The man who would be the Ayatollah of America

Jesus was such a wimp...

Any folks who think the choice of  Mike Pence as Donald Trump's Vice President wasn't orchestrated by the powers that be in the republican party (most notably the Koch Brothers, the DeVos family, and Sheldon Adelson, among others) are seriously deluding themselves.  Should Donald Trump be unable to finish his term (not a prediction, it's just a possibility), or decide against a second term, or even eight years from now, Mike Pence would be their perfect wet dream, a capitalistic Theocrat.

The rest of us would not be so lucky.

Pence and his cult (aka, the religious right) seriously believe that God loves unfettered capitalism and that feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, caring for the sick, and being tolerant of others has nothing to do with Jesus' call to love your neighbor as yourself.  Separation of chuch and state to them is for sissies--they believe this country should be run by white Christians for white Christians.  The rest of us are going to hell anyway, so our cares and concerns don't really matter.

And with the country overwhelmingly run by republicans, Pence and his minions would be free to discriminate against the LGBT community, disenfranchise minorities, and to fight to keep women in the kitchen just like he did in Indiana.

And the United States would eventually grow up to be just like...Iran.

Peace,
emaycee

A lesson before sighing

Donald Trump said this week that "You have to be wealthy to be great."

Here is just a short list off the top of my head of leaders and influential people who were (or are) not wealthy who were (or still are) most assuredly great:  Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Malcolm X, Cesar Chavez, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Rosa Parks, Albert Einstein, Nelson Mandela, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Lech Walesa, Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Jesus Christ....

While there are a few wealthy folks who have made quite the difference (the Roosevelts, the Kennedys, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Winston Churchill), you'd be hard pressed to name any wealthy folks who in this day and age are little more than greedy pricks trying to stuff their agenda down our throats--Bill Gates, the Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson, et al.  Not a lot of "greatness" in that bunch, especially when one considers their contribution to the greater good.

In sum, once again Donald Trump has been proven decidedly wrong.

Thus endeth the lesson.

Peace,
emaycee

Happy new fear

Billionaires 'r' us:

• Apparently the Koch Brothers don't need the republican party--they're building their own.  With over 1200 employees and 107 offices nationally, the Kochs are trying to emulate the NRA, one of the most successful political organizations in our lifetime.  They're also emulating terrorist groups by preying on the poor with giveaways and proselytizing--here's a free turkey, ignore the man behind the curtain trying to kill the minimum wage and destroy unions.
• Sheldon Adelson, on the other hand, is buying newspapers (Las Vegas Review-Journal) and using his employees to write puff pieces that support his agenda and passing them off as "Investigative Journalism."  Because what the republican base needs is one more faux media outlet pandering to its fears.

Keep in mind that between them, the Kochs and Adelson intend to spend over a billion dollars in the 2016 elections not to improve America or the lives of its citizens, but merely to further line their already massively deep pockets.

How much better do you suppose they can eat?

Peace,
emaycee

The fat lady is singing

With his support in Iowa plummeting to 3%, Scott Walker announced on Monday in Las Vegas his plans to completely decimate Labor Unions in America, presumably so our national economy could tank as bad as Wisconsin's did under his "leadership."

Because sooooo many Americans these days are worried about workers having too much power.

Digby notes that more likely this was a sop to Sheldon Alderson, noted Israel lover and Union hater, and that his (much needed) check to Walker is probably already in the mail.

As I mentioned concerning Jeb!'s tax cuts, this is another attempt by republicans to announce campaigns that are being run not for the Presidency of the United States, but for the United States of the Wealthy.

And this may also explain why Donald Trump is currently cleaning their top candidates clocks in the republican primary--he may be a moron, but even he understands that Americans, both right and left, aren't all that fond of America's rich elite these days.

Peace,

emaycee

The noose gets a little tighter

The five conservative judges on the Supreme Court today made it easier and more likely that people who have a shitload more money than folks like us can donate even larger sums than Citizen's United begat to, let's face it, mostly republican candidates.  Much hand-wringing has begun among the good guys--rightfully so--as working class America has had another impediment thrown in the path of trying to feed, clothe, house, and educate its families.

McCutcheon v. FEC  will cost Democrats some seats in Congress and the rest of us some financial security--in the short term.  If there's anything we've learned since the monied elite caused our economy to crash resulting in the Great Recession, it's that the wealthy really aren't that bright and their inflated sense of self-worth will eventually lead them astray.  The Koch Brothers and Sheldon Adelson threw countless millions of dolars into the 2012 elections, and exactly how well did that turn out for them?

One of two things will happen eventually--as voting demographics turn more and more our way, enough Progressives will get elected to turn the tide of the Reagan Devolution and enact campaign finance laws that will actually serve our democracy (with a left-leaning SCOTUS to back it up), or the wealthy will overplay their hand and end up a bunch of castrati, a la the French Revolution.

Either way, in the end, we win.

Peace,
emaycee