How YOU Can Nullify Citizens United (Maybe) August 31, 2018August 30, 2018 Lotta tidbits for the weekend. If you don’t care about stocks — or ancient cheese — skip to the end. Otherwise . . . If you’re a WheelTug devotee, John Grund thought you might find this clip interesting. “It highlights some of the safety risks of the conventional pushback procedure.” It does indeed. It also shows a large man pulling a 737 all by himself. I contacted “the Mentour Pilot” to ask if he had heard of WheelTug. He had not. I sent him to the website. He was impressed — as have been the two dozen airlines in queue to lease systems once FAA approval is secured. Don’t sell your BOREF. If you bought SODA when I did and held on, you probably noticed that Pepsi is buying it for more than triple what you paid. I can’t take credit for your profit, because I certainly didn’t push it hard — I touted it more for reasons of mid-east peace and environmental protection than financial gain — let alone recommend that you double up when, for a while, it had fallen by 50%. (If you bought then, you’re up sevenfold.) Still, craving your love anywhere I can find it, I thought I’d pat you on the back for having had the patience to hold on and reap your reward. Not least because of how bad I feel about your having bought PRKR at $1 or so in January. I bought a little more a couple of weeks ago at 30 cents — with money, I cannot too strongly stress, that I can truly afford to lose. The company is currently valued at $12 million and may prove worthless. But if the patents that it alleges deep pockets have infringed ever yield a $100 million surprise (say), well, we could get the last laugh. You’ve done better with FANH, up from the $5.40 we paid (when the symbol was still CISG) to over $35 in June. We’ve taken some profits along the way, but I, for one, still own a lot, and was thus dismayed to read this analysis, calling the company a potentially worthless fraud. That knocked the stock back to $23 this week and led me to check in with my smart friend for comment. “Certainly a damning report,” he replied. “The company formally responded by announcing a stock buyback and hosting a conference call you can listen to here. It was essentially a 90-minute point-by-point rebuttal. I’d say their responses ranged from adequate to convincing, depending on the topic. Management has made some questionable decisions, but there is a difference between suboptimal business judgement and fraud.” Now you know as much as I do. Like my friend, I’m not selling. But who knows? Did you see they discovered 3,200-year-old cheese? Given my hobby of eating expired food, I was all set to see if I could somehow acquire a cracker’s worth — until I read the last line: “Analysis found evidence of of a bacteria that causes brucellosis, an infectious disease that [may] never go away.” If Kaopectate cured brucellosis, that would be one thing. I have an unopened bottle “exp 3/95” just in case someday I, or a guest, ever has an issue. But brucellosis sounds serious. Count me out. NULLIFYING CITIZENS UNITED. Here’s 90 seconds from the founder of Goods Unite Us explaining why and how. It’s compelling — I was surprised to learn that by buying New Balance instead of Adidas all these years I’ve been helping Republicans. And it led me to this page, where I could see which beverage brands (for example) share my politics . . . this page to peruse ratings in any category . . . and this page to look up any brand. There’s even a page that lets you rate the political impact of your brand choices (though to see the results you have to share your email, which they promise not to use for any other purpose). At first you think this is all about electing Democrats, but that in fact is not their mission — right wingers can use the site to realize they should be buying New Balance rather than Adidas. Rather, “at Goods Unite Us, our mission is to empower people to become political consumers so we can end — or at least slow down — corporate political donations.” They want all companies to get freaked out by the consequences of their big-footing the political process — whatever side their on — and dial it back. Which would give those companies a more neutral rating, and thus alienate fewer customers. I have mixed feelings about this endeavor. I’m 100% behind campaign finance reform, of course. And I also know that Democratic legislators are more likely to enact it than Republicans (because big business skews Republican). So this is one more reason I’m for electing Democrats. But I’m leery of polarizing the country even further — into blue brands and red brands. I love my New Balance sneakers; and I expect I’d like most of the people who make them and most of the people who run the company. As Trump and Putin work to divide us, should we start shunning friends who wear politically “red” sneakers or work for politically “red” companies? And vice versa? And there could be a subtler unintended consequence: To the extent Goods For Us succeeded in getting consumer-facing companies to dial back their political giving, it would shift more power to companies consumers don’t buy from — defense contractors and oil pipelines, for example. Or what about this complication? They show a photo of Obama with a Spalding basketball — ironic because Spalding is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, which they say skews Republican. Yet Warren Buffett, who runs Berkshire Hathaway, helped raise money for both Obama and Hillary and is himself a Democrat. So (a) hmmm. And (b) what if Berkshire were to acquire Ben & Jerry’s? Would that make it an ice cream brand progressives should avoid? All that said, hooray for the founders of Goods Unite Us, a well-intentioned and intriguing effort. It just might help discourage corporations from exploiting the Citizens United ruling. Which, after all, is unlikely to be overturned by this Supreme Court any time soon. Have a great weekend. And note that one of the reasons we have weekends at all is: unions. And that the party on the side of unions — and on the side of unemployment insurance and workplace safety regulations and overtime pay regulations and a higher minimum wage and the Family and Medical Leave Act — all that — is the Democratic Party. The Republican Party has fought those important middle class advances every step of the way. Join Team Blue. CrushTheMidterms. It even designs an action plan for you. MobilizeAmerica. No need to choose: sign up with all three. And if you can — click here. Happy Labor Day!
A Synod! August 30, 2018August 29, 2018 Mike Pence: The President must be impeached. I assume you’ve already heard this; but if not, listen. So guess who’s having a Synod on Young People? That’s right! And you don’t have to be Catholic — or LGBT — to sign this pledge “never to give a child or young person the feeling that being LGBT would be a misfortune or a disappointment.” Equal Future 2018 is the ad hoc group behind it. It’s tiny, but headed by Tiernan Brady, who brought marriage to Ireland and Australia via popular majority, and they’ve stitched together a global partnership of larger groups, including the Human Rights Campaign here in the U.S., basically for two purposes: 1. To get LGBT youth on the agenda of the upcoming Vatican Synod On Young People and respectfully advocate for modernization. But even assuming they make little or no progress on that score (and who knows? they might!) . . . 2. Seize a global “teaching moment” to get tens or hundreds of millions of Catholics around the world (and some non-Catholics) to consider this issue, almost entirely through what could well be tens of millions of dollars of enlightened “earned” media. (Like this.) Sign the pledge?
The Ongoing Bloodless Coup August 29, 2018August 28, 2018 We’re losing the Second Cold War to Vladimir Putin — a man whom our sociopath leader deeply admires and under whose control he seems somehow to be. As if that weren’t enough, we could lose our democracy if “checks and balances” are not restored — vigorously, I hope — November 6. Paul Krugman makes that urgent case: Soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a friend of mine — an expert on international relations — made a joke: “Now that Eastern Europe is free from the alien ideology of Communism, it can return to its true historical path — fascism.” Even at the time, his quip had a real edge. And as of 2018 it hardly seems like a joke at all. What Freedom House calls illiberalism is on the rise across Eastern Europe. This includes Poland and Hungary, both still members of the European Union, in which democracy as we normally understand it is already dead. In both countries the ruling parties — Law and Justice in Poland, Fidesz in Hungary — have established regimes that maintain the forms of popular elections, but have destroyed the independence of the judiciary, suppressed freedom of the press, institutionalized large-scale corruption and effectively delegitimized dissent. The result seems likely to be one-party rule for the foreseeable future. And it could all too easily happen here. There was a time, not long ago, when people used to say that our democratic norms, our proud history of freedom, would protect us from such a slide into tyranny. In fact, some people still say that. But believing such a thing today requires willful blindness. The fact is that the Republican Party is ready, even eager, to become an American version of Law and Justice or Fidesz, exploiting its current political power to lock in permanent rule. Just look at what has been happening at the state level. In North Carolina, after a Democrat won the governorship, Republicans used the incumbent’s final days to pass legislation stripping the governor’s office of much of its power. In Georgia, Republicans tried to use transparently phony concerns about access for disabled voters to close most of the polling places in a mainly black district. In West Virginia, Republican legislators exploited complaints about excessive spending to impeach the entire State Supreme Court and replace it with party loyalists. And these are just the cases that have received national attention. There are surely scores if not hundreds of similar stories across the nation. What all of them reflect is the reality that the modern G.O.P. feels no allegiance to democratic ideals; it will do whatever it thinks it can get away with to entrench its power. What about developments at the national level? That’s where things get really scary. We’re currently sitting on a knife edge. If we fall off it in the wrong direction — specifically, if Republicans retain control of both houses of Congress in November — we will become another Poland or Hungary faster than you can imagine. This week Axios created a bit of a stir with a scoop about a spreadsheet circulating among Republicans in Congress, listing investigations they think Democrats are likely to carry out if they take the House. The thing about the list is that every item on it — starting with Donald Trump’s tax returns — is something that obviously should be investigated, and would have been investigated under any other president. But the people circulating the document simply take it for granted that Republicans won’t address any of these issues: Party loyalty will prevail over constitutional responsibility. Many Trump critics celebrated last week’s legal developments, taking the Manafort conviction and the Cohen guilty plea as signs that the walls may finally be closing in on the lawbreaker in chief. But I felt a sense of deepened dread as I watched the Republican reaction: Faced with undeniable evidence of Trump’s thuggishness, his party closed ranks around him more tightly than ever. A year ago it seemed possible that there might be limits to the party’s complicity, that there would come a point where at least a few representatives or senators would say, no more. Now it’s clear that there are no limits: They’ll do whatever it takes to defend Trump and consolidate power. This goes even for politicians who once seemed to have some principles. Senator Susan Collins of Maine was a voice of independence in the health care debate; now she sees no problem with having a president who’s an unindicted co-conspirator appoint a Supreme Court justice who believes that presidents are immune from prosecution. Senator Lindsey Graham denounced Trump in 2016, and until recently seemed to be standing up against the idea of firing the attorney general to kill the Mueller investigation; now he’s signaled that he’s O.K. with such a firing. But why is America, the birthplace of democracy, so close to following the lead of other countries that have recently destroyed it? Don’t tell me about “economic anxiety.” That’s not what happened in Poland, which grew steadily through the financial crisis and its aftermath. And it’s not what happened here in 2016: Study after study has found that racial resentment, not economic distress, drove Trump voters. The point is that we’re suffering from the same disease — white nationalism run wild — that has already effectively killed democracy in some other Western nations. And we’re very, very close to the point of no return. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTopinion), and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter. 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What Republicans Are Saying About Trump August 28, 2018July 20, 2019 This nails it, no? By conservative Republican Peter Wehner, who served in the Reagan and both Bush administrations: The Full-Spectrum Corruption of Donald Trump Everyone and everything he touches rots. There’s never been any confusion about the character defects of Donald Trump. The question has always been just how far he would go and whether other individuals and institutions would stand up to him or become complicit in his corruption. When I first took to these pages three summers ago to write about Mr. Trump, I warned my fellow Republicans to just say no both to him and his candidacy. One of my concerns was that if Mr. Trump were to succeed, he would redefine the Republican Party in his image. That’s already happened in areas like free trade, free markets and the size of government; in attitudes toward ethnic nationalism and white identity politics; in America’s commitment to its traditional allies, in how Republicans view Russia and in their willingness to call out leaders of evil governments like North Korea rather than lavish praise on them. But in no area has Mr. Trump more fundamentally changed the Republican Party than in its attitude toward ethics and political leadership. For decades, Republicans, and especially conservative Republicans, insisted that character counted in public life. They were particularly vocal about this during the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky scandal, arguing against “compartmentalization” — by which they meant overlooking moral turpitude in the Oval Office because you agree with the president’s policy agenda or because the economy is strong. Senator Lindsey Graham, then in the House, went so far as to argue that “impeachment is not about punishment. Impeachment is about cleansing the office. Impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office.” All that has changed with Mr. Trump as president. For Republicans, honor and integrity are now passé. We saw it again last week when the president’s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen — standing in court before a judge, under oath — implicated Mr. Trump in criminal activity, while his former campaign chairman was convicted in another courtroom on financial fraud charges. Most Republicans in Congress were either silent or came to Mr. Trump’s defense, which is how this tiresome drama now plays itself out. It is a stunning turnabout. A party that once spoke with urgency and apparent conviction about the importance of ethical leadership — fidelity, honesty, honor, decency, good manners, setting a good example — has hitched its wagon to the most thoroughly and comprehensively corrupt individual who has ever been elected president. Some of the men who have been elected president have been unscrupulous in certain areas — infidelity, lying, dirty tricks, financial misdeeds — but we’ve never before had the full-spectrum corruption we see in the life of Donald Trump. For many Republicans, this reality still hasn’t broken through. But facts that don’t penetrate the walls of an ideological silo are facts nonetheless. And the moral indictment against Mr. Trump is obvious and overwhelming. Corruption has been evident in Mr. Trump’s private and public life, in how he has treated his wives, in his business dealings and scams, in his pathological lying and cruelty, in his bullying and shamelessness, in his conspiracy-mongering and appeals to the darkest impulses of Americans. (Senator Bob Corker, a Republican, refers to the president’s race-based comments as a “base stimulator.”) Mr. Trump’s corruptions are ingrained, the result of a lifetime of habits. It was delusional to think he would change for the better once he became president. Some of us who have been lifelong Republicans and previously served in Republican administrations held out a faint hope that our party would at some point say “Enough!”; that there would be some line Mr. Trump would cross, some boundary he would transgress, some norm he would shatter, some civic guardrail he would uproot, some action he would take, some scheme or scandal he would be involved in that would cause large numbers of Republicans to break with the president. No such luck. Mr. Trump’s corruptions have therefore become theirs. So far there’s been no bottom, and there may never be. It’s quite possible this should have been obvious to me much sooner than it was, that I was blinded to certain realities I should have recognized. In any case, the Republican Party’s as-yet unbreakable attachment to Mr. Trump is coming at quite a cost. There is the rank hypocrisy, the squandered ability to venerate public character or criticize Democrats who lack it, and the damage to the white Evangelical movement, which has for the most part enthusiastically rallied to Mr. Trump and as a result has been largely discredited. There is also likely to be an electoral price to pay in November. But the greatest damage is being done to our civic culture and our politics. Mr. Trump and the Republican Party are right now the chief emblem of corruption and cynicism in American political life, of an ethic of might makes right. Dehumanizing others is fashionable and truth is relative. (“Truth isn’t truth,” in the infamous words of Mr. Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani.) They are stripping politics of its high purpose and nobility. That’s not all politics is; self-interest is always a factor. But if politics is only about power unbounded by morality — if it’s simply about rulers governing by the law of the jungle, about a prince acting like a beast, in the words of Machiavelli — then the whole enterprise will collapse. We have to distinguish between imperfect leaders and corrupt ones, and we need the vocabulary to do so. A warning to my Republican friends: The worst is yet to come. Thanks to the work of Robert Mueller — a distinguished public servant, not the leader of a “group of Angry Democrat Thugs” — we are going to discover deeper and deeper layers to Mr. Trump’s corruption. When we do, I expect Mr. Trump will unravel further as he feels more cornered, more desperate, more enraged; his behavior will become ever more erratic, disordered and crazed. Most Republicans, having thrown their MAGA hats over the Trump wall, will stay with him until the end. Was a tax cut, deregulation and court appointments really worth all this? Peter Wehner (@Peter_Wehner), a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, served in the previous three Republican administrations and is a contributing opinion writer. To which I would add: (1) Subscribe to the New York Times, whence this comes. (2) The Lindsey Graham quote reminds me of this Mike Pence quote just before the election: “Character matters to the presidency and Donald Trump will bring the highest level of integrity to the highest office in the land. You can count on it.” Perhaps Pence should resign on principle? He certainly thought Clinton should.
NotPetya – Be Prepared August 27, 2018August 26, 2018 This must-read thriller from Wired details the world’s most costly cyberattack to date. (Not counting the attack that subverted American democracy and cost America its global leadership.) It leaves me with these “take-aways” — Cyberwarfare (and Russian attacks, in particular, as described in this piece) are a huge threat. Imagine your life without, say, electricity. It’s a better idea than ever to have a “disaster hoard,” as I’ve been touting for decades. (“This idea of a disaster hoard, by the way, is not such a foolish one. Nor is it “gloom and doom.” Disasters do occur . . . floods, earthquakes, power outages . . . and it does make sense for every household to accumulate—now, when there’s no need to, at sale prices—enough nonperishables to last a while. Such a modest stockpiling not only protects individuals, it serves the social interest as well. Just as the nation is stronger if it has strategic stockpiles, so is the social fabric a little less susceptible to disruption or panic if everyone has an added layer of security.”)
Denmark vs. Fox News – And More August 24, 2018August 24, 2018 Start with this — under three minutes. Denmark responds to Fox News’s ridiculous claims. You will love it on so many levels. Then, if you’ve not yet seen “great health care for everybody at a tiny fraction of the cost” . . . if you’re concerned that inflation-adjusted wages are still stagnant while the rich and powerful are growing ever more rich and powerful . . . if you’re beginning to doubt that Mexico will pay for the wall — if, in fact, you’ve not been “winning so much you’ve become tired of winning” — perhaps you should treat yourself to Jonathan Chait’s: ‘Law and Order’ Candidate Donald Trump Is Surrounded By Criminals. (“There is a type of person to whom Trump is attracted, and a type of person who is attracted to Trump. He repels virtue, and is a magnet for sleaze.”) Not that you’ll learn anything you didn’t know. Then, if you have time (as usual, I have your whole weekend planned out for you), meet Harvard’s new president, Lawrence Bacow. What a contrast. Harvard could have picked a tax-avoiding, truth-avoiding, mob-consorting, Boy Scout-offending, Hitler-speech-reading, Putin-praising sociopath with no experience to lead the university, but instead it chose an Eagle Scout. Who in 2005 said to the graduating seniors of Tufts (of which he was then president): . . . There are lots of ways to earn a living. What is truly important is to lead a meaningful life, to acquire a good name, or as the Talmud would say, a shem tov. What is a good name? It is the crown that sits atop all your other accomplishments. It comes from the love and respect one earns from parents and children, from friends and colleagues. It comes from being honest and trustworthy with yourself and with others. It means making good on your commitments. People who enjoy a good name always strive to do the right thing, not that which is easy or convenient. They think about others before thinking about themselves. They are helpful because it is the right thing to do….People who enjoy a good name do not yield to temptation, but rather, always embrace decency, honesty, integrity, and humility.… We have every confidence that you will make your mark in the world, and that you will create for yourself a shem tov, a good name. Kind of reminds you of the previous occupant of the White House. Or of this guy, who’d be an interesting choice to come next. Have a great week-end! Join Team Blue. CrushTheMidterms. It even designs an action plan for you. MobilizeAmerica. No need to choose: sign up with all three. And if you can — click here.
Leaders for Tomorrow August 23, 2018August 22, 2018 Have you met Beto O’Rourke? This is the kind of young leader we need (4 minutes). It’s just a bonus he would be knocking off Ted Cruz. Have you met Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez? Listen to her on health care (6 minutes; 11, for the full interview). The right will try to paint her as crazy — like all those who favor the free, quality health care of the 36 nations that rank ahead of ours. But do you know what? Even if it’s not as simple as flipping a switch to get from here to there (and Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t suggest that it is), she’s not crazy one bit. Oh! And have you met Admiral William McRaven? He was just giving a graduation speech and, years later, writing an open letter — not running for anything. But he could be just what we need to bring dignity, integrity, inspiration, and achievement back to the White House. Join Team Blue. CrushTheMidterms. It even designs an action plan for you. MobilizeAmerica. No need to choose: sign up with all three. And if you can — click here.
Russia’s Ongoing Attack – There Was A Time Republicans Would Have Cared August 22, 2018August 22, 2018 Roger Cohen concludes his recent column (thanks, Glenn!). . . . . . Once while visiting a military base, President Lyndon B. Johnson started to walk to the wrong helicopter. A soldier intervened, saying, “That’s your helicopter over there, sir.” Johnson replied, “Son, they are all my helicopters.” It was a pithy example both of presidential power and hubris. In the end, however, Johnson was forced to announce he would not run for reelection. It turned out that none of the helicopters were his. Trump will soon learn the same lesson. It is not his government, it is ours. It is not his White House, it is ours. The deep state is very deep indeed. It booted Nixon from the White House and compelled Clinton to roll up his sleeve. To Trump, it looks like a monster rising from the swamp. To me, it looks like a shivering soldier at Valley Forge. Russia is working to protect Trump and destroy our democracy. We are quite literally under attack and our “leader” praises theirs. Let’s hope it’s our founders’ vision, not Putin’s, that ultimately carries the day. Join Team Blue. CrushTheMidterms. It even designs an action plan for you. MobilizeAmerica. No need to choose: sign up with all three. And if you can — click here. MEANWHILE, several of you have asked what’s up with Borealis — jumping from $5 to $8 in just a few days. I’d like to think it means something, but the stock seems to have made this leap on the purchase of just a few thousand shares. If someone else should decide to sell a few thousand (perhaps because he or she died waiting?), it might just as quickly retreat. I can tell you this much: whoever’s been buying shares — 420 of them yesterday alone, more than $3,000 worth (who HAS that kind of money?) — isn’t buying them from me. If they’re worth $8, they’re worth a lot more. So I hold on. (And if they’re not worth $8, it’s a good thing we bought them with money we could truly afford to lose.)
The Center Is Not Where You Think It Is — Make Your Bed August 21, 2018August 20, 2018 Fox News nails Trump budget chief: 3.4 million jobs have been added during Trump’s 19 months, but that’s fewer than the 3.7 million during Obama’s last 19 months. And as noted Friday: Inflation-adjusted wages rose a quarter of a percent per year under President Obama, but have DECLINED under Trump. Billionaire Nick Hanauer argues: “Democrats Must Regain the Center . . . by Moving Hard Left.” A super-important piece every Dem should read. I don’t agree with every word — but the gist? Right on. I’ve previously linked to this awesome graduation speech — Make Your Bed. It was delivered by a former Navy SEAL, now retired Admiral, in 2014, long before anyone imagined that a draft-avoiding, tax-avoiding, truth-avoiding, mob-consorting, Hitler-speech-reading, Putin-praising sociopath — who had never done anything for his country — would be elected president. If you missed that speech, or even if you didn’t, watch it now, knowing that this is the guy — William R. McRaven — who penned the open letter to Trump. You want a Democratic candidate for 2020? I can think of loads of terrific choices. But add Admiral McRaven to the list. In the meantime: Join Team Blue. CrushTheMidterms. It even designs an action plan for you. MobilizeAmerica. No need to choose: sign up with all three. And if you can — click here.
Frank Sinatra – 10 Minute Short August 18, 2018August 20, 2018 A simpler time, but a message worth spreading even now? (Thanks, Mel!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpO6mpYvyqQ To which my pal Dave responds: Thanks for posting that RKO movie clip. Since buying a house in the California desert and joining Thunderbird Country Club, I’ve learned some more things about Sinatra. Don’t get me wrong, Old Blue Eyes was a complex character and not without faults. However: Thunderbird Country Club traces its origin to the early 1950s and among its earliest members were a number of entertainment types including Bing Crosby, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Hoagy Carmichael, Bob Hope. However, it was an anti-Semitic club and would not allow Jews to join. (As for gays, Chris and I are the first gay full members of Thunderbird. That slow-moving arc bending toward justice.) So the Marx Brothers, Jack Benny, George Burns, Danny Kaye and other Hollywood Jews decided to build their own country club — Tamarisk. Another founding member? Frank Sinatra. He also wed one of his fellow Tamarisk members, Barbara, who had been married to Zeppo Marx. And the primary contributor to the Palm Springs reformed Synagogue? Frank Sinatra. So for Sinatra that movie clip was more than just a song and propaganda piece. He actually lived it.