Trump Is Obese

Donald Trump is the same height and weight as Albert Pujols. Riiiight. Why does the White House lie like this? It's just absurd. The White House lies about everything, important or trivial. Trump is obese, and everyone knows it. His diet is hideously bad. He must have good genes and the constitution of a bull, because given what he eats and his lack of exercise, he ought to be an invalid.

Oh, and off-topic, where did the leftover inauguration day cash go? That's still missing. 

Here's Joe Scarborough with an appropriate rant about Trump's physical health summary.

The USA Missed Its Chance To Make Room For High Speed Rail

High speed rail is not coming to the US in any sustained system, except perhaps in California.

Why? The USA missed its chance after World War II, when it had the capital and its rail corridors could have gotten the width they needed for freight and passenger trains on their own tracks. If the US tried to make room for high speed rail on the west and east coasts today, it would cost hundreds of billions. Of course, the US is still spending $2 Billion a week in Afghanistan. So I guess we can't afford it. 

In France, Germany Japan and China, where four of the world class train systems are found, the high speed passenger services were built from scratch, not piggybacked on an old, existing, mostly freight rail system. A world war helped, and that included a lot of bombing by the US and UK. But I don't think that's any excuse. The USA remained a wealthy nation through the space age. Just look at what happened to Penn Station. The French National Rail Corporation would die laughing if it ever got a good look at Penn Station and Amtrak. After all, France is a first world country, while the United States barely qualifies as a banana republic. And I wrote these words before news came out that the state of New York is considering yet another private company to manage the crumbling Penn Station.

This ties into the bigger, more obvious issue that mass transit in the US is generally terrible. The underlying reason is the same: the best chance for planning and funding was in the last century (either before the 1920 crash, or just after WWII). In my father's day, New York City took care of it's essential infrastructure. The automobile had not yet become the dominant means of transportation, and Robert Moses had not yet rearranged the city to accommodate millions of cars. Now, after decades of neglect, the bill is coming due. I hope the city gets the help it needs, because it's approaching a dangerous tipping point.

A Revolutionary War Mass Grave In Brooklyn?

Here's another story for 2017 I didn't post until now. A Brooklyn site next to the Gowanus Canal is to be excavated. There's reason to believe it holds a Revolutionary War mass grave, dug in the aftermath of the Battle of Brooklyn.

The Battle of Brooklyn wad a bad defeat, but thanks to Mr. Glover of Marblehead Massachusetts, Washington's troops were able to make good their escape to the Jersey shore, and live to fight another day. By the way, Continental cannons were emplaced in Red Hook to strike the British fleet as it entered the harbor, but they didn't hit a thing! If they find a mass grave, the city, state and Federal governments should erect a fitting monument. 

Red States Turned On Their Blue Cities In 2017

But the tide might be turning back to the cities' favor.

After the election of Donald Trump in November 2016, there was a wave of bad behavior by his supporters. Hate crimes spiked. The Federal government threatened states. And some states punished their cities, the largest of which voted for Hillary Clinton.

This conflict is about raw political power, and I'm afraid that cities are at a huge disadvantage in any conflict with the state. Legal precedents all give enormous deference to the state, holding that cities, towns, counties and all other local jurisdictions are under sovereign state authority. If Texas wanted to abolish the charters of local government and designate them differently, increase or decrease their powers, they can, and there's little the local areas can do about it. When a cult like the Texas Republican Party gains unchecked power, it will use it to crush local opposition. The same pattern is being replicated almost everywhere in states with Republican governors and legislatures. Elections, as they say, have consequences.

Interestingly, the onslaught against the cities might have been slowed down thanks in part to Trump not being able to get his administration to focus on any one issue for long. And the Trump backlash has been in-gear since Roy Moore was upset in Alabama in December 2017. The aforementioned Texas Republican Party's unshakable hold on power is suddenly under threat. 

2018 Is Bringing The Turmoil

You thought 2017 was turbulent? We've seen nothing yet.

The first month of 2018 has brought a pack of storms through Washington DC and the world. We've read the biggest threat of a nuclear war ever written by a US president. A new book came out, and we're still feeling the shock waves it has caused. We've seen the first reporter insulted during a press briefing in the Trump presidency. The administration ended protected status for over 200,000 El Salvadoran asylum seekers. The president said racist things in a meeting for a second reported time.  Shithole is already the English word of the year. Trump's trip to the UK has been canceled, as I predicted. A Democratic Senator on her way out has released the valuable Senate interview of Glenn Simpson, and it offers a preview of what's going to be in the Mueller Report later this summer. But don't expect Robert Mueller to indict Trump. It might be too late for him or anyone to rescue this republic from Donald Trump. Just hang on tight. 

The Racist Authoritarian President

There wasn't any doubt that Trump and his base are racists. And finally, the press has acknowledged it. 

Only the people who refuse to accept reality fail to comprehend the visceral racism of Donald Trump. This is a man who demanded the death penalty for young African Americans who were clearly not guilty of the attack on the Central Park jogger a few decades back. He led the "Birther Lie" campaign against Obama, for reasons transparently racist, said a Mexican American judge, born in Indiana, couldn't fairly preside over a lawsuit involving him, and began his pursuit of the presidency by slandering the entire population of a neighboring republic. It's clear we have the most overtly racist president since Andrew Johnson, 1865-1869, who did all in his power to destroy the chances of 4,000,000 freedmen of ever achieving legal equality in this country. There are two primary reasons this fat, orange man is president. His Democratic opponent was pathologically hated by millions of Americans, and chose to vote for the least experienced, most ignorant, and most psychologically damaged candidate to ever run on a major party ticket rather than put her in the White House. And the second reason is equally chilling. Trump validated the deep racial resentment of millions of white Americans.

Trump's base remains a solid 35% or so. This base is not only overtly racist, but demands an authoritarian leader. We can pay lip service to our sanitized corporate culture and say that they are not aligned with "American values." But actually, there has always been a minority of citizens like this in the US since the Civil War. We have seen flare-ups in support of the KKK, the Third Reich, and the "Patriot Movement" (roughly 1978-2010). Trump has helped us re-identify and track them going forward. They are going to play a role in both local and national politics long after Trump is gone.

New York's Infrastructure Will Soon Collapse

New York City's bridges are falling apart. It would cost over $20 Billion to reapir them.

New York City's rails, from the state owned subway and commuter rail to Amtrak, are a mess. It would cost tens of billions to replace, fix and renovate signals, switches, tunnels and stations. The only major projects that are currently in-progress are the repair of the L train tunnel under the East RIver, and the MTAs East Side Access project to move Long Island Rail Road Penn Station to Grand Central Terminal. Other critical projects, such a new Amtrak tunnel under the Hudson River and the replacement of Penn Station remain unfunded,

And even when the state of New York maintains its rails, the waste and corruption is is easy to identify.

Even if Trump and the Republicans actually gave a rat's ass about the state of America's cities or public transportation, the Administration's crippling incompetence and absurd scandals make serious action nearly impossible. This is what middle America voted for, and all of us, beginning with the people of New York, are going to pay for it.

Experience Not Necessary

It matters not that this guy didn't make it onto a Federal bench. The damage has been done. Trump has filled the judicary with baby Clarance Thomases for decades. They are all under-qualified and are also religious zealots who pick-up caes already knowing how they will vote.

The charge of Liberal judges "legislating from the bench" is just projection. It is the right wing judges who have been biased, voting with their ideoology rather than on the merits of the case. The right wing members of the court have been nakedly partisan since the appointmet of Scalia in 1986 and Bush v. Gore in 2000. It's only gotten worse since. 

And speaking of Thomas, the US Supreme Court has an ongoing ethics problem. 

Trump's legacy is three-fold. First, as detailed above, he has made the judiciary biased and under-qualified for decades. Second, he, his White House staff, and his appointments have all had a severe and alarming lack of experience. And third, he has brought his naked and highly amplifed ego into the executive branch. Our standards of how a US president should act and communicate have been forever changed.

A White House Run By Generals

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders tells the press that criticizing generals is "innapropriate."

When Trump appointed Kelly, Mattis and McMaster to high posts in the government, a chill went through me. There's a solid, history-based reason for insuring civilian control of the military. There are only a few thousand good histories of the phenomenon, available in any University library, or I suppose these days, online. We now have an ignorant president, with a childlike admiration for high ranking military figures. Far too many commentators took solace in that fact, imagining that they would bring intelligence, discipline, and common sense to an otherwise chaotic administration. There is no reason, no reason whatever, to believe that's true. Trump hiding behind generals means we're in deep trouble in this country. Those are totalitarian techniques, and I think it will get a hell of a lot worse in the next few years. 

The Most Sacred Topic In the USA

Our bloodthirsty, military-worshiping news media declares the president's swipe at his predecessors and dead soldiers as "rock bottom." Not pussy grabbing. Not "both sides." Not the white nationalists had "permits." No, rock bottom has to be his swipe at dead soldiers. That's bad. I get it. But this is not rock bottom Trump. This is not the worst he can get. This is the US news media showing its military-worshiping ideology. Worshiping military service members and even military hardware has become our official religion behind the worship of money.

Try Not To Die If You're Famous

Memo to celebrities: don't die during the Trump administration. There's so much chaos, you won't get a proper send-off. It's like the weeks after 9/11, except life doesn't settle down. It has been unsettled since March.

The Poor Do Our Fighting

The majority of people who enlist in the US armed forces come from poor families. And after a few wars, what has emerged is a warrior caste. You ever hear how just a handful of families have ruled the Philippines for the last 600 years? Well some tens of thousands of US families have done virtually all our fighting since the Vietnam war.

Vietnam poisoned the idea of a large military draft, feeding an endless and stupid ground war, for millions of Americans. The citizens of this country are unlikely, any time soon if ever again, to tolerate the existence of a conveyor of healthy young men, fed into a war machine. The draft enabled Johnson and Nixon to pour young lives into an unwinnable and unjustifiable conflict in Southeast Asia. The lesson the political class learned from this was to establish an all volunteer force, largely removed from the great majority of the population. Now, when these wars are fought, justifying the immense defense budgets which enrich an entire industry and securing the professional opportunities of our military elite, the mass of voters hardly notice. The wars go on and on, the money and the promotions flow, and the politicians don't even have to explain to the taxpayers. Genius!!

Fuck You

It's nothing personal. I don't mean fuck you, personally. I mean it in general terms. Fuck you. You know who you are, even though I don't know you personally. 

I will not stand up for you. I will not salute you. I will not call you a hero. I will not call you a first responder. I will not thank you for your service. I won't fantasize of being anything like you. I repeat, I will not use the word hero. 

It's not your fault. I have been told to worship you. I strongly reject that. Politicians have told me. Movies, going back to Backdraft have told me to idolize and honor you. But I'm 44 now. And I think I know better. And I think I see through all the bullshit that has been sold to me since September 2001 - some 16 years.

I will not stand for the Star Spangled Banner. I will not face nor salute the flag. I am not down with your program. I am not down with the USA's program. It's a broken and cruel republic. The only thing it has left is its empire. And I'm supposed to say "thank you for your service," to the men and women who maintain that empire? Bullshit. Fuck you.

To the police. I will not thank you. I will not call you when I need one. I will not respect you. I will not ask you to pose in a photo with me. Fuck you. You do not protect and serve me. You exist to police black people and make me and other white civilians feel safer. And for that politicians put you on a pedestal, and direct me to honor you. Fuck that. And fuck your evil unions, too. They are the worst. 

To the firefighters. Fuck you too, although I admit I hate you less. We do need firefighters. What we don't need are fire departments full of white supremacists. But because politicians tell me that you need to be worshiped and idolized, I have to lump you with the soldiers and cops. It's nothing personal. Fuck you.

I'm not quite sure how nationalism became intertwined with worship of "first responders," in addition to our soldiers, but here we are. And here I am. Fuck you.

Fuck nationalism. Fuck hero making, hero narratives, and hero worship. Fuck flag lapel pins. Fuck the flag. Fuck the president (all of those who came after Carter). Fuck this.

Trump Is Toxic

Donald Trump is toxic to the Republic. The Republic has been dying for decades now. Americans had progressive improvements to their standard of living taken away from them beginning in 1973. Bush v. Gore (2000) dealt an enormous blow to our electoral system, and manipulated the course of US history. 

But Trump seems to have taken the United States on an accellerated path to ruin.

Here's some quick bar napkin math. In 9 months we have lost an FBI director, the White House Chief of Staff, a cabinet member, and we've reached a point where the Senate is not going to let any bills reach the president's desk. Add to that a disastrous travel ban, a threat of a military transgender ban (that we'll probably never hear about again), repeated threats of a nuclear strike on North Korea, and a promise to build a wall that will never be funded.

An aside about the Republicans in Congress. The GOP is not a normal political party. Apparently they care about their own power and the transfer of as much wealth as possible to their political contributors. I find among them precious little interest in the welfare of this nation. In its current incarnation, that party is entirely unfit to govern the United States.

On July 15, chaos began to manifest in plain view. Trump gave an incredible speech at the Boy Scouts of America Jamboree. In any other administration, it would be a shocking turning point. The Secretary of State allegedly mulled his resignation over that speech. In Trump's administration, it was just another bad day at the office before things really got chaotic the following week, with the unexplained, dramatic ouster of Sean Spicer and Reince Preibus. 

Then, the last 8 weeks, we had the white nationalist invasion of Charlottesville (and the laying of blame on those who tried to defend the city), the disbandment of two presidential councils, word that the Department of State is in shambles, and a dramatic, historic 15 minutes on August 15 which will likely lead to European leaders asking Trump to never visit their nations as president again (Merkel and May are on the verge of just that). That unhinged press conference should have destroyed him. But no. He wasn't done.

Then came the end of summer. Hurricane Irma ripped through the US Virgin Islands and put the Florida Keys in a pool of sewage. And then, barely two weeks later, Hurricane Maria tore through Vieques, Culebra, and Puerto Rico. But Trump paid no attention to that storm in its first four days. He instead attacked black professional athletes in the NBA and NFL. He didn't make rescue and recovery in Puerto Rico a priority until he saw the situation on television. That's another thing that historians will have to track, if there's a nation left after he and Pence are gone. Trump gets most of his information from US cable news. And when the news about him becomes sour, he holds a campaign rally. One time he told an adoring crowd of white people that he would be good to black Americans. That went down well. 

The lost weekend while Puerto Ricans died should have destroyed Trump. But no. His administration cannot be killed. It just limps along. Donald Trump has done something that no president has done since Nixon. He was worn down national morale. But he has also done something Nixon and Reagan wouldn't dream of doing. He has energized the white nationalist fringe, who now march unmasked -at least for a little while. He is ruining the classic, optimistic American mood that has kept us going despite so many aspects of American life worsening since 1973. The first 9 months have brought a white house in turmoil. In 9 more months, we could have a flaming constitutional crisis. This is not sustainable. 

Tomorrow, Donald Trump goes to Puerto Rico to view recovery efforts. I hope the boos are constant and loud. He might not hear them. But the news media will. As we have seen, Trump has very poor communication skills to say the least. When he ad libs, disaster strikes. 

Trump has his supporters. A solid 35% of American adults fully support him. He is their racial antidote for 8 years of Obama. Millions of Americans are perfectly content to accept a dictatorial right winger, who'll promise them safety and a healthy economy in a white supremacist, nationalist context. As for Congress, and especially the House of Representatives, I wouldn't want to put much faith in their saving us from Beloved Leader Trump. That leaves a free press and and an aroused citizenry. Maybe that'll be enough. 

Uncle Tim contributed to this post.

How An Empire Supports Its Colonies

The United States, one of the richest and most powerful nations in the world, is letting one of its colonies suffer without power, gasoline, and communications for weeks, perhaps months. Our president gave them a hashtag. I just came from a nation's colony that has state of the art sea tunnels and mobile communications on every square meter of land. And you can be damn sure that if disaster struck the Faroe Islands, Denmark would have regular life restored within days. Where is the fucking outrage?

How To Deal With An Alpha Handshake

In the early days of the Trump presidency, we could joke about handshakes. Now that the handshakes are just about done, let's take a brief look back at the best one. This is the one in which Trump met his match. It was his handshake with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 

I loved the way Trudeau finessed Trump's handshake at the White House door. Anticipating his grab and pull style, the canny Canadian grabbed Trump's upper arm and squeezed it hard. This not only surprised Trump, it also threw him off balance, and prevented him from dominating the greeting as he loves to do. It looked like a hockey move, and the good people of our friendly neighbor to the north must have smiled in pride.

Now if only Trudeau could never speak or meet Trump ever again. That would be nice. Maybe that's already decided. I hope so. 

No, Starbucks In Not Organizing Discounts For Undocumented Immigrants

The above image is a hoax advertisement created by a 4Chan user. It made the Reddit and Facebook rounds the weekend of August 4.

But hey, if it riles the Trump base, go with it. Where would he and his supporters be without conspiracies? And where would they be if they couldn't whine about how they're constantly being victimized?

The Democratic Party Is Not The Resistance

The Democratic base flared up for a couple of weeks after Trump's inauguration. But where is the base now? Any why aren't they consistently mad? Why are the most newsworthy congressional town hall meetings occurring in heavily Republican states?

For quite a long time now, Democrats have behaved as if they didn't have a base of supporters whose views they needed to consider when casting votes in Congress. And even after Trump's first month, I sense a lack of commitment from Democrats to fire-up their base.  Believe me, Republicans NEVER forget their base! The one thing they always fear is being challenged, from the right, by an ever more radical, anti-government crank. Democrats, like Obama, often take a perverse view of their political situation. Some are actually PROUD of disappointing the most loyal party members, as if that proved their bipartisan credibility. And when the Democratic base rebels, these people seem genuinely puzzled by the outrage they've provoked.

Democrats have enormous decisions to make this month. They can choose to help or impede the House in raising the Federal debt ceiling. They could fight to delay the Judge Gorsuch confirmation hearings, or let them move forward.

Each week of the Trump presidency has brought bad news, often at night as major newspapers print stories on the administration. The Democrats can't fight every breaking news story. But they lack a messaging machine to tell their base what to fight against. There's no motivation or organization at the top. It's all been from the bottom. When this happens, the top gets overthrown. Time will tell. 

Trump Motivated People Without Trying Hard

We was warned. 

And yet, here we are, a nation controlled by white people in landlocked states.

Seriously, thank you, white people.

63% of white men voted for Trump
53% of white women voted for Trump

What was Clinton's mantra? Love Trumps hate? Well apparently not. Hate is an immensely powerful motivator. Trump didn't need a sophisticated ground game to get his supporters to vote. All the intensity, and all the enthusiasm was on the Republican side this time. And in politics, intensity matters. As for the Democrats, it's astounding that Hillary, with all her negatives, turned out to be the party's default choice. In any event, we'll all pay for it now. 

And Trumps personality and pattern is well established. He will never really work at anything. He is unwilling or unable to work harder to be presidential. He doesn't have to work hard to motivate his supporters. He already has a slogan for the red hat in 2020. And he win again, so long as his presidency doesn't fall apart. His base of 40% appears to be rock solid. But his presidency is showing way too many cracks to last one year, let alone three more. 

The US Stopped Taxing The Rich 30 Years Ago

Yet another new study shows that the US has not seriously taxed its rich people since Reagan signed his tax reform into law in 1986. The great project launched in 1980 by Reagan has reached its apotheosis. We have a government of, for and by the rich. SUCCESS!!! 

Domestically, the US has lived almost by a single rule: be extra nice to the rich people. It has led to nothing but trouble. It even led to Trump.