Right Policies, Says My Friend December 28, 2018December 28, 2018 Here’s where the Mueller investigation seems to stand. Buckle up, kids: it just might be a bumpy ride. An Ivy-educated gay friend supports Trump. How can this be, I ask him every week or two. “Loathsome person,” he responded most recently in the wake of the Syria pull-out. “But right policies. See Andrew Sullivan.” “Andrew Sullivan,” I wrote back, “was wrong to support Bush in 2000 and is wrong about Syria. You and he are siding with Putin and Erdogan and ISIS and Iran. Why do you trust their judgment over Secretary Mattis’s and so many Republicans and Democrats? And are 2,000 American troops in Syria — encountering few or no casualties — really much of a war we need suddenly to end? Why — moving on to other topics — is it the right policy to turn away asylum seekers and cage their children? The right policy to demand a physical wall? The right policy to ban transgender troops? The right policy to weaken the health care law with nothing to replace it? The right policy to alienate our allies? The right policy to embolden journalist-murdering autocrats? The right policy to start a trade war with Canada? The right policy to abandon TPP and replace the American Century with the Chinese Century? The right policy to exit the Paris Climate Accords? The right policy to move the Court further right? The right policy to weaken trust in the press and the courts and science and the FBI?” I got no direct answers. Instead, I got this 2005 clip of Illinois Senator Barack Obama, as if to say, “see? your guy once shared Trump’s views.” But that’s so wrong. Like most Democrats, Senator Obama was for border security. (During his presidency, he was tough on illegal immigration. Net migration from the south fell to zero.) But a 2000-mile physical wall is not the best solution. And surrendering at the border seeking asylum is not illegal. Comprehensive Immigration Reform — which included funding for border security — passed the Senate 68-32 in 2013 and would have passed the House and been signed into law if the Republican Speaker had allowed it to come to a vote. Paul Abrams suggests Speaker Pelosi pass that exact same bipartisan bill (co-authored by Marco Rubio and Chuck Schumer) on January 3rd. It should be an interesting winter. Game on. Have a great weekend.
Listen To Claire December 27, 2018December 26, 2018 Outgoing Senator Claire McCaskill is a great American. Listen as she tells it like it is — including her straight talk to some on the left. Things are a mess (obviously). And yet she tells us to buck up: the country will survive the current insanity. I like to think she’s right . . . but a lot of the damage seems irreversible. (Just ask those two dead asylum-seeking Guatemalan children, as a small but poignant example.) We have given away The American Century right on cue. You could argue our century began in 1917, when we entered World War I, and ended in 2017, when we inaugurated “a terrible human being” (in the words of his current chief of staff) and aligned ourselves with journalist-murderers Putin and Erdogan and Duterte and MBS. I think the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal, among others, are not just mainstream, but deeply dedicated to accuracy. Far from enemies of the people, they are among the citiznery’s most valuable assets. But if you are looking for an alternative news source, check out the new NewsandNews and let me know what you think. << Our mission is to bring you impartial and reliable news. To achieve that goal and keep NewsandNews.com as neutral as possible, we use our “Bias Meter” to assess the news articles we have chosen for you. . . . >> Gray Chang: “I think the week between Christmas and New Year would be a good time to point your readers to Less Antman’s excellent November 2015 post, Seven Steps to Financial Peace of Mind.” Amen.
Listen to Mike December 26, 2018December 25, 2018 OK, I’m back. I got a great pair of sneakers and some fudge but Santa swept my pool into the ocean. I must have been more naughty than nice.* Here’s how to tell your kids about Santa. Good, no? A really constructive solution. *But it was worth it. We return now to our regularly scheduled snark: Mexico didn’t pay for the wall and we never got “everybody great health care at a tiny fraction of the price.” North Korea hasn’t done a thing to denuclearize and the swamp is teeming. But [snark ON] at least the stock market is doing well. If the market falls further and you find yourself having to hock some family heirlooms, check out PawnGuru to get the best price. Nearly as many Americans voted for George W. Bush as voted for Al Gore, and the disastrous result can be seen in the new movie, Vice. (Don’t leave before the surprise scene during the credits.) Nearly as many Americans voted for Trump as for Clinton, and the disastrous result can be seen nightly on the news. Yes, we have to learn to better embrace those whose difficulties our policies would better address but whose sensibility our sanctimony offends. (Claire McCaskill nails it partway through this interview, when she talks about a white Missouri man she met who knew Hillary cared about everyone, seemingly, but him.) But even without those voters who should be ours, America showed by a wide margin last month that it’s alarmed. As well we should be. Listen to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg: Trump Rings in the New Year in the Worst Possible Way There are many reasons to be optimistic about 2019. The increasingly isolated man in the Oval Office is not one of them. With the first two years of Donald Trump’s presidency drawing to a close, the past week all too perfectly exemplified its destructive effect on competent government in Washington — and it should give all Americans, in all parties, cause for concern. On Thursday, one of the last remaining seasoned and respected professionals at the top of the administration announced his resignation, for reasons he explained in a letter that was as courteous as it was devastating. On Saturday, government services were (yet again) shut down because of the quarrel between Congress and the White House over the president’s obsession with a border wall that won’t work but will waste billions of taxpayer money. And in between, the stock market dove to its worst week since 2011, as investors concerned about Trump’s taste for trade wars delivered a vote of no-confidence. Each of these mistakes has a common denominator: Trump’s recklessly emotional and senselessly chaotic approach to the job. At the halfway mark of this terrible presidency, one has to wonder how much more the country can take. The president’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria, which jeopardized military success in a crucial battle and betrayed an ally as well, led James Mattis to quit in protest. He is the first defense secretary to do so since the position was created in 1947. His resignation letter is meticulously calm and respectful — and all the more brutal as a result. Every American should read it. He wrote: “While the U.S. remains the indispensable nation in the free world, we cannot protect our interests or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and showing respect to those allies.” He added: “I believe we must be resolute and unambiguous in our approach to those countries whose strategic interests are increasingly in tension with ours.” Mattis understands that the two principles — which have served America well since World War II — must not be separated. And that gives what comes next such force: “Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down from my position.” In short: One of the few people protecting Trump from Trump is leaving. And unfortunately, few Republicans in Congress have shown any appetite for that job, preferring instead to appease his worst instincts — as the debate over a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border continues to show. Even if a wall were a good idea — and it is not — a government shutdown would be a dumb way to pursue it. The Democrats have just won control of the House of Representatives. The country has given them a full share of responsibility for making decisions about public spending. Does the president expect to override this reality by maneuvering to shut down the government? His penchant for ignoring reality — evident in so many other areas, including climate change — apparently extends to elections. This weekend, he imposed needless costs on government workers and on the country at large — not to accomplish anything, or to defend any principle, but to pander to the extreme wing of his party and rage at being thwarted. Republicans in Congress have gone along with this for too long. November should have been a wake-up call. Some Republicans, at least, seem to be slowly realizing what a disaster Trump’s trade policies have been. His trade war with China has won few concessions but has cost American workers, consumers, farmers and businesses a great deal. With other countries pleading for sanity and institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization warning of severe consequences if trade sanctions get out of hand, talk of a looming recession is growing. Yet the president seems determined to make matters worse — and to hell with the economic consequences. Unless something changes — unless, in particular, Republicans in Congress start showing some spine — two more years might be enough to test whether we can sustain Trump’s model of bad government. This past week, we got a glimpse of what the beginning of the collapse may look like — and what it may ultimately cost us. Having inherited the happy gene, I know we will work this out.
It’s A Wonderful Life December 24, 2018December 23, 2018 There’s SO much to say, but it’s Christmas Eve. So in the spirit of Christmas, which transcends religion or politics — and Santa having been found in a court of law to exist! — I stand down until Wednesday. Call it a Christmas Eve truce. And wonder — cliched though this thought surely is — how we get to a place where it can last all year, every year. To an atheist like me, it’s not about God (or Santa) listening to us (or making a list) — cause she ain’t. It’s about the spirit of Christmas or Tikkun or whatever you want to call it that’s inside almost all of us. So for my money, Tiny Tim always gets the last word. Merry Christmas!
Adding Hours To Your iPhone December 21, 2018December 20, 2018 Three minutes, pure fun. (Thanks, Mel!) Green Book‘s 95% Rotten Tomatoes audience score suggests I’m not going out on a limb recommending it. You still haven’t listened to the Bag Man podcast? Or watched The Kominsky Method? If you have an iPhone, try this. When you wake up in the morning fully charged, go to SETTINGS, select BATTERY, and then LOW-POWER MODE. At least for me, there is no discernible downside — and I almost always make it through the day without having to recharge. (I shared this revelation with a young friend who gave me a big “duh.” But just in case he’s wrong and I’m not the last person on earth to think of this.) To add a shortcut to low-power mode, go to SETTINGS, select CONTROL CENTER, CUSTOMIZE CONTROLS, and click the plus sign next to LOW POWER. From then on, when you swipe up from the bottom, just tap the LOW-POWER icon to switch it on on or off. Have a great weekend, if you can overlook the way Trump is wrecking the country and the world, most recently by abandoning our brave allies, the Kurds, because it’s what Putin and Erdogan want. (Also likely thrilled: ISIS and Iran.)
Chris Murphy For President? December 20, 2018December 19, 2018 Democrats have a wealth of talented people I’d love to see in the Oval Office. Here’s just one — Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy — as recently interviewed in the Washington Post. I hope it’s still playing near you: Green Book is ten stars out of ten. You have to see it.
Grateful And Informed December 19, 2018December 17, 2018 Two-minute video going around the Internet (thanks, Mel): Our Grandchildren need to see this, to give a little perspective on life. This is a VERY touching video, actually a piece of film that has been made into a video, this is one that is NOT photo shopped, it’s the real scene! Notice in the opening shot you’ll see the gunner’s position is all shot to hell while the pilot’s cockpit ahead of it is undamaged. Later on notice the corpsman taking a fingerprint of the deceased gunner, before the film continues, then showing the chaplain saying the final prayers, followed by taps, then the sailors push the aircraft and our patriotic airman over the side and watch it sink into the sea. Here’s one for a serious conversation with your kids. THIS WAS REAL! This is what 18 year old “kids” were doing in 1944. No safe spaces, no hurtful unthinkable remarks that they couldn’t cope with, just dying for their country so the ungrateful, uninformed snowflakes of today could act like fools decades later. This 2 minute video is moving. Worth your while. “What actually made this country great is ordinary guys like this doing extraordinary things.” No question, political correctness has gone too far on many campuses and elsewhere; and to the extent anyone is ungrateful or uninformed, that’s a problem. People should be informed, “a well-informed citizenry being necessary to the liberty of a free state” — not misinformed by thousands of Russians posing as Americans to subvert our election and weaken Western democracy. People should be grateful. Despite the Republican criticism, President Obama was right when he said, “you didn’t build that.” Read his remarks in full. We all have so much to be grateful for — the hard work, ingenuity, and sacrifice that got us to this miraculous point in time. Many of today’s kids are grateful and informed. But many, it’s true, are not.
Forbes, Capitalist Tool: Trump, Putin Tool December 18, 2018December 17, 2018 So it’s come to this: Forbes explains the Russian connection. [Younger readers: For decades, Forbes has been an iconic business magazine, with the in-your-face-Karl-Marx motto: The Capitalist Tool. I never got to ride on the jet — also named The Capitalist Tool — but Malcolm Forbes gave me a money-green Capitalist Tool tie that hangs in my closet to this day. Forbes is not a left-wing rag. If you’re one of America’s 400 richest people, you will find yourself listed here. Or in Trump’s case, you were not remotely one of the country’s 400 richest but you lied to get on the list anyway. As his new chief of staff said a couple of years ago, Trump is “a terrible human being.” As Mitt Romney and many other Republicans have said, he is “a con man.” A sociopath in the White House.] Putin is winning.
And Absolute Power . . . December 17, 2018 The Atlantic‘s George Packer asks, How Did The Republican Party Get So Corrupt? In small part: . . . Republican majorities are rushing to pass laws that strip away the legitimate powers of newly elected Democratic governors while defeated or outgoing Republican incumbents are still around to sign the bills. Even if the courts overturn some of these power grabs, as they have in North Carolina, Republicans will remain securely entrenched in the legislative majority through their own hyper-gerrymandering—in Wisconsin last month, 54 percent of the total votes cast for major-party candidates gave Democrats just 36 of 99 assembly seats—so they will go on passing laws to thwart election results. Nothing can stop these abuses short of an electoral landslide. In Wisconsin, a purple state, that means close to 60 percent of the total vote. The fact that no plausible election outcome can check the abuse of power is what makes political corruption so dangerous. It strikes at the heart of democracy. It destroys the compact between the people and the government. In rendering voters voiceless, it pushes everyone closer to the use of undemocratic means. Today’s Republican Party has cornered itself with a base of ever older, whiter, more male, more rural, more conservative voters. Demography can take a long time to change—longer than in progressives’ dreams—but it isn’t on the Republicans’ side. They could have tried to expand; instead, they’ve hardened and walled themselves off. This is why, while voter fraud knows no party, only the Republican Party wildly overstates the risk so that it can pass laws (including right now in Wisconsin, with a hbill that reduces early voting) to limit the franchise in ways that have a disparate partisan impact. This is why, when some Democrats in the New Jersey legislature proposed to enshrine gerrymandering in the state constitution, other Democrats, in New Jersey and around the country, objected. Taking away democratic rights—extreme gerrymandering; blocking an elected president from nominating a Supreme Court justice; selectively paring voting rolls and polling places; creating spurious anti-fraud commissions; misusing the census to undercount the opposition; calling lame-duck legislative sessions to pass laws against the will of the voters—is the Republican Party’s main political strategy, and will be for years to come. . . . The Atlantic also offers Peter Beinart’s Why Trump’s Supporters Believe He Is Not Corrupt. But c’mon. Really? They want to “lock her up” for something a Republican FBI director said no prosecutor would pursue, but are unconcerned that another Republican former FBI director (now special prosecutor) has found so much to pursue? Really? Just asking.
The Perfect Gift For Anyone With A Brain December 13, 2018 Sorry for the erratic posting. I spent a very good — but long — day with 200 fellow DNC donors from around the country this week and there was no time to write a column. My top-line report? This is the most professional DNC I’ve seen in my 20+ years’ involvement. The considerable sum I contributed this past cycle was well invested. I’ll be contributing a lot more shortly. I’m psyched. “History has its eye on us,” Chairman Perez (former Labor Secretary) paraphrased from “Hamilton.” And it’s true. Never has our democracy been more threatened. Putin won round one with a surprise attack. But the tide has begun to turn. Speaking of which, one of you asks: “IF Trump became President through a criminal conspiracy,” — and we don’t know that yet — “doesn’t that mean that Pence became VP through a criminal conspiracy?” Even assuming Pence was entirely unaware of, let alone a participant in, any wrongdoing (and we don’t know that yet, either) . . . would he have been VP had Trump not benefited from tens of millions of Russian dollars funneled through the NRA? From thousands of Russian intelligence operatives posing as Americans on social media?* Or, for that matter, from the suppression of the Stormy Daniels and Playboy model stories?** And now, for anyone with a brain . . . how about a gift subscription to BrainHq? Tom Brady swears by it — so it’s not just for old people. But a peer-reviewed 2,800-subject study showed that doing just a few hours of these exercises dramatically lowered the incidence of dementia ten years later. And more than 100 other peer-reviewed papers have added to the chorus that something real happens here — something that doing crossword puzzles does not achieve. There are even studies showing the exercises help with tinnitus cut down on auto accidents and may help with PTSD. But the big allure is dementia: Imagine if a simple gift like this could spare a friend or relative that nightmare — and his or her loved ones the sadness and burden of having to deal with it. As long-time readers know, I own a small stake in this company. But don’t let that stop you. I will apply anything I earn from your purchase to an extension of your subscription. Have a great weekend! *For those who think people can’t be misled on social media, I again refer you to the Brit who turned the shed behind his house into London’s #1-Yelp-rated restaurant — without serving a single meal. If one clever person could do that, could not thousands of clever operatives working full time for months have turned 80,000 people in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania away from Hillary? (Or, put another even more excruciating way: swung 40,000 potential Hillary votes to Trump? Giving her 40,000 fewer and him 40,000 more — there was the 80,000 margin by which, collectively, he won those three states.) ** Might those stories have been the last straw for some evangelical supporters? Most evangelicals were willing to accept Trump’s lying and womanizing and greed and immodesty, his casinos and bankruptcies and vulgarity — a devil’s bargain to win the Supreme Court. But might a small sliver of them — say 80,000 in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania — have chosen to stay home on Election Day had those stories not been illegally suppressed?