Trump
gregladen | January 16, 2017This is a descriptive model of Donald Trump's behavior, which ultimately works out to a prediction that Donald Trump won't last very long. In an evolutionary sense, at least.
I've found that many people use the term "spite" incorrectly. Many assume it has to do with vitriol or nastiness, or otherwise, is motivated negative behavior of some kind. This is not even close to the scientific definition of the term. A daffodil plant can carry out an act of spite, and a daffodil plant is unlikely to engage in motivated behavior.
Spite involves carrying out an act where the ultimate cost to…
gregladen | January 13, 2017ADDED: It has been suggested that I clarify an important point about this post.
So, dear reader, please understand that the information provided here is my best attempt at analysis of the information that I have available. There is clearly conjecture here. So, of course, read all this with a grain of salt. The size of that grain of salt can be as small or large as you like. I also amended the title of the post.
-gtl
ADDED Feb 1
I'll just be putin' this link here: http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/01/news/fsb-kaspersky-arrests/index.html?sr=twcnni020217fsb-kaspersky-arrests0129AMStoryPhoto…
gregladen | January 12, 2017He's trying, in the hearings, to not let it look this way, but the truth is that he and Exxon Mobile stand to benefit a great deal from a Tillerson SOC. Also, Russia will benefit a great deal.
Putting it a slightly different way, Tillerson's appointment makes the most sense of you replace "Trump" with "Putin" in sentences that refer to who the leader of the United States is.
The composite graphic above explains this. The context for those graphics is here:
gregladen | January 12, 2017Probably not, but it is worth brief consideration.
Mainstream media is reporting that USMC General James Mad Dog Mattis's Senate confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense is stalled because Mattis is a no show for a related hearing in the House. The reason for the cancellation of his appearance is at this writing a mystery, but it is known that it was the Trump transition team's word to the Senate, not the other way around, that underlies the delay.
Here is what I was originally going to suggest: Mad Dog Mattis, as I have previously written, is in the position of breaking his solemn…
gregladen | January 6, 2017Donald Trump is meeting, this morning, with the editor of Vogue and the owners of Vogue's overarching publishing company.
This can only mean one thing. We will be seeing The Donald on the cover of the famous magazine sooner than later.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/817374875962769408
This revelation comes after a long night of sweaty drunken tweets by the Oligarch, in which he compared himself favorably too Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The good news: Trump's mind is on things other than how to run the United States government. That has to be a good thing.
gregladen | December 16, 2016Putin probably owns Trump. In the past, Trump has spent enough high profile time traveling in and out of Russia, that any smart intelligence agency would have long ago gotten the goods on such a sloppy self absorbed person. Assume there are movies. Young girls. Whatever. Putin probably owns Trump. The ex KGB officer probably owns a lot of people, a lot of foreign rich or influential individuals. That's how these things work.
Trump is a man that relies on the image of great personal wealth. But, if he has great personal wealth it is a mere couple of billion or so. Alternatively, he may…
gregladen | December 13, 2016Newsweek's Kurt Eichenwald (author of Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story, Serpent on the Rock, and a few other books) is reporting an interesting story this morning.
Here is the short version, as I understand it.
Turkey had a coup. The Turkish government, in particular, President Erdogan, blames naturalized US citizen Fethullah Gülen for that coup, and wants him extradited. The US won't do that.
President Erdogan and Presumed President Elect Trump had a conversation soon after the election, in which Trump mentioned a key player in the development of the Turkish version of Trump Towers. We…
gregladen | December 12, 2016UPDATE: The Department of Energy has reportedly refused Donald Trump's request for names of DOE employees and contractors who have been engaged in climate change research. That does not mean that Tump will never get those names. Once he is President, he can get the names. But for now, he'll have to sit it out.
The Donald Trump transition team circulated an eight page questionnaire to the US Department of Energy. Such questionnaires are not normal. This particular questionnaire is deeply disturbing.
There are seventy-four questions. They provide insight into likely Trump administration…
gregladen | December 5, 2016Right now the number one problem we face in the US is the fact that a) the president of the United States can not be stopped or deterred from launching nuclear missiles if he choses to do so, by design; and b) Donald Trump will be inaugurated, if the electoral college so decides, in January.
If you are in a state that has electors slated to vote for Trump. send your city and state name to this email address:
votehrc@gmail.com
You will then receive instructions as to what to do next.
Pass it on.
pgleick | December 1, 2016Among the different professional categories, scientists and engineers remain very highly respected by the public, at least compared to politicians, business leaders, the media, and even religious authorities. Part of this is due to the fact that success in the scientific enterprise depends on impartial analysis and independence from political ideology. And yet there are strong connections between science and policy: good policy without good science is difficult; good policy with bad science is impossible. Sure, there is plenty of bad policy made even in the face of contradictory scientific…
gregladen | November 29, 2016You know that Donald Trump has been claiming very clearly and precisely that he won both the electoral and popular vote, and that it only looks like he did not win the popular vote because of voter fraud, meaning, that a certain number of American citizens voted twice, or otherwise rigged the elections. In fact, he explicitly says that millions of Americans voted illegally, accounting for the >2 million popular vote margin that Secretary Clinton currently holds.
Messing with voting in this manner is a serious crime, perhaps often a felony.
What we have here is Donald Trump accusing a…
gregladen | November 29, 2016... and loss of citizenship, which may amount to be thrown out of the country.
Flag burning may be obnoxious to many, but it is a constitutionally protected act, as long as it is your flag and you do it outside.
Presumptive President Elect Donald Trump has called for severe penalties for flag burners:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/803567993036754944
By the way, if you strip someone of their citizenship, and you do throw them out of the country, it is possible that they will have no way to go or no way to get there. Once they are no longer US citizen, they can be tossed into a…
gregladen | November 25, 2016As you know, there is interest in doing a recount for the presidential balloting in three key states. The chance that a recount in these three states would change Trump's win (290 to 232 electoral votes) is small. But, it is possible that a recount could demonstrate irregularities that should be addressed.
Also, there is the possibility again small, of so-called "faithless electors" giving Trump a pass. If something like that happens, from Clinton's perspective, it would be nice if even one of these states flipped (most likely Wisconsin).
So, to keep track of the numbers, here are the…
gregladen | November 24, 2016Clinton beat Trump by a large margin, by electoral standards. A couple of percent is actually a lot these days. Yet so far it appears that Trump won the electoral vote, even though those votes are not yet cast and who knows what is actually going to happen.
But this year, strange as it it and stranger thought it may become, is not the strangest ever. That goes to 1876.
Wow.
gregladen | November 22, 2016Question: How do we wipe out racism by making racists not be so racist?
Answer: We don't.
We do something else that actually works.
The expanding Trump-fueled conversation about racism
It has been absolutely fascinating to observe myriad conversations reacting to the Trump electoral win. All the usual suspects are engaged, but also, many others who had previously been little involved, or not at all involved, in the national political conversation, are saying things.
And along with this has come a certain amount of method or concern questioning. I won't call it trolling because only some…
gregladen | November 18, 2016They are coming for the Muslims, and they will not stop there.
Registries exist and we have no problem with some of them. Sex offenders, known bad guys, that sort of thing. They really aren't even registries, but records governed by due process.
Then there are some others that we allow in our post 9/11 world, but that never would have been allowed in a former, less frightened, less ignorant version of our society, such as the "No Fly List." That list may actually be a good idea, but there is no known due process involved, so it ends up constituting one small step in the direction that Germany…
gregladen | November 18, 2016There may be a few individuals who are not in politics who have some ethics who still call themselves Republicans. One such person, a friend of mine for whom I have great respect, sent me an email the other day apologizing. For the whole Trump and Republican thing.
But at the professional level, there isn't a single Republican out there that is unwilling to stick his slimy nose right up the ass of whichever other Republican happens to be top dog at the moment, putting their own self interest ahead of the nation, of governing, of the people, even of their own families.
As proven by events…
gregladen | November 13, 2016President Elect Donald Trump is tweeting again. See above.
Phenomena is plural, phenomenon is singular.
Here, the New York Times is being chastised for not covering the "Trump Phenomenon" in a way that the president elect finds acceptable. That is bordering very closely on a violation of the first amendment.
Clearly, The Donald somehow managed to get his hands on his twitter account again. His handlers need to tighten up security in that area.
Here is a link to the tweet:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/797805407179866112
gregladen | November 11, 2016Look
In case the point is not clear, read:
Trump’s anti-Semitism, racism, sexism, was not so genuine or violent as it sounded, and he was merely using this language as bait to catch masses of followers, and keep them aroused, enthusiastic, and in line for the time when his organization is ready to make a political move.
A sophisticated commenter credited Trump with peculiar political cleverness for laying emphasis and over-emphasis on racist and sexist rhetoric, saying “You can’t expect the masses to understand or appreciate your finer real aims. You must feed the masses with cruder morsels…
gregladen | November 8, 2016HOW TO REPORT VOTER INTIMIDATION
Dump your comments and observations here.
I'll be looking at several SOS web sites, and eventually I'll find the best on line tracker of results for the whole country. During the primaries, the Washington Post was the best. Let me know if you have any ideas.
So far heavy turnout has been noted in Minnesota, where turnout is always high, and something close to 30% of the usual number of voters had already voted early.
The biggest fear, a among those of us who have felt the pain of defeat at least as often as the thrill of victory, is this: Heavy turnout…