Tag: Trump

Tech Bros Gamble on Trump Hoping for Vance

High stakes gambling going on. But there’s a hedge.

The tech bros are going all in, pushing all of their chips onto the table in favor of convicted felon, child rapist, and national security threat, Donald Trump. Well, not really. They’ve got a hedge.

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The cynic in me (it’s a very large cynic that overwhelms sometimes) thinks that the big tech bros donating to Trump are gambling that he gets elected, expires or is removed from office somehow, making Trump’s new VP pick, J.D. Vance, their penny ante puppet. They’ve already paid plenty of pretty pennies to pull Vance’s strings.

Elon Musk gets most of the attention because he begs for it, but he’s not alone. 

The hedge is that even if Trump continues to hang in there he’ll create enough chaos to let them run rampant without any real adult (read government) supervision. It’s the same gamble Putin, Xi,  other world leaders and CEOs are making.

Either way, they’re priming the pump gambling they won’t have to dump it.

Image from Dugger94621

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. 

New York Times Calls Trump Unfit But Misses the Larger Story

Making a point while missing the larger one.

The New York Times is out with a highly produced (perhaps over produced) editorial denouncing Donald Trump a week before he’s coronated as the Republican nominee at the GOP Convention in Milwaukee. Titled Donald Trump Is Unfit To Lead, the editorial is unequivocal and unforgiving in its damning the candidate, pointing out most of the flaws most could recite as a catechism these days. CleanShot 2024-07-11 at 08.29.30@2x.

There’s one large exception to that list of flaws. Not once in the editorial does the editorial board mention that Trump is a convicted felon running for the office of the presidency while out on bail. Call me crazy, but that does seem somewhat important.

With the focus on the candidate, the Times also completely looks away from the only reason we’re even faced with Trump still dominating our lives: that the Republican Party has either completely and cowardly surrendered to the decaying orange child rapist’s wishes hoping he’s the sign of some rapture to come, or they’ve just decided to out themselves as what they’ve always been.

There is a discussion about what the party used to stand for, but the editorial choice focuses on the candidate’s character rather than party and platform issues such as Project 2025.

Character is indeed the root of the discussion, as it always has been in most places except the pages of the New York Times. If any publication had insight into Trump’s character it would be the Times, but that’s a story constantly and consistently on their doorstep they’ve largely ignored until now. So, it’s good to see it finally have focus here. Even so, granting  a free pass to the character-less characters who’ve allowed us to reach this point after having multiple chances of preventing it the week before they convene in Milwaukee ignores the larger questions and dangers we face.

The omission is as damning as the belated slams against the candidate.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. 

Aftermath: Our Frightening Future If We Don’t Work

It’s not a fantasy. It’s Trump and the MAGAts plan.

The Lincoln Project put out this ad called Aftermath. 

As the ad says, “This isn’t a fantasy. It’s Trump’s Plan. And he’s counting on you to believe it couldn’t happen.”

Believe it. Share it. 

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. 

Clowns to the Left of Me Jokers To The Right

What a sticky mess we’re in.

Well this is a fine mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. The media/political party industrial complex has put us right where they want us to be. Spinning, Whirling, Scared. Confused. Befuddled. Pissed Off.

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As I watch my grandson propel himself around his surroundings this weekend with the reckless abandon of innocence, I can’t help but wonder at the wonder of it all. Watching him realize the consequences of waving an ice cream cone around in the heat of a summer night was a heartbreaking humorus lesson in beginning to see the light. The whirling and spinning only stop when gravity takes over and it all ends up a mess on the sidewalk.

Meanwhile back in the world of knowledge and supposed wisdom, it seems  those of us in the rareifed air of adulthood who know better have become unconcerned if not unmoored from the law of physics.

After Joe Biden’s interview on ABC last night it seems we’re completely at the mercy of upcoming news cycles, whether we tune in or tune out. It’s starting to feel like it’s going to be an endless summer, fall and beyond. It’s an unending episode of Lost, where confusion reigns at the expense of narrative and plot. At some point it has to end, but there doesn’t need to be an end, just an endless supply of Special Features.

Sadly, whenver this spins to an end that end that will only help the party of convicted felons and child rapists help us end it all. But that can be spun up and away too.

I’m heartsick that the Democrats have fallen into depths beyond disarray, with new depths still to be plummed apparently. I’m pissed off that what used to be the GOP is happily using this ramapaging forest fire as cover to run and hide from Project 2025, while they continue to scan for more to burn.

The world feels like it’s caught in a lyric somewhere between Tommy Roe’s Dizzy and Stealers Wheel’s Stuck in the Middle With You, with some sort of AI generated click track back beat played by a boy band wearing Supreme Court robes, pretending they understand Hip Hop.

Goodness knows when this will all fall down. But then goodness has nothing much to do with any of it.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. 

Pay Attention Damnit!

Pay attention! The time is now. Not November.

Pay attention!

Below are three links to articles I saw upon waking this morning. If these don’t wake you up inject some damn caffeine into your veins.

First up. Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts, not yet clothed in a brown shirt, tells us “that we are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”

Pay attention!!

Next up. Phillip Bump gives us The Perfectly Valid Presidential-Immunity Murder Hypothetical. This should be a gift link, but if it’s not or doesn’t work, it might be time for you to learn that there are a million ways to get around paywalls on the Internet. At the moment.

Pay attention!!!

And finally (for this post at least) Quinta Jurecic and Benjamin Wittes take on the SCOTUS decision in A Decision of Surpassing Recklessness in Dangerous Times. 

Pay attention!!!!

And if you think the political cartoon by Bruce MacKinnon above might be too much, I’ll just say again

Pay attention!!!!

The time to act, the time to work is now. While we must vote, if you wait until it’s time to vote, you’re already losing more than we’ve already lost.

Pay attention!!!!!

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. 

The Sad Irony of Our Political Fireworks

Going to be surreal celebrating USA independence from a king after the Supreme Court ruling.

I’m struggling through this political mess we’re in and shared some of my thoughts in Rome Magazine on Medium. I hope you take a minute of your time to read it. 

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The irony of the Supreme Court giving the president immunity most monarchs would die for may be rich, but it’s also extremely sad, given the timing. Yes, I’m still in a state of profound disillusionment and yes, I’m working to figure out how to change that, but I’ve got to be honest. There are moments when I’m not sure if it’s worth the candle, much less lighting up some fireworks this 4th of July.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. 

Turn Out The Lights. The USA is Done.

Now we pick kings and queens and not presidents.

It’s over folks. The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that we elect kings and queens and not presidents who are subject to the law. We now live in an autocracy, or a dictatorship, or perhaps it’s just an unreal reality show.

Designer (1).

It’s a byzantine ruling picking the nits between personal and official acts in the way only lawyers can pick nits, but the essence of it is this: Given how our legal system is what it is, a president can act, stall for time and never be held accountable for it legally. Sure, Congress can impeach (this will ratchet up that clown show), but that only removes someone from office. Legally a president can do whatever they want as long as they can use the legal system to mask personal actions as official acts. I hate to tell you, that’s easy to do. Nixon is rolling over in his grave.

Folks will call it a mixed bag. Folks will debate the what if’s. There are no what if’s. The Supreme Court of the United States just told any president, including Donald Trump that they can grab the country by the pussy. Just declare it official.

Turn out the lights. The party’s over. The world and the history of humanity just changed.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. 

Sunday Morning Reading

Steering clear of politics (mostly) here’s some Sunday Morning Reading to share.

It’s a tough weekend to put this Sunday Morning Reading column together in the wake of last week’s U.S. Presidential debate. I’ve never seen so many knees jerk so violently at once leading me to assume there are quite a few bruises caused from crashing them against computer desks. So, I’ll be avoiding politics this morning. Perhaps. Maybe. We’ll see.

Did you know that milk is the latest front in the culture wars dividing America? Tony Diver tells us how.

Yes, it’s political but no, it isn’t about recent events specifically, so once again I highly recommend you check out The Split by Steve Radlauer and Ellis Weiner. The Split, now up to Chapter 34, is a terrific serialization of all things political, social, and well… all things.

James B. Stewart and Benjamin Mullen take a long look at the future of streaming in The Future of Netflix, Amazon and Other Streaming Services. It’s a worth your time kind of read even though it takes awhile, but it more than hints that none of the titans of this industry has a clue.

The entertainment industry isn’t the only place run by folks without a clue. Check out The Federal Reserve’s Little Secret by Rogé Karma. Apparently those folks pulling the strings on interest rates don’t have much of one either.

And speaking of titans of industry and god-like powers David Todd McCarty thinks If Someone Asks If You’re A God, You say Yes. 

On the Artificial Intelligence front Wired has been doing some good work lately reporting on on that front. Check out Lauren Goode and Tom Simonite’s This Viral AI Chatbot Will Lie and Say It’s Human.

Also check out Elizabeth Lopatto’s Perplexity’s Grand Theft AI. Sounds human to me.

Joan Westenberg has an interesting think piece on the misconstruing and appropriation of the message of George Orwell’s 1984 in “This Is Just Like 1984.” Great piece.

I said I’d avoid the political hot potato of the presidential debate. It’s not that I lied, or changed my mind, it’s that this piece is too good to not recommend. Check out Natasha MH’s view in The US Presidential Debate Reminded Me of My Divorce.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.  You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.You can also find me on social networks under my own name.

The Alito Supreme Court Is Setting Up For A Dobbsian Replay

The Alito Court may be about to repeat the mistakes of 2022.

History may be about to repeat itself. Hopefully it rhymes. Donald Trump is a convicted felon and he and his fluffers are doubling down on their attempts to manufacture a fantasy world that bears no resemblance to the one most people live in. Yet we’re still waiting a decision from the Supreme Court on whether or not U.S. presidents have immunity and thus are kings who can round up and possibly kill political rivals, deport anyone they desire, and generally turn the U.S into a autocracy staffed by criminals. 

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While that immunity case has no bearing on the New York case that added 34 convictions to the decaying orange turd’s résumé, it is all tied together because there’s this thing called an election in a few months wherein we’ll decide if  America still exists as a democracy.

The Supreme Court hasn’t issued an opinion yet, which in and of itself is an opinion. In delaying action they’ve effectively sided with Trump, allowing any real chance of a trial to be pushed off until after the election. But unfortunately they have to make a decision before they can head off to their yachts for the summer. 

What’s intriguing to me is I think the Alito Court is about to make the same political mistake they made in 2022 with their decision removing women’s rights to an abortion in Dobbs vs. Jackson. It was a victory for abortion foes, but energized the electorate enough to wash away any Red Wave in the 2022 elections and others that have followed since. My suspicion is if the Alito Court grants anything resembling immunity to Trump, we’ll see the same sort of rage-fueled energy at the polls in November. There’s enough of that energy already bubbling, but this might (should) blow the lid off the pot. 

It’s June, SCOTUS is heading to the end of this term, and an announcement could come any day as the court traditionally rolls out decisions from the current term. The hen-pecked Alito is under fire for flying insurrectionist adjacent flags while blaming his wife, further degrading any sense of integrity the Supreme Court had remaining. I’m thinking (and hints suggest) the decision will be in Trump’s favor thus completely erasing what few bits of integrity still remain on the white board. If they do, it will hopefully ignite the electorate again to finally cancel this unreality show we’ve all been living through. 

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Trump Guilty: Everything Changes Everything Remains The Same

A stench that will never fade.

Yesterday’s unanimous jury verdicts convicting former President, rapist, and con artist Donald Trump changed everything and changed nothing. Beyond the damage to the decaying orange turd’s branding (he should now always be introduced and referred to as “Convicted Felon”) the MAGA political world is still living in their own warped reality. It’s historic and full of histrionics.

We shouldn’t really be surprised. Some say it’s a fear of Trump’s wrath. For the compromised I’m sure that’s true. What’s more dangerous is the larger group who want to use Trump as a bludgeon to beat back and down what they definitiely fear more. They don’t like him, they just want to take advantage of his blustering bumbling to hang on to their plantation mindset. They fear their idea of an America is under threat by too many anyones who don’t look, act and think like them. Make no mistake. That fear is tangible.

It’s led to abandonment on some sort of cosmic political level and defies the laws of political gravity. They’ve abandoned any sense of the virtue that this country’s founders believed was the key ingredient to the idea of America. They’ve abandoned any sense of shame. They’ve abandoned any sense of good sense, common or calculating. They’ve twisted and turned themselves into enough knots that there’s no way to untangle the mess they’ve put us in without cutting off some piece of anatomy they might need later. I’d argue they need thoughts and prayers, but they’ve abandoned and defiled thinking and praying.

The verdict wasn’t predictable. They never are. The MAGA reaction to it was. It’s a script written for bad characters that that have crossed beyond the borders of caricature and cliché into some other definition that the human experience and literature hasn’t been able to label yet.

The bottom line in all of this is that on May 30, 2024  in a courtroom in New York City an asshole got his ass handed to him in a court of law and the reaction to that proves his ass wipers obviously enjoy the smell so much they will still stand in line and fall over themselves to be the first to wade deeper into his offal. It’s a stench that will never fade.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.