Author: Paul

If you want a mental pick me up, Google or Firefox “Mussolini speech”. I noticed early on the remarkable resemblance of Donald Trump to Benito Mussolini in general appearance and body language, especially when he is speaking at one of his rallies. You will find the similarities remarkable.

When you think about it, why did Donald Trump choose that particular phrase “from many sides” to describe the source of the Charlottesville violence? Anyone familiar with the situation knew from the beginning that it was the joint action of several white nationalist groups. Fortunately some local official was quick to issue a correction, to wit: it was the white nationalists. In other words, a bunch of Nazis feeding off their torchlight gathering of the night before. But why try to spread the blame to “many sides”? The only apparent reason would be to divert some of the public revulsion away from the white nationalists, for whom Trump obviously has a thinly veiled affinity. He likes “all those white guys that put him in the White House”, (as David Duke was quick to point out). Now it is up to all right-thinking Republicans to demonstrate to the world that they are indeed not white nationalists. Are they up to it ?

Another aspect of inequality in America is that the presidency of the United States of America is a very large job, while Donald Trump, by contrast, is a very small man.

The danger of Donald Trump is not limited to some potentially colossal boo-boo he might make in an international crisis. A concurrent, and even perhaps greater, danger plays out every time he opens his mouth at one of his campaign style rallies. It consists of the effect his harangues have on the already considerably-warped minds of the white supremacists in his audience.

Anyone who has been paying attention since the election of 2016 can easily see that the Republican party is in over its head. Under the leadership of Mitch McConnell, the Senate converted a loyal opposition into the Party of NO! whereby any and every Obama initiative was blocked. On the house side, all Ryan could come up with is a series of cuts, cuts, and more cuts. Now that they have total and complete control over everything, what have they produced? Zero. What are they working on besides “repeal Obama care”? Nothing. It is painfully obvious there is no effective leadership, no idea what to do next or how to do it. Unfortunately, except for the Sanders wing, Democrats aren’t doing much better.

FDR had the radical notion that everyone in America should enjoy several basic rights, he did not use the word “entitlements”. These basic rights included: a job, a decent home, medical care, education, and protection from old age destitution. Social Security and Medicare solved two of these problems for seniors. Obamacare will cover the medical part for the general population, too, if Congress will shed its virulent partisanship and enact the necessary amendments. That leaves the rest of FDR’s vision open to the question of which are rights and which are entitlements, and should the public, through the workings of government, be involved in providing any of them? That is the question. Conservatives say “no”. Progressives say; “If there is the will, there will be a way.”

Here are some numbers that may or may not mean anything to some people:
$183 million; the cost of security for Trump Tower $148 million: the total budget for the National Endowment for the Arts $1 million plus; complaints received during a six-year period by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau $12 billion; amount returned to those who were cheated $1 million plus; spent per day on lobbying against the CFPB.

Thirty states responded to the Trump’s administration’s request for extensive data on registered voters. The rest of the states, those who refused to provide such data, have done so for a variety of reasons, one of which is the source, the person who made the request: Kris Kobach. This guy has a well-earned reputation as a champion and active practitioner of voter suppression. When selecting polling places in the 2016 presidential election in Kansas, for example, he placed only one polling place in each of the poorest sections of the state to serve thousands of voters, but numerous polling places in the more affluent sections to serve far fewer voters. The result was exactly what he wanted: long lines of minority voters who had to wait hours to vote. So when Trump asks that question derisively; “What are they worried about?”, those who know Kobach have the answer. It is quite simple: the entire “integrity commission” is a charade to popularize Trump’s contention that “millions voted illegally which gave Hillary Clinton the edge in the popular vote”. Skeptics can envision the master suppressor playing with these data with one thing in mind: “how can I find a way to purge certain kinds of voters from the rolls?” And you know what he means by “certain kinds of voters”.

Whenever a Republican misdeed is called out, there are several responses available depending on the nature of the sin and the medium available:
1 “Hillary did worse things” 2 “it was Obama’s fault” 3 “Both sides do it” 4 “So what?” Collusion, schmollusion, big deal, there is no “there” there, take a deep breath and get back to work 5 “Who me?” I wasn’t even there
If you can suggest other ways to deflect the attention away from Republicans in general and Donald Trump in particular, send them to whoever is in charge at the moment. That is: if you can find out who that might be.

Your op-ed of July 12, 2017, regarding Trump’s so-called “Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity” was spot on. This is nothing more than the Republican party’s attempt (naked and blatant) to suppress the vote of poor and minority citizens. Any one who doubts that is naïve in the extreme. Anyone who justifies it needs some conscience raising.