Everybody makes mistakes

Borrowed from Meta’s Facebook July 2024  

I owe my Trump-supporting friends an apology.  I’ve been critical of the Trump presidency these last four years, and am still exhausted from the experience. But to be fair, President Trump wasn’t that bad, other than when he incited an insurrection against the government, mismanaged a pandemic that killed nearly half a million Americans, separated children from their families, lost those children in the bureaucracy, tear-gassed peaceful protesters on Lafayette Square so he could hold a photo op holding a Bible in front of a church, tried to block all Muslims from entering the country, got impeached, got impeached again, had the worst jobs record of any president in modern history, pressured Ukraine to dig dirt on Joe Biden, fired the FBI director for investigating his ties to Russia, bragged about firing the FBI director on TV, took Vladimir Putin’s word over the US intelligence community, diverted military funding to build his wall, caused the longest government shutdown in US history, called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate,” lied nearly 30,000 times, banned transgender people from serving in the military, ejected reporters from the White House briefing room who asked tough questions, vetoed the defense funding bill because it renamed military bases named for Confederate soldiers, refused to release his tax returns, increased the national debt by nearly $8 trillion, had three of the highest annual trade deficits in U.S. history, called veterans and soldiers who died in combat losers and suckers, coddled the leader of Saudi Arabia after he ordered the execution and dismembering of a US-based journalist, refused to concede the 2020 election, hired his unqualified daughter and son-in-law to work in the White House, walked out of an interview with Lesley Stahl, called neo-Nazis “very fine people,” suggested that people should inject bleach into their bodies to fight COVID, abandoned our allies the Kurds to Turkey, pushed through massive tax cuts for the wealthiest but balked at helping working Americans, incited anti-lockdown protestors in several states at the height of the pandemic, withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords, withdrew the US from the Iranian nuclear deal, withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership which was designed to block China’s advances, insulted his own Cabinet members on Twitter, pushed the leader of Montenegro out of the way during a photo op, failed to reiterate US commitment to defending NATO allies, called Haiti and African nations “shithole” countries, called the city of Baltimore the “worst in the nation,” claimed that he single handedly brought back the phrase “Merry Christmas” even though it hadn’t gone anywhere, forced his Cabinet members to praise him publicly like some cult leader, believed he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, berated and belittled his hand-picked Attorney General when he recused himself from the Russia probe, suggested the US should buy Greenland, colluded with Mitch McConnell to push through federal judges and two Supreme Court justices after supporting efforts to prevent his predecessor from appointing judges, repeatedly called the media “enemies of the people,” claimed that if we tested fewer people for COVID we’d have fewer cases, violated the emoluments clause, thought that Nambia was a country, told Bob Woodward in private that the coronavirus was a big deal but then downplayed it in public, called his exceedingly faithful vice president a “p---y” for following the Constitution, nearly got us into a war with Iran after threatening them by tweet, nominated a corrupt head of the EPA, nominated a corrupt head of HHS, nominated a corrupt head of the Interior Department, nominated a corrupt head of the USDA, praised dictators and authoritarians around the world while criticizing allies, refused to allow the presidential transition to begin, insulted war hero John McCain – even after his death, spent an obscene amount of time playing golf after criticizing Barack Obama for playing (far less) golf while president, falsely claimed that he won the 2016 popular vote, called the Muslim mayor of London a “stone cold loser,” falsely claimed that he turned down being Time’s Man of the Year, considered firing special counsel Robert Mueller on several occasions, mocked wearing face masks to guard against transmitting COVID, locked Congress out of its constitutional duty to confirm Cabinet officials by hiring acting ones, used a racist dog whistle by calling COVID the “China virus,” hired and associated with numerous shady figures that were eventually convicted of federal offenses including his campaign manager and national security adviser, pardoned several of his shady associates, gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to two congressman who amplified his batshit crazy conspiracy theories, got into telephone fight with the leader of Australia(!), had a Secretary of State who called him a moron, forced his press secretary to claim without merit that his was the largest inauguration crowd in history, botched the COVID vaccine rollout, tweeted so much dangerous propaganda that Twitter eventually banned him, charged the Secret Service jacked-up rates at his properties, constantly interrupted Joe Biden in their first presidential debate, claimed that COVID would “magically” disappear, called a U.S. Senator “Pocahontas,” used his Twitter account to blast Nordstrom when it stopped selling Ivanka’s merchandise, opened up millions of pristine federal lands to development and drilling, got into a losing tariff war with China that forced US taxpayers to bail out farmers, claimed that his losing tariff war was a win for the US, ignored or didn’t even take part in daily intelligence briefings, blew off honoring American war dead in France because it was raining, redesigned Air Force One to look like the Trump Shuttle, got played by Kim Jung Un and his “love letters,” threatened to go after social media companies in clear violation of the Constitution, botched the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, threw paper towels at Puerto Ricans when he finally visited them, pressured the governor and secretary of state of Georgia to “find” him votes, thought that the Virgin islands had a President, drew on a map with a Sharpie to justify his inaccurate tweet that Alabama was threatened by a hurricane, allowed White House staff to use personal email accounts for official businesses after blasting Hillary Clinton for doing the same thing, rolled back regulations that protected the public from mercury and asbestos, pushed regulators to waste time studying snake-oil remedies for COVID, rolled back regulations that stopped coal companies from dumping waste into rivers, held blatant campaign rallies at the White House, tried to take away millions of Americans’ health insurance because the law was named for a Black man, refused to attend his successors’ inauguration, nominated the worst Education Secretary in history, threatened judges who didn’t do what he wanted, attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci, promised that Mexico would pay for the wall (it didn’t), allowed political hacks to overrule government scientists on major reports on climate change and other issues, struggled navigating a ramp after claiming his opponent was feeble, called an African-American Congresswoman “low IQ,” threatened to withhold federal aid from states and cities with Democratic leaders, went ahead with rallies filled with maskless supporters in the middle of a pandemic, claimed that legitimate investigations of his wrongdoing were “witch hunts,” seemed to demonstrate a belief that there were airports during the American Revolution, demanded “total loyalty” from the FBI director, praised a conspiracy theory that Democrats are Satanic pedophiles, completely gutted the Voice of America, placed a political hack in charge of the Postal Service, claimed without evidence that the Obama administration bugged Trump Tower, suggested that the US should allow more people from places like Norway into the country, suggested that COVID wasn’t that bad because he recovered with the help of top government doctors and treatments not available to the public, overturned energy conservation standards that even industry supported, reduced the number of refugees the US accepts, insulted various members of Congress and the media with infantile nicknames, gave Rush Limbaugh a Presidential medal of Freedom at the State of the Union address, named as head of federal personnel a 29-year old who’d previously been fired from the White House for allegations of financial improprieties, eliminated the White House office of pandemic response, used soldiers as campaign props, fired any advisor who made the mistake of disagreeing with him, demanded the Pentagon throw him a Soviet-style military parade, hired a shit ton of white nationalists, politicized the civil service, did absolutely nothing after Russia hacked the U.S. government, falsely said the Boy Scouts called him to say his bizarre Jamboree speech was the best speech ever given to the Scouts, claimed that Black people would overrun the suburbs if Biden won, insulted reporters of color, insulted women reporters, insulted women reporters of color, suggested he was fine with China’s oppression of the Uighurs, attacked the Supreme Court when it ruled against him, summoned Pennsylvania state legislative leaders to the White House to pressure them to overturn the election, spent countless hours every day watching Fox News, refused to allow his administration to comply with Congressional subpoenas, hired Rudy Giuliani as his lawyer, tried to punish Amazon because the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post wrote negative stories about him, acted as if the Attorney General of the United States was his personal attorney, attempted to get the federal government to defend him in a libel lawsuit from a women who accused him of sexual assault, held private meetings with Vladimir Putin without staff present, didn’t disclose his private meetings with Vladimir Putin so that the US had to find out via Russian media, stopped holding press briefings for months at a time, “ordered” US companies to leave China even though he has no such power, led a political party that couldn’t even be bothered to draft a policy platform, claimed preposterously that Article II of the Constitution gave him absolute powers, tried to pressure the U.K. to hold the British Open at his golf course, suggested that the government nuke hurricanes, suggested that wind turbines cause cancer, said that he had a special aptitude for science, fired the head of election cyber security after he said that the 2020 election was secure, blurted out classified information to Russian officials, tried to force the G7 to hold their meeting at his failing golf resort in Florida, fired the acting attorney general when she refused to go along with his unconstitutional Muslim travel ban, hired Stephen Miller, openly discussed national security issues in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago where everyone could hear them, interfered with plans to relocate the FBI because a new development there might compete with his hotel, abandoned Iraqi refugees who’d helped the U.S. during the war, tried to get Russia back into the G7, held a COVID super spreader event in the Rose Garden, seemed to believe that Frederick Douglass is still alive, lost 60 election fraud cases in court including before judges he had nominated, falsely claimed that factories were reopening when they weren’t, shamelessly exploited terror attacks in Europe to justify his anti-immigrant policies, still hasn’t come up with a healthcare plan, still hasn’t come up with an infrastructure plan despite repeated “Infrastructure Weeks,” forced Secret Service agents to drive him around Walter Reed while contagious with COVID, told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” fucked up the Census, withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization in the middle of a pandemic, did so few of his duties that his press staff were forced to state on his daily schedule “President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings,” allowed his staff to repeatedly violate the Hatch Act, seemed not to know that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, stood before sacred CIA wall of heroes and bragged about his election win, constantly claimed he was treated worse than any president which presumably includes four that were assassinated and his predecessor whose legitimacy and birthplace were challenged by a racist reality TV show star named Donald Trump, claimed Andrew Jackson could’ve stopped the Civil War even though he died 16 years before it happened, said that any opinion poll showing him behind was fake, claimed that other countries laughed at us before he became president when several world leaders were literally laughing at him, claimed that the military was out of ammunition before he became President, created a commission to whitewash American history, retweeted anti-Islam videos from one of the most racist people in Britain, claimed ludicrously that the Pulse nightclub shooting wouldn’t have happened if someone there had a gun even though there was an armed security guard there, hired a senior staffer who cited the non-existent Bowling Green Massacre as a reason to ban Muslims, had a press secretary who claimed that Nazi Germany never used chemical weapons even though every sane human being knows they used gas to kill millions of Jews and others, bilked the Secret Service for higher than market rates when they had to stay at Trump properties, apparently sold pardons on his way out of the White House, stripped protective status from 59,000 Haitians, falsely claimed Biden wanted to defund the police, said that the head of the CDC didn’t know what he was talking about, tried to rescind protection from DREAMers, gave himself an A+ for his handling of the pandemic, tried to start a boycott of Goodyear tires due to an Internet hoax, said U.S. rates of COVID would be lower if you didn’t count blue states, deported U.S. veterans who served their country but were undocumented, claimed he did more for African Americans than any president since Lincoln, touted a “super-duper” secret “hydrosonic” missile which may or may not be a new “hypersonic” missile or may not exist at all, retweeted a gif calling Biden a pedophile, forced through security clearances for his family, suggested that police officers should rough up suspects, suggested that Biden was on performance-enhancing drugs, tried to stop transgender students from being able to use school bathrooms in line with their gender, suggested the US not accept COVID patients from  a cruise ship because it would make US numbers look higher, nominated a climate change sceptic to chair the committee advising the White House on environmental policy, retweeted a video doctored to look like Biden had played a song called “Fuck tha Police” at a campaign event, hugged a disturbingly large number of U.S. flags, accused Democrats of “treason” for not applauding his State of the Union address, claimed that the FBI failed to capture the Parkland school shooter because they were “spending too much time” on Russia, mocked the testimony of Dr Christine Blasey Ford when she accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, obsessed over low-flow toilets, ordered the rerelease of more COVID vaccines when there weren’t any to release, called for the construction of a bizarre garden of heroes with statutes of famous dead Americans as well as at least one Canadian (Alex Trebek), hijacked Washington’s July 4th celebrations to give a partisan speech, took advice from the MyPillow guy, claimed that migrants seeking a better life in the US were dangerous caravans of drug dealers and rapists, said nothing when Vladimir Putin poisoned a leading opposition figure, never seemed to heed the advice of his wife’s “Be Best” campaign, falsely claimed that mail-in voting is fraudulent, announced a precipitous withdrawal of troops from Syria which not only handed Russia and ISIS a win but also prompted his defense secretary to resign in protest, insulted the leader of Canada, insulted the leader of France, insulted the leader of Britain, insulted the leader of Germany, insulted the leader of Sweden (Sweden!!), falsely claimed credit for getting NATO members to increase their share of dues, blew off two Asia summits even though they were held virtually, continued lying about spending lots of time at Ground Zero with 9/11 responders, said that the Japanese would sit back and watch their “Sony televisions” if the US were ever attacked, left a NATO summit early in a huff, stared directly into an eclipse even though everyone over the age of 5 knows not to do that, called himself a very stable genius despite significant evidence to the contrary, refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power and kept his promise, and a whole bunch of other things I can’t remember at the moment.

But other than that. . . 

Whoever wrote this deserves credit but I don't know who it is ~ Author unknown

Americn Ethical

What is the right to Bear arms?

It seems to me that, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed [in order to maintain] a well regulated Militia, [a well regulated Militia] being necessary to the security of a free State. So the right to bear arms, protected by the constitution, means the people must be a member of said well regulated Militia. Then gun owners must be active service men/women in the National Guard, our present day well regulated Militia.

Fire Departments can change and remain safe

 In response to the Article in the Mercurial

Using a smaller vehicle to respond to calls for help is not, on its surface a dangerous thing. It is a matter of best use of limited resources.

In Volunteer companies the firefighters are not always at the firehouse but coming from other locations in response. One member gets the truck, as chauffeur, a few join him/her and the rest begin their duties at the incident. It is not as efficient as all leaving the station together; coordinating the plan and being able to start as soon as they arrive but it is a method that has worked for more than a hundred years. And in Danbury’s case the firefighters are not coming from other professions but just from some other location in the City, with equipment and two way communications and coordinated training.

If there was a magic money tree and all of the men, women and resources could be picked off of it at will, then responding with the best would be the best. But in life compromises must be made. In light of public safety, caution must be on the side of people, however safety comes in many forms. Often the way to be the most safe is to share all of the resources across all of the citizens. Not everyone gets to have what they perceive they NEED. We cannot be ‘perfectly’ safe from fire emergency if that means pot holes in all of our streets stop the firetruck’s advance.

If the Fire Department got all of its personnel and equipment needs fulfilled, and the Police department got the same and the Board of Education could pay teachers what they deserve for their hard, demanding jobs, we, the citizens would be staggering under the cost and we might not be any better off.

With Chief Herald’s response plan there will be times when equipment and personnel are out of place. Other companies will have to cover, from career or perhaps volunteer or out of City companies. This has happened as a regular course of action since the beginning of fire departments. Anecdotal stories should not be the foundation of policy making. They simply point to the necessity of reviewing this new response plan, to ensure it is delivering the desired effect. If it is, then good for the Department on finding a way to extend the life of valuable equipment with a minimum of  risk to citizen’s and firefighter’s lives. If it is not and they return to the dispatch of a full engine company, then good for the Department for trying to find a solution and knowing when to retreat and revaluate, (that is a mark of a superb incident commander).

I had been a fire fighter and Chief, in Newtown for 20 years. I fully understand the demands on time, talent and resources. Volunteers have to beg twice, once at town hall and again at the public’s door. Yet our training and commitment to safety is the same as our career brothers. We all had, and have, to learn to do what needs to be done given the tools at hand. Nobody wants to to put lives or safety at stake. We all want the best for everyone we are sworn to serve. When the financial well begin to run dry. brave, creative officers rise to the occasion to meet the issues. Danbury has that officer in Chief Herald.

Give the plan a chance to succeed and then discuss the merits of the situation.

On July 2, 1776 the Continental Congress declared independence from Great Britain. Much has changed since then, much is the same.

As we celebrate this historic event we must remember that this republic needs our participation. Civil discourse is a requirement of a democracy. We don't have to agree but we have to talk about the issues. Then, after the discussion, we must act. When these steps are discarded the country will languish.


The declaration of independence-Read by John F. Kennedy July 4 1960


Make noise to celebrate this great day. Go see some fireworks and have a beer or two, (drink responsibly). But most of all, honor this country by getting and remaining involved in running the government. We the people are in charge, if only we "can keep it".

The fastest, easiest way to collect sales and use tax from internet sales

Rather than having the vendors collect the tax, have the vendor send notification of shipping to a Connecticut address to the state Department of Revenue Services. As each purchase is sent to a Connecticut address a tally of the sale would be registered in to the tax payer's ledger at the DoRS. All tax payers residing at the same address, as declared on their last tax form, would be consolidated for the purpose of determining the tax owed.

We already have a Use tax for most goods and services. Honest tax payers already pay for all of the items they purchase from internet stores. Anything less is stealing. But in case there are some dishonest people the state could use some verification to ensure compliance with the law.

A problem with having the vendor collect the tax is national and international companies will have to incur the expense of maintaining multiple tax tables and the accounting of receiving funds and then dispersing them back to the State. If they only had to electronically tell the State that a purchase was made the state would then know to look for the tax from the consumer directly. At tax time, quarterly or yearly (as it is today) the tax payer would reconcile their purchases with any exemptions and credits in their ledger entry. There is no need to add a new internet sales type to the code.

All other tax law remains in place including failure to comply. Vendors have only to e-mail to a 'special' address which will direct the sales information to the correct account automatically. When the tax return is reconciled on April 15th the amount paid will equal the amount due. This system is inexpensive to set up and maintain. The burden for compliance is removed from the vendor, over which the state has no control, to the citizens who are using the services the taxes provide.

Living with consequences

Automakers should not get government loans. If they have made choices and those choice proved to be bad... then the business may use Chapter 11 to re-organize and go on. That is why we have bankruptcy laws.

When the regional retail market collapsed for Caldor nobody came running up with cheep money. They went into Chapter 11 and reorganized. Ultimately the reorganization failed and everybody was out of work. But soon after Walmart and Kohls came in to fill the vacuum and the 'store' employees were hired. (I know some people who worked in the Brookfield Caldor and are now in the same building working for Kohls.) The point is regional retail could not compete and went away.

So too with any industry, when it is past usefulness it goes away. Those parts which have value are carried forward by the replacement but those parts which are not needed fall away. This is true progress, and is less expensive in the long run.

If we have money to give away how about giving every registered auto owner a credit for a new 'qualifying' car? You go to a dealer, pick out the car you want and it is paid for by this 'bail-out' fund. The dealer gets the money he/she needs to stay open. The automaker gets paid for building 'qualifying' cars, which includes all the suppliers and supporting businesses. An added benefit is older gas guzzler auto are replaced by more efficient vehicles. Percolate up economics. And reward those who innovate.

Images from: http://tinyurl.com/67rtd5 and http://tinyurl.com/6nf28y

It's the Economy Stu... Percolate up

Friday's news included Wells Fargo bank offering to take over Wachovia bank. This offer was 'sweeter' than the previous Citi Bank offer. This is what happens when the government (that is We, the people), step in and promise to pay for all bad debt. I see this takeover offer as the first in a long line of mergers in which the profits go to the executives and share holders of the banks and the debt goes to the tax payer, me.

There is no apparent down side to taking on another bank's bad debt. H.R. 1424 puts the full faith and credit of the United States of America behind absolving the debt. A bank can assume, and then write off, the poorly performing loans keeping the profitable ones for themselves. As part owners in these banks We the people have some stake in those profits, but the 'bad' debt will most likely siphon off any gains. And on top of these undesirable conditions We the people will need to foreclose on the bad loans in order to obtain our best return on our investment. We the people will be forced to throw our neighbors out of their homes so we can gain at least some return. And the beneficiary of the sale of the foreclosed houses will be the 'rich' people who have the money to invest in real estate. This is a foundation of "Trickle Down" economics.

Advocate "Percolate Up" economics. Put the money in the hands of those who need it, by forgiving mortgagee obligations and let that additional cash, flow into the private sector in the form of new purchases of real and durable goods. The resulting surge of purchases will jump start the global economy. The money will quickly get from the bottom and percolate up to the wealthy. The purchasing power of the American consumer will swell the treasury when additional tax revenue from income and sales begins to flow, by this December.

Someone can always point out deficiencies in a theory. But we have tried 'Do nothing' and 'Trickle down'. Let's try 'Percolate up'. Give this theory a chance for 20 or so years and if it isn't working out we can adjust, just as we need to to day. But Albert Einstein said to do the same thing over and expect different results is a definition of insanity. I, We the people, are not insane.

Percolate up!