TRUMP'S BAILOUT FOR FARMERS IS SOCIALSIM ... if we're to believe conservatives about what constitutes socialism

Read about it by clicking here.

- Mark

THE MANY FACES (HOODS?) OF TRUMP

-Mark

DEAR REPUBLICANS, AND OTHER TRUMP SUPPORTERS ...

The following is making its way around the internet, and is worth posting.

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Dear Republicans:

You didn’t object when you heard Donald Trump say he likes to grab women “by the pussy.”

You didn’t object when he kicked the American media out of the Oval Office and handed two Russian spies classified data entrusted to him by one of our allies.

You didn’t object when he likened our intelligence community to “Nazis.”

You didn’t object when he stood before the Memorial Wall of Stars at Langley and told lie after lie about himself and the election.

You didn’t object while at the Helsinki Summit, he met behind closed doors with the Russian President.

You didn’t object to him banning the American Press from covering that meeting.

You didn’t object when he emerged from that meeting and sided with the Russian President over the findings of our own intelligence community.

You didn’t object when the Trump campaign admitted to accepting Russian offers to help him defeat SecState Clinton.

You didn’t object when he stood before the cameras and said; “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find 30k e-mails that are missing.”

You didn’t object when the Russians responded that VERY DAY with stolen emails.

You didn’t object when it was confirmed that the basis for the Trump Tower meeting was a total fabrication. That it had nothing to do with adopting Russian children, and everything to do with swinging the election.

You didn’t object when it was revealed that Trump himself floated the cover story of adoptions from Russia.

You didn’t object when it was confirmed that his campaign staff had met with Russian agents over 150 times, after claiming they had never met with them at all.

You didn’t object when the Trump campaign declined to inform the FBI about the Russian advances.

You didn’t object when Trump’s campaign manager gave internal data on four key battleground states to agents working for Putin.

You sure as hell didn’t object when those very same four battleground states miraculously shifted towards Trump on Election Day.

You didn’t object when Trump kicked his Attorney General out of the room and asked the FBI Director to let his National Security Advisor off the hook for lying about his contacts with Russian agents.

You didn’t object when Trump fired that FBI Director for declining to let Flynn off the hook.

You didn’t object when Special Counsel Robert Mueller said he couldn’t establish a conspiracy, largely because so many of Trump’s staffers lied during their interviews, and because Trump himself refused to submit to a live interview.

You didn’t object when Special Counsel Mueller cited no fewer than ten instances of the president himself obstructing justice in his report: an impeachable offense.

You didn’t object when it was revealed he cheated on his wife with a porn star.

You didn’t object when it was revealed that he paid off that porn star to the tune of $130,000.00 to buy her silence just prior to the election, an illegal attempt to hide relevant facts from the electorate.

You didn’t object when he withdrew the U.S. from the JCPOA, which was the first and ONLY treaty that’s successfully kept Iranian nuclear ambitions in check.

You didn’t object when he pulled us out of the Paris Climate Accords.

You didn’t object when he scuttled the Obama administration’s clean air and water standards.

You didn’t object when he opened up vast tracts of protected wilderness to his friends in the oil and mining industries.

You didn’t object to the myriad cases of violations of the emoluments clause.

You didn’t object when he mocked a disabled man at one of his rallies.

You didn’t object to the recently-discovered military stopovers at Trump properties in Scotland.

You didn’t object when after mass shooting after mass shooting, he wouldn’t lift a finger to protect even little school children from gun violence.

You didn’t object when he started putting tariffs on everyone from China to Turkey, which have undeniably hurt millions of people around the world and shaken the stock markets.

You didn’t object when he gave the corporate farming industry $26B in compensation for their losses due to his tariffs.

You didn’t object when he channeled $3.6B in Pentagon appropriations to his wall on the Mexican border.

You didn’t object when Trump called out against “Islamic terrorism” on multiple occasions, but never once for terrorism by white nationalists.

You didn’t object when he forcibly separated little children from their parents.

You didn’t object when he confined those children to chain-link paddocks.

You didn’t object when a whistleblower revealed the president had on multiple occasions said things that potentially undermined our nation’s safety and security.

You didn’t object when his personal lawyer, his personal consultant, and his army of sycophants at Fox News have repeatedly and consistently lied about ALL of the above for three excruciatingly long years.

So here’s my question for you: What about any of the above do you believe entitles you to the right to call yourselves “patriots?” In anything other than today’s bizarro-world, you wouldn’t even make the rank of American. When this nightmare ends, we’ll remind you of just how patriotic you were during these days. Your karma is gonna sting.

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- Mark

SUNDAY SERMON FOR CONSERVATIVES

-Mark

THIS IS PRECISELY WHAT'S WRONG WITH AMERICA'S "MARKET" ECONOMY

General Motors announced that it will pay stockholders $543.4 million, which works out to about $11,000 per autoworker. Just days ago GM also announced that they're cutting healthcare benefits for striking autoworkers ... who GM says they can't afford to pay.

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Here's the real kick in the pants. The U.S. government - i.e. the American taxpayer - lost about $11.2 billion on the bailout of General Motors. How did this happen? After investing about $51 billion to bailout GM (which had to declare bankruptcy in 2009) the feds owned a 61% stake in the company. The American government (i.e. the American taxpayer) sold its shares in the company, and suffered an $11.2 billion loss.

But wait, it gets better.

To help GM recover, and make it attractive to "investors", after bailing out GM the federal government (i.e. American Taxpayer): (1) backed all new GM warranties, (2) allowed new car buyers to deduct all car sales and excise taxes under the economic stimulus bill, and (3) Congress approved TARP-funded subsidies of zero percent financing for some Chrysler vehicles.

Breathe. Do the subsidy math.

GM owes the American taxpayer. It should start by rewarding its autoworkers with a new contract. But it won't do that. It would rather reward its new share holders, who don't create any automobiles and didn't have to suffer through the 2008 market crash like autoworkers and ordinary taxpayers (who bailed out GM).

This is precisely what's wrong with America's "market" economy.

- Mark

LET'S REVIEW THE MYTH OF THE FREE MARKET FANTASIES, AGAIN

The lesson here is very real. Greed and free markets don't always get things right. You can access the larger story by clicking here and here.

- Mark

TRUMP'S PRISON CAMPS ... IT'S THE CRUELTY THAT'S THE POINT

An interesting interpretation of what's happening in Trump's immigration prison camps for Mexicans and Central Americans ...

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For those of you unfamiliar with the Stanford Prison Experiment, you can order it from Netflix (it's worth the watch), or you can watch the clip below.

- Mark

AMERICAN HEGEMONY, AT ITS END?

Via Reuters ... It looks like the world's largest western economies, and our allies, are done putting up with Donald Trump's antics.

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- Mark

THE 22 CITIES AND TOWNS WITH MORE SPANISH SPEAKERS THAN ENGLISH SPEAKERS

It's Hispanic Heritage month. The map below from Business Insider lists the 22 cities and towns in the U.S. where Spanish is primarily spoken ...

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And for those who may be inclined to grumble about the number of Spanish speaking cities and towns in the United States, you might want to read this and my write up on the piece here.

- Mark

Hat tip to Robert for the link.

EVOLUTION OF LIFE

- Mark