Green Eagle

"Donald Trump on Thursday brought up the idea of imposing an “all tariff policy” that would ultimately enable the U.S. to get rid of the income tax, sources in a private meeting with the Republican presidential candidate told CNBC." And the result   If Trump or anyone around him has the slightest contact with reality, they will know that this single position is the key to a landslide victory for him in November. There are two parts to this idiotic proposal: to do away with the income tax, and replacing lost Federal revenue with a massive increase on tariffs on all imported goods and materials. For a moment, let's deal with the second.  A quick, back-of-the-envelope calculation by Robert Reich indicates that a tariff increase necessary to raise that much revenue would increase the prices of all goods sold in the United States by 60%- an almost immediate 60% raise in inflation.  Anyone who is familiar with the result of the Smoot- Hawley act will be well aware that a fa...

"Trump on the debates: So, a little before debate time, he gets a shot in the ass. They want to strengthen him up. So he comes out. He'll come out. Okay. I say he'll come out all jacked up, right?" I don't know if anybody even will see my blog any more, but I couldn't resist commenting on this idiocy.  According to Republicans, Joe Biden is deeply sunken into senile dementia, but before next week's debate, he will be given drugs to get him to seem normal for a couple hours. I ask you to think about this.  There are, apparently, about seven million people suffering from Alzheimer's disease or other forms of senile dementia in the United States.  We have all heard stories about what a crushing tragedy it is for them and their families to go through this nightmare. Well, apparently, drug companies have a simple injection that can snap a person right out of their dementia and make them perfectly normal for at least a couple of hours.   Think what a blessin...

I have seen a number of posts and articles lately expressing a considerable degree of satisfaction over the fact that Democrats seem to be outraising Republicans by a considerable margin in the funding race for the 2024 election. All of these self-satisfied comments ignore one fact that should be obvious to anyone who has followed American elections for any length of time:  Republican campaigns are largely financed by the avalanche of dark money that is poured into our elections by billionaires and their corporations; overwhelmingly so for the mountain of negative ads which are the main feature of the last month or so of the campaign, and which, sad to say, are a major factor in getting the stupid "undecided" voters to go one way or another in November.   This has been true for decades, but has been a primary feature of American elections since five corrupt Republican Supreme Court Justices rendered their "decision" in the Citizens United case, making the collaborat...

 Well, here is the sorry state to which our justice system has declined, from the Washington Post today: "U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon heard two hours of legal jousting between prosecutor Jay Bratt and defense lawyer Emil Bove, who argued the language of the World War I-era Espionage Act that Trump is charged with breaking is too unclear to be the basis of an indictment against the 45th president of the United States. For most of the morning session, Cannon seemed to take the argument seriously... Cannon is set to hold the second part of the hearing Thursday afternoon, to discuss Trump’s claim that the Presidential Records Act should be grounds for the dismissal of charges that he mishandled national defense information. Trump insists that the law, which governs historical papers, means that he can declare even highly classified documents to be his own personal property." You do not have to be a lawyer to see that this claim is utter rubbish: "The 1978 Presiden...

So the corrupt Republicans in the house today put together another sham "hearing" designed to damage Democrats, in this case, President Biden.   The sole witness" today was a dishonest Republican hatchet man named Robert Hur, a former Trump stooge who was unforgivably appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to manufacture a smear against Biden. Now, it is tempting at this point to dwell on the single worst mistake Biden has made in his time as President: the appointment of the hapless coward Garland to safeguard this country against the Republican assault on popular government.  Let us just note that Hur is only the latest in a long history of Republican  attempts to fabricate a phony case against Democrats.  These include, in reverse order, the criminal attempt by John Durham to  accuse Biden of taking foreign bribes, which took three years and cost untold tens of millions of dollars, resulting in absolutely no charges but fueled an unending campaign...

 This: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NcJvi5TYEk

 The short answer:  Nobody. Nikki Haley lost by failing to get 40% of the vote in her home State, essentially sealing the tomb on her obviously lost campaign for President. But Trump lost just as badly.  The absolute leader and dictator of his party, running (in Republicans' minds) as an incumbent, couldn't get 60% of his own party's vote.  Regardless of the in-the-tank-for-Republicans reporting in the mainstream press, this is not a crushing victory by Trump, but in fact a humiliating repudiation.   Contrast that outcome to a real winner, Joe Biden, who got 96% of the Democratic vote.  The truth is that Trump can barely win an election in his own party.  Of course, the press will go on declaring him to be a mighty colossus, striding toward victory, because that is what the rich owners of the press want to happen.  But the truth remains:  this is a character who, barring massive vote rigging in November, appears to be riding toward an in...