National Stew

Ending TPP  Ending JCPOA Ending NAFTA  Ending Affiliation with WTO    TPP  The Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Trump obviously did not understand was the biggest boon to China in this century! Under the agreement, we would have an economic and democracy-boosting agreement with the Pacific Rim nations that would have rivaled China and provided security and economic and military leverage against them!  JCPOA  The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was intended to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and improve regional and global security. Iran accepted restrictions on its nuclear program and underwent regular inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Our removal from the program resulted in our blindness to the Iranian nuclear progress, which is now just short of weapons production!  NAFTA  The North American Free Trade Agreement was ended by the Trump administration and the new agreement brokered by them led to higher U...

That is the headline I expect to see post-election  It's too early to see the full effect of the debate, but the most morose of the Commentary I have seen came from Democrats early after the event. It was that on which the pundit class based its commentary!  It seems the only way media on either side of politics comments is Democratic self-loathing! The first ten things I read from the right this morning were the whimpering comments from the left about how they lost and needed to change course! Their self-deprecating made it as bad as they perceived!  Tragically the debate was bad but not as bad as the dems made it out to be. It was one tiny data point in the face of a megalomaniacal cartoon-style villain, a felon with 34 felonies and multiple remaining felony indictments who incited an election overthrow to dispossess the votes of 81 million voters!

If the court rules that individual states can not determine eligibility the door would be open to all third parties for ballot access challenges. The court would have to set up or help to establish federal rules to determine eligibility requirements or face a flood of challenges for all 50 states. That seems to be a nail in the coffin of Federalism. A Trump victory in SCOTUS would set up a 50 state rush of indie candidates who would take eligibility questions to the high court. To avoid that they would have to legislate from the bench or convince Congress to legislate an end to Federalism!

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  After reading the report: 1. Did not exonerate Trump. 1. Did not exonerate Trump. 2. Made no suggestion for criminal charges beyond the ones made in an earlier iteration and noted below. 3. Durham found no reason for opening a full investigation into Trump/Russian collaboration at that time. 4. Suggested that the FBI should have opened a preliminary investigation. The implication being that a preliminary investigation would have led to a full investigation. 5. Durham said that it was possible that the FBI needed to put some reforms in place. In addition, the investigation as a whole did see an earlier iteration that made 3 criminal charges: One plead guilty, the 2 others were tried and acquitted. I am awaiting the Durham appearance before congress to do a full report. I have an inescapable sense that there is something else going on here. Similarities between this report and the Müller report like something is being left out of the story by both. Somewhere in my reading, I ran ac...

  There was a period of reverse immigration! That is, more people headed south than north, between 2008 and 2016. The Republicans began running on border security in spite of this fact. What do you think happened? The “Quick, let's get in before the opportunity closes!” idea kicked in! We saw a resurgence of immigration not seen in decades! It goes like this: Before Trump: reverse immigration.  Trump lies and threats: massive migration.  Trump regulations: Four years of border backup.  I t's Biden's fault  Today: Biden resets after ending Trump regulation: System working legally and properly with backup gone and new people processed by sending those with no credible claim home and the 1 to 2 percent of credible claims through!  Republicans: But, but, but, where's Hunter? Inflation We all agree that too much money chasing too few goods caused inflation, so what is the solution? Raising interest is not it! Producing more goods is! Why do we have a shortage o...

  In this case take her Literarily, not Literally.  That is my editorial paraphrase of what the judge said in an exchange in the E. Jean Carroll case as seen below: Take Her Literarily, Not Literally

  Carlson’s Firing: Was it Over Liability or Money? Like a rousing game of Pong, the Tucker Carlson saga continues to amuse.  In this case I run up against two of my favorite concepts for making judgments. The law of parsimony, and the principle of “follow the money” There may be others involved but these are, for the reason mentioned already, the most obvious: Parsimony: The simplest answer is almost always the right answer! That is Parsimony, also often called Occam's Razor, named for the hometown of Willam of Ockham.  Liability Carlson was fired because he was a legally indefensible liability to Fox particularly after several liable trials including the last one with Dominion voting systems.  If this is the case, a couple of other questions come to mind: Will Carlson's firing mitigate the legal case involving future legal action involving Carlson which occured before his termination? Will Carlson be on his own in any such future legal battles? Follow the money: At...

   Socialism and Economic Nationalism are just the two wings of the same scavenging Collectivist bird! Socialism By the normal definitions of socialism as it has been since its inception, socialism is an economic system based on collectivist ideas of equality of outcomes by government ownership of the means of production. Its political system is usually Communism. National Socialism and Fascism It is very much like its collectivist twin brother National Socialism, a term used by several different groups and based in the collective ideology of Fascism. In economic terms, Fascism incorporates elements of capitalism and socialism. Fascist economists favor self-sufficiency and private profit, but seek government subsidies of corporations and industrial policy.  It is really not Socialism by the definition given above but a form of Populist Nationalism similar to what we see today inside the American right. It seeks to control the outcome and output of private owners, via indu...

  Congress passes off more of its power to the administrative state! Congress delegates more of its non-delegatable authority to unelected officials. See if this makes sense to you. Endowing the Secretary of Commerce with: Power to "...determine what is an “undue or unacceptable risk...” Power of “...sole and unreviewable discretion...”  Power to “...otherwise mitigate...” Think about this, the unelected official is given the authority to determine what problems exist, and has no one to challeng him and can have no challenges, and has the power to do whatever he thinks best to deal with these issues! This is the best description of a monarchy I have ever seen! The bill is properly named. It is intended to RESTRICT anything the Secretary of Commerce thinks is an issue, and do anything about it he wishes to do, all with congressional approval! Text of t he Restrict Act

  Patterns of Silliness, Nothingberders and Coveffee! Patterns, we start to see them if we observe. Some of them are simple and we catch on quickly. Some are not and it takes more time or distance.  Chaos theory is a good example of those patterns. If we were distant enough in time and/or space and continued to observe, we would see these patterns emerge, and know that nothing happens without cause and effect.  The pattern Every day Red State sling some gibberish onto a page and it passes unnoticed except by the most calcified of trumpist minds.  Then about one day a week they will post something by a little known but not yet totally rejected writer, covering a story from an opinion piece from some other writer of some notoriety on the fake right, proclaiming that irrefutable evidence has proven that something the other side says or does has been destroyed and the whole movement is about to fall and then Republican Nirvana will be revealed!  Every week this happ...

  Republicans have lost the culture wars and are losing the abortion battle on the culture war front. They won that war in the courts but were unprepared to win the peace and are losing the war in the culture. Abortion and unwanted pregnancies were slowing under Roe, with compassion and education. That is now shifting. Some sanity is in order, but does not seem to be within reach. Republicans have lost the culture wars and have nothing to show for the battles. They have fought the culture while halting any serious attempt to stop big government or big spending! In fact, they have embraced big government as a weapon to wield against their enemies in the culture. Instead of being conservative, they have waged war on Mickey Mouse.

 TOP SECRET:  The Best Way to Get Out The Word On Anything seems to be to classify a document as Top Secret and try to keep it quiet by putting it in the hands of public officials!  This seems to have become high level government policy on spreading the word about anything! More when we have more!

 Trump Surrender To Taliban Made Clear Today! My assessment based on my reading of Doha has been proven completely correct by the State Department and the Military today!  The Trump/ Pompeo surrendered to the Taliban, the release of 5000 Taliban fighters and leaders and the allotting of time for them time to secure the Afghan government and military, including the equipment left for the Afghan military has been further proven by the department of state and the military today!  The Biden administration was stuck with an agreement left by the former administration, with no planning or information presented to them by the former administration to the current administration, which left only one choice:  Restart the 20 year war, or leave! Former administration reaction: The former administrations defenders pushed backed against this story, seeking to give the former president credit for ending the war in Afghanistan while blaming the current administration for the exit th...

 The Criminal History of Donald J. Trump so far Critics have accused Donald Trump of a number of crimes, both before, during his presidency, and now, with the addition of stolen classified documents kept hidden at his private residence, after his presidency. Some of the most serious allegations include: Obstruction of justice:  Trump is accused of trying to obstruct the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election by firing FBI Director James Comey and trying to pressure then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to drop the investigation. Campaign finance violations: Trump is accused of paying hush money to two women who claimed to have had affairs with him in order to influence the 2016 election. Tax fraud:  Trump is accused of using his businesses to defraud the government out of millions of dollars in taxes. Incitement of insurrection: Trump is accused of inciting the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by telling his supporters to "fight like hell" t...

  This has been on my mind for a long while, and I think now, on this first day of April 2023, is the most proper of times to crack the subject open and spill it out over the internet as far as my limited reach will allow. The case that brings the issue on which I intend to focus, into focus, is the Dobbs decision which the Supreme Court decided in 2022. The court's decision overturned both Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), moving the power of regulating abortion from the federal level to the individual states. Please note that it is not the case itself or the rightness or wrongness of the decision which is at issue here, but the basis on which the case was decided which is of interest to me. Particularly the concurrence written by Justice Thomas. Justice Thomas believed the court should go further in future cases, by revisiting past SCOTUS cases which granted rights based on "substantive due process" such as Griswold v. Connecticut (the right to ...

 What is qualified immunity?  Qualified immunity is a legal doctrine that shields government officials from liability for civil damages in cases where they violate someone's constitutional rights. The doctrine was created by the Supreme Court in the 1960s, and it has been used to protect police officers, prison guards, and other government officials from being held accountable for their actions. Why We Should End Qualified Immunity. There are a number of reasons why we should end qualified immunity. First, the doctrine allows government officials to violate people's rights with impunity. If a government official violates someone's constitutional rights, they can simply claim qualified immunity and avoid any legal consequences. This means that there is no real accountability for government officials who abuse their power. Second, qualified immunity allows government officials to get away with even the most egregious acts of misconduct. In recent years, there have been numero...

 Let's come back to reality again. The real issue is reform, and how open the law should be. I think that immigration should be open as it has been for most of our history, and particularly the most prosperous points in our history.  I suspect that many of you would want something more constricting, like only Nobel Prize winners who have been neutered and would work for free and still pay taxes. The Trump system was working toward and had the effect of zero legal immigration and that is insanity.  Immigration prohibition like all forms of prohibition, produces bad results: You still have immigration, and you are likely to get a higher concentration of more desperate people using much more risky methods of entry. If restrictions are few, no one will hire a coyote to get them across, and that business model dies! The same was true of alcohol prohibition and is true of drug prohibition. I can see an immigration policy that allows anyone to come in and apply for citizenship i...

 What is the True Crime Related to TikTok? What should concern us about TikTok? Chinese intelligence gathering? The corruption of our youth? Or, stay with me here, the one actual crime: The Congressional usurpation of your right of free expression? Why Congress Banning TikTok is a Violation of the First Amendment Amendment 1 "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech , or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances ." Congress should not be making laws limiting ( abridging ) free speech by limiting our use of platforms! Congress can not tell you which soapboxes you can stand on to deliver your message or dissent! The First Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees freedom of speech. This means that the government cannot restrict what people say, write, or publish. A ban on TikTok wou...

    Iran and Saudi Arabia Restore Ties Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed on Wednesday to restore diplomatic ties seven years after severing them, a landmark deal brokered by China that could have major implications for the Middle East. The agreement, announced by the Iranian and Saudi foreign ministers in a joint statement, came after months of secret talks between the two countries. It is a significant step toward ending a long-running proxy war between the two regional rivals that has fueled the conflict in Yemen and contributed to the rise of the Islamic State. The deal includes a commitment by Iran to end its support for Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition for more than six years. It also includes a pledge by Saudi Arabia to end its boycott of Iranian goods and services. The agreement is a major coup for China, which has been seeking to expand its influence in the Middle East. The deal could also help to ease tensions between the United States a...