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OH, Canada

Snapshot: "Oh, Canada"

On unelected Elon, spending rejected, worsening inequality and happy dreams about our neighbor to the north

Steven Beschloss

Dec 20, 2024 

At first I was struck by the sheer arrogance and stupidity of Donald Trump posting this week about turning Canada into the 51st state—“Many Canadians want Canada to become the 51st state,” he lied—never mind that MAGA enablers were later claiming that their humorless leader was just joking. Then Wednesday happened, when unelected President Elon Musk blew up the pre-Christmas spending bill that would have kept the government open and functioning and likely would have passed with bipartisan participation.

Insisting that the proposed bill was “criminal” and spreading lies about its actual contents, the world’s richest man threatened to primary any member of Congress who went along with the legislation. “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” Musk posted. This was just one of over 100 posts by America’s leading oligarch, intended to bully Republicans into submission.

It worked. He tanked the bill that would have extended government funding through next March and included funding for child cancer research, disaster relief and economic aid for farmers. This mess is of course deeply worrying, given the damage that Musk’s destruction would cause millions of government employees, military members, farmers, senior citizens and other at-risk Americans who count on government services and payments for their survival.

But, amid MAGA Republicans kowtowing to their new overlord—who, by the way, will surely be all-in on fresh tax cuts that help billionaires like him, never mind rising national debt, or massive defense contract increases—I began to think more about Canada. Oh, Canada.

In these turbulent times, I often hear people pondering what it would mean if America split up into blue states and red states. Well, how about a different scenario? What if Musk-Trump and their nasty band of marauders succeed in turning our beloved country into a collection of scraps so cheap that our friends from the north could consider acquiring and turning the U.S. into its 11th province?

Yes, I’m kidding. But, to my surprise, when I posted this thought on Bluesky, my joke was warmly applauded as a welcome notion. Here was a chance for people south of the Canadian border to join a system of universal healthcare. Here was a chance for, as one person put it, “benevolent rulers.” Here was a chance to dwell on the delights of maple syrup, the need not to flee the country and all those very nice Canadians. “I would be OK being a Canadian,” said one poster. “We should be so lucky,” said another. “At this point, that sounds fabulous, eh?” said a third.

Of course, it’s not like this proposal would be warmly received in points north. “With all that debt, nah,” said one Canadian. Ending this warm reflection, there was this sober slap of reality: “I speak for all Canadians here on this topic. We won't buy, even if you pay us.”

OK, so it looks like we’ll have to dig our own way out of our mess. As of last night, a stripped-down alternate proposal was dismissed by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries with these simple declarative sentences: "The Musk-Johnson proposal is not serious. It's laughable. 

Extreme MAGA Republicans are driving us to a government shutdown." A subsequent vote confirmed nearly every Democrat and 38 Republicans agreed the new bill was not serious. Final defeat for the spending bill Trump endorsed: 235-174.

I don’t know what the coming days and weeks will yield, except more chaos, conflict and madness from co-presidents Musk and Trump. And as much as I dread the consequences for everyday Americans who neither voted for this nor imagined how cruel oligarchic rule could be, it’s worth noting that this fiasco a month before they officially take power will meaningfully decrease their political capital.

Even among spineless House Republicans, Musk’s Grinch-like theft of Christmas relief is a bad sign of things to come. While I’m not one to revel in others’ misfortune, we can only hope that the Trump-Musk “let’s destroy America and buy up the broken remnants on the cheap” project eventually earns these awful men the enmity they deserve. It might finally convince a solid majority of Americans why they should be mad as hell and why they shouldn’t take it any more from corrupt, self-serving billionaires. That could eventually yield system change that a grossly unequal and unjust America sorely needs.

The System Failed: Case Dismissed

The System Failed: Case Dismissed

From one of the best NOLA bloggers, Peter Adrastos Athas

 The son of a bitch got away with it. You and I may not be above the law, but Donald Trump is.

Democracy lost on November 5th. The rule of law lost on November 25th. The two defeats will be linked in the history books as scholars ponder the question of how this happened. How could the world’s oldest democracy elect a convicted felon who tried to stay in office by corrupt means to another term as president?

Jack Smith did what he had to do yesterday. I think it was better to move to dismiss before the Kaiser of Chaos returns to office. It enabled Judge Chutkan to dismiss the case without prejudice, which means that it could theoretically be refiled after Trump leaves. The chances of that are slim and none and slim just petitioned for a pardon for shitting on the constitution.

A more tangible advantage to this timing is that Team Smith will be able to file a report instead of being frog marched out of DOJ by vengeful Trumpers. Merrick Garland will have to approve its release, so we know it won’t happen immediately. The Attorney General should have a new middle name: Merrick Dilatory Garland. His slowness to move against Trump is one of the reasons we’re in this mess.

Jack Smith is a by the book prosecutor. This dismissal is the by the book move. Unfortunately, the Insult Comedian not only hasn’t read the book, he’s ready to burn it as well as the DOJ down. His personal lawyers will be in DOJ leadership positions come January 20th. His backup plan as AG is just as corrupt as Matt Gaetz. Pam Bondi will follow orders. It remains to be seen how far they’ll go but investigations can devastate people financially even if they don’t result in convictions. Just ask Andrew McCabe or Pete Strzok.

There’s a lot of blame for this fiasco to go around. None of it belongs to Jack Smith who moved expeditiously after his appointment. He wanted to throw the book at the Dipshit Insurrectionist-in-Chief, but SCOTUS scuttled that plan with its immunity impunity ruling. It should, however, have heard the case earlier but did not because of a dilatory process.

I might as well rank the culpable in order of importance:

1. Mitch McConnell could have led the charge to bar Trump from office. Instead, he punted to DOJ, which dropped the ball.
2. The Roberts Court slow walked Team Smith’s appeal, which made it impossible for the case to be tried before the election. The immunity impunity ruling would have continued the delay if Trump had lost.
3. Merrick Garland moved fiercely against the rioters, but timidly against Trump. He appointed the right Special Counsel but at least a year too late. In a word; Dilatory.
4. The DOJ memo barring prosecution of a sitting president. It was written to deal with the Agnew case and has caused untold mischief since then.
5. Judge Aileen Cannon who dismissed the purloined papers case before the election. Team Smith has moved to dismiss the appeal of this ruling.
6. Low information voters who bought Trumpist propaganda and gave the crook another chance to disgrace his office.

Talk about a six-pack of venality, corruption, and malakatude.

MAGA Republicans have spent the last 4 years minimizing what happened on January 6, 2021. This effort to rewrite history is about to explode. My friend and Picayune columnist Stephanie Grace nailed it at Muskville:

It happened. We all saw it with our own eyes. The police officers who were brutally assaulted experienced it. Many Republican lawmakers called it what it was in the moment and soon after, on tape for posterity. Mike Pence defended the constitution while he was being hunted.”

That’s the last time I’ll ever quote something from Twitter/X. It’s become a den of iniquitous liars and conspiracy theorists. It’s only fit for the Marge Greene’s of the world.

Americans like to say that no one is above the law. It was always more aspirational than real. There are two justice systems, one for the wealthy and another one for everybody else.

Thanks to SCOTUS the system failed: Donald Trump is above the law.

Repeat after me: The son of a bitch got away with it.

Fuck the Right Wing SCOTUS

 SCOTUS just gave drumpf and future Presidents immunity for their actions while President.

Here is a brief overview of their bad decision:

The decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, established a broad new immunity from prosecution, not just for Trump, but for past and future presidents, too. Presidents may not be prosecuted for exercising their “core” constitutional powers, and even in situations where former presidents might be prosecuted after leaving office, they are entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for official actions they took as president.

Such immunity is needed, said the chief justice, in order to protect an “energetic,” and “independent executive,” willing to take “bold” actions and make unpopular decisions when needed. And while Roberts said that private actions by a former president are not protected from prosecution, his opinion seemed to inexorably intertwine private and public actions.

This is extremely scary to me, as I understand how evil drumpf and his henchmen are.  

In case you've forgotten these acts, here's a link to refresh your memory:

  
https://www.citizensforethics.org/news/analysis/president-trumps-worst-offenses/

If anyone who went to the link to read some of drumpf's disgusting acts,    I'm sorry if I've cause a little PTSD.  But if drumpf wins again, be prepared for his unleashed fury.  

#VoteBlue2024

Another Day, Another Laugh

 

Tom on This Week in drumpf

 I read an interesting story in the NY Times today that Trump branded properties are trading at a discount to other similarly situated properties, both in the codo and the rental markets.  The studies were conducted by academics whose methodology seems sound.  One of the studies went out of its way to be sure of comparing:  "...apples to apples...'''.  The example used in the article compared a 3 bedroom condo in a doorman building that bore the Trump name with a similar building that didn't have the Trump brand, but was similarly sized and appointed.   The Trump branded dwellings traded at a significant discount to the unbranded buildings.  In one study, the discount was 23%, and in another study, using slightly different methodology, the discounted value was 17%.  I think that this comparison surprised most folks.  It certainly surprised me... 

Trump unveiled a new line of gold "Never Surrender '' sneakers for $400 the pair at the Sneaker.com convention in Philadelphia the other day.  According to the story in the 'Guardian", the room in which Mr. Trump's announcement took place stank of weed, and Mr. Trump was booed by many, who tended to skew younger than his usual audience.  Also being touted on this new website are bottles of "Victory '47" cologne and perfume at $99 a bottle.  God only knows what it smells like.  I can only imagine that the perfume smells like a common nightwalker after a hard night's work, while the male cologne smells like an old man's testicles.  If I'd read about this in 'The Onion', I'd think that it was a joke.  But, alas...

Mr. Trump may have inadvertently triggered another legal problem for himself, because if you examine the gaudy and overpriced high-top sneakers closely, you'll notice that the sneaker has a red sole, in keeping his 'Red, White and Blue' theme, (Don't forget the gold, for all things Trump must contain some gold).  Red soles on  footwear produced by the designer Christian Louboutin are a trademark that has been robustly defended by lawyers in the employ of Mr. Louboutin.  Since anyone who has ever seen me in the flesh knows that I am no slave to fashion, I had to check one of my trusted websites, FashionLaw, for guidance. What I found was that the iconic red sole on Louboutin footwear is protected under the legal concept known as "Trade Dress' ', a concept that is based in design, rather than function.  Put simply, you can't trademark a shoe, but you can trademark, (as is the case here), some unique aspect of the shoe that is an unmistakable identifier, such as Louboutin's red soles.  Trade dress can be anything, from the characteristic appearance of children's clothing to the design of a tonic bottle, (While you can't chaim trade dress protection for the contents of a bottle of Coca-Cola, but you can't claim trade dress protection for the universally identifiable borrl that it comes in). Even such mundane products as insulation can be protected by trademark trade dress laws.  Owens-Corning. one of the largest players in that. industrial segment, sought and received trademark protection for the characteristic pink color of its insulation products some years back, (you may recall seeing ads that featured the cartoon character, 'The Pink Panther' as the Owens-Corning product.  Sad to say, I live for this sort of thing:)    

Biden's Age

 

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Note the kind comment of Will, a new paid subscriber: “Mr. Beschloss is always interesting and relevant. Great sense of humor as well. Thank you.” Upgrade to paid NATO, Biden's Age and the World We Want Let's be clear about what's really at stake STEVEN BESCHLOSS FEB 12   READ IN APP   President Joe Biden pointing the way in May 2022 to the leaders of Finland and Sweden, whose countries became NATO’s newest members after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images) In recent days, the issue of Joe Biden’s age has taken center stage, activated by the special counsel Robert Hur and exploited by a White House press corps itching for an easy line of attack. The press gave less attention to Hur’s real finding—that Biden did not illegally mishandle classified documents—than to the president’s memory and age. As if this is the central issue to decide the country’s fate, to be determined by a growing number of amateur neurologists. There are many critics who argue we should prioritize the matter of Biden’s memory (he said Mexico, not Egypt!), the stiffness of his gait (ignore that he rides a bicycle), his verbal gaffes (forget decades of gaffes and chronic stuttering) or his ultimate capacity to perform his duties (pay no attention to his achievements or the quality of his advisors). From this view, we are expected to believe Hur’s assertion that our empathic president and committed father struggled to remember the day when his son Beau died. Yes, he is 81. Yes, he will be 86 after a second term. It’s not unreasonable to raise the question. Then again, a comment during a South Carolina campaign event on Saturday from the all-but-certain Republican nominee throws into stark relief how wrong the question of age is as the principal determinant for making a choice in our binary political system. (Yes, Donald Trump is currently 77 and would be 82 in January 2029.) In what sounded like one of Trump’s fabricated stories, he described an unnamed foreign leader from “a big country” that didn’t spend enough on defense; this leader asked, if his NATO country were attacked by Russia, “will you protect us?” Trump’s response: “I said, 'You didn't pay, you're delinquent. No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.” Really? That’s the world this man—this pro-Putin, anti-democratic, authoritarian-loving criminal defendant—wants to further. A world where America abandons its allies, dismantles the western alliance at a time when Putin’s Russia is on the march and will not stop if it succeeds at ending Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Goodbye to the fundamental commitment of NATO that an attack against one member is “an attack against all.” Hello to an America in which its leader cheers on Russian aggression toward democratic nations. "Encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unhinged,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates responded in a statement, “and it endangers American national security, global stability and our economy at home.” This is not a surprise. Trump sought to undermine the then 29-member NATO when he occupied the White House. One of the key successes of the Biden administration has been rebuilding and strengthening America’s commitment to international alliances, particularly NATO. Ask Ukraine about the need for a clear counterpoint to Russia. Ask Finland, which shares an 830-mile border with Russia and understood the necessity of joining NATO as a bulwark against its dangerous neighbor—a move that historically the Finns resisted. Spurred by Trump and Fox News, plenty of elected Republicans are now showing they’ll side with Putin and Russia over America and democracy in their determination to end support for Ukraine. In December, Pew Research found in December that about half of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say the U.S. is providing too much support to Ukraine, even as it struggles to fend off Russian advances. On Thursday, 31 Republican senators opposed a motion to begin working on a $95.3 billion military aid package for Ukraine and Israel. (It passed 67-32.) You can be sure many of these same elected officials will tell you the problem with Joe Biden is he’s too old, too feeble, too stiff, too incompetent, to provide the necessary American leadership. But don’t doubt that much of this is cover for their backing of the further rise of authoritarian leadership, in America and globally. When I hear them say Joe Biden is too old, I can hear them really saying they want a world where America has abandoned international leadership and the rule of law to accelerate strongman rule with Donald Trump as the all-powerful boss deciding our fate. That sounds like a grim outcome to me, superseding any issue about Biden’s age. This election remains an existential contest about the kind of country America is and will be. And while it’s fair to question the health of a president—god knows, the mental health of the previous president needed to be more squarely addressed—let’s not lose sight of what’s at stake. In recent days, I’ve been hearing from trolls that sticking with an elderly Biden is an act of fanaticism. I’ve also heard from progressives saying they’d stick with Biden over Trump even if he were dead. Well, count me among those who look forward to a new generation of leadership taking over in 2029—in a democratic country. That’s why the guy who’s conducted a successful presidency and has once beaten the likely GOP nominee remains the reliable choice to get us there. == One other note: Finland chose a new president yesterday to follow the 12 years and two terms of the popular Sauli Niinistö. The winner was Alexander Stubb, a center- right politician who previously served as prime minister, in a runoff vote with Pekka Haavisto, a progressive in the Green party who previously served as a foreign minister. After the first round two weeks ago, Stubb described the kind of campaign he planned on. “The contest really starts now,” he said. “In the next 13 days, we’ll work like crazy, we’ll work humbly, and we’ll respect and honor our rival.” Imagine a democratic election like that. And by the way, in an interview with Reuters last month, Stubb described his stance on Russia: "Politically, there will be no relations with the president of Russia or with the Russian political leadership until they stop the war in Ukraine." Let’s ensure America—like Finland—votes for leaders in November who understand the danger of Russia’s success and the further spread of authoritarianism around the world. Share If you’re not already, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $5 a month or $50 a year. This helps sustain and expand the work of America, America, keep nearly all the content free for everyone and give you full access to the comments sections. Upgrade to paid You're currently a free subscriber to America, America. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. Upgrade to paid   LIKE COMMENT RESTACK

A Wonderful Sight

 

August 8th in History

August 8, 1974
 President Richard Nixon made an address to the American public from the Oval Office to announce his resignation from the presidency due to the Watergate scandal. President Nixon prepares to deliver the speech announcing his resignation. Washington, D.C.

August 8, 2022

drumpf vs Pence on January 6th

EXCERPT FROM HEATHER COX RICHARDSON -  JUNE 16 2022