deliberately omits the centrality of differences over illegal immigration policy
That's what Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter are all about, after all, but CNBC just dances around this as if it didn't really exist.
Ann Coulter only tweets almost every day a "border wall lack-of-progress" update.
Conservatives are outraged also that Trump would trade a wall for DACA-type amnesty. DACA is illegal. Obama's executive order was unconstitutional. Trump acts like it's no big deal, just like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin becoming dictators for life is no big deal to him, either.
Conservatives are outraged also that Trump would trade a wall for DACA-type amnesty. DACA is illegal. Obama's executive order was unconstitutional. Trump acts like it's no big deal, just like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin becoming dictators for life is no big deal to him, either.
It's a propaganda technique: Pretend something doesn't exist, and it doesn't. It's called marginalization. The communist Alinsky made it one of his rules for radicals. To talk about what your enemy wants to talk about is to assist your enemy by publicizing his issues, so don't do it.
See for yourself here.
There were 167 votes against the omnibus in the US House: 90 Republican, 77 Democrat
The House Roll Call is here, the Senate here. There were 32 votes against in the Senate: 23 Republican, 8 Democrat, and Bernie Sanders.
For all the previous action on HR 1625, see here.
87% of the Michigan Congressional Delegation, both Republican and Democrat, voted "Yea", except for good guys House Republicans Justin Amash and Jack Bergman.
Notable "Yea" votes included Republican goodfellas:
Kevin Brady of Texas, Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, Duncan Hunter of California (ouch), Darrell Issa of California, Will Hurd of Texas, Peter King of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Kevin McCarthy of California, Michael McCaul of Texas, Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, Devin Nunes of California, Peter Roskam of Illinois, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, of course, Steve "Bullseye" Scalise of Louisiana, and Joe "You Lie!" Wilson of South Carolina.
Say it isn't so, Joe!
The line of the week was Rush Limbaugh's: "Whenever you see the word omnibus, think trash can"
Here:
So on this, for example, this omnibus, whenever you see that word, folks, just think of a trash can. No! In fact, think of a Christmas tree with anything you want gift wrapped underneath it. That’s what omnibus means.
He had it right the first time. A conservative's trash can is a liberal's Christmas tree.
Mark Levin yesterday said he thinks we've reached the point of no return
If that's true then it's down to us or them.
Friday, March 23, 2018
Like all the other Baby Boom presidents Trump has squandered his power and opportunities
And his closest enemies sat quietly by and let him do so, convincing him that war is the father of everything.
Winning means you have political capital.
In Washington you either spend that as soon as you get it or you lose it.
For not delivering Trump is already finished, but he will be the last to know.
Republican spending bill re-empowers agencies, not just courts, to decide if someone is competent to buy a gun or possess one
Reported here:
Unfortunately, the spending bill passed Thursday allows the ban to be reinstituted because it reauthorizes the 2007 National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Improvement Amendments Act. This act allowed government agencies, not just the courts, to determine if someone is mentally incompetent to buy or possess a gun.
House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said during testimony late Wednesday that he was “disturbed” that the bill would undo part of Republicans’ good work. But by Thursday morning, the House leadership had decided to go ahead with the measure.
Despite the name Fix-NICS, the bill is likely to cause more problems than it is worth.
Nancy Pelosi is quite content for Trump to think he's getting his wall, and urges him to sign the spending bill
Quoted here:
". . . if you want to think you're getting a wall, you just think it and sign the bill."
Spending bill is a giant FU to Trump, prevents him from using any of the new border wall prototypes
Reported here:
But, crucially, the bill specifically prevents the Trump administration from using any of the new wall designs it commissioned and tested in California last year. All money has to be spent on “operationally effective designs deployed as of the date of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017” — a bill Trump signed on May 5, 2017.
If President Trump cared less about his wall than about a wall, this wouldn’t be an issue. But everything we know about the president indicates that’s not the case, and that this is a blow to his ego — he reportedly upbraided congressional Republicans this week for not supporting it, claiming they “owed” him for his support for the tax bill and his nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. The bullying tactics do not appear to have worked. ...
Trump wanted 1,000 new ICE agents; he’s getting barely 100, and none of them are the field agents responsible for arresting unauthorized immigrants. (Instead, ICE is getting more staff for investigations and mission support.)
And when it comes to immigration detention, Congress isn’t just refusing to give the White House the 20 percent increase in detention Trump asked for — it’s rebuking ICE for overspending and expecting Congress to bail it out.
h/t Mickey Kaus
Jobs Americans won't do: Ruthlessly efficient Hungarian soldiers, prisoners, unemployed built 110 mile razor wire border fence in mere weeks for $80 million
Reuters, dateline Sarok, Hungary, Sept. 23, 2015:
Built in a matter of weeks by soldiers, prison laborers and cadres of the unemployed, a vast new wall along Balkan frontiers is a monument to the ruthless efficiency with which Prime Minister Viktor Orban has mobilized Hungary against migrants. ...
While Europe dithered over a collective response, Hungary took matters into its own hands, shutting off the route with a new fence along its entire 175 km (110 mile) border with Serbia, topped with razor wire and guarded by helmeted riot police.
It was erected at a cost of 22 billion forints (about $80 million), a rare example of efficiency in a country which built its last underground metro line ten years behind schedule at triple the projected cost.
The government says it put the military in charge of the construction so that it could act more quickly. By swiftly mobilizing state resources, the authorities also managed to turn the fence into a national project, immensely popular at home even as it is denounced by European partners. ...
In just days since it shut the Serbian frontier, Hungary has already moved even faster to shut the border with Croatia, which is inside the European Union but outside the Schengen zone.
A 41-kilometre temporary fence was thrown up within four days. Work is already underway on a permanent barrier, with machines clearing the land, fence posts driven into the ground and razor wire rolled out.
Equivalent cost for 2,000 mile US southern border wall using soldiers, prisoners and the unemployed for labor: $1.45 billion. Actual US estimates of the cost run north of $20 billion and of the timeline to complete many years.
Where there's a will, there's a way, but we obviously don't have the will, or the imagination, Trump included.
Senate passes massive spending bill in the middle of the night, sends it to Trump
CNBC reports here:
The Senate passed a massive $1.3 trillion spending bill in the early morning hours of Friday, sending it to President Donald Trump's desk for his signature.
Congress approved the more than 2,200-page legislation swiftly with a midnight Friday government shutdown deadline looming. The plan was released only Wednesday night. The House approved the bill Thursday afternoon by a 256-167 vote with bipartisan backing. ...
[Trump] reportedly threatened to veto it days ago, but tweeted his support for it Wednesday night after a discussion with House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. ...
It would put $1.57 billion in new funding toward fencing along the border with Mexico and border security technology such as aircraft and sensors. Trump had sought billions more in funding for a physical barrier on the border after he promised to build a wall as a candidate.
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Limbaugh predicts the omnibus spending bill will make Trumpists go wobbly
Well, they should since it's a total betrayal.
Republican profligates happy to spend an obscene $1.3 trillion, but none of it on The Wall
Fully-funding The Wall would come to just 1.7% of this gargantuan spending bomb. Republicans don't give a damn about border security, so I no longer give a damn about Republicans. Our new country isn't going to be great.
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Facebook users have only themselves to blame
Bloomberg, here:
Reporters were calling this a breach, but it wasn’t, because users freely signed away their own data and that of their friends. The rules were clear, and Facebook followed them.
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Laugh of the Day 3.0: Facebook outraged it was deceived!
Outraged, I tell you.
From the story here:
Facebook said Tuesday that CEO Mark Zuckerberg, COO Sheryl Sandberg and their teams were "working around the clock to get all the facts and take the appropriate action moving forward" regarding the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
"The entire company is outraged we were deceived," Facebook added. "We are committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect people's information and will take whatever steps are required to see that this happens."
Obama campaign 2012 hoovered up Facebook data too, but was lauded for it
So says Investor's Business Daily, here:
In 2012, the Obama campaign encouraged supporters to download an Obama 2012 Facebook app that, when activated, let the campaign collect Facebook data both on users and their friends.
According to a July 2012 MIT Technology Review article, when you installed the app, "it said it would grab information about my friends: their birth dates, locations, and 'likes.' "
The campaign boasted that more than a million people downloaded the app, which, given an average friend-list size of 190, means that as many as 190 million had at least some of their Facebook data vacuumed up by the Obama campaign — without their knowledge or consent.
If anything, Facebook made it easy for Obama to do so. A former campaign director, Carol Davidsen, tweeted that "Facebook was surprised we were able to suck out the whole social graph, but they didn't stop us once they realized that was what we were doing."
More at the link.
Laugh of the Day 2.0: "Stepford wives cost me the election"
 |
| Joanna stabs "Bobbie" |
Hide the knives, folks, Hillary's on the hunt!
FedEx package screening fails, bomb in shipment headed to Austin explodes at San Antonio sorting center
The story is here but is stupid for focusing on race and Donald Trump's supposed lack of an adequate response. The victims of the tripwire bomb were white.
Monday, March 19, 2018
Laugh of the Day: Constituent asks Long Island Dem. Representative "What's the Second Amendment?"
New York values, folks.
From the story here:
Rep. Tom Suozzi made the remark to constituents at a town hall last week, saying that folks opposed to Trump might resort to the “Second Amendment.” “It’s really a matter of putting public pressure on the president,” Suozzi said in a newly released video of the March 12 talk in Huntington. “This is where the Second Amendment comes in, quite frankly, because you know, what if the president was to ignore the courts? What would you do? What would we do?”
A listener then blurts out, “What’s the Second Amendment?” The left-leaning Democrat says, “The Second Amendment is the right to bear arms.” The spectators laughed — some nervously. Republicans were not amused.
Joe diGenova is joining the Trump legal team
Joe long predicted Hillary would be indicted because the FBI had too many good people in it for it to turn out otherwise.
It turned out otherwise.
The story is here.
Sunday, March 18, 2018
Obviously Trump softened his anti-immigration positions in August 2016 after Bannon took over because that's what the data analytics told them to do
Trump turned on a dime in August 2016 after Bannon assumed leadership and it immediately got him in hot water with his core supporters after the Hannity Town Hall in Arizona. But it didn't matter to Trump. Trump knew that was the way to broaden his base because most Americans are forgiving and morally weak, supporting amnesty for the DACA "children". It didn't hurt, either, that softening those positions dovetailed with the libertarianism of the Mercers and their money. Trump was telegraphing to the libertarian money men of the Republican Party that he was in fact "flexible".
There's no there there, folks.
And there's no Wall, either, only a snake (remember the story of the snake?) who is willing to bite by trading a DACA amnesty for The Wall.
The Christopher Wylie story is fascinating but isn't really bombshell news: Ted Cruz used the same firm Wylie worked for
The really hysterically funny thing about it all, once again, is how Facebook and its millions of idiot users are the real chumps.
From the story here:
. . . Wylie offers a unique, worm’s-eye view of the events of 2016. Of how Facebook was hijacked, repurposed to become a theatre of war: how it became a launchpad for what seems to be an extraordinary attack on the US’s democratic process.
Wylie oversaw what may have been the first critical breach. Aged 24, while studying for a PhD in fashion trend forecasting, he came up with a plan to harvest the Facebook profiles of millions of people in the US, and to use their private and personal information to create sophisticated psychological and political profiles. And then target them with political ads designed to work on their particular psychological makeup.
“We ‘broke’ Facebook,” he says.
And he did it on behalf of his new boss, Steve Bannon.
“Is it fair to say you ‘hacked’ Facebook?” I ask him one night.
He hesitates. “I’ll point out that I assumed it was entirely legal and above board.”
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Friday, March 16, 2018
For the cost of California's LA to San Fran bullet train, we could have THREE border walls
One with Mexico, one with Canada, and one with DC.
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Hillary blames married white women for her loss, and James Comey's re-opening the investigation into her
In India, quoted here:
"Democrats, going back to my husband and even before, but just in recent times going back to Bill and our candidates and then President Obama, have been losing the vote, including white women. We do not do well with white men and we don't do well with married white women," Clinton said.
"All of a sudden white women, who were going to vote for me and frankly standing up to the men in their lives and the men in their workplaces, were being told, ‘She's going to jail. You don't want to vote for her. It's terrible, you can't vote for that.' So, it just stopped my momentum and it decreased my vote enough because I was ahead. I was winning, and I thought I had fought my way back in the ten days from that letter until the election. I fell a little bit short," Clinton said.
Trump to name the brain dead Kudlow to replace Gary Cohn at National Economic Council
The brain dead Kudlow, who served during the Reagan Administration but can't remember a better month for jobs than the 313,000 reported for February 2018, is reported to be Trump's choice to head the National Economic Council.
The story is here.
Once again the libertarian pests throw an election to the Democrats
They live for this sort of thing.
If it were a jobs boom we wouldn't STILL have a deficit of 6,437,680 jobs in February 2018
The difference between civilian employment at 60% of civilian non-institutional population in February 2018 and the 62.6% average before the Great Recession is 6,437,680 jobs.
Call me when Trump gets it up.
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