dailykos--2020-01-30--Warning: Trump and GOP Make it Harder to Respond to Outbreaks and Threats Like Wuhan Coronavirus

Regardless of the outcome of the impeachment trial , in the upcoming months the Republican Party will make a pitch to the American people that they would do better for Americans if they are in charge .
However , at times like now , when the country is facing a global epidemic threat to our nation ’ s collective health , like the Wuhan Coronavirus , it is important to point out that Republicans like Trump would make it harder to respond to contagious outbreaks and bioterrorism .
A good example is the Republican Party ’ s ongoing efforts to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
the Affordable Care Act .
One of the aspects of Obamacare that would be gutted by GOP repeal efforts is called the Prevention and Public Health Fund .
The Prevention and Public Health Fund currently provides nearly half of the funding for the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity program .
It supports the efforts of state and local health departments to track outbreaks for conditions like meningitis and foodborne illness .
It also helps develop rapid responses to evolving threats such as Ebola and the West Nile virus .
The fund also supports @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s immunization program , which protects Americans from contagious illnesses , including outbreaks of measles and the flu .
As part of this funding , my state of Maryland received nearly $ 1 million to build a vaccine safety net for uninsured people to keep them and their communities healthier .
Without these resources , the local capacity to provide emergency services to residents during times of extreme need will be decimated , putting all Americans at risk .
This fund would have been eliminated entirely by the American Health Care Act @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s proposed budget for 2020 would have drastically cut funding for the National Institutes of Health , roughly $ 5 billion or 13 % .
Instead , with the omnibus appropriations bill worked out with Congress , NIH funding fortunately increased .
It bears repeating — Trump and the Republican Party as a whole have set out an agenda , that potentially exposes the US to greater risk for the outbreak of infectious diseases like the current Coronavirus .
Meanwhile they attack and try to defund Obamacare — and what you won @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that Obamacare has already done to help the US better handle infectious diseases .
- Forty-nine states , five large cities , the district , and Puerto Rico will receive funds to develop and sustain capacity to participate in meaningful use of electronic health records , e.g .
through implementation of electronic laboratory-based reporting according to national standards , allowing for more efficient and effective information exchange within the state and with CDC .
Four states will receive additional funding to advance the national implementation of electronic laboratory records specifically addressing healthcare-associated infections @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and New Mexico ) .
- All 50 states , the district , the five largest cities , Puerto Rico and the Republic of Palau will receive funds for the continued support of flexible , cross-cutting public health epidemiology and laboratory staff , equipment , supplies , travel , and training to sustain and improve their capacity to detect and respond to emerging infectious diseases .
Republicans have come up with a lot of reasons to attack and criticize Obamacare .
What they never seem to include in discussing their plans to repeal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would be better than Obamacare at preparing for and responding to outbreaks like the Coronavirus .
That is because , they simply have no plans at all , and the actions they do take , or intend to take — to weaken Obamacare for example — oftentimes leave us even more vulnerable .

Regardless of the outcome of the impeachment trial, in the upcoming months the Republican Party will make a pitch to the American people that they would do better for Americans if they are in charge.
However, at times like now, when the country is facing a global epidemic threat to our nation’s collective health, like the Wuhan Coronavirus, it is important to point out that Republicans like Trump would make it harder to respond to contagious outbreaks and bioterrorism.
A good example is the Republican Party’s ongoing efforts to repeal and otherwise weaken Obamacare, a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act. One of the aspects of Obamacare that would be gutted by GOP repeal efforts is called the Prevention and Public Health Fund.
Through the ACA, the Prevention and Public Health Fund accounts for nearly one-seventh of the budget for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — approximately $1 billion a year.
The Prevention and Public Health Fund currently provides nearly half of the funding for the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity program. It supports the efforts of state and local health departments to track outbreaks for conditions like meningitis and foodborne illness. It also helps develop rapid responses to evolving threats such as Ebola and the West Nile virus. The fund also supports more than 40 percent of the CDC’s immunization program, which protects Americans from contagious illnesses, including outbreaks of measles and the flu. As part of this funding, my state of Maryland received nearly $1 million to build a vaccine safety net for uninsured people to keep them and their communities healthier. Without these resources, the local capacity to provide emergency services to residents during times of extreme need will be decimated, putting all Americans at risk.
This fund would have been eliminated entirely by the American Health Care Act, or Trumpcare.
Furthermore, Trump’s proposed budget for 2020 would have drastically cut funding for the National Institutes of Health, roughly $5 billion or 13%. Instead, with the omnibus appropriations bill worked out with Congress, NIH funding fortunately increased.
NIH’s second largest unit is the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases – headed for the past third of a century by well-known immunologist Anthony Fauci. It would see its budget for the current fiscal year set at $5.88 billion, an increase of $362 million. The Trump budget had proposed cutting that unit of NIH by more than $750 million.
It bears repeating — Trump and the Republican Party as a whole have set out an agenda, that potentially exposes the US to greater risk for the outbreak of infectious diseases like the current Coronavirus.
Meanwhile they attack and try to defund Obamacare — and what you won’t hear them mention is all that Obamacare has already done to help the US better handle infectious diseases.
- Forty-nine states, five large cities, the district, and Puerto Rico will receive funds to develop and sustain capacity to participate in meaningful use of electronic health records, e.g. through implementation of electronic laboratory-based reporting according to national standards, allowing for more efficient and effective information exchange within the state and with CDC. Four states will receive additional funding to advance the national implementation of electronic laboratory records specifically addressing healthcare-associated infections (Arizona, Tennessee, South Carolina and New Mexico). - All 50 states, the district, the five largest cities, Puerto Rico and the Republic of Palau will receive funds for the continued support of flexible, cross-cutting public health epidemiology and laboratory staff, equipment, supplies, travel, and training to sustain and improve their capacity to detect and respond to emerging infectious diseases.
Republicans have come up with a lot of reasons to attack and criticize Obamacare. What they never seem to include in discussing their plans to repeal and replace, is how their plans would be better than Obamacare at preparing for and responding to outbreaks like the Coronavirus.
That is because, they simply have no plans at all, and the actions they do take, or intend to take — to weaken Obamacare for example — oftentimes leave us even more vulnerable.


dailykos--2020-01-30--So I hear that Bernie Sanders isn't really a Democrat

I ca n't really counter that argument .
Bernie , I am told , has agreed to run as a Democrat for President if he wins the Democratic Party nomination for President .
That is a meaningful technicality but still seems a technicality none the less .
Throughout his long career Senator Sanders has primarily been identified as an Independent , and therefor at least one step removed from the heart of our two party system in America .
Sanders has shown a good grasp on the pragmatic political implications of our two party system , as evidenced by his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Senate Democratic caucus .
And also by his refusal to run as a candidate himself for President in a general election without the endorsement of the Democratic Party , differentiating himself from the likes of Ralph Nader and Jill Stein .
Still , as so many point out , `` Bernie Sanders is n't really a Democrat '' .
That observation reminds me of another made back in 2016 , that time by long time members in good standing of the then traditional Republican Party .
They observed , with compelling reasons , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Republican .
Unlike with Bernie Sanders we do n't know for sure if Trump would have run for President as an Independent if he had lost the Republican primaries because , well , he won the Republican primaries .
And then , against all odds as determined by the traditional pundits , he went on to win the presidency with , like George W. Bush once before him , the help of the electoral college dispute losing the popular vote .
In retrospect pundits noted that Trump assembled what was then thought @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Republican presidential candidate , one that tapped into economic distress in `` rust belt '' states , winning votes that had until recently gone Democratic .
I sense strongly that we are no longer living in traditional mid to late 20th century times .
The bases that we had traditionally associated with Democratic and Republican coalitions are shifting at the margins .
The core of the major party bases remain as they had been of course .
Republicans still can count on anti-abortion and pro-gun voters , and those aligned with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Democrats can count on strong support from People of Color , and from those ideologically liberal .
Republicans however are losing some appeal with college educated suburban voters who stood for fiscal conservatism but who are socially moderate or liberal .
And Democrats are losing some appeal with the type of working American who may not always be socially liberal but who previously supported Democrats on economic grounds .
The type of voters who might have been in unions a few decades ago when unions were still strong in America but now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Loyalty to both of our major parties is more fluid now than it was a couple of decades ago .
The percentage of Americans who refuse to register with either party continues to rise .
The thing is , we are being myopic if we insist on looking at this trend taking place in America in isolation from what has happening in the rest of the world.The grip of established political parties throughout the world on electorates has been loosening .
Mexico was a one party state for decades , now there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ electing a president .
The UK once had Labor and the Conservatives , with a smattering of Liberal Party MP 's , but now representation in parliament is significantly more scattered with new political parties popping up .
France 's current president cobbled together a brand new political party to victoriously lead into elections , upsetting the previous long standing political order .
New viable political parties have emerged in Israel .
The Green Party is now a partner of various current or recent governing coalitions in Europe , something that rarely if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In newer democracies , where mainstream political parties have shallow roots , they are often swept away by grassroots movements that emerge seemingly from nowhere , as was the case with Zelinsky in Ukraine .
Even when traditional political parties remain viable inside their countries , the leadership of those parties is starting to emerge from more maverick elements operating within them .
Trump is an obvious example here , but Boris Johnson in the UK is no John Majors Conservative , nor is Jeremy Corbyn in line with Tony Blair type @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 21st century have become more unstable , as election results swing wildly from right to left to right again with no indication of settling anytime soon .
There is a general unease with what was seen as the previously established political order , both here and abroad .
Our own two party political system remains intact for now , but there are new currents gaining force below the surface that occasionally burst into view .
There is an anti-establishment mood growing in much of the world .
Some call it populism , whether @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unlike how people like me used the term `` establishment '' back in the late 60 's , today that term is less ideologically laden .
Now it more represents the status quo , whatever that may be .
So I hear that Bernie Sanders is n't really a Democrat .
OK , got it .
But I 'm not sure that would overall be a liability today for a candidate running with Democratic Party support in the general election .
If that is true , those who are well established within the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ among the last to recognize the shifting the sands .

I can't really counter that argument. Bernie, I am told, has agreed to run as a Democrat for President if he wins the Democratic Party nomination for President. That is a meaningful technicality but still seems a technicality none the less. Throughout his long career Senator Sanders has primarily been identified as an Independent, and therefor at least one step removed from the heart of our two party system in America.
Sanders has shown a good grasp on the pragmatic political implications of our two party system, as evidenced by his membership in good standing in the U.S. Senate Democratic caucus. And also by his refusal to run as a candidate himself for President in a general election without the endorsement of the Democratic Party, differentiating himself from the likes of Ralph Nader and Jill Stein. Still, as so many point out, "Bernie Sanders isn't really a Democrat".
That observation reminds me of another made back in 2016, that time by long time members in good standing of the then traditional Republican Party. They observed, with compelling reasons, that Donald J. Trump wasn't really a Republican. Unlike with Bernie Sanders we don't know for sure if Trump would have run for President as an Independent if he had lost the Republican primaries because, well, he won the Republican primaries. And then, against all odds as determined by the traditional pundits, he went on to win the presidency with, like George W. Bush once before him, the help of the electoral college dispute losing the popular vote. In retrospect pundits noted that Trump assembled what was then thought of as an atypical voter coalition for a Republican presidential candidate, one that tapped into economic distress in "rust belt" states, winning votes that had until recently gone Democratic.
I sense strongly that we are no longer living in traditional mid to late 20th century times. The bases that we had traditionally associated with Democratic and Republican coalitions are shifting at the margins. The core of the major party bases remain as they had been of course. Republicans still can count on anti-abortion and pro-gun voters, and those aligned with the interests of the super wealthy in America. Democrats can count on strong support from People of Color, and from those ideologically liberal. Republicans however are losing some appeal with college educated suburban voters who stood for fiscal conservatism but who are socially moderate or liberal. And Democrats are losing some appeal with the type of working American who may not always be socially liberal but who previously supported Democrats on economic grounds. The type of voters who might have been in unions a few decades ago when unions were still strong in America but now are free agents more up for grabs.
Loyalty to both of our major parties is more fluid now than it was a couple of decades ago. The percentage of Americans who refuse to register with either party continues to rise. The thing is, we are being myopic if we insist on looking at this trend taking place in America in isolation from what has happening in the rest of the world.The grip of established political parties throughout the world on electorates has been loosening. Mexico was a one party state for decades, now there are three or more parties capable of electing a president. The UK once had Labor and the Conservatives, with a smattering of Liberal Party MP's, but now representation in parliament is significantly more scattered with new political parties popping up. France's current president cobbled together a brand new political party to victoriously lead into elections, upsetting the previous long standing political order. New viable political parties have emerged in Israel. The Green Party is now a partner of various current or recent governing coalitions in Europe, something that rarely if ever happened in the late 20th Century. In newer democracies, where mainstream political parties have shallow roots, they are often swept away by grassroots movements that emerge seemingly from nowhere, as was the case with Zelinsky in Ukraine.
Even when traditional political parties remain viable inside their countries, the leadership of those parties is starting to emerge from more maverick elements operating within them. Trump is an obvious example here, but Boris Johnson in the UK is no John Majors Conservative, nor is Jeremy Corbyn in line with Tony Blair type Labor leadership. Political norms in the 21st century have become more unstable, as election results swing wildly from right to left to right again with no indication of settling anytime soon. There is a general unease with what was seen as the previously established political order, both here and abroad. Our own two party political system remains intact for now, but there are new currents gaining force below the surface that occasionally burst into view. There is an anti-establishment mood growing in much of the world. Some call it populism, whether from the left or right. And unlike how people like me used the term "establishment" back in the late 60's, today that term is less ideologically laden. Now it more represents the status quo, whatever that may be.
So I hear that Bernie Sanders isn't really a Democrat. OK, got it. But I'm not sure that would overall be a liability today for a candidate running with Democratic Party support in the general election. If that is true, those who are well established within the current political order are likely to be among the last to recognize the shifting the sands.
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dailykos--2020-01-30--Looking for Fellow Kossacks in Minneapolis/Saint Paul

This is going to be a short entry because All I want to ask is if there are any fellow @ @ @ @ @ of Minneapolis/Saint Paul and I was wondering if there are any organized get-togethers that take @ @ @ @ @ because I am getting worn down emotionally and mentally by the political news and I @ @ @ @ @ be part of a community in order to keep myself sane .
i think that @ @ @ @ @ clear that I need to find companionship in a group .
does anyone have any @ @ @

This is going to be a short entry because All I want to ask is if there are any fellow Kossacks living in the area of Minneapolis/Saint Paul and I was wondering if there are any organized get-togethers that take place.
i am asking because I am getting worn down emotionally and mentally by the political news and I feel like I need to be part of a community in order to keep myself sane.
i think that recent events have made it clear that I need to find companionship in a group.
does anyone have any ideas or suggestions


dailykos--2020-01-30--Presidents, Revolution, and Organizing

Presidents, Revolution, and Organizing

Leadership is commonly defined as the ability to mobilize followers .
This definition prevails throughout society — with grassroots activism , private businesses , foreign policy , and elsewhere .
But President Franklin Roosevelt adopted a different perspective .
He , “ I agree with you , I want to do it , now make me do it.
” Many activists want a revolutionary President , Bernie Sanders , though most Americans don ’ t support many of the policies he advocates .
These revolutionaries envision President Sanders using the “ bully pulpit ” to change hearts and minds .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ without popular support , they can provoke a counter-revolutionary backlash that sets back the revolution indefinitely — as we Sixties radicals , with our arrogance , contributed to the emergence of Reaganism .
The tone of the Sanders ’ campaign , set by Sanders himself , inflames anger , amplifies rage , and contributes to his supporters harassing opponents , even fellow progressives .
His campaign echoes the Sixties , when he formed his unchanging political dogma .
Elected officials don ’ t lead lasting revolutions .
The people lead .
Leaders follow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to help the majority realize its will — if it ’ s compassionate and consistent with America ’ s highest ideals .
If Sanders wins the nomination , it will be a gift to Republicans .
If Sanders wins the Presidency , it will likely be with a small margin and the backlash will be overwhelming .
The grassroots foundation to counter that reaction has not been built .
Rather than focus on top-down , temporary , electoral campaigns , Sanders could help organize democratic , sustainable , grassroots organizations .
He might @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Party and encourage into a precinct-based force engaged in face-to-face organizing year-round .
The revolutionary ’ s role is to build grassroots support for concrete reforms that prepare the soil for the never-ending process of evolutionary revolution — holistic , systemic transformation .
How to move in this direction is complicated .
The collects and constantly updates ideas and information that can contribute to this effort .
You ’ re invited to help develop this “ encyclopedia with a point of view .
”

Leadership is commonly defined as the ability to mobilize followers. This definition prevails throughout society — with grassroots activism, private businesses, foreign policy, and elsewhere. But President Franklin Roosevelt adopted a different perspective. He told activists , “I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it.”
Many activists want a revolutionary President, Bernie Sanders, though most Americans don’t support many of the policies he advocates. These revolutionaries envision President Sanders using the “bully pulpit” to change hearts and minds.
But if radicals move too quickly, without popular support, they can provoke a counter-revolutionary backlash that sets back the revolution indefinitely — as we Sixties radicals, with our arrogance, contributed to the emergence of Reaganism.
The tone of the Sanders’ campaign, set by Sanders himself, inflames anger, amplifies rage, and contributes to his supporters harassing opponents, even fellow progressives. His campaign echoes the Sixties, when he formed his unchanging political dogma.
Elected officials don’t lead lasting revolutions. The people lead. Leaders follow. The President’s role is to help the majority realize its will — if it’s compassionate and consistent with America’s highest ideals.
If Sanders wins the nomination, it will be a gift to Republicans. If Sanders wins the Presidency, it will likely be with a small margin and the backlash will be overwhelming. The grassroots foundation to counter that reaction has not been built.
Rather than focus on top-down, temporary, electoral campaigns, Sanders could help organize democratic, sustainable, grassroots organizations. He might, for example, join the Democratic Party and encourage its transformation into a precinct-based force engaged in face-to-face organizing year-round.


dailykos--2020-01-30--Tomgram: Robert Lipsyte, Electing a Head Coach Instead of a President

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com .
To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week , click here .
I ’ ve been a sports fan since childhood .
What red-blooded American boy of my generation wasn ’ t ?
And once again , the Super Bowl ’ s looming .
For years , I ’ ve spent that night with friends -- watching , eating ... you know the routine .
And undoubtedly I will again this Sunday .
But that night , for the first time in my long life , football may look weirdly alien @ @ @ @ @ @ @ without noticing , I stopped watching it this year .
Completely .
Not a game .
Not even a quarter .
Not once .
And I know why ( though it crept up on me ) : the drumbeat of news coming out about players in that bruising sport damaging their brains ( often from their teen years on ) via concussion after concussion on the field .
What can I say ?
Somehow , that vision of a scrambled-egg version of sports got to me .
And here ’ s something else @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the impeachment hearings in the Senate .
Yes , I did catch some of the witness testimony in the House and , yes , I ’ m still keeping up with the nightly news and daily newspaper accounts of what ’ s going on .
But watch it directly , no ?
That crept up on me , too , and now I have a football-style explanation for why .
In the case of the Trump presidency and the blizzard of news , fake news , tweets , 24/7 commentary , and god @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all , we , out here in the real world , are the ones getting the concussions .
Who can deny that the Trump presidency is a distinctly concussive event ?
And I guess when it came to the Senate proceedings and their foregone conclusion , given the nature of the modern Republican Party , I just found myself shying away from another kind of concussive experience .
After all , political brain damage is nothing to sneeze at .
Part of my recipe for holding off those concussions is to post former @ @ @ @ @ @ @ regular Robert Lipsyte ’ s new piece on why football is such an apt analogy for this presidency .
Check it out .
I think it ’ s an instant classic .
Tom The Super Bowl Presidency Five Criteria for Selecting the Worst Old White Man to Lead Us By Robert Lipsyte Attorney General William Barr ’ s campaign to expand the powers of the presidency to unprecedented imperial levels has been misinterpreted as an attempt to raise Donald Trump to the level of his strongman heroes like Vladimir Putin , Kim Jong-un @ @ @ @ @ @ @ !
It ’ s really been an attempt to boost him into the same league with the strongman heroes of far too many American men : the head coaches of our major sports , especially football .
As a gang of anti-democratic , anti-intellectual , authoritarian bullies dedicated to winning at any cost , they have paved the way for Donald Trump and his “ base.
” If the American political class were interested in electing a decent president , perhaps even one with moral courage , personal dignity , and an inspirational @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the character , philosophy , and background of the candidates , right ?
But since those in the political arena , at least brand Republican , are mostly concerned with donor dollars , expanding that base , and the charisma of their macho leader , many of them are all too ready to follow a big , loud , glad-handing figure eager to lead us deep into crises that he -- and yes , it is a “ he ” -- will claim only he can bulldoze through .
We ’ re talking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presidential version of a football head coach , as sports leads the way into… maybe not just the end zone , but The End .
Examples of such men are abundantly in the news right now , since the college football season has ended and pro football has reached its orgiastic holy day , the Super Bowl , this Sunday .
College and pro teams are scrambling to hire new head coaches , predominantly white men , of course , who score high ( as does Donald Trump ) in the five main @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Head Coach must offer purpose and meaning to people who feel powerless by offering them membership in something bigger than themselves : the tribe of a team that will be “ great again.
” To wear the orange or crimson or purple , to be part of a crowd screaming for the Tigers or Raiders or Redskins ( or The Donald ) , is to dream that tomorrow will be so much better because the new head coach , manager , skipper , top dog can deliver .
The aura that he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can linger as hope , before it dwindles into immortal nostalgia .
In football , there have been plenty of incredible shrinking coaches .
In politics , think John F. Kennedy , Ronald Reagan , and Barack Obama , all of whom still make their fans breathless with possibilities unrealized .
The prototype head coach was undoubtedly the Norwegian-born Knute Rockne , who actually delivered on many of the possibilities he promised .
A showman as well as a football savant -- he popularized the forward pass in the 1920s -- he leveraged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dame into a nationally recognized university with a cultish following .
In the process , he became rich and famous before dying in 1931 , at age 43 , in a plane crash en route to Hollywood to appear as himself in a movie .
Among the myths he invented along the way was winning “ one for the Gipper ” -- George Gipp , one of his young stars who died of pneumonia in his senior year in college .
In 1940 , actor Ronald Reagan played the Gipper onscreen , creating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presidency .
The most iconic National Football League head coach was Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers , who came to fame in the early days of the pro football boom .
He ’ s best known for the quote , `` Winning is n't everything ; it 's the only thing . ''
Lombardi was too smart to have said that and too smart to deny it once it burnished his legend .
Too bad , since that sentiment is so often the defense of bad behavior in political life -- @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first election to the Senate to President Trump betraying the Kurds , among other crimes and misdemeanors .
What Lombardi probably said was something more like : “ Winning is n't everything .
Trying to win is . ''
That ’ s the kind of self-help motto that fits a classic head coach ’ s larger message to both his players and the fans : Follow me .
Do what I say .
Only I know the way .
2 .
The Head Coach , college variety , must sell “ the program @ @ @ @ @ @ @ corporate-style athletic department of this era .
He does it with a shape-shifting charm that can seduce both small-town working-class families and global financial wolves .
In that way , the head coach should remind us of presidential hopefuls who can work both everyday Midwestern diners and waterfront East Hampton fund-raisers for the corporate elite .
In a living room with a talented teenager , he can convincingly promise mom and dad that he will act in loco parentis , not only by keeping junior out of trouble , but by giving him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a pro career or a Wall Street job via successful alumni .
At the least , he will make a man out of him .
In a banquet hall filled with those alumni with deep pockets , all the booster whales , he can convincingly promise winning seasons that will include them personally .
As an irresistible perk in return for donations to the program ( and perhaps a few no-show off-season jobs for athletes ) , there ’ s always the chance for donors to mingle in the locker room and to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in team scuttlebutt and manly jock talk , not to mention all those photo ops .
It ’ s like lunch at Mar-a-Lago with the president and some cabinet members .
( Think : assistant coaches . )
That kind of salesmanship is critical because the salaries of head coaches are obscenely high and have to be justified .
In most states , the head football coaches at public universities are also the highest-paid public employees .
At the top of the heap right now is Clemson University ’ s hard-driving , God-promoting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for a mere $ 93 million over the next decade , to keep the Tigers great .
Indeed , his team did win the national championship the year before , but recently lost this year ’ s title game to Louisiana State University ‘ s Ed Orgeron whose salary is only 30th on the college coach list ( at a paltry $ 4 million annually ) .
President Trump earns one-tenth of that as president , a salary that he gives away .
Little wonder that he needs to bolster his income with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ presidential powers .
How else will he keep up with the jock elite ?
3 .
The Head Coach is dedicated to winning by any means necessary .
Cutting corners , bad behavior , even cheating is proof that he has true fire in his belly .
While his wealth , power , prestige , and the frequency of recruiting scandals have made the college football head coach a frequent target of media indignation , the leaders of other top sports are probably as culpable when it comes to cheating .
As a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the dark side of all our games as breeding grounds for Trumpism .
And that phenomenon , in turn , seems to have lowered our outrage about everything else in our American lives , including sports .
Think of it as a kind of boomerang effect .
Cheating has been normalized and , most of the time , we just shrug .
Take , for example , the current Houston Astro sign-stealing scandal that helped win that team a World Series in 2017 .
Despite a few coach departures , compared to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Hall of Shame , including the 1919 Black Sox attempt to fix an earlier world series , spitball use , and steroids , it ’ s made remarkably small waves .
Thanks to Donald Trump ’ s record of dishonor , it ’ s been hard to crank up anger over cheating to win at mere games .
No wonder the New England Patriots ’ Bill Belichick , despite the many accusations of wrongdoing lodged against him , is considered the greatest pro coach of all time based on his record six @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) and a lifetime 304-137 record .
In short , every year it seems all the more as if the end zone justifies the means .
4 .
Alpha male that he is , the Head Coach has absolute control over the brutes .
After all , in the locker-room and on the sidelines of the game , he ’ s the commander-in-chief , the beast-master of the raw young power he sends into battle .
For so many American men , there seems to be something thrilling in the head coach ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bodies and fates of the young players on his team .
The fantasy of such dominance -- for most , available only in video games -- affects not only the fans , but the coaches themselves .
They tend to believe in the righteousness of their power over those strong young men pledged to help them win , no matter what kind of bad actors they may prove to be in their lives out of uniform .
( Similarly , by the way , our head coach of a president puts his faith @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , his legal team in those impeachment hearings , and those roaring fans at his rallies . )
Coaches , in fact , tend to love the dark wildness of bad boys , especially if they think that they alone have command over their pit-bull jocks .
They love their bad boys so much that they ’ ll turn a blind eye when they act up and bail them out when they get in trouble for anything from being a bully in the hallway to assault with a deadly weapon or rape .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ such beast-master coaches was Tom Osborne who headed the University of Nebraska ’ s football team for 25 years , overseeing stars like the psychopathic Lawrence Phillips who should have been in jail rather than lionized as a college hero .
Twenty-five years ago , at an awards banquet at which he was honored , I asked Osborne how he could justify any of this .
He answered coldly and cynically , “ Would you rather they were on my team or loose in your neighborhood ?
” Later , as a three-term @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of 83 from the American Conservative Union .
Coming to feel that politics offered him so much less , however , he returned to Nebraska ’ s football team , his eternal place of power and glory .
Osborne ’ s example , hardly unique , offers insight into President Trump ’ s intervention in the case of disgraced Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher , an out-of-control killer in Afghanistan where fellow Seals accused him of murdering civilians , among other crimes .
As Trump ’ s version of Lawrence Phillips , Chief Petty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ patina of macho supremacy .
He could handle the tough guys !
Trump even invited him to Mar-a-Lago .
5 .
The Head Coach who can check off those first four criteria will be qualified to check off this one , too : ascension to the top ranks of million-dollar-plus power leaders .
He will then be perceived as a Strong Man , sport ’ s version of the top dogs of global politics .
So how does the president match up with , say , three of the most famous and revered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ There was Bear Bryant of the University of Alabama ’ s Crimson Tide , known for his harsh discipline and almost religious passion for “ his ” school .
`` If you want to walk the heavenly streets of gold , you got ta know the password , 'Roll , Tide , Roll . '
'' There was Woody Hayes of Ohio State who attacked an opposing player during a game and was fired the next day .
A military history professor as well as a coach , he ’ s been quoted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the My Lai massacre , a 1968 American slaughter of more than 500 Vietnamese civilians , killed men who deserved to die `` and I would n't be so sure those women were innocent .
The children are obviously innocent -- if they are less than five . ''
Finally , there was Joe Paterno of Penn State , a much beloved philanthropist and father figure known as JoePa , whose legend was tarnished by the proven pederasty of one of his assistant coaches .
Paterno had known enough , early enough , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ abuse .
He was fired soon after his 409th victory , a record , and died several months later .
His statue on campus was carted away .
And the current crop of top coaches has yet to prove itself any better .
This is important because head coaches clearly serve as father figures , cult leaders , models of masculinity -- perhaps particularly to the disaffected millions who see in Trump the strong man who can guide them , speak for them , protect them from everything that seems to be going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of us who don ’ t quite view him that way , perhaps the only saving grace of the head-coach connection at this moment of the 54th Super Bowl is how easily college and pro teams are willing to dump their coaches when they don ’ t fulfill expectations .
Alas , it doesn ’ t seem to work that way with presidential head coaches .
So far .
Robert Lipsyte , a TomDispatch regular , was a sports and city columnist for the New York Times .
He is the author , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ An American Dreamland .
Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook .
Check out the newest Dispatch Books , John Feffer ’ s new dystopian novel ( the second in the Splinterlands series ) Frostlands , Beverly Gologorsky 's novel Every Body Has a Story , and Tom Engelhardt 's A Nation Unmade by War , as well as Alfred McCoy 's In the Shadows of the American Century : The Rise and Decline of U.S .
Global Power and John Dower 's The Violent American Century : War and Terror @ @ @ @ @

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.
I’ve been a sports fan since childhood. What red-blooded American boy of my generation wasn’t? And once again, the Super Bowl’s looming. For years, I’ve spent that night with friends -- watching, eating... you know the routine. And undoubtedly I will again this Sunday. But that night, for the first time in my long life, football may look weirdly alien to me. After all, almost without noticing, I stopped watching it this year. Completely. Not a game. Not even a quarter. Not once. And I know why (though it crept up on me): the drumbeat of news coming out about players in that bruising sport damaging their brains (often from their teen years on) via concussion after concussion on the field.
What can I say? Somehow, that vision of a scrambled-egg version of sports got to me. And here’s something else I haven’t been watching: the impeachment hearings in the Senate. Yes, I did catch some of the witness testimony in the House and, yes, I’m still keeping up with the nightly news and daily newspaper accounts of what’s going on. But watch it directly, no? That crept up on me, too, and now I have a football-style explanation for why. In the case of the Trump presidency and the blizzard of news, fake news, tweets, 24/7 commentary, and god knows what else that has impeached us all, we, out here in the real world, are the ones getting the concussions. Who can deny that the Trump presidency is a distinctly concussive event? And I guess when it came to the Senate proceedings and their foregone conclusion, given the nature of the modern Republican Party, I just found myself shying away from another kind of concussive experience. After all, political brain damage is nothing to sneeze at.
Part of my recipe for holding off those concussions is to post former New York Times sports columnist and TomDispatch regular Robert Lipsyte’s new piece on why football is such an apt analogy for this presidency. Check it out. I think it’s an instant classic. Tom
The Super Bowl Presidency
Five Criteria for Selecting the Worst Old White Man to Lead Us
By Robert Lipsyte
Attorney General William Barr’s campaign to expand the powers of the presidency to unprecedented imperial levels has been misinterpreted as an attempt to raise Donald Trump to the level of his strongman heroes like Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, and Jair Bolsonaro. Fake news! It’s really been an attempt to boost him into the same league with the strongman heroes of far too many American men: the head coaches of our major sports, especially football. As a gang of anti-democratic, anti-intellectual, authoritarian bullies dedicated to winning at any cost, they have paved the way for Donald Trump and his “base.”
If the American political class were interested in electing a decent president, perhaps even one with moral courage, personal dignity, and an inspirational vision, they would be concentrating on the character, philosophy, and background of the candidates, right? But since those in the political arena, at least brand Republican, are mostly concerned with donor dollars, expanding that base, and the charisma of their macho leader, many of them are all too ready to follow a big, loud, glad-handing figure eager to lead us deep into crises that he -- and yes, it is a “he” -- will claim only he can bulldoze through.
We’re talking, in other words, about the presidential version of a football head coach, as sports leads the way into… maybe not just the end zone, but The End. Examples of such men are abundantly in the news right now, since the college football season has ended and pro football has reached its orgiastic holy day, the Super Bowl, this Sunday. College and pro teams are scrambling to hire new head coaches, predominantly white men, of course, who score high (as does Donald Trump) in the five main criteria for the job.
1. The Head Coach must offer purpose and meaning to people who feel powerless by offering them membership in something bigger than themselves: the tribe of a team that will be “great again.” To wear the orange or crimson or purple, to be part of a crowd screaming for the Tigers or Raiders or Redskins (or The Donald), is to dream that tomorrow will be so much better because the new head coach, manager, skipper, top dog can deliver. The aura that he brings is invariably short-lived, but it can linger as hope, before it dwindles into immortal nostalgia.
In football, there have been plenty of incredible shrinking coaches. In politics, think John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Barack Obama, all of whom still make their fans breathless with possibilities unrealized.
The prototype head coach was undoubtedly the Norwegian-born Knute Rockne, who actually delivered on many of the possibilities he promised. A showman as well as a football savant -- he popularized the forward pass in the 1920s -- he leveraged publicity from winning games to turn Notre Dame into a nationally recognized university with a cultish following. In the process, he became rich and famous before dying in 1931, at age 43, in a plane crash en route to Hollywood to appear as himself in a movie.
Among the myths he invented along the way was winning “one for the Gipper” -- George Gipp, one of his young stars who died of pneumonia in his senior year in college. In 1940, actor Ronald Reagan played the Gipper onscreen, creating the basis for his own future head-coach presidency.
The most iconic National Football League head coach was Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers, who came to fame in the early days of the pro football boom. He’s best known for the quote, "Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing." Lombardi was too smart to have said that and too smart to deny it once it burnished his legend. Too bad, since that sentiment is so often the defense of bad behavior in political life -- from future president Lyndon Johnson stealing his first election to the Senate to President Trump betraying the Kurds, among other crimes and misdemeanors.
What Lombardi probably said was something more like: “Winning isn't everything. Trying to win is." That’s the kind of self-help motto that fits a classic head coach’s larger message to both his players and the fans: Follow me. Do what I say. Only I know the way.
2. The Head Coach, college variety, must sell “the program,” the preferred term for the corporate-style athletic department of this era. He does it with a shape-shifting charm that can seduce both small-town working-class families and global financial wolves. In that way, the head coach should remind us of presidential hopefuls who can work both everyday Midwestern diners and waterfront East Hampton fund-raisers for the corporate elite.
In a living room with a talented teenager, he can convincingly promise mom and dad that he will act in loco parentis, not only by keeping junior out of trouble, but by giving him enough playing time to assure him either a pro career or a Wall Street job via successful alumni. At the least, he will make a man out of him.
In a banquet hall filled with those alumni with deep pockets, all the booster whales, he can convincingly promise winning seasons that will include them personally. As an irresistible perk in return for donations to the program (and perhaps a few no-show off-season jobs for athletes), there’s always the chance for donors to mingle in the locker room and to breakfast with the coach, to engage in team scuttlebutt and manly jock talk, not to mention all those photo ops. It’s like lunch at Mar-a-Lago with the president and some cabinet members. (Think: assistant coaches.)
That kind of salesmanship is critical because the salaries of head coaches are obscenely high and have to be justified. In most states, the head football coaches at public universities are also the highest-paid public employees. At the top of the heap right now is Clemson University’s hard-driving, God-promoting coach Dabo Swinney who has promised, for a mere $93 million over the next decade, to keep the Tigers great.
Indeed, his team did win the national championship the year before, but recently lost this year’s title game to Louisiana State University‘s Ed Orgeron whose salary is only 30th on the college coach list (at a paltry $4 million annually). President Trump earns one-tenth of that as president, a salary that he gives away. Little wonder that he needs to bolster his income with emoluments galore and constantly pump up his presidential powers. How else will he keep up with the jock elite?
3. The Head Coach is dedicated to winning by any means necessary. Cutting corners, bad behavior, even cheating is proof that he has true fire in his belly.
While his wealth, power, prestige, and the frequency of recruiting scandals have made the college football head coach a frequent target of media indignation, the leaders of other top sports are probably as culpable when it comes to cheating. As a group, they make a good case for the dark side of all our games as breeding grounds for Trumpism.
And that phenomenon, in turn, seems to have lowered our outrage about everything else in our American lives, including sports. Think of it as a kind of boomerang effect. Cheating has been normalized and, most of the time, we just shrug. Take, for example, the current Houston Astro sign-stealing scandal that helped win that team a World Series in 2017. Despite a few coach departures, compared to other scandals in major league baseball’s Hall of Shame, including the 1919 Black Sox attempt to fix an earlier world series, spitball use, and steroids, it’s made remarkably small waves.
Thanks to Donald Trump’s record of dishonor, it’s been hard to crank up anger over cheating to win at mere games. No wonder the New England Patriots’ Bill Belichick, despite the many accusations of wrongdoing lodged against him, is considered the greatest pro coach of all time based on his record six Super Bowl victories (in nine appearances) and a lifetime 304-137 record.
In short, every year it seems all the more as if the end zone justifies the means.
4. Alpha male that he is, the Head Coach has absolute control over the brutes. After all, in the locker-room and on the sidelines of the game, he’s the commander-in-chief, the beast-master of the raw young power he sends into battle.
For so many American men, there seems to be something thrilling in the head coach’s utter, unquestioned authority over the bodies and fates of the young players on his team. The fantasy of such dominance -- for most, available only in video games -- affects not only the fans, but the coaches themselves. They tend to believe in the righteousness of their power over those strong young men pledged to help them win, no matter what kind of bad actors they may prove to be in their lives out of uniform. (Similarly, by the way, our head coach of a president puts his faith in his control over his administration team, his legal team in those impeachment hearings, and those roaring fans at his rallies.)
Coaches, in fact, tend to love the dark wildness of bad boys, especially if they think that they alone have command over their pit-bull jocks. They love their bad boys so much that they’ll turn a blind eye when they act up and bail them out when they get in trouble for anything from being a bully in the hallway to assault with a deadly weapon or rape.
Among the most famous and successful of such beast-master coaches was Tom Osborne who headed the University of Nebraska’s football team for 25 years, overseeing stars like the psychopathic Lawrence Phillips who should have been in jail rather than lionized as a college hero.
Twenty-five years ago, at an awards banquet at which he was honored, I asked Osborne how he could justify any of this. He answered coldly and cynically, “Would you rather they were on my team or loose in your neighborhood?”
Later, as a three-term congressman, he received a lifetime rating of 83 from the American Conservative Union. Coming to feel that politics offered him so much less, however, he returned to Nebraska’s football team, his eternal place of power and glory.
Osborne’s example, hardly unique, offers insight into President Trump’s intervention in the case of disgraced Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, an out-of-control killer in Afghanistan where fellow Seals accused him of murdering civilians, among other crimes.
As Trump’s version of Lawrence Phillips, Chief Petty Officer Gallagher gave the president that head-coach patina of macho supremacy. He could handle the tough guys! Trump even invited him to Mar-a-Lago.
5. The Head Coach who can check off those first four criteria will be qualified to check off this one, too: ascension to the top ranks of million-dollar-plus power leaders. He will then be perceived as a Strong Man, sport’s version of the top dogs of global politics.
So how does the president match up with, say, three of the most famous and revered head coaches of his own lifetime?
There was Bear Bryant of the University of Alabama’s Crimson Tide, known for his harsh discipline and almost religious passion for “his” school. "If you want to walk the heavenly streets of gold, you gotta know the password, 'Roll, Tide, Roll.'"
There was Woody Hayes of Ohio State who attacked an opposing player during a game and was fired the next day. A military history professor as well as a coach, he’s been quoted as saying that the soldiers involved in the My Lai massacre, a 1968 American slaughter of more than 500 Vietnamese civilians, killed men who deserved to die "and I wouldn't be so sure those women were innocent. The children are obviously innocent -- if they are less than five."
Finally, there was Joe Paterno of Penn State, a much beloved philanthropist and father figure known as JoePa, whose legend was tarnished by the proven pederasty of one of his assistant coaches. Paterno had known enough, early enough, to stop the man and prevent further abuse. He was fired soon after his 409th victory, a record, and died several months later. His statue on campus was carted away.
And the current crop of top coaches has yet to prove itself any better. This is important because head coaches clearly serve as father figures, cult leaders, models of masculinity -- perhaps particularly to the disaffected millions who see in Trump the strong man who can guide them, speak for them, protect them from everything that seems to be going wrong in their lives.
For those of us who don’t quite view him that way, perhaps the only saving grace of the head-coach connection at this moment of the 54th Super Bowl is how easily college and pro teams are willing to dump their coaches when they don’t fulfill expectations.
Alas, it doesn’t seem to work that way with presidential head coaches. So far.
Robert Lipsyte, a TomDispatch regular, was a sports and city columnist for the New York Times. He is the author, among other works, of SportsWorld: An American Dreamland.
Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Books, John Feffer’s new dystopian novel (the second in the Splinterlands series) Frostlands, Beverly Gologorsky's novel Every Body Has a Story, and Tom Engelhardt's A Nation Unmade by War, as well as Alfred McCoy's In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power and John Dower's The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II.
Copyright 2020 Robert Lipsyte


Iowa Caucus Fucknuffle

I made up the word Fucknuffle , hope that doesn ’ t get me in trouble .
A full day after the 2020 Iowa caucus results ( not votes ) should have been tallied and reported , they still can ’ t get their shit together .
Yes , it could have been a bad app , or other stupid shit , but it really comes down to this : In 1960 , or 1980 , or 1904 or any other year before apps were invented , it would have taken about 4 hours to deliver the results of any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the Iowa Democratic Party headquarters .
Highways .
Cars .
Cars apparently now go faster than apps .
So , 24 hours after the caucuses , we are at 62 or 67 % of the precincts reporting .
Really ?
Nobody has a car ?
Iowa results should be ignored this year .
Didn ’ t happen .
Never occurred .
The first reported results will be from New Hampshire .
Iowa should be relegated to having their shit-spectacle in June ( whether a primary or caucus , if they want to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hours since the closing of the Iowa Caucuses , and still at 67 % ?
Iowa sucks caucus .

I made up the word Fucknuffle, hope that doesn’t get me in trouble.
A full day after the 2020 Iowa caucus results (not votes) should have been tallied and reported, they still can’t get their shit together. Yes, it could have been a bad app, or other stupid shit, but it really comes down to this:
In 1960, or 1980, or 1904 or any other year before apps were invented, it would have taken about 4 hours to deliver the results of any Iowa election (or fucking caucus) to the Iowa Democratic Party headquarters. Highways. Cars. Cars apparently now go faster than apps.
So, 24 hours after the caucuses, we are at 62 or 67% of the precincts reporting. Really? Nobody has a car?
Iowa results should be ignored this year. Didn’t happen. Never occurred. The first reported results will be from New Hampshire. Iowa should be relegated to having their shit-spectacle in June (whether a primary or caucus, if they want to continue to suck).
Seriously… 24 hours since the closing of the Iowa Caucuses, and still at 67%? Iowa sucks caucus.


dailykos--2020-02-05--This Is Why Mitt Romney’s Decision To Convict Is So Important

UPDATE : Following the Senate vote .
We may never know if Romney ’ s decision influenced Democratic Senators Manchin and Sinema to vote to convict on both articles .
I suspect it did .
Collins & Gardner might as well pack up their things .
-Mystic54 Mitt Romney stated on the Senate floor and then voted to remove Donald J. Trump on Article 1 , Abuse Of Power , of the impeachment articles .
It was broadcast on three cable news channels live .
This is the first time in history that a Senator of either party has broken @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and remove from office a President of the United States .
Here ’ s why this is so important : 1 .
This will hurt GOP Senators up for re-election in 2020 as they have lost much of their political cover .
Their cowardice will stand out even more to voters in their states .
2 .
Democratic Senators who considered voting to acquit were forced to reconsider their strategy .
They now have more cover and don ’ t want to jeopardize their reelection chances with Democrats my moving to the right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
3 .
The national conversation now becomes about a bipartisan vote to convict .
4 .
Most importantly , Mitt Romney has sway with a faction of national Republicans and center right conservative independents who now have at least one example of some modicum of moral courage .
This may make them better deal with their internal conflict around the need to remain loyal to Trump given his actions .

UPDATE: Following the Senate vote. We may never know if Romney’s decision influenced Democratic Senators Manchin and Sinema to vote to convict on both articles. I suspect it did. Collins & Gardner might as well pack up their things. -Mystic54
Mitt Romney stated on the Senate floor and then voted to remove Donald J. Trump on Article 1, Abuse Of Power, of the impeachment articles. It was broadcast on three cable news channels live. This is the first time in history that a Senator of either party has broken the party line to vote to convict and remove from office a President of the United States.
Here’s why this is so important:
1. This will hurt GOP Senators up for re-election in 2020 as they have lost much of their political cover. Their cowardice will stand out even more to voters in their states.
2. Democratic Senators who considered voting to acquit were forced to reconsider their strategy. They now have more cover and don’t want to jeopardize their reelection chances with Democrats my moving to the right of Romney, and side with Republicans.
3. The national conversation now becomes about a bipartisan vote to convict.
4. Most importantly, Mitt Romney has sway with a faction of national Republicans and center right conservative independents who now have at least one example of some modicum of moral courage. This may make them better deal with their internal conflict around the need to remain loyal to Trump given his actions.


dailykos--2020-02-05--I Watched A Madman Speak While His Followers Shouted “Four More Years!”

I sat numbly by last night watching the most absurd thing I have ever witnessed in my life .
A crazy person somehow got in to the White House and has taken over the minds of almost half of the country .
He is mad and somehow has taken tens of millions of our fellow citizens in to the madness with him .
The State of the Union speech tonight was like watching a epically bad movie about how a unlikely character becomes President of the United States .
One so bad it found a cult following .
Think of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Picture Show and combine it withThe Price Is Right game show .
That is what we watched last night .
The words in the speech that were written to come out of his mouth reminded at bit me of the one he delivered on his Inauguration Day .
We were shocked then by the way he spoke , the crudeness of his thoughts .
That mixture of hyperbole and lies no longer has the impact it did back then .
People got used to it .
That is what constant gaslighting does , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In the back of my mind I guess I always assumed that Republican members of Congress , even when they were at their most obsequious , understood that Trump was off his rocker .
As they chanted “ four more years ” at SOTU I realized that they had been fully co-opted in to the madness , the cult .
They too are zombies now .
This week the Gallup Poll had his approval numbers at 49 % .
He has been now been fully exposed .
The entire population of America knows @ @ @ @ @ @ @ zombie Republicans support him .
When you stand in line at Starbucks to get your coffee , chances are half the people around you think Trump is a good President .
Madness .

I sat numbly by last night watching the most absurd thing I have ever witnessed in my life. A crazy person somehow got in to the White House and has taken over the minds of almost half of the country. He is mad and somehow has taken tens of millions of our fellow citizens in to the madness with him.
The State of the Union speech tonight was like watching a epically bad movie about how a unlikely character becomes President of the United States. One so bad it found a cult following. Think of Attack of the Zombies, Rocky Horror Picture Show and combine it withThe Price Is Right game show. That is what we watched last night.
The words in the speech that were written to come out of his mouth reminded at bit me of the one he delivered on his Inauguration Day. We were shocked then by the way he spoke, the crudeness of his thoughts. That mixture of hyperbole and lies no longer has the impact it did back then. People got used to it. That is what constant gaslighting does, it wears folks down over time.
In the back of my mind I guess I always assumed that Republican members of Congress, even when they were at their most obsequious, understood that Trump was off his rocker. As they chanted “ four more years” at SOTU I realized that they had been fully co-opted in to the madness, the cult. They too are zombies now.
This week the Gallup Poll had his approval numbers at 49%. He has been now been fully exposed. The entire population of America knows who he is yet 88% of zombie Republicans support him. When you stand in line at Starbucks to get your coffee, chances are half the people around you think Trump is a good President. Madness.


dailykos--2020-02-06--Good News Roundup: Thursday, February 6, 2020: My
"No Pie Throwing" Manifesto!

We ’ ll know we ’ ve finally hit rock bottom when grave robbers break into Rush Limbaugh ’ s tomb to steal his Presidential Medal of Freedom to sell on E-bay .
( I suppose he ’ ll have to die first , then be buried actually wearing the medal .
And put into a tomb rather than just buried like anyone else ) .
Until then , the President ’ s “ acquittal ” in the Senate , the Great Iowa Caucus Cock-up , the State of the Onion address ( it stank ) will have to suffice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ low points in the news .
And , of course Kirk Douglas passing away .
All in all , it ’ s been a pretty sucky week , so far .
That being said , let ’ s shift gears a little today .
I ’ m want to talk about pie .
When you live by yourself , you find ways to keep yourself amused .
( That ’ s actually a line from a Peter Straub novel , The Throat , but one I ’ ve taken to heart ) .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ve mastered , more or less , is making decent pie pastry .
The right amount of salt in the flour , the right temperature of the cold water , mixing by machine or by hand ( I use a large mixing bowl and a fork , myself ) and the everlasting debate of whether to use shortening , butter , or lard .
( Pro tip : lard ! )
.
It doesn ’ t matter what your pie filling is : the pastry is all-important .
But it is made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sayin ’ .
If you care in the least about pie-making , you take exception to pie-throwing , in any of its manifestations .
And pie-throwing season seems to be getting into full swing elsewhere in the pages in the Daily Kos .
Not here in the Good News Roundup , not yet , mercifully .
Sure , I ’ m a political junkie , and have been since I was in high school ; but I ’ ve never been such a rabid fan-boy to the point where my candidate is heaven-sent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ try to take people as I find them .
If you have a problem with that , sorry , I don ’ t have anything in your size today .
But thanks for stopping by !
I therefore pledge myself to decline to engage in such conduct .
It ’ s neither worth my time or trouble , and misses the entire point of the Democratic primaries and convention : finding a candidate who will clean the President ’ s clock come November .
Anything else is self-serving , self-righteous dicking-off .
Remember @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , not throwing .
Politico reported yesterday that the President was acquitted of the two articles of impeachment along party lines .
More trouble for the NRA “ NEW YORK ( Reuters ) - New York ’ s financial regulator on Wednesday filed civil charges accusing the National Rifle Association of offering insurance to its members without a license and concealing how it routinely kept some of their premiums for itself .
Wednesday ’ s charges focus mainly on the group ’ s alleged ties since 2000 to insurance broker Lockton Cos , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New Yorkers and the NRA ’ s receipt of more than $ 1.8 million in associated royalties and fees .
Lockton ’ s policies included the NRA-branded “ Carry Guard , ” which the regulator said offered policyholders unlawful liability coverage , including for criminal defense costs and “ intentional ” conduct in shooting incidents .
The NRA was also accused of misleadingly promising coverage for gun collectors , dealers , instructors , clubs and shows at the “ lowest possible cost , ” when in fact the group typically kept between 13.7 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Well , you can ’ t fault them for trying !
When marketing Rio de Janeiro , Brazil ’ s national tourism agency typically focuses on the city ’ s world-class beaches , samba-filled music scene and caipirinha-fueled parties .
But in an embarrassing social media cock-up this week , Embratur , the Brazilian tourist board , accidentally shared a critical Instagram post from a tourist who did not enjoy her stay in the so-called “ Cidade Maravilhosa , ” or Marvellous City .
“ I just spent three days in Rio @ @ @ @ @ @ @ three days my family and I were robbed and my nine-year-old sister witnessed a violent robbery ” .
Embratur deleted the shared post on Wednesday .
It said in a subsequent statement that “ sharing [ the post ] was a mistake , ” adding that it had worked hard to promote a nationwide fall in crime in 2019.
” 1685 – James II of England and VII of Scotland is proclaimed King upon the death of his brother Charles II .
1756 – Aaron Burr , American colonel and politician , 3rd @ @ @ @ @ @ @ d. 1836 ) 1778 – American Revolutionary War : In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic ; Britain declares war on France .
1788 – Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution .
1862 – American Civil War : Forces under the command of Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew H. Foote give the Union its first victory of the war , capturing Fort Henry , Tennessee in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Spanish–American War : The Treaty of Paris , a peace treaty between the United States and Spain , is ratified by the United States Senate .
1918 – British women over the age of 30 who meet minimum property qualifications , get the right to vote when Representation of the People Act 1918 is passed by Parliament .
1922 – The Washington Naval Treaty is signed in Washington , D.C. , limiting the naval armaments of United States , Britain , Japan , France , and Italy .
1952 – Elizabeth II becomes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other Realms and Territories and Head of the Commonwealth upon the death of her father , George VI .
At the exact moment of succession , she was in a tree house at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya .
1978 – The Blizzard of 1978 , one of the worst Nor'easters in New England history , hit the region , with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of four inches an hour .
1989 – The Round Table Talks start in Poland , thus marking the beginning of the overthrow of communism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ EXTREMELY LARGE THINGS , Antarctic Iceberg Division Grosz painting from 1944 appears in public for first time !
Your Quote of the Day : Your Thursday Video !
Yes , there are goats .
Winter is still here , the flu-bug is still out there , the New Hampshire primary is next week , and the news will keep coming !
Stay warm , stay healthy , and remember , there ’ s always more good news out there than bad !
The bad news just gets more attention .

Good morning all!
We’ll know we’ve finally hit rock bottom when grave robbers break into Rush Limbaugh’s tomb to steal his Presidential Medal of Freedom to sell on E-bay. (I suppose he’ll have to die first, then be buried actually wearing the medal. And put into a tomb rather than just buried like anyone else).
Until then, the President’s “acquittal” in the Senate, the Great Iowa Caucus Cock-up, the State of the Onion address (it stank) will have to suffice for a week’s worth of low points in the news. And, of course Kirk Douglas passing away. All in all, it’s been a pretty sucky week, so far.
That being said, let’s shift gears a little today. I’m want to talk about pie.
Judge us. Eat us. Enjoy us. But please don’t throw us!
When you live by yourself, you find ways to keep yourself amused. (That’s actually a line from a Peter Straub novel, The Throat, but one I’ve taken to heart). One of the culinary arts that I’ve mastered, more or less, is making decent pie pastry. The right amount of salt in the flour, the right temperature of the cold water, mixing by machine or by hand (I use a large mixing bowl and a fork, myself) and the everlasting debate of whether to use shortening, butter, or lard. (Pro tip: lard!). It doesn’t matter what your pie filling is: the pastry is all-important. But it is made better with a strawberry-rhubarb filling. Just sayin’.
If you care in the least about pie-making, you take exception to pie-throwing, in any of its manifestations. And pie-throwing season seems to be getting into full swing elsewhere in the pages in the Daily Kos. Not here in the Good News Roundup, not yet, mercifully.
Sure, I’m a political junkie, and have been since I was in high school; but I’ve never been such a rabid fan-boy to the point where my candidate is heaven-sent and yours is evil incarnate. I try to take people as I find them. If you have a problem with that, sorry, I don’t have anything in your size today. But thanks for stopping by!
I therefore pledge myself to decline to engage in such conduct. It’s neither worth my time or trouble, and misses the entire point of the Democratic primaries and convention: finding a candidate who will clean the President’s clock come November. Anything else is self-serving, self-righteous dicking-off.
Remember: Pie is for sharing and eating, not throwing.
News?
Yeah, about that acquittal thing...
Politico reported yesterday that the President was acquitted of the two articles of impeachment along party lines.
The first article, abuse of power, failed 48-52 — well short of the 67-vote super-majority required to remove Trump from office. Utah Sen. Mitt Romney was the lone Republican to vote in favor of the abuse of power charge. The second article, obstruction of Congress, failed 47-53 — a party-line vote. All Democratic senators voted to convict Trump on both counts.
Disappointment? Anger? Ready to go full Capone? (NSFW: Language!)
(That’s Al talking, not me. I’m just sayin’ GOTV...)
More trouble for the NRA
From Reuters:
NRA Logo. Becoming less fashionable daily “NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York’s financial regulator on Wednesday filed civil charges accusing the National Rifle Association of offering insurance to its members without a license and concealing how it routinely kept some of their premiums for itself. Wednesday’s charges focus mainly on the group’s alleged ties since 2000 to insurance broker Lockton Cos, including the sale of 28,005 policies to New Yorkers and the NRA’s receipt of more than $1.8 million in associated royalties and fees. Lockton’s policies included the NRA-branded “Carry Guard,” which the regulator said offered policyholders unlawful liability coverage, including for criminal defense costs and “intentional” conduct in shooting incidents. The NRA was also accused of misleadingly promising coverage for gun collectors, dealers, instructors, clubs and shows at the “lowest possible cost,” when in fact the group typically kept between 13.7% and 21.9% of premiums paid.
Well, you can’t fault them for trying!
From the Guardian:
Police in Rio de Janeiro When marketing Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s national tourism agency typically focuses on the city’s world-class beaches, samba-filled music scene and caipirinha-fueled parties. But in an embarrassing social media cock-up this week, Embratur, the Brazilian tourist board, accidentally shared a critical Instagram post from a tourist who did not enjoy her stay in the so-called “Cidade Maravilhosa,” or Marvellous City. “I just spent three days in Rio with my family, and in those three days my family and I were robbed and my nine-year-old sister witnessed a violent robbery”. Embratur deleted the shared post on Wednesday. It said in a subsequent statement that “sharing [the post] was a mistake,” adding that it had worked hard to promote a nationwide fall in crime in 2019.”
Iowa!
The New York Times has a really neat interactive map showing the Caucus results. Curiousity got the better of me, because I have relatives living in Marshall County. Bernie led the polling there at 34%. (To find Marshall Co., find Des Moines on the map, then go one square right and one square up).
Interesting Polling Data!
According to 538, the President’s Approval Rating was at 43.4% as of yesterday. On December 17, 2019, he was at 43.8%. The last time he was higher than 43% was in March 2017. He has never had an approval rating above 47% since taking office.
This day in History!
James II. Intrepid Admiral, lousy King. Didn’t last long. 1685 – James II of England and VII of Scotland is proclaimed King upon the death of his brother Charles II. 1756 – Aaron Burr, American colonel and politician, 3rd Vice President of the United States (d. 1836) 1778 – American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic; Britain declares war on France. 1788 – Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution. 1819 – Sir Thomas Raffles founds Singapore. Battle of Fort Henry. Union Ironclads vs. Confederate Dirt 1862 – American Civil War: Forces under the command of Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew H. Foote give the Union its first victory of the war, capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee in the Battle of Fort Henry. 1895 – Babe Ruth, American baseball player and coach (d. 1948) 1899 – Spanish–American War: The Treaty of Paris, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain, is ratified by the United States Senate. 1918 – British women over the age of 30 who meet minimum property qualifications, get the right to vote when Representation of the People Act 1918 is passed by Parliament. 1922 – The Washington Naval Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., limiting the naval armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy. Bob Marley 1945 – Bob Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1981) 1952 – Elizabeth II becomes Queen of the United Kingdom and her other Realms and Territories and Head of the Commonwealth upon the death of her father, George VI. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a tree house at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya. 1978 – The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst Nor'easters in New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of four inches an hour. 1989 – The Round Table Talks start in Poland, thus marking the beginning of the overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe 2018 – SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, a super heavy launch vehicle, makes its maiden flight.
Musical Interlude:
Interesting bits
From the Department of EXTREMELY LARGE THINGS, Antarctic Iceberg Division
From Yahoo News:
A-68: one big iceberg “A vast iceberg which calved off an ice shelf three years ago is about to reach the open ocean. When A-68 calved from the Larsen C ice shelf, it was up to a trillion tonnes, and measured 2,300 square miles, a quarter of the size of Wales. Experts say that it has lost very little of its record-breaking bulk since then, as it has drifted towards the edge of the continent’s sea ice.”
Happy Valentine’s Day?
From UPI:
$5.00 for this? “Feb. 4 (UPI) -- A Texas zoo is allowing jilted Valentine's Day revelers to name a cockroach or a rat after their ex -- and then see it fed to a larger animal. The San Antonio Zoo's "Cry Me A Cockroach" event allows visitors to the zoo website to pay $5 to name a cockroach after their ex, or $25 for a rat. The roaches will be fed to various animals, while the rats will be fed to snakes. The feeding will be live streamed online so purchasers can witness the demise of their named animals.
Grosz painting from 1944 appears in public for first time!
From Deutsche Welle:
“George Grosz was a pioneer of irreverent Dada art in Berlin, an ardent critic of war and nationalism who went into exile before Hitler seized power in 1933. In 1944, while living in the US, he completed a painting that portrays Hitler as a monster dictator reigning over an underworld of mass death and destruction. Titled Cain or Hitler in Hell, the masterwork has been privately owned (by the Grosz family) since its creation, but in 2019 was acquired by the German Historical Museum in Berlin (DHM). The painting was officially unveiled today in Berlin, with Minister of Culture, Monika Grütters, Raphael Gross, President of the German Historical Museum Foundation, and Markus Hilgert, General Secretary of the Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States, in attendance. Purchased by the DHM with the support of the federal government and the Cultural Foundation of the German Federal States, the acquisition marks a major coup for the institution as the painting is considered one of the outstanding works created by a German artist in exile after the rise of the Nazi regime.” Hitler in Hell (1944)
Hot Links!
Your Quote of the Day:
“The vials of wrath were full: but so were the reservoirs of power…. And when the dread signal of Armageddon was made, mankind was found to be many times stronger in valour, in endurance, in brains, in science, in apparatus, in organisation, not only than it had ever been before, but than even its most audacious optimists had dared to dream.” — Winston Churchill, the World Crisis
Your Thursday Video! Yes, there are goats.
And that’s a wrap!
Winter is still here, the flu-bug is still out there, the New Hampshire primary is next week, and the news will keep coming!
Stay warm, stay healthy, and remember, there’s always more good news out there than bad! The bad news just gets more attention.
Have a great day!


dailykos--2020-02-06--Senate Republicans Are Coming For Joe Biden

Joe Biden is a sweet caring man who has experienced more personal tragedy than a person should ever have to endure .
He has served his country and never tried to leverage it for personal gain .
His net worth is far below most of the serving Senators .
He sees the glass half full , believes America can endure anything and ultimately people do the right thing .
Early in the debates he spoke of his relationships with Republicans in the Senate and that he was uniquely qualified to be be able to get them to work with him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ roundly chided for his naiveté around the ruthless , take no prisoners nature of the party of Trump that now dominates the halls of Congress .
With the impeachment trial now over and the acquittal secured for their leader , Republicans will now be looking for scapegoats to reverse engineer the narrative in order to make Trump ’ s actions seem less heinous and illegal .
They will do this by going after Joe Biden ’ s time in the Obama administration , particularly his involvement around Ukraine .
At this time I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a formal investigation in the Senate directly related to Biden per se , that would be too obvious .
Instead what we see is a continuous drip of documents from the State Department and other agencies that circulated during that time about the appearance of a conflict of interest that the Obama administration itself was concerned about with regard to Hunter Biden ’ s association with sketchy company in a corrupt country .
This will be used to bolster the argument that Trump ’ s concerns and actions about corruption and Burisma Energy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the previous administration .
Trump ’ s allies don ’ t have have to secure any evidence of wrongdoing , they just need to stir up doubt .
This is what they succeeded in doing with Hillary , first with Benghazi , Uranium One , Clinton Foundation and finally that email server .
Doubt about wrong doing is good enough to taint public opinion .
Rumors work to destroy reputations .
Muddy waters never clear up .
If you stop a 100 people on the street and ask if Hillary did something @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 70 % would say yes .
Trump has already succeeded in doing what he wanted Ukraine to do .
Some evidence of this was apparent in Iowa where Biden was barely viable , coming in 4th in a state which is an older demographic .
He is the kind of folksy , affable candidate that should have done well there .
He may continue to slip in the polls , one day no longer be one of the front runners .
This will not deter Trump and his allies , they will continue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be used to help rehabilitate the Republicans for their votes to acquit .
They will try to take him out .
He deserves so much better .

Joe Biden is a sweet caring man who has experienced more personal tragedy than a person should ever have to endure. He has served his country and never tried to leverage it for personal gain. His net worth is far below most of the serving Senators. He sees the glass half full, believes America can endure anything and ultimately people do the right thing.
Early in the debates he spoke of his relationships with Republicans in the Senate and that he was uniquely qualified to be be able to get them to work with him should he become president. He was roundly chided for his naiveté around the ruthless, take no prisoners nature of the party of Trump that now dominates the halls of Congress.
With the impeachment trial now over and the acquittal secured for their leader, Republicans will now be looking for scapegoats to reverse engineer the narrative in order to make Trump’s actions seem less heinous and illegal. They will do this by going after Joe Biden’s time in the Obama administration, particularly his involvement around Ukraine. At this time I don’t believe there will be a formal investigation in the Senate directly related to Biden per se, that would be too obvious.
Instead what we see is a continuous drip of documents from the State Department and other agencies that circulated during that time about the appearance of a conflict of interest that the Obama administration itself was concerned about with regard to Hunter Biden’s association with sketchy company in a corrupt country. This will be used to bolster the argument that Trump’s concerns and actions about corruption and Burisma Energy was just a continuation of those expressed by the previous administration. Trump’s allies don’t have have to secure any evidence of wrongdoing, they just need to stir up doubt.
This is what they succeeded in doing with Hillary, first with Benghazi, Uranium One, Clinton Foundation and finally that email server. Doubt about wrong doing is good enough to taint public opinion. Rumors work to destroy reputations. Muddy waters never clear up. If you stop a 100 people on the street and ask if Hillary did something illegal regarding the email server, probably 70% would say yes.
Trump has already succeeded in doing what he wanted Ukraine to do. Some evidence of this was apparent in Iowa where Biden was barely viable, coming in 4th in a state which is an older demographic. He is the kind of folksy, affable candidate that should have done well there.
He may continue to slip in the polls, one day no longer be one of the front runners. This will not deter Trump and his allies, they will continue to come after him because he must be used to help rehabilitate the Republicans for their votes to acquit. They will try to take him out. He deserves so much better.


dailykos--2020-02-06--What happens if multiple states pass laws like NH's, making their state's primary the nation's 1st?

A lot of people say Iowa has to have caucuses , and New Hampshire has to be the first primary , because both states want to go first , and Iowa can only go first if it has caucuses rather than a primary , since New Hampshire has a law saying it has to hold the nation ’ s first primary each election year .
But what would happen if Iowa changed from caucus to primary but also passed a law saying that it will go first ?
Would Iowa and New Hampshire have their primaries on the same day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to one-up each other by holding their primaries earlier and earlier , until they are so early that it becomes silly ( like 2 years before the election , LOL ) and make both irrelevant ?
Passing the same kind of “ our primary will be the first in the nation ” law that New Hampshire has could enable Iowa to keep at least part of its first-in-the-nation importance that state lawmakers value , while enabling them to get rid of their messed up caucuses that everyone hates .
And why don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like their state is more representative of the United States in general , or Democrats in particular , and would like some more of the money and political representation that Iowa and New Hampshire get , just pass a similar law , saying they will go first ?
It ’ s not like New Hampshire could stop any other state from making such a law , since New Hampshire ’ s laws don ’ t apply to any other state .

A lot of people say Iowa has to have caucuses, and New Hampshire has to be the first primary, because both states want to go first, and Iowa can only go first if it has caucuses rather than a primary, since New Hampshire has a law saying it has to hold the nation’s first primary each election year. But what would happen if Iowa changed from caucus to primary but also passed a law saying that it will go first? Would Iowa and New Hampshire have their primaries on the same day? Or would they just keep trying to one-up each other by holding their primaries earlier and earlier, until they are so early that it becomes silly (like 2 years before the election, LOL) and make both irrelevant?
Passing the same kind of “our primary will be the first in the nation” law that New Hampshire has could enable Iowa to keep at least part of its first-in-the-nation importance that state lawmakers value, while enabling them to get rid of their messed up caucuses that everyone hates.
And why don’t lawmakers in other states who feel like their state is more representative of the United States in general, or Democrats in particular, and would like some more of the money and political representation that Iowa and New Hampshire get, just pass a similar law, saying they will go first? It’s not like New Hampshire could stop any other state from making such a law, since New Hampshire’s laws don’t apply to any other state.


dailykos--2020-02-07--If Trump Wins I’m Moving To Paris

If Trump Wins I’m Moving To Paris

I don ’ t have a nationalistic bone in my body .
I was born in America but I think as a global citizen .
Oh sure , I pull for the US during the Olympics for the same reason I root for the Lakers .
I have some association with that team because I live near Los Angeles .
I followed the Falcons when I lived in Atlanta for the same reason .
Beyond that , I feel no attachment to any particular place .
I live in one of the most beautiful areas in America near the ocean @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other equally beautiful places elsewhere in the world however , I ’ ve seen some of them .
If Donald Trump is elected President a second time , I am out of here .
I like to think that if I lived in Germany in the 1930s , I would have left there under Hitler ’ s regime .
If Trump were to win again that would mean that America had voted in significant numbers to sanction cruelty , intolerance and abandoned the rule of law .
That would be an unacceptable way @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t be a difficult choice .
When I saw two polls this week where his approval ratings had gone up during his impeachment trial , that was a red flag accompanied by a siren for me .
When I heard legislators yelling “ four more years ” on the floor of the people ’ s house during the SOTU speech , I thought in that moment that this must have been what it was like on the floor of the Reichstag when Hitler addressed his party in the German parliament .
Again @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a victory party in the East Wing of the White House attended by fawning members of Congress who laughed and joined in obsequiously as he rambled on incoherently for over an hour .
His crazy talking was met with great approval and applause .
Even after all I ’ ve seen from him , I still couldn ’ t believe what I was watching .
The crazy emperor had no clothes .
Finally , I would not be leaving because of Trump himself so much as the idea of living in a country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were so unenlightened that they would allow this to happen again .
Presidents come and go and I recognize that his 2016 election was precipitated by an unusual set of circumstances that are unlikely to ever be repeated .
It could only happen if Americans just didn ’ t care enough to go to the polls in 2020 .
There would be no excuses .
If Trump were selected again , I am sorry to say I would have little in common with the people of such a nation that would let that @ @

I don’t have a nationalistic bone in my body. I was born in America but I think as a global citizen. Oh sure, I pull for the US during the Olympics for the same reason I root for the Lakers. I have some association with that team because I live near Los Angeles. I followed the Falcons when I lived in Atlanta for the same reason. Beyond that, I feel no attachment to any particular place. I live in one of the most beautiful areas in America near the ocean in Orange County California. There are other equally beautiful places elsewhere in the world however, I’ve seen some of them.
If Donald Trump is elected President a second time, I am out of here. I like to think that if I lived in Germany in the 1930s, I would have left there under Hitler’s regime. If Trump were to win again that would mean that America had voted in significant numbers to sanction cruelty, intolerance and abandoned the rule of law. That would be an unacceptable way of life for me and leaving wouldn’t be a difficult choice.
When I saw two polls this week where his approval ratings had gone up during his impeachment trial, that was a red flag accompanied by a siren for me. When I heard legislators yelling “four more years” on the floor of the people’s house during the SOTU speech, I thought in that moment that this must have been what it was like on the floor of the Reichstag when Hitler addressed his party in the German parliament. Again yesterday, Trump brought his madness to a victory party in the East Wing of the White House attended by fawning members of Congress who laughed and joined in obsequiously as he rambled on incoherently for over an hour. His crazy talking was met with great approval and applause. Even after all I’ve seen from him, I still couldn’t believe what I was watching. The crazy emperor had no clothes.
Finally, I would not be leaving because of Trump himself so much as the idea of living in a country where a large proportion of the citizens were so unenlightened that they would allow this to happen again. Presidents come and go and I recognize that his 2016 election was precipitated by an unusual set of circumstances that are unlikely to ever be repeated.
It could only happen if Americans just didn’t care enough to go to the polls in 2020. There would be no excuses.
If Trump were selected again, I am sorry to say I would have little in common with the people of such a nation that would let that happen.