–“Terrible things are happening outside…poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart; men, women and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.” [Anne Frank, 1/3/1943]
–The ICE raids in MS & elsewhere are an abomination that is so reminiscent of the Nazi thugs. The terror they engender is unfathomable, especially in children, & remains with you the rest of your life. I know, I lived through it….
–The SPLC is following 1,020 hate groups in the US. It just won a lawsuit against a Neo-Nazi leader who “must pay more than $14M in damages.” Sadly, he can’t be found.
–REMINDER: Dayton & El Paso bring total US mass shootings to 251 in 216 days. [USA, 8/4]
**More than 520 people have died and 2,000+ have been injured. Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit org that tracks gun-related violence, defines a mass shooting as one in which “four or more people were shot or killed, not including the shooter.”
**And still, all we get from our so-called government and our so-called president is “thoughts and prayers”!
–Please call Nancy Pelosi to insist that the House begin the impeachment inquiry ASAP; her phone numbers are: DC 202.225.4965 & SF 415.556.4862.
**As Robert Mueller stated: “We need to move quickly!”
–SOCIALISM MEANS THAT SOCIETY POOLS ITS RESOURCES TO PROVIDE THINGS FOR EVERYONE; IN AMERICA TODAY, THAT INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING. WHICH ONE OF THESE SCARES YOU THE MOST???
FIRE DEPARTMENTS POLICE DEPARTMENTS AMBULANCES
PUBLIC SCHOOLS PUBLIC HOSPITALS STUDENT LOANS
VETERANS’ BENEFITS NATL WEATHER SVC MEDICARE
SOCIAL SECURITY FEMA GI BILL
NATIONAL PARKS NASA CDC
FDA (FED DRUG ADM) MILITARY SEWERS
NATL WEATHER SVC FDIC (DEPOSIT INSUR.) UNEMPLOYMENT INSU.
HAZARDOUS WASTE DISPOSAL & CLEAN-UP
ROAD, BRIDGE & TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION
–T (=Trump) has set a spectacular record for “winning” [FB, 7/29]
**Most vacation days
**Most golf played
**Most lies told
**Most indictments
**Lowest polls ever!!!
–Putin’s thugs arrested nearly 1,400 Moscow demonstrators who were demanding that opposition-backed candidates be allowed to run for city council. Horrifying thought: are we starting to head in the same terrifying direction? [USA Today, 7/28]
–Putin’s main & only rival, the incredibly courageous corruption fighter Alexei Navalny, was among those arrested, then was taken to the hospital for what his own doctor says are chemical burns.
**Two years ago, the Russian government barred Navalny from running in the upcoming election, because of “a past criminal corruption conviction.” Now that trial WAS a genuine, honest-to-goodness HOAX, and everybody knows it.
–After T’s incessant attacks on Rep. Elijah Cummings & his home town, the BALTIMORE SUN Editorial Board replied with an article with this headline: “Better to have a few rats than to be one!” Bravo!!!
–Mitch McConnell keeps blocking election security bills in Congress; whose side is he on? How is this not considered betrayal of our country?
**Comment by Lawrence O’Donnell: “This is simple. McConnell does not think T can win without Russia’s help.” [7/29]
–T-shirt sign: “Keep the Immigrants…Deport the Racists.”
–24 foreign governments have enriched T, his businesses & his friends – hotels, golf courses, the NYC tower, trips to Maralago, etc. Every time, the $$$ goes in his pockets!
–Miles of new border fencing added by President Obama in his first year: 130. Under T to date: 0 (that’s zero!).
**George Conway: “I would give $$$ to the PAC that would run TV ads prominently touting this fact in every red-state market in the country!”
–“Robert Mueller was questioned…for 7 hours, or about 6 hours longer than T has ever ‘worked’ in a day!” [Bette Midler, 7/25]
–Ah, good old Melania! On the day Robert Mueller was giving his testimony, she announced, and I quote: “Christmas planning has begun in the East Wing at the White House.” Yes, Christmas in July! Thanks, Mel!
–Kamala Harris: “We need equal pay now!” Gender gap: White Women make 80c for every dollar men make; Black Women make 61c; Native American Women make 58c; Latina Women make 53c. This is an abomination!!!
–Some more interesting stats: number of ppl who filed for bankruptcy because of medical bills during the years 2011-2017: UK, Japan, Norway, France, Taiwan = 0 (ZERO). US = 4,872,487! Another abomination!!!
–Joe Scarborough tweet: “Jesus, forgive me for ever being a Republican!”
–After a VA church posted a huge sign stating: “America, Love It or Leave It,” the following Sunday, the 11 o’clock service was completely empty!
–T welcomed the president of Pakistan in the WH; at the long oval table, not a single woman was seen.
**T last year: “Pakistan has given us nothing but lies and deceit.”
**T just now: “Pakistan never lies.”
–Our esteemed Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, regularly falls asleep at meetings, so they schedule them during “a small window where he’s able to focus & pay attention & not fall asleep.” [MSNBC, 7/22]
–When ICE came for a family in Nashville TN, 30-40 neighbors formed a human chain and ICE went away. There’s a wonderful video of this event!
–T gave $28B subsidies to farmers who are suffering because of his stupid tariffs, while simultaneously cutting 3.1 million people from SNAP (food stamps), most of whom are the working poor. [Sherrod Brown, 7/23]
–REMINDER: more than 1,000 former Federal Prosecutors who had worked in both Republicans and Democratic administrations, wrote and signed a letter stating that, if anyone else had committed the deeds that Trump had, they would be prosecuted. The letter has now been entered into the Congressional Record, thanks to Rep. Swallwell. The 1k prosecutors between them have 12,000 years of experience!
–Intriguing headline: “Is it Normal for Foreign Allies to Edit Drafts of Presidential Speeches?” A question about a major May 2016 speech titled “America First” energy policy to be given by T that was sent to the UAE and Saudi Arabia for edits. Did they not see the irony of it???
–A poll that asked “Do you think President Trump is racist?” got the following answers:
**Dems: 86% yes, 9% no
**Reps: 8% yes, 91% no. Some ppl desperately need hearing aids! And glasses?
–The GM Warren MI Transmission Plant is closing; the workers were making $28/hour; how many part-time jobs at $7.25 will they need to maintain the same standard of living?
–Health care insurance companies made $100 BILLION in profits last year. [Bernie Sanders, 7/30]. Hint: wouldn’t it have been better to spend that money on health care?
–Jared Kushner’s family company faces more than 173 Baltimore violations, including overcharging 90% of its tenants in one building, suing 500 tenants for minor infractions, etc. They own 8,000 apartments in Baltimore.
–FB comment: “Trump spent as much time at Ground Zero as he did in Vietnam.”
–Artists installed seesaws at the border wall so that kids in the US & MX could play together; they were designed by architect Ronald Rael. It’s a beautiful reminder that we are all connected: what happens on one side impacts the other.
–Surely you’ve seen the fake presidential seal behind the fake president who was speaking to “young conservatives” recently. The eagle, most appropriately, is holding golf clubs in one talon and money in the other! At the time, nobody noticed. No surprise there!
–An Arkansas Payless store was going out of business & a lady lawyer and school board president in Alma bought all 1500 pairs of shoes and distributed them to the needy! She was inspired to do so when her daughter asked if they could buy a pair for a classmate who needed them! These kinds of people give me hope!
–An American nuclear physicist is working with the Japanese govt to clean up the Fukushima disaster zone. Now they are using incredibly innovative and super-expensive robots to search for the missing radiation fuel that is somewhere in places where no human dares to go. [60 Minutes, 7/28]
–McConnell helped install 140 conservative judges, many of them lifetime appointments.
–Saudi Arabia allows women to travel w/o permission from a man! [WaPo]. WOW!
–Borowitz Report: T denies Mitch McConnell is a Russian asset: “He has never been an asset to any country.”
–A year ago, an 11-year-old changed election results on a replica FL state website in under 10 minutes! [PBS, 8/12/18] WHAT HAS BEEN DONE SINCE THEN, MOSCOW MITCH???
–Now here’s a headline that will make you LOL or bang your head against a wall: “Half of Republicans thing that Trump ‘considers carefully’ before commenting on things.” [WaPo]
–When all the news about Trump’s corruption and the emoluments clause was being disclosed, President Carter commented, “And to think I had to sell my peanut farm!”
**For my young readers, a bit of history: Repuglicans attacked him constantly, ruthlessly & viciously, calling him a “peanut farmer,” among other things.
**In reality, he is a nuclear physicist, Navy and has done tremendously important work for humanity: contributed money, time and work to Habitat for Humanity, served as an official observer at many elections, written several books, etc.
–FB: “Jesus loves Donald Trump, but everyone else thinks he’s an a%%hole!”
–City of Charlotte wants to back out of 2020 Rep Natl Convention; according to one official, “We are tying ourselves to a most toxic convention in history.” [DC Tribune, 8/2]
–Reminder: in 2016, three states (MI, PA, WI) gave the presidency to T with 77k votes out of a total of 14 MILLION votes!!! What is wrong with this picture?
–T has appointed a new head of Bureau of Land Management who doesn’t believe the government should have any. We now have 245M acres of public land, available to all for a small fee!
–What’s with the “vetting process” in this WH? More than 35 ppl nominated by T to top positions didn’t make it.
–Did you know Belgium is a “beautiful city”? And that “A lot of these places you’re reading about now are no longer a part of Russia.” The idiot’s ignorance of history and geography is simply breathtaking!
–There’s a shocking video from Greenland, where 11 BILLION tons of ice melted in a single day. [Daily Kos, 8/2]
–“Lindsey Graham is the closest Trump has come to owning a dog.” [FB, Jimmy Fallon]
–The Washington National Cathedral, church of presidents, issued a scathing rebuke of T, stating emphatically that “The time for silence is over.” The article is well worth reading.
–Currently, President Obama’s approval rating among Democrats is 97%. Michelle Obama is the most popular woman in the world!
–The big question: is 2020 going to be a turnout election or a persuasion election? F. ex., the black vote went down from 67% in 2012 to 60% in 2016.
–The T administration has reauthorized “cyanide bombs” to kill wild animals. Here’s how they work: when an animal finds one, a capsule containing sodium cyanide, a highly toxic pesticide, is ejected into its mouth. The cruelty is the point! And what happens to the animals that eat the carcass?
–Public opinion on assault weapons ban: Support: 70% / Oppose: 24% [Morning Consult, 8/5-7]. The Dayton shooter killed nine people and wounded 26 in exactly 32 seconds!
**How does this jive with the repuglicans’ and evangelicals’ “RESPECT FOR LIFE”??? Why would a civilian need—or want, for that matter—such a deadly weapon, designed for the battleground, to inflict the most damage! BTW, doctors are beginning to show photos of “their lane,” i.e. of their Emergency Rooms after mass shootings. What horror!
–Stats for Michiganders: Population: 9,995,915 / % with advanced degrees: 11.4% / Median household income: $52,668 / Top #2 & #3 employers: MSU and U-M / U-M has the 6th largest academic library in the country.
The Bold Bi-weekly Buzz 