Trump Lies & Tweets 12/26/16

In a tweet on Monday, December 26th , Donald Trump wrote the following about his foundation:

The DJT Foundation, unlike most foundations, never paid fees, rent, salaries or any expenses. 100% of money goes to wonderful charities!

That is a lie.

The Donald J. Trump Foundation admitted to the Internal Revenue Service just last year that it engaged in “self-dealing,” a prohibited practice in which a nonprofit leader uses an organization’s money to benefit his or her own interests.

    Plus, the Trump Foundation has already admitted that some of its money covered non-charitable expenses.Trump used foundation money to buy giant portraits of himself... to make illegal campaign contributions... to settle private-sector lawsuits... and to support conservative political entities that could help further his partisan ambitions.

President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday that he would dissolve his namesake foundation to avoid any potential conflict of interest during his time as president. But, that cannot happen because the Trump Foundation is still under investigation by the office of New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman... and cannot legally dissolve until that investigation is complete.

So, the Trumpster keeps lying… and, we keep counting.

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State. — Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germany’s Minister of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment

Trump Lies 2 12/15/16

In a tweet on Thursday, December 15th , Donald Trump wrote the following:

"If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?"

That is a lie:

The administration announced its findings a month before Election Day, and the White House’s announcement prompted a memorable exchange at the final presidential debate.

Trump Lies 12/15/16

At a rally on Thursday, December 15th , Donald Trump said the following:

'The murder rate in the United States is the largest it’s been in 45 years,'

That is a lie:

In fact, according to the FBI, the murder rate is near a 50-year low.

The Breakfast of Progressives

If you call yourself a Progressive and wish to help the cause, you need to change your breakfast habits and go “all Kellogg’s”.

All right, I know you are into health foods, organics and stuff like that but sometimes you just have to “take one for the cause”. As many of you already know Kellogg’s & Co are the ‘good guys’ in a fight with the alt-right, racist and white nationalist leaning Breitbart.com website and publishing empire.

Back on November 29th, Kellogg’s decided to pull all of its advertising from the Breitbart site. Kellogg’s said that Breitbart readers are not (quote): “aligned with our values as a company”.” The New York Times describes Breitbart News as an organization with (quote): "ideologically driven journalists" who turn out material that has (quote): “... been called misogynist, xenophobic and racist". Breitbart played a big role in supporting the Donald Trump presidential campaign.

Shortly after the election, a number of advertisers pulled advertising from the site, including Kellogg’s, Allstate, Nest,Target, Earthlink, Warby Parker and SoFi.  In retaliation Breitbart has launched a #DumpKellogg’s petition and has called for a boycott of Kellogg’s products.  As of the beginning of this month, more than a quarter of a million people had signed the petition. And, in a perversion of language and logic, that would make George Orwell spin in his grave, Breitbart claims that Kellogg’s move is un-American, bigoted, is a violation of freedom of speech... and that the move hates on its 45 million readers.

Advertising Executive Scott Rothstein told  the Reuters News organization that Breitbart’s charges are ridiculous saying that (quote): “I think Kellogg’s is perfectly within their rights to choose where they want to run advertising”

So, I think the Progressive/Liberal community should do a counter launch with a #ThankyouKellogg’s petition and encourage folks to buy more Kellogg’s products.  There are dozens of products to choose from… from Special K to Corn Flakes to Eggos to Pop Tarts.

For the really, really serious Progressive foodies out there, you can buy the Kellogg’s stuff and not eat it… just donate it to your local food bank and it becomes a win, win situation for everyone.

And, for the animal loving Progressives out there, Tony the Tiger will be delighted!

This is a community action that each person can do quietly or loudly, depending upon your politics. An uptick in the purchase of  Kellogg’s products at local places like Freshtown, Price-Chopper and Hannaford would definitely be noticed by the company and would be a reward for companies that do the right thing.

    Make Kellogg’s the breakfast of Progressives!

Getting Played

Have you ever gotten played?  

To “get played” means to be dissed or insulted… or tricked into doing something that you might not have otherwise done. It can happen in love relationships... and in politics.

If you are one of  the more than 60 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump you are being played right now!

The trickster is Donald Trump... who has already broken most of his campaign pledges since becoming the President-elect.  In fact, what he is saying now, compared to what he said during the campaign will make your head spin… and, yes, make you feel “played” .

For example, if you were one of the rabid Trump supporters yelling “Lock her up!.. Lock her up!” at those rallies. Well, it is not going to happen. “Crooked Hillary” as Trump described her is not going anywhere. Any authority that Trump claimed to have to lock her up was imaginary… in his head. Trump could have told you that BEFORE the election, but, either he did not know or chose not to.

If you voted for Trump because you wanted that Border Wall built to stop Mexicans from coming into the country. You also got played. That wall is looking more like a fence now. In an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes on November 13th, Trump said (quote): “… there could be some fencing”.

If you hate Obamacare and voted for Donald Trump because he said he would get rid of it, you got played. Trump now says he likes certain parts of it.

If you are a Trump voter and your thing is homophobia… some bad news. On the campaign trail Trump said that he would appoint justices who would overrule the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage. But, you too got played. In that 60 Minutes interview last month Trump said (quote): “It is irrelevant. It was already settled. It is law. It was settled in the Supreme Court. I mean it is done… and I am fine with that.”

    But, it gets more complicated and more sinister: sometimes when it appears that you are NOT getting played by Trump, you ARE getting played by Trump. Let’s examine what REALLY happened last week at that Trump publicity stunt at the Carrier factory in Indiana. Carrier is a multi-billion dollar company that makes air conditioners. The single largest customer of its parent company, United Technologies, is the Pentagon. Carrier had planned on closing two Indiana factories, sending more than 2,000 jobs to Mexico. During the campaign Trump played tough guy and said he would punish the company with tariffs if they went ahead with the move. But, in the end, Trump played “nice guy” and gave Carrier 7 million dollars in economic incentives over ten years for keeping just 800 jobs in Indiana… the other 1,300 jobs are STILL headed to Mexico (with NO penalty to Carrier Corp).

The Donald basked himself in glory, taking full credit for his HUUUGE success. But, even Sarah Palin knew that voters were getting played… realizing that other businesses would now to threaten to leave the country in order to receive similar breaks, effectively motivating industries to blackmail the government. She called it “crony capitalism”

Bernie Sanders said the deal was all smoke-and-mirrors… with taxpayers footing the bill for those so called “economic incentives” offered to Carrier.

So, let’s summarize the play here: Donald Trump helped secured millions of dollars in state tax breaks for a massive corporation that will STILL send more than a thousand other Indiana jobs to Mexico. Meanwhile, United Technologies Corp., the Carrier parent company, earned $5 billion dollars in after-tax profits last year. That’s right… $5 billion dollars in profits!

You think you did NOT get played… think again!

    I suspect that many Trump supporters do not care about Trump’s positions on the issues. What they care most about is venting their anger, bigotry and hatred. Trump is counting on holding on to his supporters by feeding that hatred… and not, necessarily, improving their lives.

    In six months or maybe in a year, there will be a lot of Trump supporters across the country, and here in Delaware County who feel good--- having vented a lot of anger and gained a lot of what they might consider to be “white pride” or “white respect”. Indeed, many of them will feel better about themselves psychologically. But with no job prospects, no money and no health insurance, they might FINALLY begin to realize that they have been played by the Donald.

But, listen we have ALL been played… some folks realize it now, other folks will realize it later.   

Donald Trump has unleashed a dangerous beast in this country that will need to be fed.

And, as that old expression goes: “Once you let the toothpaste out of the tube, you cannot put it back in.”