5 Thoughts for February 28, 2017

1. Grassroots Anger: Republicans remain skeptical, if not in denial, of the grassroots anger that is rising. Let them be. The longer it takes for these people to recognize what's going on, the less time they have to react and respect people. In the meantime, #RESIST.
2. Perfect:
   
   
3. What I'm Watching: I wouldn't call it a documentary, but Netflix's Abstract, The Art of Design, is very entertaining and fun to watch, also, it provides inspiration to work. Just finished Ripper Street -- Rose was always my least-liked character, but the ending sealed my opinion. Just finished Beyond Outrage, the follow-up to Outrage -- because, Takeshi (Beat) Kitano. I've added The Birth of Sake to my list, and I still plan on getting through season 3 of Black Mirror.
4. Flu Update: It took just two days for the flu to come and go, but the bronchitis that followed is a completely different story. 17 days and my bronchitis is practically gone. I'd thought long and hard about going to the doctor to get some antibiotics in the first few days, and I'm sure most people would need them, but this was a great opportunity to force my already overactive immune system to do what it's supposed to, as opposed to all the mischief it likes to cause via allergies.
5. State of the Union: I confess, I didn't bother. It served no useful purpose to listen in to someone attempt another pivot and sell himself as Our Savior. I understand that he used a softer tone, but they're just words to describe his heinous acts, e.g. no, I'm not murdering you, I'm killing you softly with this song (and dance). Don't believe me? Today he signed an EO that would require the NSF to support women entrepreneurs, which sounds wonderful, except that the NSF is the main funding arm of science, not entrepreneurs, and he's doing so while cutting NSF funds, therefore, he's extensively slashing real science funding under the guise of supporting women.

5 Signs That You Voted for the Wrong Candidate

1. "I, alone, can fix it.": You believed him when Mr. Know It All told you that he was an expert in everything, but just after a month in office he insisted that "Nobody knew health care could be so complicated." On top of that, he's assigned Tom Price the responsibility to produce a comprehensive plan in two weeks. Uh.
2. "The press should be ashamed of themselves.": Six months ago, he loved Wikileaks. Now he's adamant that the press should not use information from illegal, anonymous leaks. If that wasn't bad enough, his own team was caught planting false information to a conservative news outlet to attack a mainstream journalist. Yikes.
3. "It looked like a million, million and a half people.": When photos and videos showed a half-empty National Mall, he complained about the press' sources and images and suggested that instead, there were up to 1.5M people outside. So angry was he at being humiliated, that he sent out Sean Spicer to lie for him, who then excoriated the press, "That was the largest audience to witness an inauguration, period." Except, at 1.5M, that would have still been 300K people short of Obama's first inauguration. If that weren't embarrassing enough, the next day's Women's March ended up having higher attendance. Oops.
4. "I heard somewhere that...": When Donald is confronted with proof of a lie, he blames his source (Facebook, Twitter, Breitbart, Washington Times, Town Hall, Fox News and Friends, etc.). Whatta guy, blaming others, eh?
5. "Believe me...": When he knowingly exaggerates or tells a flat out lie, he has a 'tell', where he either prefaces or otherwise underpins his lie by saying, "Believe me". It's the predictable irony that makes it humorous, naturally.

If he were outspoken but correct, he would still be hated by many, but not dangerous. If he exaggerated without calling others liars for disputing his exaggerations, he would be mocked but not dangerous. What makes him dangerous is his penchant to threaten others when his ego has been dinged. Save for a couple of adults in the White House who know how to handle a childish tantrum, we're always one insult away from going to war.

The Idiocy of Donald, Military Spending Edition

I merely use his own words to illustrate Trump Logic:

"I have already saved more than $700 million when I got involved in the negotiation on the F-35."

demonstrating that...

"We must do a lot more with less."

therefore we need an...

"Historic increase in defense spending."

The man is profoundly stupid. Historically speaking, of course.

Sean Spicer's Problem Just Got a *Lot* Bigger

Last week, there was an uproar about Sean Spicer's self-admitted violation of protocols keeping White House contact with the FBI limited. His excuse at the time: The FBI guy initiated it. Well, this is about to get a LOT worse.

Today, Axios reported that Spicer actually coordinated a push-back involving the CIA Director, the Senate Intelligence chair, Senator Richard Burr, and House Intelligence chair Devin Nunes.

The officials reached by Spicer were CIA Director Mike Pompeo and Senate Select Intelligence Committee Chair Richard Burr (R-N.C), according to a senior administration official. The reporters were from The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, the official said. Spicer provided reporters' phone numbers to House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who offered to make the calls himself, according to the official: "He was in and out of an event."

Now, if we are to accept on Donald's word that these things are classified, then Spicer had the CIA Director and the top intelligence members in Congress to talk to the NYT and the WSJ about classified material, anonymously.

The Republican White House and Republican Congress are actively coordinating the leakage of classified information in defense of Donald.

Did your brain just explode? Mine did.

18 U.S. Code § 798 - Disclosure of classified information(a) Whoever knowingly and willfully communicates, furnishes, transmits, or otherwise makes available to an unauthorized person, or publishes, or uses in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detriment of the United States any classified information—
(1) concerning the nature, preparation, or use of any code, cipher, or cryptographic system of the United States or any foreign government; or
(2) concerning the design, construction, use, maintenance, or repair of any device, apparatus, or appliance used or prepared or planned for use by the United States or any foreign government for cryptographic or communication intelligence purposes; or
(3) concerning the communication intelligence activities of the United States or any foreign government; or
(4) obtained by the processes of communication intelligence from the communications of any foreign government, knowing the same to have been obtained by such processes—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

The Incoming Budget Impasse

Something to think about for the next two weeks: The current, temporary, debt ceiling expires on March 15, at which point it resets to the current debt level, just as Donald's budget is being debated. 

Why a big deal? We've just had a guy talk about how he single-handedly reversed the debt in January, oblivious to all of the companies and individuals who sent in their quarterly taxes in January and how these things work. What's he going to do when the debt ceiling issue requires grown-ups to discuss?

He obviously can't cop to expanding the debt ceiling, which is why he's put out a budget proposal with most of the stuff conservatives want. The budget proposal is meant to fool Americans into accepting the false choice between his shitty budget and a continuing resolution.

In this false narrative, he will offer his shitty budget as the means to grow the economy whilst balancing the budget. The budget won't be approved, in short, because it is so shitty that they won't even come close to getting the 60 votes needed for cloture. Point me to the Senate Democrat who will vote to slash the EPA, State Department, and other discretionary funds in order to pay for a tax cut for the rich and a massive increase in military spending, and I'll highlight the Democrat that will lose his / her seat in the next primary.

He'll pin the necessity of the debt ceiling on the failure of passing his shitty budget, blaming Democrats for the debt ceiling increase.

Watch.

So let me propose a stark alternative.

Rather than block Donald and the Republicans and force another continuing resolution, negotiate the best deal you can get, then allow a vote on the budget, but vote against the budget. In other words, let Donald and the Republicans own the federal debt and the economy.

This is not asking Democrats to roll over; this is asking Democrats to negotiate in good faith, but reject an obviously, deeply flawed appropriations bill. Let Republicans own it, 100%.

10 Thoughts for February 24, 2017

1. Recovering From the Flu: While the flu hit me for only about two or three days, what followed has been much worse. For the last 9 days, I've been stuck in Bronchitis Hell. I can walk and do stuff, but the phlegm and coughing have been horrible. Extra sleep helps, but it's a long road back from Bronchitis Hell. At this point, I'm pretty close to full recovery, I think. Still lots of phlegm, but the coughing has gone down significantly, especially the rough fits.
2. Glycerin and Dogs: About a year ago my friend complained about glycerin in pet treats, as if they were dangerous. I was somewhat flabbergasted because glycerin has been used in foods for quite a long time and is "generally recognized as safe" -- standard nomenclature by the FDA. Having read some online sources on their complaints about glycerin, it's clear that the biggest problem comes from a lack of understanding and logic. Some outlets insist that glycerin is made from biodiesel -- it is not -- when in fact, glycerin is a byproduct of the extraction of biodiesel from oil, whether petroleum or vegetable. Furthermore, glycerin does exist in nature on its own -- a product of fermentation -- contrary to what many believe. Finally, glycerin is so widely used in human foods and is exceptionally safe, it is allowed in products bearing the USDA organic label (assuming the original ingredients were organic in nature and processed via fermentation -- a 2015 change). If you fear glycerin out of the contamination factor from synthesis or chemical extraction, simply choose USDA organic products.
3. Trump's Law: You know about the cynical Godwin's Law, that all (internet) conversations eventually end up discussing Hitler, right? I think we've just stumbled upon what may be referred to as, "Trump's Law". In Trump's Law, every public event, Trump's conversation comes back to how he won bigly. African-American Museum: "I like all those states where I won by double, double, double digits." Alexander Acosta announcement: "I won. I won." Press event with Israeli PM: "I think one of the reasons I won the election is we have a very, very divided nation." S.C. Boeing: "Remember we came down -- all together, we came down, and this was going to be a place that was tough to win, and we won in a landslide." At CPAC: "They lost the election. It's like how many elections do we have to have? They lost the election."
4. Sanctuary Cities: No one has yet sued The Emperor for his EO targeting Sanctuary Cities with the implied threat of pulling their federal dollars. The simplified explanation is that he hasn't yet yanked anyone's money, and without that action, no city has standing in court to sue The Emperor under (a) Due Process, (b)Equal Protection, and (c) State's Rights. Furthermore, someone may have explained to him that it was counterproductive to cut funds, only to end up in court, losing yet again.
5. Executive Orders: It's funny how Conservatives are sure of themselves that President Obama violated the separation of powers by excessive use of the Executive Order. You have to go back over a century to Grover Cleveland's second stint in the White House to find another president whose use of EOs over his time in office was lower. Yet, have you noticed that the WH has suddenly become silent on new EOs that they said would be issued this week? Hmm.
6. Ironic Button: Twitter has a button that says, "Show less often". I sometimes wonder if it is meant to be an Ironic Button. The more I click on it, the more stuff they show.
7. Coal Jobs: Appalachia has a big problem because no matter what, secure, generational employment in coal mining is going to disappear and it has nothing to do with regulation: (1) The west has more proven, recoverable coal than all of Appalachia, but requires significantly less labor as it is strip-mined, pointing to the reality that (2) Appalachia coal mines have a cost problem that is irresolvable, particularly when (3) natural gas fracking is significantly cheaper than Appalachian coal mining. By pinning regulation as the culprit, politicians from both sides of the aisle are doing a disservice to their constituents. And even when you accept the notion that regulation has some tail-end effects on the price of coal, then you have to also accept that deregulation of fracking will also have tail-end effects on the price of natural gas, keeping it highly competitive as an energy source, regardless of climate change issues.
8. Tiko is Dead: Well, for all intents and purposes, it is dead. They claim that they're going to keep moving forward with the remaining money, looking to attract investors, but if they couldn't already find investors by now, it means that they investors don't believe in the Tiko team's ability to come through. It doesn't seem to be a coincidence, therefore, that the Monoprice MP Select Mini 3D Printer suddenly sold out on Amazon and at Monoprice's website. Cheapest printer (that you can trust) at $199 -- technically cheaper than the Tiko, too.
9. Pokemon Go: Well, it took me less time than I thought to jump from level 21 to 22. Coinciding with the release of new monsters, I realized that by using the egg to double my score, I could essentially speed up my total points in a very short period of time. Instead of taking 8 days to clear level 21, it took me just 5. Right now, however, I'm being slowed down considerably by my bronchitis and the extra rain this month, preventing me from talking long walks and chasing after new monsters. Also, the point total to clear level 22 is 100,000, so, it's going to be a while.
10. Spotify Playlist: I built a new playlist, called Summertime Chill. It's been so cold and dreary this month, it felt like I needed a reminder of what's around the corner. Yes, that's my old photo from Hawaii, in 2008, up by Waimanalo side.
    
    

Idiocy of Donald, The Leakers Edition (updated)

"The FBI is totally unable to stop the national security "leakers" that have permeated our government for a long time. They can't even... 

find the leakers within the FBI itself. Classified information is being given to media that could have a devastating effect on U.S. FIND NOW"

So that was Donald on Twitter this morning.

Most people would understand how stupid this sounds: The conversations and connections between my associates and Russians are classified and Americans do not have a right to know, because it may damage me!

In reality, the intelligence being gathered here is classified to prevent the leak of people and methods involved in gathering the intelligence/evidence, and that hasn't been leaked at all. The true danger of these leaks is that they might compromise the criminal investigation by revealing the identities of those under investigation who might then take measures to stop the intelligence gathering by using E2E encryption and non-trackable communications.

Then there's the curious effect of calling out the FBI leakers.

On the one hand, you're effectively antagonizing people who are already incentivized to leak embarrassing information, and that tends to have an ironic effect. On the other hand, by calling out their information as classified and dangerous, you're giving credence to the leaks themselves.

But here's the dumbest part of all this. Donald loves to tell us about how his unpredictability is an asset to keep his enemies off guard. Yet, his own administration has let it be known how they're going to go after leaks.

How stupid is he? Very.

---

Add: Well now he's just talking out of his ass. He's just told the crowd at CPAC that the media is manufacturing its sources, which is clearly hypocritical because (1) he routinely manufactures his own "sources" when throwing out accusations; (2) if those sources are fake, then the FBI isn't leaking anything, making his accusation both moot and proof that he talks out of both ends.

The Idiocy of Donald, Boeing Edition.

Donald says he's renegotiated the price tag of the next Air Force One jumbo jet, down by $1B. We could take his word at face value, but really, why would Boeing reduce the price when there is no other American manufacturer of commercial-size airplanes?

Is he going to walk that contract to Airbus? Bombardier? Embraer? Tupolev? Who?

Critically, where in the chain of acquisition does it allow POTUS the right to unilaterally negotiate for the Pentagon, or for Congress? He doesn't hold the power of the purse. He doesn't hold the power to overrule bidding and contract rules, either. If pushed and desired, someone could take him to another courtroom and beat him up over violations of federal law and the US Constitution. Republicans in Congress, however, do not seem incentivized to oppose him just yet, despite clear violations of the powers enumerated by the US Constitution.

There is no sugar-coating this: He is a complete fool, but more than that, Donald's negotiating logic is ephemeral and simplistic.

Don't help him. Let the shit hit the fan by his own hand, people.

5 Cases of IOKIYAR for February 2017

1. Suicide: Because states are unable to obtain lethal injection drugs, Arizona's Department of Corrections now encourages people on death row to assist in their own executions by obtaining their own drugs, either on their own or with the help of someone else such as their lawyer. That's more than an insult, however, as Arizona passed a law three years ago outlawing assisted suicide:
   ARS § 13-1103 (A) (3) A person commits manslaughter by intentionally providing the physical means that another person uses to commit suicide, with the knowledge that the person intends to commit suicide. Thus, according to Republicans, suicide is okay if it's advocated by Republicans.
2. Obamacare: Back when Republicans could recklessly pass any legislation to repeal Obamacare, knowing that President Obama would veto it, Republicans went full-bore. One of Donald's biggest promises was to immediately repeal and replace the ACA. Now that they're in charge of the entire government, they've gone gun-shy. Back in 2014, the Republican-controlled House moved forward with a lawsuit against the ACA to block the individual subsidies that were used to expand coverage through the marketplaces. Initially, a ruling favoring the House was made, but the Obama Administration appealed. This past December, Republicans asked that a ruling on that appeal be put on hold. Yesterday, they asked for what amounts to an indefinite hold, unsure whether or not the new administration would defend the appeal or not, at which point the ACA and the marketplaces would immediately collapse while employer-based coverage would see prices skyrocket.
3. Ethics: I almost feel sorry for Republicans in Congress. In 8 years, the closest thing to an ethics violation in the Obama Administration was the gun-walking sting, called Fast and Furious. And yet, all they got out of it was a finding of contempt of Congress, whereas the conclusion of multiple investigations led to a stray ATF office and agents. Republicans considered the IRS's actions (targeting keywords in non-profit status reviews) to be ethically-challenged, but nothing came of it other than a contempt of Congress finding -- you get the picture here, where Republicans use the contempt of Congress charge to express frustration at finding nothing else. Fast forward to 2017 and we have Republicans trying to avoid investigations of ties between Russia, Donald, and Mike Flynn, putting the stops on accessing Donald's tax filings and investigations into his conflicts of interests. Even if the law says that the President is exempt from conflicts of interest, it does not mean that he is exempt from bribery, coercion, or Emoluments violations stemming from those conflicts of interests. 
4. Russia: Russia is an existential threat. Until it isn't -- because Donald told them so. Even polls show how registered Republicans now think of Russia as friendly. I guess parking a spy ship 30 miles off the eastern seaboard is how friendly nations treat each other? I'm not saying that Russia is an existential threat -- to the contrary, I think they're just troublemakers -- but the fact of the matter is, when you think military hawks, Republicans have long been the Party of Fear and War.
5. Balanced Budget: Starting with Newt Gingrich's Contract with America, whenever Republicans have controlled the House they've introduced a bill to create a Balanced Budget Amendment. This year will have been the second time Republicans (first time was 2003 - 2006) have controlled the entire Legislative branch and the Executive, and this year will have marked the second time they've decided that deficits are less important than other things. I'm not complaining, of course, except that it's become a convenient excuse to complain about Democrats and runaway budgets even while they can't control themselves. Ridiculous people.

You Don't Often See Rain Like This

Looks an awful lot like a tropical storm, doesn't it? I'm just guessing here, but we've probably already passed the 1/2" of rain predicted for today.

A "Popular" Guy

The Emperor, what a guy. Look how "popular" he is. You might even call him "in-famous".

The Simple Way to Spot Fraudulent Listings on Zillow

Zillow's got an obvious bug: It allows anyone to make a fake listing for rentals by simply entering a few key details at the time that you post it. In every one of them, they link to a phone number that is outside of the area and utilize fake interior photos stolen from someone else's listing.

This one caught my eye because it's a single-family residence but has 21 listings associated with it, from studios to 3 bedrooms. If you copy and paste the address associated with it, you can find the real rental listing.

Really, Zillow isn't even trying.

16 off-market units listed for a single-family house

5 current listings for this address?

This is the real rental listing.

What I'd Like Donald to See in Florida

So, Donald's going to fly down to Florida to do a pep rally to cheer himself up. Imagine, flying into the Orlando-Melbourne Airport and seeing this.

This is a rough mockup of pairs of 5'x20' banners to create 5'x40' messages so that as Donald's airplane touches down, he and everyone onboard Air Force One will be able to read them clearly.

Peeps, do it!

#RESIST

A Quick Post About Donald's *Last* Press Conference

If you don't know it yet, Donald just had the most incoherent, unhinged press conference, ever. It was supposed to be about his new nominee for Labor, but that portion lasted all of about 90 seconds and the rest was just scary weird. This one line highlights just how far unhinged he has become:

"The greatest thing I could do is shoot that ship that's 30 miles offshore, out of the water."

Yes, those were his precise words when attempting to talk about the benefits of a close relationship with Russia. The man does not know the meaning of irony.

You can watch/listen to it if you wish. You might just want to watch the news, though. There is no way this press conference doesn't receive the full treatment, today through Sunday.

5 Thoughts for February 16, 2017

1. Wheels are Coming Off: Three hours. That's how much time The Emperor spent watching cable TV and tweeting this morning from 3:30 to 6:30 am. His topic: Leaks and how he's going to make the leakers "pay a big price" if they're caught. Okay, so twice you've poked the hornet's nest and hornets came out to sting you, so you decide to poke them a third time? It's so bad, he's going to Florida on Saturday -- no joke -- to have a pep rally for himself. Not quite one month into his administration and he's already flown to Florida three times to get away from Washington. This, coming from a guy who claims that he "inherited a mess" and instead of dealing with this so-called mess, has decided to take a trip nearly every weekend. People are pointing to today's rambling mess of a press conference as signs that he's completely unhinged from reality.
2. NPR Podcast: Ugh, I give up. I can't listen to them anymore because they keep getting the facts wrong on a regular basis -- as in every podcast -- which, if you're a political reporter you should know your facts better than anyone else, seeing as you get paid for you gig? This latest podcast on Flynn's resignation suggested that Comey didn't chase Hillary because the law that she would have been charged with was rarely used -- which is completely untrue! -- and as a result, it seemed unlikely that Comey would go after Flynn using the Logan Act. The reason why Comey didn't go after Hillary was because the statutes specifically required intent and it was clear that Hillary's big fault was carelessness as opposed to intentionally violating the law.
3. Clueless Pence: Wow. WaPo states that Bannon and Priebus were both called in and consulted when WH counsel Don McGahn spoke to The Emperor about Mike Flynn's lies. None of these four people bothered to let Pence know what was going on. I get that he might be keeping his distance, knowing full well that the time will come that his distance will provide the support he'd need to take over the Presidency after The Emperor was impeached, but wow...Clueless Pence.
4. 3D Printer: It's been over a year since the Kickstarter 3D printer I signed up for, failed to make an appearance on my doorsteps at the originally scheduled period. The Tiko was supposed to be the least expensive 3D printer and would deliver 50µm resolution. They weren't able to simply translate their prototype to a fully mass-produced system, requiring a ton more steps and time fixing things, even after the RTM stage. Now, it seems that they've realized that they're going to run out of money before they complete the manufacturing and delivery of promised products to everyone so they've regrouped and have likely sought out private investment. They've delivered some 4,000 units, but that's far short of the 15,000 + units they needed to fulfill their minimum obligations and the built-from-scratch software slicer just isn't up to snuff. I'm sure that they'll deliver on their promise, but we're probably talking another 6 months I suspect. All of this has taught me one important thing about Kickstarter: A relatively inexperienced team cannot deliver technological jumps at lower costs on time. Having said that, I'm looking into getting a Monoprice because I'd like to be doing prototyping sooner than later and I've already waited for well over a year.
5. Sexless Japan: According to Japanese national statistics, one-third of Japanese women ages 35-39 have never had sex. I'm not that surprised, yet, the first thought that came into my mind was that I need to move to Japan ASAP. How the hell did Arman not hook up after 10 months at Terrace House?

The First 4 Signed Bills of the "Populist" "President"

Nearing four weeks in office, one would think that someone chasing economic populism would pursue economically (if only rhetorically) useful legislation. Thus, I give you the first four bills signed into law:

1. 115-1: H.R.39 - Tested Ability to Leverage Exceptional National Talent Act of 2017 or the TALENT Act of 2017. A bipartisan bill to help get "innovators" to help out our government. No economic impact.
2. 115-2: S.84 - A bill to provide for an exception to a limitation against appointment of persons as Secretary of Defense within seven years of relief from active duty as a regular commissioned officer of the Armed Forces. Otherwise known as the "General Mattis Exception". No economic impact.
3. 115-3: H.R.72 - GAO Access and Oversight Act of 2017 -- A bipartisan bill to expand the powers of the GAO to obtain and review other agencies' records. No economic impact.
4. 155-4: H.J.Res.41 - Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of a rule submitted by the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to "Disclosure of Payments by Resource Extraction Issuers" -- Otherwise known as the repeal of the portion of Dodd-Frank that required mining / oil companies to certify their product supply chain were conflict-free. Of course, these are sunk costs as companies have already set up the processes to certify their supply chains as conflict-free, so, no economic impact.

The next bill waiting for a signature: H.J.Res.38 - Disapproving the rule submitted by the Department of the Interior known as the Stream Protection Rule -- basically repealing new rules, several years in the process, that would have updated and codified protections of waterways from coal mining. I guess people want to drink dirty water.

So, helping out Main Street, right? Right?

6 Thoughts on Mike Flynn's Resignation

1. Tip of the Iceberg: It was October when the FBI was able to obtain warrants to wiretap certain members of The Emperor's staff who were communicating with Russia. That story hadn't been published until January, but it hinted that a lot more evidence of ties between The Emperor's team and Russia existed. The question is, is the evidence pointing to The Emperor, Mike Flynn, or someone else within the circle, as the central figure in all this? (See #6 for more)
2. A Split Party: The GOP is starting to fracture. Jason Chaffetz stated that things will take care of themselves, so no need to investigate. Devin Nunes said that he accepts the White House's story and will take up The Emperor's suggestion of investigating the leaks that led to Flynn's departure, instead. Rand Paul thinks it's a waste of time for Republicans to investigate Republicans. OTOH, A growing chorus of Republicans in the Senate is saying that investigations will be forthcoming and that Flynn will be called to testify -- if he starts claiming 5th Amendment protection against self-incrimination, that might get Republicans riled up further. 
3. Russia in Panic Mode: The first tweet out of Russia -- via RT (otherwise known as Russia Today, a Kremlin-owned news agency) -- was to label Flynn's resignation as a "retirement". After some mockery, they quickly deleted the tweet, then reported that the Kremlin deemed this as an internal matter for the US. Russian lawmakers are going off the rails, creating all sorts of narratives about what's going on. Essentially, they're now throwing mud at the wall to see what sticks.
4. The Timeline You'll Want to Pay Attention to: There are inconsistencies in details, and the timeline presents some critical waypoints showing that perhaps the WH knew but actively lied:
   
   • January 13: AP says a top Trump official reported that Mike Flynn had multiple contacts with Russian official Sergey Kislyak, on December 29, initiated by a text message the day before.
   • January 15: Mike Pence goes on Face the Nation and states unequivocally that  Flynn told him the day before that there was no talk regarding sanctions and that it was done via text message.
   • January 20 ~ January 23: FBI interviews Mike Flynn.
   • January 23: Sean Spicer says he spoke to Flynn the night before and that he made one phone call regarding four subjects, (1) the plane crash, (2) Christmas, (3) conference over Syria, (4) direct phone call with Trump.
   • January 23: WaPo breaks a story that says FBI investigated and cleared Flynn's phone calls.
   • January 26: Sally Yates informs Trump Administration of Flynn's lies.
   • January 28: Trump uses an Executive Memo to put Stephen Bannon on NSC, on equal footing with Flynn.
   • January 30: Sally Yates fired.
   • February 8: WaPo reports multiple sources confirm Flynn did talk about sanctions with Russia's Kislyak, Flynn flat out denies this.
   • February 9: Flynn walks back his statement by suggesting that he doesn't remember whether sanctions were discussed, calls Mike Pence to explain and apologize.
   • February 9: Mike Pence first learns about Flynn's lies to him.
   • February 10: The Emperor demurs about WH being told weeks ago about Flynn, saying, "I don't know about that. I haven't seen it. What report is that? I haven't seen that. I'll look into that."
   • February 13: Flynn resigns.
   • February 14: Sean Spicer faulted the DoJ, saying that they did nothing between January 13 and 26 to inform them.
5. The Emperor's Team is Still Lying to America and to Itself: Notice in that timeline that Bannon was placed on the NSC just two days after Sally Yates told The Emperor's team that Flynn had lied -- did they do this to keep Flynn in check? The first response from The Emperor was to tweet out an attack on the leaks that led to Flynn's departure -- that fits into the narrative that The Emperor's team saw a national security risk as nothing more than an HR shuffling. But to not tell VP Mike Pence? Imagine the chaos, if it turns out Pence was the last to know in the White House. Also, notice how The Emperor's own words continue to betray him.
6. Gross Incompetence or Treasonous?: This is increasingly the choice we're being presented. Was The Emperor grossly incompetent, such that despite knowing the national security risks Flynn's presence created, he nonetheless chose to keep Flynn within the top intelligence circle? Or is The Emperor using Flynn as a fall guy to cover up his own Treason? Given his actions these past three weeks, it's starting to look more like The Emperor's guilty of gross incompetence, at which point, it's plausible that he's not the central figure.

Dear Protesters...

It's apparent that you need to think big, as in big banners. Those tiny, individual signs are not very effective at sending a clear, readable message to The Emperor and his supporters. As such, here is a suggestion:

I've got a dozen of them, all with simple, clear messages, and the point here is that you need clarity, readability, and simplicity to hit the message home.

The Emperor will never again make the mistake of assuming that you're supporters cheering him on. When he watches cable news, he won't be able to avoid the messages you're sending to him.

5 Thoughts for February 13, 2017

1. Flu Season: It really is the flu season. I caught it late last week, and I know exactly when I got it. On Wednesday I saw this older man fall down on the sidewalk in the middle of the rain and rushed to help him get up. He had difficulty getting back on his feet, but once on his feet he was fine. Later on that same walk, I scratched my nose but as I did I realized that this guy was probably weak with the flu and that was why he fell. Sure enough, two days later my entire body was sore. But the thing is, I must have had this strain before because I'm not so bad off as other people I know who've caught the flu this season -- either that or that Emergen-C thing works extremely well. The body pain lasted just two days, and while I'm still in recovery mode with lots of phlegm and coughing, the symptoms weren't too bad at all. I haven't stopped walking, in fact.
2. The Emperor's Zero Security Policy: You know the White House doesn't give a damn about security when (1) a WH assistant posts a video from his iPhone onto Twitter, (2) showing the "football" in tow at the rear of the procession, (3) while people at Mar-a-Lago are allowed to photograph the guy holding onto the "football" and write a post about Rick and his job, (4) as well as post photos of "POTUS" and PM Abe discussing the NK launch (5) in an open environment where people are holding smartphones as flashlights so that PM Abe and "SCOTUS" read papers, followed by (6) the WH posting video shot using an iPhone that was (7) reposted by The Emperor via his no-longer-updated Galaxy S3, all at Mar-a-Lago (8) where members and their guests are within close proximity to "POTUS" to share Bluetooth and WiFi signals. They really don't get it.
3. Sally Yates: That former, temporary, top DoJ official who sent out a notice that no one should defend an EO that was unconstitutional, just before she was fired? It turns out that she was instrumental in informing The Emperor that Mike Flynn had lied about his phone calls and may have been vulnerable to blackmail by Russians. While she was defending the US Constitution and America, The Emperor has been actively destroying it. I think this is going to become a major theme. Which brings me to the next thought...
4. Are You Kidding Me?: The Emperor knew that Mike Flynn had lied back in January and still kept him on his National Security Council?!? It only further underscores the ties that were uncovered between The Emperor and his campaign team, last year. At this point, who would nbe surprised if Russia was able to get a microphone placed into the Oval Office? We've only just gotten through week 3 of the new administration and...
5. Mike Flynn Resigns!: It is official, Mike Flynn has resigned. Indeed, the pressure has been growing on multiple fronts. Three weeks in and we have a major scandal expanding rapidly. It does not start nor end with Flynn; it starts and ends with The Emperor. It was unconscionable to fire Yates and keep Flynn on at the NSC despite being told straight blank that Flynn had lied about his contacts with Russia. Now think about it: It's quite clear that USINT has the goods on Flynn, and the FBI could use it as leverage on Flynn to offer a full testimony against The Emperor -- the Ides of March is coming, could Flynn be The Emperor's Brutus? Hmm!

Okay, back to sleep to recover from the flu.

Support Grows for Impeachment

PPP is currently running a weekly poll, and one of the things they're tracking is the support of impeachment of The Emperor. At the current rate, we're as close as a week away from a majority of Americans supporting impeachment (right now it is split evenly, 46% in favor and 46% against).

It remains my contention, however, that this number has to reach at least 60% before pressure on the Republican Congress is high enough to act. When protests turn directly towards impeachment, the pressure will be intense.

Beware, the Ides of March?

6 Thoughts for February 11, 2017

1. Avoiding Sunshine Laws: It appears that The Emperor's team won't have any records to make available for Archives, as they've taken to using a messaging app that doesn't leave a trail or history. That's technically illegal -- intentionally avoiding a trail -- but I'm guessing that at this point in time, many, many politicians have figured this out and their younger staff have already moved over to these types of apps. Some people will say that this is no different than Hillary's intentions, but that's categorically false: Her intention was never to stop a trail but to limit immediate access to it, in which case, so long as she handed over her emails/work product she was fine, even if she missed some by accident. Intent matters, and in the case of The Emperor's team, their intent is to avoid anyone knowing what they're doing, wiping the history record of their actions.
2. Defamation: The Emperor (and his staff) should know better than anyone else, that whenever he calls someone a liar, especially a journalist, he can be sued for defamation. It's a three-part test: (1) provably false statement offered; (2) statement caused harm; (3) was done with malice. It's fairly easy to show malice by simply using The Emperor's own tweets and public statements, but imagine the stuff you'd find during discovery. As the cost of a lawsuit is the greatest obstacle, we need to establish a trust fund to pay for such lawsuits -- against any politician -- who would knowingly disparage journalism for self-gain.
3. Mike Flynn + Trump + Putin: The truth is out. We now know for certain that Flynn had talked to Russia ahead of the inauguration about the hacking sanctions. Back on January 13, reports of the phone calls came out in the press. For reasons related to cognitive bias, the Bernie or Bust supporters refuse to believe that Russia and The Emperor's campaign coordinated to hijack the US election. We also know, for certain, that he'd talked to Russia before the election, and that UNINT has corroborated phone calls highlighted in "the dossier". I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
4. The Truth About Intel's $7B Investment: The valuation is mostly an illusion meant to get people excited about big numbers. The fab building was already constructed, but even if they were starting from scratch, the cost of the land, building, permits, drawings, and engineering are a tiny fraction (in the neighborhood of 1~5%). The largest chunk of the cost to being a fab online is the equipment. If Intel were forced to restate their job creation in terms of Full-Time Equivalent Years, it would be exceedingly tiny in scale to that $7B investment, and not the 3,000 jobs cited. Furthermore, the number they present is offset by large tax credits given by states to tech manufacturing companies, making that $7B a lot less valuable to a state. Finally, if you don't believe me: last April Intel announced layoffs in Chandler that would bring its workforce down to under 11,000, but in this current announcement, they said that Fab 42 would result in more than 10,000 long-term jobs in Arizona. Head fake, bruh.
   
5. The Emperor Claims Media Abused Ivanka: Pretty rich, don't you think, that the guy who bragged about grabbing pussy and kissing women at without their permission, claims that the media has abused Ivanka. The irony -- that The Emperor's actions have harmed his daughter -- clearly flew over The Emperor's sparse head.
6. Paper Tiger: I previously noted that the markets have taken to mocking The Emperor's attacks by boosting the companies he criticizes, and it has clearly annoyed The Emperor (as noted by his claims of abuse of Ivanka). But the other day he conceded the primacy of the One China policy -- something he'd previously challenged publicly. That followed a concession earlier this week that Israel's expanded settlements were working against peace between the Palestinians and Israelis -- something he'd previously ignored. Today, despite assurances that North Korea wouldn't test-fire a ballistic missile, NK test-fired a ballistic missile. I previously outlined how this is the second stage of a major military confrontation (the first was The Emperor's belligerent threats) and now The Emperor is at a crossroads between sanity (being a paper tiger) and insanity (escalating to bolster his ego) -- the good news (sort of) is that he is increasingly looking like the bad negotiator we thought he was and not the lunatic who would literally go ballistic.

The Indefatigable Failures of The Emperor

News reports state that, when questioned about Mike Flynn's phone calls with Russia over sanctions, The Emperor was clueless.

“I don’t know about that, I haven’t seen it,” Trump said, according to a transcript of the conversation. “What report is that? I haven’t seen that. I’ll look into that.”

That's a curious statement. On the one hand, The Emperor is briefed on national security matters, so he should have known that it was coming. On the other hand, if he and his team are the targets of a criminal investigation, it makes perfect sense why he was caught off-guard -- so much so it exposed a rare moment of truth.

If that wasn't bad enough, CNN reported that intelligence officials have corroborated many of the meetings cited in "the dossier", showing that the allegations of contacts between The Emperor's staff and Russian hackers and officials were factual. While some people were surely hoping the prurient episodes cited in "the dossier" were verifiably true, they are not criminally important -- the kompromat, if used to blackmail The Emperor, would hold Russian officials criminally liable. Treason is a very high crime, and that's surely where the criminal investigation is focused.

Sure, a lot of Bernie or Bust people still believe that the Russian story is a lie -- because if true, then Hillary did not lose on the merits of her candidacy but on the interference of outsiders --  but one by one the facts are being established and a criminal case is being built.

And I'm also certain that these same folks will demand that the proof is made public. But the proof does not need to be made public; the end goal is to reach a conviction and that only requires showing the proof to a jury.

#RESIST

In One Month: Debt Ceiling

On March 15, 2017, the federal debt ceiling suspension will formally end, at which point the debt ceiling will be adjusted to the current total debt level. Normally, the media and Congress would be keenly focused on this. This is not a normal year and this is not a normal country we live in.

What do you suppose will happen -- will the Republican Congress and White House change their minds about their dogmatic desire to balance the budget, or will they ignore it and try to quietly resume the debt ceiling suspension? I expect the latter and I think they'll suspend the debt ceiling for exactly two years, pushing the onus of the debt ceiling onto the next Congress.

Or, the crazies in Congress could always demand a Balanced Budget Amendment (as they once used to do at the start of every session) and shut down the government. The thing is, Republicans control the entire government so they own everything that happens under their watch, but there are many Republicans who actually believe in a balanced budget and will not budge this time around.

Speaking of debt, in the most recent Treasury report (Jan 18, 2017), China (official and unofficial) held 5.3% of all federal debt, having sold off $215B of their holdings over the past year (Nov 2015 to Nov 2016) which is roughly equal to 17% of their holdings. No one noticed and no one panicked.

5 Events in The Emperor's World, February 9, 2017

Honestly, there is enough content, now, to do this on a daily basis. I shall restrain myself, but today was an exception.

1. Conway: Kellyanne Conway ran afoul of a federal law meant to stop federal employees from hawking products (Ivanka's disappearing wares). Spicer said that she was counseled in private; the White House says they stand behind her; the rest of the world is wondering if she (and the rest of the WH staff) skipped her ethics review before she started her job. It's so obvious of a violation of ethics, the OGE's website broke from excessive traffic, apparently fielding a flood of complaints. It's so obvious, Congress sent a bipartisan letter to OGE to investigate ethics violations.
2. Intel / Nordstrom: Today, Intel closed down ~-2.5% and Nordstrom closed up ~+2.3%. So embarrassing for Intel's CEO Brian Krzanich. You kiss the ass of The Emperor and no one rewards your actions -- what has this world come to? /S
3. Jason Chaffetz, Guy With No Balls: Two days ago, Chaffetz told us that The Emperor instructed him not to talk about congressional oversight and that he obliged The Emperor. Today, he faced an angry town hall at home, forced to defend his bill (that he later pulled) to give away federal lands. He's probably wondering why the Bundys didn't show up to defend him.
4. He Said / She Said: The Emperor was very upset when Senator Blumenthal reported back that Neil Gorsuch, The Emperor's nominee for SCOTUS, had told him that The Emperor's attacks on the judiciary were both "disheartening" and "demoralizing". The Emperor was so mad, that he attacked Blumenthal. That's when it came out that other senators from both sides of the aisle and Gorsuch's own GOP handler backed up Blumenthal's account of Gorsuch's feelings on the matter.
5. Appeals Court Says NO: In a 3-0 ruling, the 9th Circuit Appeals Court ruled against The Emperor's demands that the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) be rejected. Having listened in on the oral arguments, it was already clear that, at the very least, the court was headed to a 2-1 decision. For me, it boiled down to this: The DoJ said that not only did the Courts lack the ability to review The Emperor's EOs, but that they didn't have to produce any evidence whatsoever to indicate that the TRO created harm. That was such a Trump thing to do, that it's almost curious they bothered to show up, after all, they don't need to answer to anyone, right?

Mike Flynn Lied

It amazes me that The Emperor's team doesn't get it: No one trusts them.

No amount of insularity will protect them. Ironic, in fact, that the more insular they become, the greater the leaks expand.

In early January, we learned that Mike Flynn had spoken to Russian officials in December, around the time that the Obama Administration announced sanctions against Russia for hacking. We all knew something was fishy about their response.

Putin’s muted response — which took White House officials by surprise — raised some officials’ suspicions that Moscow may have been promised a reprieve, and triggered a search by U.S. spy agencies for clues. 

“Something happened in those 24 hours” between Obama’s announcement and Putin’s response, a former senior U.S. official said. Officials began poring over intelligence reports, intercepted communications and diplomatic cables, and saw evidence that Flynn and Kislyak had communicated by text and telephone around the time of the announcement.

 When caught with the truth that the phone calls occurred, Flynn denied that the sanctions were discussed. Bullshit. You talk to Russia right as the sanctions were announced, and you didn't talk about the sanctions? The bullshit meter broke, my friends.

But finally, after digging deep enough below the bullshit, WaPo has reached paydirt.

Nine current and former officials, who were in senior positions at multiple agencies at the time of the calls, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters. 

All of those officials said ­Flynn’s references to the election-related sanctions were explicit. Two of those officials went further, saying that Flynn urged Russia not to overreact to the penalties being imposed by President Barack Obama, making clear that the two sides would be in position to review the matter after Trump was sworn in as president.

 Not only did Flynn lie, but his offers of repeal were done so even while we had a sitting President -- Obama -- in charge of foreign affairs, making it a potential violation of the Logan Act, and possibly Treason.

Thank goodness we have a Congress that'll protect America and the US Constitution. We're totally screwed, people.

That Time When The Emperor Contradicted Himself

The truth is, The Emperor contradicts himself all the time. But here's an especially egregious example of contradictions because it is captured fully in writing from his desk.

On January 23, 2017, The Emperor issued a Memorandum creating a federal hiring freeze. It was quite specific, too:

"This hiring freeze applies to all executive departments and agencies regardless of the sources of their operational and programmatic funding, excepting military personnel."

Two days later, The Emperor signed an Executive Order (EO 13767) to ramp up "The Wall" with Mexico. In it, he issued a demand to increase federal employment:

"Sec. 8. Additional Border Patrol Agents. Subject to available appropriations, the Secretary, through the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, shall take all appropriate action to hire 5,000 additional Border Patrol agents, and all appropriate action to ensure that such agents enter on duty and are assigned to duty stations as soon as is practicable."

On the same day, The Emperor also signed another Executive Order (EO 13768) to increase deportations. In doing so, he again demanded an increase in federal employment:

"Sec. 7. Additional Enforcement and Removal Officers. The Secretary, through the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, shall, to the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, take all appropriate action to hire 10,000 additional immigration officers, who shall complete relevant training and be authorized to perform the law enforcement functions described in section 287 of the INA (8 U.S.C. 1357)."

Since neither Border Patrol nor ICE is part of the military, and since his Memorandum left no exceptions, The Emperor has contradicted himself in writing, twice.

As with his deeply flawed foreign entry EO, it seems that no one has bothered to run these things past lawyers, or at least someone smarter than the average bear.

As with a deeply vain -- re: Narcissist -- person, The Emperor doesn't seem to be the type who would reissue an EO or Memo to correct the flaws, as it would be an explicit admission of failure -- and we know The Emperor has never admitted to failure.

That is one big reason why his foreign entry EO ended up in court. You can't simply reinterpret written words -- well, in this White House, apparently words have no concrete meaning -- as they can be re-reinterpreted at will, therefore.

His stupidity creates problems, but it is his vanity that prevents him from avoiding the courtroom.

This is the Day the Markets Made Fun of The Emperor.

Earlier today, The Emperor thought unwisely to make use of his bully pulpit to knock Nordstrom for dropping his daughter's line.

Big mistake. Instead of bullying Nordstrom, Nordstrom and their stockholders made money off of The Emperor's attacks.

That, alone, would have sufficed to show how the markets now treat The Emperor's actions with much disdain, but there's more.

Later in the day, The Emperor trotted out Intel CEO Brian Krzanich so that Intel could announce a $7B investment in Arizona, at its Fab 42 (which had essentially been mothballed for years).

But things did not go as planned. Intel got a short boost in its stock price, only to lose money.

The markets are just toying with The Emperor at this point.

The Emperor's Failed Military Op

The news keeps getting worse on The Emperor's first military operation, a mission in Yemen to detain local elders and extract intelligence.

• Everything went wrong from the start;
• They had to destroy an Osprey because it experienced a hard landing that damaged it;
• A SEAL 6 member died, several other participants suffered injuries;
• Some defense officials blame inadequate planning and intelligence, others are pointing to the risk of such a mission;
• Obama had previously rejected the boots on the ground mission;
• They accidentally killed an American citizen -- an 8 year old girl;
• They may have killed up to 30 innocent civilians;
• The Emperor's team claims that they killed at least 14 Al Qaeda members, even though that wasn't their mission;
• When The Emperor approved of the mission, he was surrounded by political strategists and military officials, over dinner;
• No legal advice was provided;
• The Emperor wasn't in the Situation Room when the operation was under way;
• The intelligence presented as a win, was in fact 10 years old and publicly available.

In other words, The Emperor's first military operation was a 100% failure (partial credit was given for killing Al Qaeda members but subsequently deducted for failure to understand the two extremist factions fighting each other and going against his word of seeking peace in the ME).

Expect more of the same.

What is "Peace"?

*Like many things in this blog, this is a stream of consciousness.*

Peace is not just a broad term, but it heavily relies on one's perspective. Peace can be simplistically achieved by ignorance -- stop paying attention to world events and you will be at greater peace -- in much the same way as the paradox of not hearing the sound of a tree falling in a forest implies that the tree was not felled.

Is peace without justice, peace? South Africa achieved a remarkable peace in race relations through their Peace and Reconciliation Committee that granted amnesty to those who came forward with admissions of criminal wrongdoing. (Northern) Ireland achieved a very similar peace when the Irish Republican Army was turned into a political party and past crimes essentially forgiven. In both cases, there were victims who never saw actual justice, but appear to have willingly accepted peace over justice.

When Tulsi Gabbard took a fact-finding trip to Syria and met with Bashar al-Assad, what sort of peace was she striving for? Was she striving for peace, or was she looking to alleviate her conscience and her cognitive dissonance by doubling down with confirmation bias? I ask, because for Gabbard to describe the trip as a fact-finding mission seems incongruous to her actions.

When people take a side -- e.g. you can achieve peace through ____(fill in the blank) -- many of them will then proceed to ignore the consequences of their position and actions. When confronted with the ugly truth of their position or the consequences that followed, most people sink deeper into their fallacy -- we all do this from time to time, but few knowingly realize it, and when confronted, most of us deny our failures.

I don't know what Gabbard's true motives were, despite her profession that she was on a fact-finding mission, after all, the "facts" provided by an autocratic despot have limited values. By her previous statements against war, however, it seems that she's picked a side and is currently seeking confirmation bias.

I can't bring myself to condemn Gabbard's actions, but I can't praise them, either. However, at the moment she doesn't seem to exhibit the thoughtfulness needed in this country. People, particularly Bernie supporters, will vehemently disagree with me, but their own thoughtfulness is questionable as they've taken a strict position that requires them to maintain fidelity to a dogma.

He Never Stops...

The Emperor started off Thursday morning with an attack on the Equal Protection Clause in the US Constitution, singling out UC Berkeley's federal funding, following last night's riot over a Breitbart editor's scheduled speech on the Berkeley campus.

In a month's time, he may be the most hated man on the planet. In two months, The Emperor may win the award for The Biggest Douche in the Universe. In three, Mr. Garrison's going to go all 50-shades on The Emperor. In four months, The Emperor will change his name to "Chris" and he and Saddam will have to fight it out in order to win over Satan's love. In five, we reach world peace?

I Said You Might Miss Out if You Blink...

But this is ridiculous.

Tonight, in the span of just a few hours, it has been revealed that:

• The Emperor bragged, insulted, then hung up on the Australian Prime Minister;
• That he threatened Mexico with the use of American force;
• That The Emperor really is trying to abolish the EPA;
• And that the Yemen special forces operation was flawed from the start because The Emperor "approved his first covert counterterrorism operation without sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations." -- which, by the way, highlights why you need really smart people in the White House to counteract the Pentagon's planners.

That's on top of the news from earlier in the day where:

• We found out that an American citizen -- an 8 year old girl -- was killed in that Yemen operation;
• The Emperor's team had directed the Pentagon "to explore ways the United States can challenge Iran in Yemen" -- didn't The Emperor sell non-intervention to those Bernie-or-Bust folks? -- on top of floating the possible use of force against Iran;
• His own team got into a fight over whether or not his Muslim ban was a ban or directed at Muslims despite spending the entire campaign calling for a ban on Muslims;
• Has apparently drafted a new EO that would deport legal citizens of the US if they were to make use of federal aid in any way;
• We discovered that neither The Emperor nor his spokesperson Sean Spicer know who Frederick Douglass is.

But wait, there's more:

• Tonight we also learned that Steve Bannon now expects the US to enter into two major wars -- one in the South China Seas and another in the Middle East;
• And The Emperor continues his rage tweets against everything and everyone;
• As a result of all this madness, we may yet see a mass exodus from the State Department (and others).

I leave you with one last thing to read following all of this craziness: Reuters has issued public guidelines on how to cover The Emperor, mirroring their current methods when covering authoritarian regimes around the world. We are already here.

10 Thoughts for February 1, 2017

1. Pokemon is Back On: Well, after two months apparently I'm now allowed back in. My niece and sister were playing, so I reinstalled it and turned it on, and it logged me in. In the six-ish days that I've actually started playing again, I've jumped from level 15 to level 18. It's so easy when you live in downtown and walk a lot -- the dog has learned that we're going to randomly stop every so often, so he just stands there waiting and watching what's going on around him.
2. Don't Blink: If you blink, you might miss some crazy story about The Emperor. Not ever in the history of the United States, have we had an administration with this much chaos in such a short amount of time. We are rapidly building up to either his resignation or his impeachment, or something worse like a stroke, caused by overwhelming stress. In real time, we're seeing the meltdown of an administration, completely incompetent, with the walls closing in. But there's a problem...
3. Party Over Country: Do Republicans in Congress understand the difference between fielty to country and support for the party? This isn't just a problem facing Republicans, of course. In general, most of us have difficulty overcoming the bandwagon effect and an affinity for our own group. However, if Republicans fail to place country over party, we will either see The Emperor fundamentally change this country and turn it into an autocratic nation or some sort of militaristic / violent reaction. I don't know which action will push the country over the edge, but I am growing more confident that the trigger will be a combination of a recession with a widely unpopular move by The Emperor. Which brings me to the next point...
4. Our Generation's Selma Moment: We are, metaphorically speaking, having our own Selma moment, witnesses to both profiles in courage and cowardice. We have rogue federal workers standing up to The Emperor, an acting AG who refused to defile the US Constitution replaced by one who will. This is, as you might expect, driving The Emperor to madness. Lacking patience or tolerance for opposition, he has increasingly given way to rants and ill-considered actions.
5. The Strategy Few Comprehend: Psychologically, The Emperor is very easy to exploit and manipulate; were I in charge of a national strategy, as I noted one year ago, I would continually hit back at him, criticizing every little bit of detail that could possibly annoy him. It is when he is unhinged -- forced by his ego to respond to every little slight -- that he is most vulnerable to exposing himself as a poor decision-maker. His vocabulary shrinks, his eyes bulge, his face turns red, and he cannot think or operate clearly. It was Obama's cool-under-fire temperament that drove conservatives crazy, however, it is The Emperor's unhinged moments that make these same conservatives cringe.
6. Administration Disproves Itself: Just days after signing a foreign entry order which, among other things, stopped allowing refugees into the US, by suggesting that terrorists could get in under the old system, the administration has quietly determined that it will allow 872 "in-transit" refugees entry into the US. In other words, the prior vetting system was sufficient. The Emperor's team is full of shit, aren't they?
7. The Emperor's NDA: Reports have come out that the exclusion EO was written by congressional staffers who then signed NDAs. On its face, that appears to violate sunshine laws, particularly if those staffers used non-government systems to communicate, in an effort to hide their activities. More importantly, however, it also appears that these NDAs would violate the separation of powers of the US Constitution -- how does the Executive branch compel employees of the Legislative branch to keep quiet about their activities? I look forward to an outside group filing an FOIA to access coordination communications of these staffers, as well as the actual NDAs. Perhaps, I should have become a lawyer so that I could be on the front lines, but then again my greatest strength is actually creativity.
8. Personal Bubbles: We all live in personal bubbles of our making; in some cases, we naively create our bubbles, in other cases, we knowingly discriminate against others. Case in point, if you attend a world-class university you will encounter a lot of people who do not look, speak, or think like yourself, and you are given the choice to associate or dissociate yourself from each group or person. In college, I met and enjoyed talking to people from Iran, Iraq, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Israel, Mexico, Canada, Peru, Thailand, and Fiji. Yet, it was clear that many other people preferred to form cliques and stick to members of their own stripes. We should all strive to learn from others, tossing aside our preconceived notions. I don't screen people based on their conservative / liberal ideology -- do you?
9. National Signing Day: Did you hear that sound? Across the country thousands of jaws dropped, hitting the floor, as USC jumped from outside the top-10 to top-5 in a single day. If you go back two weeks, USC was just inside the top-20. Meanwhile, it sure sounds like coaches at Oregon were using negative recruiting and failed. As much as Trojans fans wanted Adoree Jackson and others to stay for their senior year, this year's haul shows that the Trojans are never lacking in the talent department.
10. Netflix Watching: In part because of my flight to / from Hawaii, I caught up on some Netflix viewing -- thank goodness for the ability to download episodes for offline viewing! -- so I've now completed A Series of Unfortunate Events and the last half of the final season of Hell on Wheels. In addition, I've also completed Terrace House Aloha State, season one of The Librarians, and Travelers. Next up will be the Terrace House Boys and Girls in the City, the current season of Ripper Street, completion of the second season of Narcos, the "second" season of Sense8, and Better Call Saul. With the speed that Netflix has been bringing newly released disc titles to streaming, I'm probably getting very close to dropping my disc subscription.