eniwetok
eniwetok's JournalBLUE COLLAR BETRAYAL! When Will Trump Voters Realize They've Been Had?
Trump was on record that he was FOR free trade but the US wasn't competitive in the global economy because US wages and corporate taxes were too high. This is a typical right wing position. Yet just how can US wages be too high? In terms of share of aggregate national income the US Census reported in 2014 the bottom quintile peaked in 1974 and has decreased 28% by 2014... while the income of the top 5% went up 32% during that same period. This is what we'd expect given the far right's war on labor.
The GOP has long tried to undermine labor laws to shaft US workers and benefit corporations. For example if the 1968 minimum wage were simply adjusted to inflation it would today be $11.05... or $7300 more a year. This affects millions of workers who fall in that $7.25 to $11.05 range. This war on the minimum wage demonstrates typical far right duplicity. They've worked for decades to addict our economy to a depreciating minimum wage then they use that addiction as an excuse to keep the MW down. Then there is the abuse of worker categories to exempt workers from wage and hour laws by dubbing them "supervisors". Obama was finally going to stop some of this abuse... as Carter tried to so... but the GOP has been in a uproar about these changes.
Trump's pick for labor secretary, Andrew Puzder, is proof Trump intends to continue to the rights war on labor... and to use a depreciating US minimum wage and other labor law abuse as backdoor welfare for US corporations. But, it comes as no surprise Trump is more than willing to give uber-rich and himself massive tax breaks.
Trump knows how to play the PR game as he did with Carrier. It's the perfect distraction from his real agenda. While the Blue Collar faith in Herr Trump may be high, their detachment from reality won't forever blind them... and it's only a matter of time before these suckers realize they've been had. Trump's idea for making the US competitive are exactly what we'd expect from a sociopathic billionaire: Trickle Down 3.0. Trump and his billionaire buddies aren't getting enough goodies, and the workers aren't sacrificing enough pay and benefits.
The Only Effective Blind Trust For Trump... Is A Lobotomy!
The idea that there could be a truly blind trust for Trump without total divestiture of ALL his business holdings... so even his kids are out of the picture... is if Trump had a lobotomy and really didn't remember he had a golf course or hotel in a nation he's dealing with. But then the cabinet would. So sorry gals and pals, it's lobotomies all 'round.
Maybe they can get one free before ACA is dismantled. Otherwise... I'm sure we could crowd source the money. 
What Should We Call Trump? What Would Make a Good Bumpersticker?
The term usurper is an antiquated term... and there is a long list of them in history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_usurpers as well as in fantasy such as the book Conan The Usurper.
It means one who wrongfully or illegally seizes and holds the place of another
Despite its usage being relatively dated, I like the title Trump the Usurper.
Other suggestions?
SATURDAY EDIT: I now think my original idea was lame. I'm leaning more towards Loser In Chief... but it still doesn't grab me.
Democratic Reforms Held Hostage To Absurd Amendment Process
If we ever are to make common sense democratic reforms to our federal system... it has to be done by amendment. Yet the absurdity of this process rarely is examined. I'll be using approximate numbers in the following...
To get a proposed amendment out of Congress it has to be approved by 2/3 of both houses. Leaving aside gerrymandering in the House, in the Senate, 18% of the US population gets 52% of the seats. Regardless of what the House does, any amendment can be blocked in the Senate by states with less than 15% of the US population.
Once a proposed amendment gets to the states where 3/4 approval is needed... it can be blocked by states with as little as 4% of the population yet ratified by states with 40% of the population.
But here's where it gets even nuttier... these numbers assume unanimous approval in those states... but chances are there won't be. So assuming a 49-51% split of opinion in each state... amendments may actually be blocked by 2% of the population yet ratified by between as little as 20% of the population (by this I mean their representatives).
Given the hurdles, does it come, then, as any surprise that not ONE of the core antidemocratic features of the federal system has ever been amended away?
Bottom Line For The Electoral College
In the end if all the EC can do is ratify the popular vote, it's not needed.
If the EC can overturn the popular vote, it should not be tolerated by any self-respecting free people.
The EC violates what SHOULD be a core democratic principle: one person, one vote... AND ALL VOTES WEIGH THE SAME in terms of representation.
The EC can not be "fixed" by playing with the state allocation formula or even if all states move to a proportional system. In the end ANY system that still includes weighting the votes of citizens differently by the state they choose to live in can lead to a candidate REJECTED by the People being imposed on the nation.
The ONLY morally legitimate method of electing a president is how we conduct every other election in the nation: by the popular vote.
Should California Threaten Secession To Abolish Electoral College?
PROBLEM 1: The standard for morally legitimate government was best summed up in the Declaration Of Independence:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.-- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
The Electoral College system now twice in 16 years has imposed on the nation a president who was REJECTED by the People. The EC makes a mockery of the very concept of self-determination. Like Bush2, Trump will do immense damage to the nation and further entrench the power of a toxic GOP into the fabric of government.
PROBLEM 2: The EC is unlikely to ever be abolished constitutionally. The GOP has a well documented contempt for democracy and now that the EC has a clear GOP bias, no proposed amendment will ever get out of Congress. In the Senate a mere 18% of the US population gets 52% of the seats.
PROBLEM 3: Even if a proposed amendment made it out of Congress... states with as little as 4% of the US population can block any reform. The Popular Vote interstate pact is a clever workaround but it is unlikely to ever become reality and the first time a state has to vote against its own election results, there will be a revolt in that state to leave the pact. The only solution is to abolish the EC not put bandaids over it.
QUESTION: How do citizens reform a system that is both antidemocratic and virtually reformproof? One can imagine a 50-100 year campaign to overcome all the obstacles. But how many more morally illegitimate presidents will be imposed on the nation in that time determined to make reform more difficult?
PROPOSAL: I can think of no way to reform the system internally. If you can... I'd like to hear it. The only way I can envision the EC being abolished is if a state like California threatens secession unless democratic reforms are made to the Constitution... thus creating a constitutional crisis.
The Laughable Defects In The Argument That Trump Can Reform Tax Law
Given what Christie and Guilani are saying on TV I have to assume it's true that Trump paid no federal taxes for perhaps all those years. They (and Trump) are claiming that because Trump paid no taxes that TRUMP ALONE is in the best position to reform these tax laws.
Now, if Trump had been saying since he got into the race that he's paid no federal income tax for X years, that was OUTRAGEOUS.... and the tax system needed to be reformed... we might believe these clowns that Trump was the best person to reform the system. BUT TRUMP HAS BEEN TRYING TO HIDE NOT PAYING ANY FEDERAL INCOME TAXES.
Instead they are portraying Trump as a business genius for pulling out of these business bankruptcies... businesses that failed BECAUSE HE WAS INCOMPETENT... without mentioning that he could only do so because he was a tax code "welfare queen".
And, seriously... where would business be today in the US if not for government FREEBIES? Freebies such as free limited liability protections for corporate owners and free intellectual property monopolies such as patents, copyrights, and trademarks? Why isn't liability protection purchased from the private sector AS INSURANCE so legitimate creditors aren't shafted in corporate bankruptcies while the personal wealth of corporate owners is shielded?
GUILANI ORWELLIAN BULLSH*T ALERT
On Meet The Press Guilani... with a straight face, just declared Trump a GENIUS for using the tax code to get himself out of financial trouble... while sweeping under the carpet Trump's total incompetency as a business man.
The obvious contradiction in this desperate Orwellian argument is that if NOT for generous tax code... TRUMP'S INCOMPETENCY IN BUSINESS WOULD HAVE COMPLETELY DOOMED HIM.
Keith Scott: It makes no sense for police to yell... "DROP THE GUN" if there's no gun
Time will tell... but in the shooting of Keith Scott...
I can see where dirty cops might want to plant a gun on someone they killed by accident. But if they are screaming repeatedly at Scott to drop the gun... there's no point in pretending there's a gun as an excuse to just murder him in cold blood... then plant one.
It's very possible that Scott had a gun his wife did not know about. She might have hated guns and Scott may have thought it was necessary to protect his family... or he may have had other issues. So he hid it from her. Who knows.
Time will tell. And until we do see those other videos... coming to conclusions says more about us than what happened.
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