Year: 2019

Here’s a seven-minute PBS preview you may find uplifting.  I know one of these former inmates.  He is a fine guy who, as a kid, made one terrible mistake.

As a nation, we could “do” criminal justice so much better.  Here’s just one example — 22 years in prison, and counting.

Enjoy your weekend!

Designated Survivor, spectacularly revamped by Netflix after two uninspired seasons on ABC, drops today.

And you could always read the Mueller Report.  See why 1,000 former federal prosecutors say it’s not even a close question: if he were not president, Trump would be indicted on multiple felony charges.

A felon, a liar, a bully, and a sociopath walk into a bar . . . and the Republicans inside cheer for him.

Hey, so I see BOREF dipped below $5 for a minute yesterday and is not much higher than it was 20 years ago when I first bought some just north of $3 a share (and first wrote about it a few months later).

You can read the January 3, 2019 Chairman’s letter in the 2018 annual report to get the company’s overview.

I’ve gotten their permission to disclose that I’ve personally sunk $1 million into WheelTug in recent years, and raised a bunch more, to help fund the drive toward FAA certification, currently very much underway.  Of course, there’s no assurance when or whether that certification will be forthcoming (it could easily be another 18 months or more) or that, once certified, lease payments and profits will gush as hoped.  But with the company projecting that airlines will save more than $1 million per plane per year (mostly in time saved at the gate) . . . on what could ultimately be a significant fraction of the 17,000 jets currently in service that could be retrofitted (about 1,200 planes are already in queue) . . . the current $15 million market cap of Borealis (which owns 62% of WheelTug) seems (to me) kind of ludicrous.

Yes, the company could fail. Its stock could ultimately wither away to zero.  But it could also succeed.  A lot of smart people are working hard ­– primarily for private WheelTug stock assigned a $1.25 billion market cap — ­ to MAKE it succeed.

So I hang on, albeit only with money I can truly afford to lose.*

*At this point, having told you about the $1 million, I guess I should remind you that my needs are few.  I have no car, boat, or plane.  I bought my apartment when they were giving them away.  I eat expired food — most recently some Gulden’s mustard marked “best by December 3, 2011.”  And look at all the money I’ve saved over the years by not smoking!

This is the story of the multiply convicted, imprisoned child porn molester with ties to the Trump campaign, the White House, and Mar-a-Lago.

It touches on our Middle East policy, Russia, the DeVos family, Blackwater, the Republican National Committee — everything.

Watch!

And then consider the contrast.

Do you remember how outraged Bush 43 supporters were when Vice President Gore was found to have made a fund-raising call from the White House?  Arguably — although the law was unclear — he should have gone across the street to a non-government phone so the taxpayers would not be footing that dime.  A scandal.

Do you remember how they mocked Gore for claiming that the characters in Love Story had been based on him and Tipper — and that turned out to be only half true?

How they ridiculed him for saying he invented the Internet (which he did NOT say, but whose creation he did in fact champion long before it was in any way glamorous or easy)?

How quaint all this seems now, when we have a porn-star-hush-money-paying pathological liar and sociopath in the White House actively wrecking our democratic institutions, ending the American Century, and siding with journalist-murdering autocrats all over the world.

If you read the Mueller Report — which if you are still a Trump supporter but consider yourself a patriot you have an obligation to do — as Republican Congressman Justin Amash did — you will almost surely agree it’s time for this insanity to end.

It’s time to start the impeachment inquiry — but with one big caveat:  At the same time, we must constantly call on the Senate to pass the numerous bills the House has already passed, and a few more it should soon pass, that would make regular Americans better off.

All our talking heads should demand it; all our presidential candidates should demand it; there should be massive marches on Washington — specifically the Senate — to demand it.

If Senate Republicans finally do their job, great.  A big win for the American people.  It will still be fair to say they had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do it.

In the more likely event they continue to block everything — obstructing justice and obstructing progress — voters will have even more incentive to sweep them out of office.

No one asked about impeachment should fail to lead with something like this:

“Well, the FIRST thing the Senate needs to do is pass the nine bills the House has already passed this year to make regular people’s lives better. The House did its job passing those bills to lower prescription drug prices and impose universal background checks and confront climate change and so much else — the Senate needs to do ITS job and vote on those bills.  But on impeachment, yes, that’s part of our job, too.  OUR NATION IS UNDER ATTACK BY THE RUSSIANS.  For real!  And the President constantly denies it and praises our attacker.  So, yes: it’s part of our job to investigate that.  WHY were there hundreds of contacts between Trump’s people and the Russians?  And WHY did so many of them lie about it to the FBI and to Congress if it was innocent?  If you actually READ the Mueller report, as Republican Congressman Justin Amash bravely did, you will conclude as he did that imeachment is warranted.  But let me stress: the FIRST priority should be for the Senate to take up the nine bills the House has passed since January to make regular Americans’ lives better.  It’s an outrage that they are obstructing this progress, even as so many of them are complicit in obstructing justice.”

Under four minutes.  Amazing.  (Thanks, Alan.)

I have a 1937 Mills nickel slot machine — a “one-armed bandit” like this one —  that’s kind of beautiful but got jammed and now doesn’t take nickels.  (Any ideas?)

This thing is a lot older, a lot golder — and still works, apparently!

Enjoy.

WHOSE DEBT IS IT ANYWAY?  Did you know that the National Debt grew 13.9% a year under Reagan — a Republican — and at 11.5% a year under Bush 41 — a Republican — but was cut to just 4% a year under Clinton?

Did you know that after Clinton (a Democrat) handed off a balanced budget and, thus, a National Debt that had stopped growing, Bush 43 (a Republican) grew it at 8.5% a year?

And that even though he handed off an ENORMOUS deficit that it would take Obama some time to tamp down (he first had to save the world from global depression), Obama’s 8-year rate of growth in the debt, even including the nightmare deficit he inherited, was 7.5% . . . less than Reagan, Bush, or Bush.  Here are the numbers.

Trump has the deficit exploding again . . . during good times, which is exactly when you don’t want to run them.

So can we please note that Democrats are the party of (at least relative) fiscal responsibility and that Republicans are the borrow-and-spend party?

I unfairly trashed Margaret Sanger last week . . . see below and please accept my apology . . . but first . . .

A money guy I know:  “I can’t stop looking at Bloomberg’s 1963-2019 chart that shows the 8 times that the yield-curve has inverted. EACH time has seen a recession or significant downturn… And most of the time, many prognosticators said ‘this time is different.’ I don’t think it is — not with the trade war escalating and general geo-political scene deteriorating.  I have ZERO confidence in the Trump admin’s ability to deal with a serious economic issue; if anything, they are likely to make anything worse than it otherwise would have been. I know that the inversion is very small as of now, but given how low rates are, the signal is probably valid even here.”

→ Normally, investors demand a higher interest rate the longer they have to up their money.  So the Treasury usually has to pay more for 10-year money than 3-month money.  But that’s inverted: as of Friday, the 3-month T-bill was yielding MORE than the 10-year note.

Kris McCormack:  “The Trump Administration — helping Putin win in so many ways.”  (Kris links to the Wall Street Journal: A Surprise Winner From the U.S.-China Trade Spat: Russian Soybean Farmers.)

Judy, Texas Grandmother and Proud Liberal:  “Thanks for the tip on Michael Lewis’ podcast.  You are right – BEST PODCAST EVER! But, Carl?  I really wish he would talk to someone who has had an abortion and ask them why they did it.  Until he’s done so, he can never understand what goes into making such a decision.”

And now . . .

Artie: “I am certainly not a student, let alone a scholar, when it comes to the work of Margaret Sanger; but your post threw me for a loop. So I did what any good time-challenged person would when their long held, but not firmly grounded, beliefs are questioned. I went to Wikipedia. As I read it, Sanger was much more a kindred spirit than anyone marching around in a MAGA hat. I don’t doubt that you quoted something that can be found on the internet; I just question your willingness to take it as authoritative. If not, I do suggest the wikipedia entry.”

Douglas Symes: “Every so often you seem to swallow some ‘alternative facts’ hook, line and sinker.  The last time I took you to task about this was 16 years ago over Noam Chomsky.  This time it is Jefferis Kent Peterson (JKP), an anti-abortion activist who you didn’t bother to fact-check on the most basic of levels.  Check out Planned Parenthood’s fact sheet, Opposition Claims About Margaret Sanger.”

→ I screwed up.

But first:

Are you an Elton John fan?  If so: Rocket Man opens today.  I met him just once — the briefest of handshakes (disappointing, because there was so much I would have wanted to tell him) — but boy, is the movie ever unmissable for someone like me.  Almost as gripping and thrilling as Bohemian Rhapsody, another must see.

And second:

Okay, I’m persuaded. It’s time to start the impeachment inquiry — but with one big caveat:  At the same time, we must constantly call on the Senate to pass the numerous bills the House has already passed, and a few more it should soon pass, that would make normal Americans better off. 

All our talking heads should demand it; all our presidential candidates should demand it; there should be massive marches on Washington to demand it. 

If Senate Republicans finally do their job, great.  A big win for the American people.  It will still be fair to say they had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do it . . . and fair to ask voters to give Democrats a chance at running the Senate. 

In the more likely event they continue to block everything — and find Trump innocent of clear wrongdoing — voters will have even more incentive to sweep them out of office.

And now:

Carl dutifully responded to yesterday’s post challenging him to name ANY liberal Democrat eager to abort little babies with this chilling quote from Margaret Sanger: “Consequences of breeding from stock lacking human vitality always will give us social problems and perpetuate institutions of charity and crime.”

It’s the sort of thing you might expect from a Hitlerian eugenics text.  But it’s worth noting that Ms. Sanger has not spoken out on these issues in more than half a century (having been dead since 1966) — and that if any political figure in American politics today has a whiff to him or her of “master race” thinking, it’s the one whose dad marched in a KKK rally, who found “some very fine people” among the torch-carrying white supremacists in Charlottesville, and who kept a book of Hitler’s speeches by his bedside.

So I think it’s fair to ask Carl again: can you point to any living liberal — someone you know, someone you’ve read or whose speech you’ve heard — eager to abort babies?

If you CAN find one, I would share your outrage with respect to that ONE; but ask that you not extrapolate his or her noxious view to the tens of millions of us who believe abortion should be safe, legal, and rare.

And by the way?  It turns out Margaret Sanger, even while alive, was not a liberal Democrat.  She would have been much more aligned with Trump and McConnell than with any Democrat.  [OOPS!  Update coming Monday — and before being too horrified by what follows, check out Opposition Claims About Margaret Sanger.]

Behold:

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Abortion – A Liberal Cause?
by Jefferis Kent Peterson

Abortion has been numbered among the liberal causes of modern politics. . . . But is abortion really a liberal cause? A careful examination of the history of the abortion rights movement would shock even the most ardent defender of a woman’s right to choose. The founders of the movement were in fact racists who despised the poor and who were searching for a way to prevent colored races from reproducing. Rather than defending the rights of the poorest of the poor, which is the tradition of liberalism, the founders advocated abortion as a means of eliminating the poor; especially Blacks, Jews, Slavs, and Italians. And rather than desiring to help the poor through welfare programs, they wanted to eliminate all charities and government aid. Today, most liberals would be shocked to know of this racist heritage. Not only is the founding of the abortion rights movement anti-liberal, but it may have been an attempt to promote racial genocide.

The modern day abortion rights movement began as the American Birth Control League in 1921. Among its founding board members were Margaret Sanger, Lothrup Stoddard, and C. C. Little. The latter two people were known for their racist views, but Margaret Sanger continually shows up in the company of other racists. In fact, she was the guest speaker at a Ku Klux Klan rally in Silverlake, N. J. in 1926. [The one Fred Trump attended was the following year.] Not only did she not disassociate herself from these racist views, her own writings leave little doubt as to her sympathies. In implementing a plan called the “Negro Project,” that was designed to sterilize Blacks and reduce the number of Black children being born in the south, Sanger wrote:

“[We propose to] hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. And we do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.”

Sanger also viewed welfare as a detriment to society because it increased the number of poor blacks and foreigners. “Organized charity (modern welfare) is the symptom of a malignant social disease, increasing numbers of defectives, delinquents, and dependents. My criticism, therefore, is not directed at the ‘failure’ of philanthropy, but rather at its success.” The urban poor, and their increasing numbers, she called, “an ever widening margin of biological waste.” Welfare, she believed, encouraged the breeding of the poor, or “human waste,” as she called them. She feared that welfare would encourage the urban poor by having them give birth to those “stocks that are the most detrimental to the future of the race” Therefore, she believed that the government should actively encourage the sterilization of those who are unfit to propagate the race, using as her motto: “More [children] from the fit, less from the unfit.”

No modern day liberal would dare question the need for some form of government aid to the poor. But Margaret Sanger wanted more for the privileged and less for the poor. [This, I would note, is exactly what the Republican Party has long been striving for — and achieving.] 

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The article goes on from there, but you get the gist.  [Prior to reading the above-linked fact sheet, I took this at face value.  My bad.]

Have a great week-end.  If you can help save the world, click here.  I’ll see whatever you do right away, to say thanks.

But first, don’t miss:

> Michael Lewis’s Against The Rules podcast.

> Designated Survivor, spectacularly revamped by Netflix after two disappointing seasons on ABC.  You can binge on all 10 episodes when it drops June 7.

> The Lavender Scare, premiering 9pm Eastern, June 18 on PBS.

And now:

Heath O’Neill:  “You wrote a good book and I’ve bought like 30 copies over the years. I have given 29ish of them away as presents. The book changed the course of my life so it saddens me to see you’ve become an unabashed partisan zealot. The world needs a lot less of those and they’re very predictable – nothing to be learned from them. I’ll be unfollowing you but I do wish you the best.”

→ Thanks for the kind words and the royalties!  As to the zealotry, I think democracy and honesty and science are preferable to autocracy, dishonesty, and the denial of science.

A pathological liar and sociopath who kept a book of Hitler’s speeches by his bedside is wrecking our democracy and the world order.  Working AGAINST climate crisis mitigation.  Empowering journalist-murdering autocrats.

Putin is winning.

The same Republican senators who called Trump a pathological liar (Ted Cruz) and a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot . . . undercutting everything we stand for (Lindsey Graham)– now enable him.

Under these circumstances, I’m not sure I’m being zealously partisan enough.

Help me understand what I’m missing here.

Carl (again): “Your Harriet Tubman question . . . “What did women or African Americans ever do to build this country?  (Other than build the White House and the Capitol and about a billion other things.)” . . . inspires another: “So why are Liberal Dem’s so anxious to abort the women and African American babies? (Even after they are born.) Psst…. Andy, what was your war record? What was your draft status?  Don’t be ashamed. I was 1a in 1960 I didn’t want to be drafted so I joined the USCG for 4 years.  By constantly pounding on Trump Dem’s are wrecking our democracy and the world order that so many Americans  fought and died to build and protect.  The more you do it the more people resent it and will vote for Trump in 2020.  Because of this Trump is winning. I can’t believe you don’t see that!  Sad.”

→ I don’t think you mean anxious, Carl, I think you mean eager.  But do you know anyone – liberal or otherwise – eager to abort babies?  Have you ever heard or read anyone say or write that he or she is eager to abort babies?  Ever?  If not, there is no premise to your question.  The Democratic line that’s always resonated with me:  Abortion should be safe, legal, and RARE.  Quite a few pro-lifers oppose things like sex education and over-the-counter Plan B that would make it more rare.

There are thoughtful conversations to be had on this tough issue; mostly, I would argue, between women and their doctors and faith counselors and loved ones.  People of good will can disagree about how late into pregnancy, and under what circumstances, he government should outlaw abortion. But thoughtful conversation does not seem to be your thing.

My draft status was 1-Y.  No fraud required.

“You think it’s bad now?” asks Michael Tomasky in the Daily Beast.  “Wait for next year’s show trials.”

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Koestler and Orwell and Kundera described the hall-of-mirrors horror of totalitarian states. Trump’s gang is getting away with it in a democracy.

. . . And if you want to see how, watch this clip of Corey Lewandowski on Fox News Thursday night, via Josh Marshall’s Twitter feed. [Two minutes.]

. . . Lewandowski laid out the whole strategy. First, pin the Steele dossier on Biden.

. . . For years, the Steele dossier has done the work of allowing the right to accuse Clinton of secretly working with the Russians to destroy Trump. But now she’s old news, finally, so they’re just going to sub in Biden. And as long as they do it on Fox, they will not be challenged, as indeed Lewandowski was not Thursday night. And the rest of the media will note soberly that there’s no evidence that Biden had any connection etc. etc., but by that time, the liars will have won: They’ll win every time “Biden” and “Steele dossier” are mentioned in the same sentence on television.

But the second part of the rant was even more chilling. The plan here is to wait for the report from the Justice Department inspector general (that’s Horowitz) to hit next month, pry whatever passages they can out of that report and stitch together the appearance of a vast, deep state conspiracy to take Trump down.

Then wait again, this time for Attorney General Bill Barr to do his part. Trump’s announcement Thursday that Barr would be in charge of releasing the intel on the Trump campaign probe is a staggering development, something we’ve never seen the likes of. Barr, who already demonstrated he’ll cherry pick evidence on Trump’s behalf, can pluck out whatever evidence he wants and leave buried whatever evidence he wants to leave buried.

It’s almost beyond comprehension.

. . . But with everything filtered through a state television network and no Republicans in Congress willing to utter a syllable of protest, there will be no accountability.

And then, next spring (what a coincidence, election year!), Barr’s Justice Department can bring indictments against James Comey, Andy McCabe, Peter Strzok, and Lisa Page for—well, they’ll come up with something. And maybe John Brennan and James Clapper too.

Welcome, folks, to the first Stalinist show trials in the history of our country.

. . . On Friday, Trump accused Comey, McCabe, Strzok, and Page of “treason.” For investigating a presidential campaign. Treason is aiding an enemy during wartime. And is punishable by death. Trump used the word specifically to signal to his attack dogs that anything is fair game.

So yes, next year’s campaign will be a nightmare beyond the imagination of any novelist who has yet tried to capture and describe totalitarian, hall-of-mirrors horror, from Koestler to Orwell to Kundera or anyone else. They were all describing how a regime gets away with it in a totalitarian state. But these people will be getting away with it in a democracy.

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Unless, that is, we all become active participants in making sure it doesn’t happen.

Here’s one very concrete way to help support the early organizing that will lead to the massive registration and turn-out we need to break the strong man’s grip.

ONE: So it turns out the bone spur thing was done as a favor to the podiatrist’s landlord, Trump’s father — who gave him a sweet deal in return.

TWO: How Trump bankrupted the Plaza Hotel.  Or, more accurately, what he tried and failed to do afterward (but took credit for anyway).

QUESTION: What did women or African Americans ever do to build this country?  (Other than build the White House and the Capitol and about a billion other things.) So Mnuchin (famously pictured here) has decided, as you know, to keep our money all white men until 2028. The Harriet Tubman $20 bill has been postponed. (Will Americans even USE currency in 2028? Already the Chinese have basically gone cashless; won’t we have by then?)  And the explanation is that it will take nine years to solve “counterfeiting issues.”

This is as believable as that the Trump Tower meeting was — as Trump personally dictated — primarily about adopting Russian children.

THE BIG PICTURE:  A pathological liar and sociopath — who now says he won’t do anything with Congress until they drop all investigations — is wrecking our democracy and the world order that so many Americans we remember this Memorial Day fought and died to build and protect.

Putin is winning.

Click here if you’re in a position to help fight back.  We may not get another chance.

Really?  What would you call the letter Trump personally dictated describing his son’s meeting with the Russians (“if it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer”) as being “primarily about the adoption of Russian children.”

What would you call his paying hush-money to a porn star?

And so much else he’s going to extraordinary lengths to keep hidden, like the tax returns he would “absolutely” release if he ran for president.  Do you know the story of his pick for IRS Commissioner?  The story of his pick for IRS chief council?  (If not, start watching 10 minutes in.)  Appalling.  But like the honey badger, Senate Republicans, they don’t care.

Here’s a guide to 20 inquiries Trump and his allies are working to impede.

And here’s another list worth circulating.  Trump has tweeted “The Democrats are getting ZERO work done in Congress.  All they are focused on is . . . the witch hunt.”  Yet since regaining the gavels this past January . . .

• House Democrats passed the Equality Act.
• House Democrats passed a package of bills to protect people’s access to health care and help make prescription drugs more affordable.
• House Democrats passed a disaster relief bill.
• House Democrats passed a bill to restore net neutrality.
• House Democrats passed the Climate Action Now Act to take action to protect our climate and create economic opportunities.
• House Democrats reauthorized and expanded the Violence Against Women Act.
• House Democrats passed legislation to require background checks for all gun sales.
• House Democrats passed legislation to help close the gender pay gap.
• House Democrats passed historic anti-corruption reform and provisions to strengthen our election systems.

All that’s blocking their adoption are the Republican-controlled Senate and Trump.

Click here to fund the early organizing that is our best shot at building a massive blue wave next year and saving our democracy.