tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72958495926936628722024-03-15T18:12:17.520-07:00Clear and Present DangerMike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.comBlogger1234125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-7985618710523378672024-03-14T08:54:00.000-07:002024-03-14T08:54:59.082-07:00 trump Loses Popular Vote, Calls for Violence<p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">trump wants desperately to be President. He will call for violence to install him in the White House when he loses the popular vote.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">This November, we will need armed, sworn officers to protect the integrity of all the ballots, from the voting booth through the installation of the President in January 2025. Any process that calls for openness should restrict personal access to the facility and instead offer closed circuit monitoring of any such process.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We should prepare to deploy National Guard to election offices in each State where an election supervisor perceives threats.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Heather Cox Richardson presents the political situation in the United States of America today [See her column below].</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Heather Cox Richardson Mar 14</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">After yesterday’s primary contests, we appear headed toward a Biden-Trump rematch in 2024. But this year’s election is an entirely different kettle of fish than that of 2020.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In 2020 there were plenty of red flags around Trump’s plans for a second term, but it was not until after it was clear he had lost the election that he gave up all pretense of normal presidential behavior. Beginning the night of the election, he tried to overturn that election and to install himself as president, ignoring the will of the voters, who had chosen Joe Biden. His attack on the fundamental principle of democracy ended the tradition of the peaceful transfer of power established in 1797 when our first president, George Washington, deliberately walked behind his successor, John Adams, after Adams was sworn into office.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Trump then refused to step aside for his successor as all of his predecessors had done, and has continued to push the Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. His loyalists in the states have embraced that lie, undermining faith in our electoral system, although they have never produced any evidence for their claims of voter fraud. (Remember the Cyber Ninjas who handled the election audit in Arizona? The company went out of business in 2022.) </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Then, a year after he left office, news broke that Trump had compromised the country’s national security by retaining highly classified documents and storing them in unsecured boxes at Mar-a-Lago. When the federal government tried to recover them, he hid them from officials. In June 2023 a grand jury in Miami indicted Trump on 37 felony counts related to that theft. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Trump is not the same as he was in 2020, and in the past three years he has transformed the Republican Party into a vehicle for Christian nationalism. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In 2016 the Republican Party was still dominated by leaders who promoted supply-side economics. They were determined to use the government to cut taxes and regulations to concentrate money and power among a few individuals, who would, theoretically, use that money and power to invest in the economy far more efficiently than they could if the government intervened. Before 2016 that Reaganesque party had stayed in office thanks to the votes of a base interested in advancing patriarchal, racist, and religious values. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">But Trump flipped the power structure in the party, giving control to the reactionary base. In the years since 2020, the Republican Party has become openly opposed to democracy, embracing the Christian nationalism of leaders like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, who maintains that the tenets of democracy weaken a nation by giving immigrants, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, and women the same rights as heterosexual, native-born white men. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Rather than calling for a small federal government that stays out of the way of market forces, as Republicans have advocated since 1980, the new Trump Party calls for a strong government that enforces religious rules and bans abortion; books; diversity, equity, and inclusion programs; and so on. In 2022, thanks to the three extremists Trump put on the Supreme Court, the government ceased to recognize a constitutional right that Americans had enjoyed since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision: the right to abortion. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Last week, Trump formally took over the apparatus of the Republican Party, installing loyalists including his daughter-in-law at the head of the Republican National Committee (RNC) and purging the organization of all but his own people. Indicating its priorities, the RNC has hired Trump lawyer Christina Bobb, former correspondent at the right-wing media outlet One American News Network and promoter of the lie that the 2020 election was stolen, as senior counsel for election integrity. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In Congress, far-right Trump supporters are paralyzing the House of Representatives. The Republicans took power after the midterm elections of 2022 and have run one of the least effective congresses in history. Far-right members have refused to agree to anything that didn’t meet their extremist positions, while first Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and then Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) refused to reach out to Democrats to pass legislation except for must-pass laws like appropriations, when Democrats provide the majority of the votes that keep the government functioning. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The result has been a Congress that can get virtually nothing done and instead has focused on investigations of administration officials including the president which have failed spectacularly. Republican members who actually want to pass laws are either leaving or declining to run for reelection. The conference has become so toxic that fewer than 100 members agreed to attend their annual retreat that began today. "I'd rather sit down with Hannibal Lecter and eat my own liver," a Republican member of Congress told Juliegrace Brufke of Axios.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Meanwhile, Trump has promised that if he returns to office, he will purge the nonpartisan civil service we have had since 1883, replacing career employees with his own loyalists. He has called for weaponizing the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense, and his advisors say he will round up and put into camps 10 million people currently living in the U.S., not just undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers but also those with birthright citizenship, tossing away a right that has been enshrined in the Constitution since 1868.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Internationally, he has aligned with dictators like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and has threatened to abandon the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a security pact that has protected the U.S. and like-minded nations since 1949. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">If Trump has descended into authoritarianism since 2020, Biden has also changed. For all his many decades of public service, it was unclear in 2020 what he could actually accomplish as president, especially since Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had weaponized the filibuster to stop Congress from passing anything on the Democrats’ wish list. But on January 5, 2021, in a special election, Georgia voters elected Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, and the Democrats took control of the Senate as well as of the House. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In Biden’s first two years with the help of then House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who managed a squeaky-small House majority [with] Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic majority, and on occasion, a few Republicans set out to demonstrate that the government could work for ordinary Americans. They passed a series of laws that rivaled President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s Great Society of the 1960s. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan rebuilt the economy after the worst of the coronavirus pandemic; the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act) is rebuilding the nation’s roads and bridges; the $280 billion Chips and Science Act invests in semiconductor manufacture and scientific research; the $739 billion Inflation Reduction Act enables the government to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies and invests in programs to combat climate change. Projects funded by these measures are so popular that Republicans who voted against them are trying to claim credit. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Biden, Harris, and the Democrats have diversified the government service, defended abortion rights, reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act, relieved debt by enforcing the terms of student loans, passed a gun safety law, and reinforced NATO.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">They set out to overturn supply-side economics, restoring the system on which the nation had been based between 1933 and 1981, in which the government regulated business, maintained a basic social safety net, promoted infrastructure, and protected civil rights. The result was the strongest economic recovery from the pandemic of any country in the world. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Now, the general election truly begins, and the contrast could not be clearer, Harris wrote after Biden secured the nomination. Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy and our fundamental freedoms. He is proud of his role in overturning Roe, and has talked openly about plans for a nationwide abortion ban. He routinely praises authoritarian leaders and has himself vowed to be a dictator on Day One. Just this week, he said that cuts to Social Security and Medicare would be on the table if he receives a second term. Each of these stances ought to be considered disqualifying by itself; taken together, they reveal the former President to be an existential danger to our country.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">With his State of the Union speech last week, President Biden passionately presented our alternative vision. We will reduce costs for families, make housing more affordable, and raise the minimum wage. We will restore Roe, protect voting rights, and finally address our gun violence epidemic. The American people overwhelmingly support this agenda over Donald Trump’s extreme ideas, and that will propel our campaign in the months ahead.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">It appears that Biden and Trump will square off again in 2024 as they did in 2020, but the election is not a replay of four years ago. Both candidates are now known quantities, and they have clearly laid out very different plans for America’s future. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Reminder: These letters are available in a free audio version at Substack, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Notes:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/cyber-ninjas-company-led-arizona-gop-election-audit-shutting-down-n1287145</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/12/politics/rnc-trump-takeover-lawyers-election/index.html</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://apnews.com/article/trump-documents-investigation-timeline-087f0c9a8368bb983a16b67dd31dcd4c</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-classified-documents-indictment-c15a5f36e4e83417805718d81a035441</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://www.axios.com/2024/03/12/house-republican-retreat-infighting</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://punchbowl.news/article/never-ending-impeachment-inquiry/</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Twitter (X):</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Acyn/status/1768084013799932213</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">david_darmofal/status/1767735412158570604/photo/2</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Victorshi2020/status/1767965023115333973</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-72885306185827479772024-03-08T06:09:00.000-08:002024-03-08T06:09:26.785-08:00Biden Calls Out Marjorie and the Maggots<p> </p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Joe owns the MAGATS</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://youtu.be/u42TQs4Pf2c" target="_blank">Click here for video</a><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-78317722542649802652024-03-06T17:35:00.000-08:002024-03-06T17:41:12.646-08:00State of the Union: We're Not Done Yet<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">State of the Union: </span> </p><p><br /></p><p>We're Not Done Yet</p><p><br /></p><p>We have more to do to help American families in all 50 states.</p><p><br /></p><p>Join with us.. We need you.</p><p><br /></p><p>The time is now</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-61799353464164299452024-02-22T09:03:00.000-08:002024-02-22T09:03:10.489-08:00WAR<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">We have war today. I was born in 1941; I lived through the
Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. I read and heard news about Evil
every day.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Evil is back now, today. Tyrants are Evil, regardless of
the time and location. If we do not stop tyrants, they will expand their
depravity until we force them to stop.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Putin is a tyrant, plain and simple. Tyrants act Evilly,
it's what they do. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">We define Evil as the complete lack of concern for those
souls harmed by their actions; tyrants like Putin inflict their Evil on their
subjects. We see it when Russian officers force Russian soldiers in Ukraine to step
over bodies of their fallen comrades to advance Putin's interests. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Here is Evil defined:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCHCRh7Jg4603d9mKaA1i6028qcnWpzK6YLGkIHxp2I0AMI7g-VyoQl-5fy6KO-bDV3PKZQKQ0kfIuTCSTOjAfVn6tQKuxqfYtXayfN6laRueosuUk4UHoyq0x9q7v6f3ObP6FJzWwuBplUmvnVhULd3mNoe5APPswEPL4SLT0THCJLaelmxye5lgRCt9p/s797/empathy%20evil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="526" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCHCRh7Jg4603d9mKaA1i6028qcnWpzK6YLGkIHxp2I0AMI7g-VyoQl-5fy6KO-bDV3PKZQKQ0kfIuTCSTOjAfVn6tQKuxqfYtXayfN6laRueosuUk4UHoyq0x9q7v6f3ObP6FJzWwuBplUmvnVhULd3mNoe5APPswEPL4SLT0THCJLaelmxye5lgRCt9p/s320/empathy%20evil.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Some Americans support Putin and work to prevent the USA
from stopping Evil. They do Evil work by preventing actions in the United States
designed to stop Putin’s war.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Putin’s Russia started a War in Europe by invading Ukraine
and threatening to expand his invasion to other NATO countries. Since we are the
principal arms and munitions suppliers to Ukraine, the United States is
involved. Putin tries to infiltrate American elections to create an American
inability to act. That makes his invasion campaign easier when Ukrainian troops
run low on ammunition.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Putin actively sows misinformation about domestic US conditions
in various channels. He hopes doing so will make the US weaker;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nvd.167064/gov.uscourts.nvd.167064.15.0.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1rE17dMGrf_T925yUmTStfYpc9eZJo9mQ-aPg9t3_lPKgSXX4X8Th_7xs">click
here for proof</a>. Trump and the far right GOP in Congress accept Russian
propaganda as justification for their actions to weaken the United States.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">We should find a way to deliver weapons and munitions to
Ukraine quickly, in spite of GOP tactics designed to delay our response. I am
certain our failure to do so will expand the War to other European countries. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Part of Putin’s control of Russian citizens relies on
blocking messages from the West reaching them. We created Radio Free Europe
[RFE] after World War II to ensure delivery of truth to Russian and other
Soviet Bloc nations. RFE succeeded in that task. We should expand greatly those
activities today. The goal will be to stir unrest in Russia so that Putin fears
for his control.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">We should also initiate activities designed to foment unrest
in Russian citizens. We can support Expat Russians planning a transition to a
new Russian government after Putin dies. We can encourage those Expats to write
a Constitution, create plans for nationalizing enterprises and ensuring military
cooperation to prevent any new tyrants from taking power when Putin dies. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">These tactics will help our War Effort. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-32546949148261613862024-02-19T09:08:00.000-08:002024-02-19T15:04:03.797-08:00Russia After Putin <p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Inevitably, Putin will die. Worldwide opinion today turns anti-Putin. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">When he dies, there may be chaos in Russia. My bet is that he does not have a workable succession plan. Most dictators do not have one.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The West failed to assist Russia's move away from tyranny into a democratic state in the 1990's, after the Wall fell. Criminals amassed ownership of public property and installed a tyranny in Russia under Putin. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I list below some steps that the West can take to facilitate Russia's transition to a democratically elected government and avoid a tyranny. A new Shadow Duma established with expats can start the process until a newly elected Duma arrives. Russians want to live in a Democracy and do not want a reinstallation of a tyrant successor to Putin. The West should help them do so.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The new government may choose to apply to join the EU as an Official Candidate for membership. However, the EU sets rigid requirements for Candidates who wish to join the EU. <a href=" https://neighbourhood-enlargement.ec.europa.eu/enlargement-policy/conditions-membership/chapters-acquis_en" target="_blank">Click here for the EU enlargement process. </a></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Russia will not meet those conditions until Russia has a fully functioning elected government. I discuss here the necessary steps to join the EU eventually.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">'In order to apply for EU membership, a country has to be European and respect the EU's democratic values. It also needs stable institutions guaranteeing democracy and the rule of law; a functioning market economy; and the ability to take on and carry out the obligations of the EU membership.Dec 6, 2023</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">A country can become an official candidate once it meets basic political, economic and reform criteria. It can then start formal negotiations on 35 chapters covering many different policy areas with the EU.' <a href="https://neighbourhood-enlargement.ec.europa.eu/enlargement-policy/glossary/chapters-acquis-negotiating-chapters_en" target="_blank">Cloick here to see detailed steps</a></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">BEFORE THE EU APPLICATION</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">STEP 1: Establish a shadow Duma before Putin's demise using expat Russians who will meet and work on the EU Candidate process; and, begin writing a new Constitution. USA and EU can help organize and fund this. The shadow Duma can continue after Putin's demise until a newly elected Duma can meet. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">STEP 2: Establish coordination with top military officials to secure their agreement they will accept subordination to civilian authority established pursuant to the new Constitution. Discharge those who refuse.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Step 2.5. Enact martial law to prevent violence, election interference and possible overthrow of new government. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">STEP 3: Conduct elections to the new Duma with international supervision ensuring election integrity.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">STEP 4. Nationalize all enterprises above an arbitrary limit such as 1,000 employees. The state will manage the enterprises. Later, the Duma can negotiate proposed acquisitions on a case-by-case basis with the objective of professional sustainable management and financial capacity</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">STEP 5. New government seeks outside cash assistance to endure that newly nationalized enterprises can meet their payroll until divested.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">STEP 6. Appoint judges who support the new government to all judicial posts. Ensure each judicial appointment requires a public impeachment in the Duma to be overturned or compromised.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">STEP 7. Establish Civil Service board to establish required credentials for new employees select and install government employees. Ensure that all meetings of the Board will be publicly viewable. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">STEP 8. New Duma will establish areas of interest for business enterprise regulation; then, it will write appropriate regulations.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-70628270686797295942024-02-14T09:38:00.000-08:002024-02-14T09:38:54.036-08:00Sleep Little Donny, Sleep<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><a href="https://youtu.be/FXpRxzmawjw" style="font-size: large;">'Go to sleep little baby..'</a><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Little Donny, you fought so many battles for your family. Nobody understands how hard you fought.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">And now you are tired, very tired.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Sleep will make you safe from them, the losers you beat.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Lay down your head and let the losers drift away.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Sleep the long sleep and be safe and warm......</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">You'll see your whole family when you rest. You'll be safe.</span></p><p><br /></p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-77580648566169472752024-02-10T11:38:00.000-08:002024-02-10T15:34:45.020-08:00Biden Responds: A Suggestion<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p>Here's my idea for a Biden campaign speech: </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><br /></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">'My Fellow Americans:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I want to take a few moments for some straight up political
messages. Please bear with me for a bit.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As you have heard, some folks in my opponent’s party are
suggesting that I am too old to be trusted with Presidential duties. Some folks
think my memory is a bit slow.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Really ??</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Well, OK then. I encourage you to view my recent TV video ad addressing
that topic. That video shows me interacting with several top National Security
officers about pressing matters affecting several countries and political
leaders. You can see how I go about the everyday business of protecting our
National Security as your President by directing our officers to take actions
relating to threats and other issues to specific people and locations around
the world. As your President, I am in meetings like that every day, sometimes
for 12 hours straight and longer if the situation warrants.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The same video shows my opponent speaking at a few campaign
appearances. He seems to have some memory and comprehension issues. I am worried
that he will fail to protect our National Security due to his evident health
issues. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It seems like a clear choice for you. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now, I want to take a minute and speak directly to Trump
voters. As your President, I have the privilege of protecting your rights as
Americans and I will continue to do that, regardless of the election results.
It is the right thing to do. I will not use my office to persecute you for your
political choices. They are your rights and I will protect them as fully as I
can.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But, and it’s a big ‘but’, I will encourage the DOJ to
prosecute you if you commit any insurrection acts or other crimes. If courts
judge you guilty, I will not pardon you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Some of you may have questions about Trump’s competency and
effectiveness you choose to be quiet about. That’s normal and also the right thing
to do. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sometimes we make a choice that turns out badly and does not
provide us with what we want. That has happened to me before. It seemed like a
good idea at the time, but later I regretted it. If you have second thoughts about your choice, please know
that you are wise to question that decision and then change it if you wish. </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Thansk you for your attention. God Bless America.'</p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-51707973077176710192024-02-07T06:40:00.000-08:002024-02-08T06:42:14.576-08:00Appeals Court Rejects Trump Argument; Link to Full Opinon<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The Appelate court [not the Supremes, it is my error] Rejects the appeal. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Click here <a href="https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/68ec07f627291201/6b857e6a-full.pdf" target="_blank">Text of Supreme Court decisi</a>on</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Or copy and paste this link to your browser</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/68ec07f627291201/6b857e6a-full.pdf</span></p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-24598633443555883222024-02-02T05:26:00.000-08:002024-02-02T05:26:37.920-08:00Empathy on Demand Side Creates Economic Growth <p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">February 1, 2024, Heather Cox Richardson</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="white-space: normal; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">One of the biggest stories of 2023 is that the U.S. economy grew faster than any other economy in the Group of 7 nations, made up of democratic countries with the world’s largest advanced economies. By a lot. The International Monetary Fund yesterday reported that the U.S. gross domestic product—the way countries estimate their productivity—grew by 2.5%, significantly higher than the GDP of the next country on the list: Japan, at 1.9%.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">IMF economists predict U.S. growth next year of 2.1%, again, higher than all the other G7 countries. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta projects growth of 4.2% in the first quarter of 2024.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Every time I write about the booming economy, people accurately point out that these numbers don’t necessarily reflect the experiences of everyone. But they have enormous political implications. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, and the Democrats embraced the idea that using the government to support ordinary Americans—those on the “demand” side of the economy—would nurture strong economic growth. Republicans have insisted since the 1980s that the way to expand the economy is the opposite: to invest in the “supply side,” investors who use their capital to build businesses. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In the first two years of the Biden-Harris administration, while the Democrats had control of the House and Senate, they passed a range of laws to boost American manufacturing, rebuild infrastructure, protect consumers, and so on. They did so almost entirely with Democratic votes, as Republicans insisted that such investments would destroy growth, in part through inflation. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Now that the laws are beginning to take effect, their results have proved that demand-side economic policies like those in place between 1933 and 1981, when President Ronald Reagan ushered in supply-side economics, work. Even inflation, which ran high, appears to have been driven by supply chain issues, as the administration said, and by “greedflation,” in which corporations raised prices far beyond cost increases, padding payouts for their shareholders.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The demonstration that the Democrats’ policies work has put Republicans in an awkward spot. Projects funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, are so popular that Republicans are claiming credit for new projects or, as Representative Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) did on Sunday, claiming they don’t remember how they voted on the infrastructure measure and other popular bills like the CHIPS and Science Act (she voted no). When the infrastructure measure passed in 2021, just 13 House Republicans supported it. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Today, Medicare sent its initial offers to the drug companies that manufacture the first ten drugs for which the government will negotiate prices under the Inflation Reduction Act, another hugely popular measure that passed without Republican votes. The Republicans have called for repealing this act, but their stance against what they have insisted is “socialized medicine” is showing signs of softening. In Politico yesterday, Megan Messerly noted that in three Republican-dominated states—Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi—House speakers are saying they are now open to the idea of expanding healthcare through Medicaid expansion.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In another sign that some Republicans recognize that the Democrats’ economic policies are popular, the House last night passed bipartisan tax legislation that expanded the Child Tax Credit, which had expired last year after Senate Republicans refused to extend it. Democrats still provided most of the yea votes—188 to 169—and Republicans most of the nays—47 to 23—but, together with a tax cut for businesses in the bill, the measure was a rare bipartisan victory. If it passes the Senate, it is expected to lift at least half a million children out of poverty and help about 5 million more. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">But Republicans have a personnel problem as well as a policy problem. Since the 1980s, party leaders have maintained that the federal government needs to be slashed, and their determination to just say no has elevated lawmakers whose skill set features obstruction rather than the negotiation required to pass bills. Their goal is to stay in power to stop legislation from passing.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Yesterday, for example, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who sits on the Senate Finance Committee and used to chair it, told a reporter not to have too much faith that the child tax credit measure would pass the Senate, where Republicans can kill it with the filibuster. “Passing a tax bill that makes the president look good…means he could be reelected, and then we won’t extend the 2017 tax cuts,” Grassley said.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">At the same time, the rise of right-wing media, which rewards extremism, has upended the relationship between lawmakers and voters. In CNN yesterday, Oliver Darcy explained that “the incentive structure in conservative politics has gone awry. The irresponsible and dishonest stars of the right-wing media kingdom are motivated by vastly different goals than those who are actually trying to advance conservative causes, get Republicans elected, and then ultimately govern in office.” </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Right-wing influencers want views and shares, which translate to more money and power, Darcy wrote. So they spread “increasingly outlandish, attention-grabbing junk,” and more established outlets tag along out of fear they will lose their audience. But those influencers and media hosts don’t have to govern, and the anger they generate in the base makes it hard for anyone else to, either. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">This dynamic has shown up dramatically in the House Republicans’ refusal to consider a proposed border measure on which a bipartisan group of senators had worked for four months because Trump and his extremist base turned against the idea—one that Republicans initially demanded. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Since they took control of the House in 2023, House Republicans have been able to conduct almost no business as the extremists are essentially refusing to govern unless all their demands are met. Rather than lawmaking, they are passing extremist bills to signal to their base, holding hearings to push their talking points, and trying to find excuses to impeach the president and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Yesterday the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, which is firmly on the right, warned House Republicans that “Impeaching Mayorkas Achieves Nothing” other than “political symbolism,” and urged them to work to get a border bill passed. “Grandstanding is easier than governing, and Republicans have to decide whether to accomplish anything other than impeaching Democrats,” it said. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Today in the Washington Post, Jennifer Rubin called the Republicans’ behavior “nihilism and performative politics.”</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">On CNN this morning, Representative Dan Goldman (D-NY) identified the increasing isolation of the MAGA Republicans from a democratic government. “Here we are both on immigration and now on this tax bill where President Biden and a bipartisan group of Congress are trying to actually solve problems for the American people,” Goldman said, “and Chuck Grassley, Donald Trump, Mike Johnson—they are trying to kill solutions just for political gain." </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Notes:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://www.axios.com/2024/01/31/us-economy-2024-gdp-g7-nations</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://www.wfla.com/politics/florida-gop-rep-says-she-cant-recall-how-she-voted-on-chips-appropriations-bills/</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://www.wsj.com/articles/alejandro-mayorkas-impeachment-house-republicans-border-immigration-homeland-security-1a431a5d</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/09/politics/biden-republicans-infrastructure-law/index.html</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/02/01/gop-blunders-nihilism/</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/11/05/house-infrastructure-reconciliation-vote/</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/greg-abbotts-performative-border-clash-is-a-classic-maga-era-stunt</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://www.marketwatch.com/story/greedflation-is-replacing-inflation-as-companies-raise-prices-for-bigger-profits-report-finds-bfb51060</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/15/us/child-tax-credits-pandemic-colorado.html</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/31/politics/house-vote-tax-bill-child-tax-credit/index.html</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/31/southern-republicans-obamacare-00138109</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/31/media/taylor-swift-travis-kelce-right-wing-media/index.html</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://www.cbsnews.com/news/child-tax-credit-bill-senate-vote/</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Twitter (X):</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">atrupar/status/1753093857527382355</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">IanSams46/status/1752511045187383334</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">TheDemocrats/status/1753101008086171900</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">RepSwalwell/status/1752870024014975228</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">TristanSnell/status/1752874545474683060</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">WhiteHouse/status/1753161307233173642</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">SteveRattner/status/1753140645584146579</span></p><p><br /></p><p> </p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-40705692734462030942024-01-26T05:25:00.000-08:002024-01-26T05:25:35.605-08:00Putin Orders US Congress to Stop Ukraine Aid, GOP Cowards Obey<p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">World War III is coming thanks to the GOP. All is on the table: Nuclear attacks, massive European war of attrition, millions raped and dead.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">When we appease a monster, he takes even more. We know that. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">NATO will not stand idly and watch Putin inflict a holocaust on Ukraine because they know Putin will continue advancing.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The GOP/Quisling/MAGATS in the United States obey Putin and his employee/asset Donald Trump.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Trump and the GOP use imigrants in the US Homeland as pawns in a power game. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p> </p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-75468683169226956752024-01-21T11:47:00.000-08:002024-01-25T07:45:54.953-08:00# 2 UPDATE: Winning by Owning the Feelings<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">[I choose to conflate Haley with trump - pretty sure her actual policies on these issues will be the same as his.]</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Trump/Haley manipulate voters by stressing emotions in them that serve their purpose. However, those voters do not understand that Trump/Haley's actions do not support their feelings. Even more, they willingly accept the emotions they feel as proof of their convictions, as in: 'I feel strongly that the election was stolen and that means it was stolen. And, that's exactly what Trump/Haley say.'</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Joe Biden can counter that by naming the feelings of voters and demonstrating how his policies and actions address their feelings; and, how Trump/Haleys' actions will not. It ain't easy, but it will win. If Biden's campaign finds some useful ideas here, they are free to use, adopt or adapt any or all of these arguments. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">INFLATION </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Rising prices for all the things we buy makes life harder for all American Moms, Dads, and everyone else too. My administration does a few things to help because we are a better America when families suffer less. Prices are still high but the inflation rate that measures how fast prices are increasing has dropped to lower levels today than last year. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">One of those things we do is to promote higher wages. Higher prices mean Moms and Dads need higher incomes just to make it, so, we support policies that will help wages go up and make life easier. We encourage our people to enforce the labor laws already on the books. We see that autoworkers settled their strike with higher wages. We will all be better off because wages for everyone tend to go up as union wages go up. Trump/Haley policies will lower wages.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We encourage markets to become more competitive. More competition means more jobs and lower prices. Sometimes competition suffers a bit when there are only a few companies in an industry. That can mean higher prices. We are discouraging those market concentrations and expect additional competition to result in lower prices and better quality. Trump/Haley policies suport monopolies</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">As you know, we in Washington do not regulate or control the prices of what we all buy. Our system lets markets determine prices instead of bureaucrats dictating prices. That system is not perfect but it does much better for us than setting prices in markets does for those places that try it. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">BORDER SECURITY and IMMIGRATION</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Some Americans fear and hate foreigners and immigrants. In addition, a large number of the very people fearing foreigners have lives of great difficulty. Many of these Americans want to prevent refugees from coming here because Trump/Haley say there are some 'bad' people. However, we process legal immigrants with very rigorous vetting before we let them in. That vetting will catch 99% of the bad people. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We want a new immigration law to solve the illegal immigration problem. However, a few heartless politicians will not allow Congress to change needed reforms of the laws and policies. They do that because they calculate that Americans voters will blame the Biden White House for the situation we see every day. They kill the hopes and aspirations of some and murder some other immigrants in a cold-blooded attempt to win an election. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">America promises to welcome and give a safe start to people who feel violence and persecution in their home country and who follow the rules. We promise to let them live in peace and to prosper when they follow the rules and work hard. Many suffer hardships and violence at home and on their journey. My heart breaks for these intrepid souls. We promise them that when they follow the rules, we welcome them as Americans in citizenship ceremonies open to the public. I cannot convey completely the joy I see at those ceremonies from them and their families.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">ABORTION</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Some religious zealots judges and politicians have taken away a right America granted to mothers 50 years ago. They remind me of the Taliban and HAMAS. I get the concern about rights of the unborn; any decision about abortion is so personal that I think only the mother and her doctor can possibly make that decision. I know some women who have had abortions. I cannot comprehend their pain and trauma. The zealot judges claim some higher authority than the Constitution. It is simply un-American.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The bigger point remains that the same zealot judges want to take away more of the rights and privileges that make America strong and prosperous. More than 1,354,664 (1) Americans have died protecting our Constitution from Fascist attacks. The very Constitution those 1.3 million have died for is under severe attack from American zealot judges and politicians. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">They want to take away our Freedom and, they might succeed. The Constitution gives us the vote so we can bloc Fascist rule; otherwise, we might live in the FASCIST STATES OF AMERICA!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I cannot be calm about this; it is too critical. (1) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_casualties_of_war]</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">HATRED, GAZA, UKRAINE</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I do not understand hatred. I get angry and frustrated but I do not conjure an emotional response to the things or people who are associated with my anger and frustration. I am a bit of Stoic in that I try to see the reality of things and then decide what to do next.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Nevertheless, many people in the world who hate other people or people have different beliefs or live in other countries including America. As President, I see and understand how we can protect ourselves from the hatred.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">GAZA</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">People have hated and persecuted Jews for a very long time in many countries around the world. I think some of the hatred is religious in nature but it is real regardless of the causes. Creating Israel meant taking some land away from its inhabitants. I suppose they feel angry because of that, I know I would feel anger in that case. We relegated the Palestinian people to live in a small area inside Israel. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">HAMAS is a small terrorist group in GAZA, which actively wants to kill all the Jews in Israel as its mission statement. Other people who hate Jews finance and support HAMAS in their attacks, but active HAMAS is a small percentage of the Palestinians who live in GAZA. Some militants created a massacre of Jews in October. Israel exercises its right of self-defense in attacking HAMAS in GAZA. However, HAMAS members use Palestinian civilians as shields against Israeli attacks by locating their bases in underground tunnels beneath hospitals and schools. When Israel attacks HAMAS bases it kills many non-belligerents including women and children as well as HAMAS. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Biden works very hard to influence Israel to reduce violence in Gaza. Trump/Haley look for ways to make a profit from the violence. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">My heart breaks for all those who suffer in that war. While I grieve for Palestinians and Jews alike, the United States supports the right of any nation including Israel to defend its population from terrorist attacks. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">UKRAINE: </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Trump/Haley encourage Congress to delay or stop our Aid to Ukraine. Under Trump/Haley and without American aid, Putin will take the entire country. Russian forces will rape and murder their way to Ukraine's Western borders. Then NATO countries near Ukraine will strike against a Rusian controlled Ukraine. Inevitable increases in violence will escalate. That will be World War III. At some point in this nightmare someone will use nuclear weapons. Trump/Haley will create horrendous conflict and mass murder.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Biden stands strong against Putin and reduces the likelihood of furthr aggression. We pray he will avoid a wider conflict.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I have no words. I pray for a cessation of violence and a resolution to this war as soon as possible.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">VOTING RIGHTS</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Biden works every day to extend voting rights in the entire country for all Americans. Trump/Haley promote the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him and given to Biden. Biden won the popular vote by 7 million votes. And, the election was very fair. 'Trump’s own officials say 2020 was America’s most secure election in history. Homeland Security put out a statement with state and local officials that countered the President’s [Trump]fraud claims.' [VOX Nov 13, 2020, 4:40pm EST]</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Trump/Haleyknow that voters choose Democrats over the GOP in just about all elections. They try to restrict voting rights so the GOP steals that which he knows they cannot win. If Trump/Haley succesfully steal the 2024 election, they will try to ensure that all future elections choose Trump/Haley as President even if the popular votes go against them. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">CLIMATE CHANGE</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Trump/Haley work to sabotage legislation and policies that combat global warming. They choose to maximize short term profits for pulluters at the cost of harm to the planet and the future of our grandchildren. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Here's what Joe Biden does: 'This is a case where conscience and convenience cross paths, where dealing with this existential threat to the planet and increasing our economic growth and prosperity are one and the same. When I think of climate change I think of jobs.' President Joe Biden Before Signing Executive Actions on Tackling Climate Change, Creating Jobs, and Restoring Scientific Integrity (Jan. 27, 2021) [https://www.whitehouse.gov/climate/] </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-51597471686706717822024-01-14T07:46:00.000-08:002024-01-14T08:00:08.155-08:00Tyrants Lived Before<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We see nothing new in t.rump. History shows us many examples. Some may regard the wannabe ruler as a new thing in the world, but he is just like Lysander in 454 BC.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">There is nothing new under the Sun. We Humans as a species are capable of both sublime goodness and also brutish thuggery. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">'3 Lysander now summoned from their various cities to Ephesus men whom he saw to be most eminent for confidence and daring, and sowed in their minds the seeds of the revolutionary decadarchies afterwards instituted by him, urging and inciting them to form political clubs in their several cities, and apply themselves to public affairs, assuring them that as soon as the Athenian empire was destroyed, they could rid themselves of their democracies and become themselves supreme in power. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">4 Moreover, by actual benefits he gave them all a confidence in this future, promoting those who were already his friends and allies to large enterprises and honours and commands, and taking a share himself in their injustice and wickedness in order to gratify their rapacity. Therefore all attached themselves to him, expecting to attain all their highest ambitions if only he remained in power. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">5 Therefore, too, they neither looked kindly upon Callicratidas at the first, when he came to succeed Lysander in the admiralty, nor afterwards, when he had shown by manifest proofs that he was the justest and noblest of men, were they pleased with the manner of his leadership, which had a certain Doric simplicity and sincerity. They did, indeed, admire his virtue, as they would the beauty of a hero's statue; but they yearned for the zealous support of Lysander, and missed the interest which he took in the welfare of his partisans, so that when he sailed away they were dejected and shed tears.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">6 Lysander made these men yet more disaffected towards Callicratidas. He also sent back to Sardis what remained of the money which Cyrus had given him for the navy, bidding Callicratidas ask for it himself, if he wished, and see to the maintenance of his soldiers. And finally, as he sailed away, he called Callicratides to witness that the fleet which he handed over to him was in command of the sea. But he, wishing to prove the emptiness and vanity of this ambitious boast, said: "In that case, keep Samos on the left, sail to Miletus, and there hand the triremes over to me; surely we need not fear to sail past the enemy at Samos if we are masters of the sea." 3 To this Lysander answered that Callicratidas, and not he, was in command of the ships, and sailed off to Peloponnesus, leaving Callicratidas in great perplexity. For neither had he brought money from home with him, nor could he bear to lay the cities under forced contribution when they were already in an evil plight. 4 The only course left, therefore, was to go to the doors of the King's generals, as Lysander had done, and ask for money. For this he was of all men least fitted by nature, being of a free and lofty spirit, and one who thought any and every defeat of Greeks at the hands of Greeks more becoming to them than visits of flattery to the houses of Barbarians, who had much gold, but nothing else worth while. '</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">This webpage reproduces one of The Parallel Lives by Plutarch published in Vol. IV of the Loeb Classical Library edition,1916</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The text is in the public domain.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Lysander*.html]</span></p><p><br /></p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-56551565184547365292024-01-14T06:13:00.000-08:002024-01-21T06:53:50.274-08:00Self Defense for Election Workers<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>Some American voters have regressed from civilized behavior into </span>aberrant<span> beings with infantile attitudes, 'If I can't do what I want, I will shit on your dinner; or maybe I'll shoot you with my assault rifle'. You election and court workers are decent people conducting business for the American people; you hear death threats in your workplaces and your homes. Those threats are crimes, and, they are simply despicable.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Know that most Americans are with you and have your back. You are not alone.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I suggest some mechanisms that will help you avoid the vileness directed at you. This is low level beginning stuff that is easy to follow. They are small steps, but will be effective in reducing the volume of threats. It's my list and it has not been reviewed; please ask your employer's attorney to review before you start using these ideas.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Know that we will not judge you for your decision to retire if that is best for you and your family. You are heroes.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Here are the steps to take:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">1. Do NOT accept that the threats are part of the election process and are just 'political'. They are crimes.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">2. Change all your online, remote and computer passwords immediately.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">3. Change them again every month. Use English words you can remember easily and add a number or symbol as well. Or, use computer generated passwords.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">4. Do not answer the phone or click on any email from a sender you do not know personally. Never open any attachment from an email. Screen all calls to your business and home phones and personal cell phone. Record and save each threat no matter how mild it appears. Law enforcement will collect the calls and look for patterns that lead to criminal charges. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Use this as your phone's greeting: "You have reached Mary Smith's personal telephone. Since I am a public servant employed by the [United States, State, County or city] any threat you make directed to me or my family is a crime under Federal and local law. Know that I will forward your threat and your Phone number to law enforcement with a request to arrest you. Leave your message now." </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">5. Record all of the message and the phone number and any other identifying fact the caller discloses. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">6. Save them into a digital format like Excel that can be sent to detectives. Remember, collections of large volumes of data about threats can suggest patterns and identify the cdriminals behind the calls. Data is the phone number, the date and time of the call, your rating of the call threat level and any other facts the caller reveals. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">When we have several thousand people doing this, we will know a lot about who is behind the calls. We can prosecute those people as well as the caller. A person who facilitates a crime is also guilty of a crime. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">7. Rank the nature of the threat using this code or some other:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Cat 1 - credible explicit death threat to public official, probably illegal</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Example: The following message led to an arrest: </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The man allegedly said in a voicemail left for Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich on Sept. 27, 2021, according to the Justice Department:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">'When we come to lynch your stupid lying Commie [expletive], you’ll remember that you lied on the [expletive] Bible, you piece of [expletive]. You’re gonna die, you piece of [expletive]. We’re going to hang you. We’re going to hang you,'</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Cat 2 - Emotional, unfocused rant mentioning death</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Cat 3 - Hatred expressed, no specific threat of violence</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Cat 4 - Unemotional disagreement with explicit rationale</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Cat 5 - Unemotional disagreement with zero rationale</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">8. Give your records to local law enforcement as well as to places which collect the data like the FBI or election fairness organizations. Request that law enforcement file criminal actions and proseucte the people who threaten you. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Report here for Califonia: Report all threats or acts of workplace violence to the <b>DGS Workplace Violence Referral Line at (916) 376-5344</b>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">D O J here https://tips.fbi.gov/home</span></p><p> </p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-60651939133470560072024-01-12T18:09:00.000-08:002024-01-12T18:09:24.242-08:00Complete Report : White House for Sale<p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"> See the full report click below:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><a href="https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/352377138e125817/849dad00-full.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">White House for Sale</span></a><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Or, copy and paste: </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/352377138e125817/849dad00-full.pdf</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-84552261222289148012024-01-10T08:44:00.000-08:002024-01-11T07:36:21.193-08:00How to Prevent 'Treasonous Acts'<p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Law enforcement and the United States legal system cannot prevent crimes and treasonous acts before they occur. We see problematic consequences from that reality. The United States cannot wait until a treasonous act succeeds before we take counter action because a successful treasonous act may be enough to destroy our legal system.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">However, we CAN disrupt and perhaps prevent any coordinated actions involving several individuals and/or groups. Such significant actions involve several people and require coordination. In addition, coordination requires money and leadership. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We can discourage any treasonous act perpetrators from completing their plan by convincing them that they will be tried for treason and, if found guilty of such a crime, suffer the punishments up to and including death that the Constitution provides. Donating money and other support to a treasonous act is a crime.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Treasonous acts are punishable by fines, imprisonment or death as detailed in 18 USC Ch. 115: TREASON, SEDITION, AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES; From Title 18—CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE PART I—CRIMES [See link here: [https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title18/part1/chapter115&edition=prelim]]</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We expect significant actions from t.rump followers to interfere with and/or discredit the 2024 elections. I hope we continue to alert Law Enforcement and the National Guard about likely actions as we discover them. Individual, lone wolf actors present a difficult challenge. We cannot stop individual lone actors who follow their personal impulses without coordination with others. We can and should establish regional clearing centers before the elections that are close to areas where t.rump 'Treasonous Acts' are most likely to happen. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">In addition to establishing regional clearing centers to process detainees, we should begin investigations of people who are likely to donate money and organizations skills toward a successful insurrection.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">LEAKING THE EXISTENCE OF INVESTIGATIONS INTO 'TREASONOUS ACTS' WILL NOTIFY ORGANIZERS AND FINANCIERS OF THEIR PERSONAL RISKS. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We hope their fear will diminish their appetite for Fascism. T</span><span style="font-size: medium;">he organizers of the coming Treasonous Acts have written a detailed plan of how they will destroy the institutions which preserve our freedoms, security and liberty. To read their entire plan, click here: </span><a href="https://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Mandate for Leadership 2025</span></a></p><p> </p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-71877376195893401122024-01-09T10:08:00.000-08:002024-01-09T17:08:21.453-08:00Prosecuting Treasonous Acts<p><span style="font-size: medium;">We see today a coordinated movement to weaken and overthrow the legitimate government of the United States of America by whatever means the protagonists choose. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We recognize 'treasonous acts' [the phrase is from former CIA director John Brennan] when we see them and we want to punish the perpetrators, organizers and financiers of those acts. We know exactly what is happening, but our system prevents us from acting to avert harm until the courts prove the legal basis for any action beyond a reasonable doubt. If we wait for that level of absolute proof, it may be too late. Insurrectionists deliberately use our system to delay any action to save our system, at the exact some time they are actively conspiring to destroy our system.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Treasonous acts are punishable by fines, imprisonment or death as detailed in 18 USC Ch. 115: TREASON, SEDITION, AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES; From Title 18—CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE PART I—CRIMES [See link here: [https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title18/part1/chapter115&edition=prelim]</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">These crimes lie outside of normal political discourse; they are crimes. They are NOT political discussions and/or Free Speech.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We CAN pursue the folks who commit those acts and the people who provide support for them. We can prosecute them after the fact; AND, we can discourage any such acts BEFORE the fact. We expect to see continuing and growing demonstrations as the 2024 elections draw near. We expect those demonstrations will be met with resolve including force if necessary.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We can create collection centers where Police and National Guard personnel take all those arrested and/or detained while engaged in an unlawful act. Perhaps the FBI can interrogate each detained person to see whether they are simple foot soldiers who should be in jail, or perhaps a person may have knowledge of the financing, planning and organizing the acts.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We should prosecute all the insurrectionists, especially the people at the top of the organization. Once they are aware we can charge them with treason, they may be less likely to commit the acts.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We recognize the reluctance of the Department of Justice to discuss plans like these; however, a limited discussion of intent may serve effectively the security interests of the United States by cooling down the treason acts somewhat.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Here are the Codes:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">'Advocating overthrow of Government</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; or</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof—</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">If two or more persons conspire to commit any offense named in this section, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">As used in this section, the terms "organizes" and "organize", with respect to any society, group, or assembly of persons, include the recruiting of new members, the forming of new units, and the regrouping or expansion of existing clubs, classes, and other units of such society, group, or assembly of persons.'</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 808; July 24, 1956, ch. 678, §2, 70 Stat. 623; Pub. L. 87–486, June 19, 1962, 76 Stat. 103; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, §330016(1)(N), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">18 USC Ch. 115: TREASON, SEDITION, AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">From Title 18—CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDUREPART I—CRIMES </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">[https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title18/part1/chapter115&edition=prelim]</span> </p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-45648513283053451602024-01-03T05:40:00.000-08:002024-01-03T05:40:19.052-08:00The Fascist Plan Exposed<p> <span style="font-size: medium;">Read the entire Fascist plan here: </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><a href="https://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;">Mandate for Leadership 2025</span></a><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Or click and paste here:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">https://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf</span></p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-2123745635608275932023-12-14T09:42:00.000-08:002023-12-14T09:42:53.383-08:00The Trouble with Bidenomics<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Biden used some tried and true policies to guide us through
the pandemic and the subsequent expansion. The data is clear and it is amazing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">But, households do not feel the data. So, we ask questions: “How
do we get great economic fundamentals with no polling bounce? How can we
translate our performance into better polling?’</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Here’s why that happens: At the kitchen table, Moms and Dads
do not perceive the benefits of an improved economy because the benefits spread
unequally across all sectors of the United States. More benefits accrue to rich
people than benefits accrue to working people. Corporate profits are rising but Moms’ and
Dads’ wages are not keeping up with the price increases that contribute to
those profits and contribute to inflation at the same time. Perhaps wages will increase
to compensate households more fairly in the long run, but as Keynes said in the
Great Depression ‘In the long run we are all dead.’</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Wages kept up with prices in the 20<sup>th</sup> Century
until about 1976. Then wages stopped growing but CEO profits and Billionaires
took all the benefits of an expanding economy. Not only that, but they also
captured the government and blocked public actions to benefit working people. They
are still doing that today.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">We have a simple solution toward improving Democrat polling
numbers on economic questions. First, acknowledge the situation in public
forums. Then, explain how you will challenge CEO and Billionaire market power
to restore economic fairness. Moms and Dads need some hope now.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">It doesn’t matter that you have not completed the actions yet.
We want to hear you say that you understand our reality and will try to remedy
that. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Economists use a measurement called the GINI coefficient to
measure the levels of inequality between classes in a country. Our GINI score
is bad -
we are too unequal. Scores as bad as our score raise questions about
national security. High GINI scores denote higher levels of inequality, which data
suggest that higher than average GINI scores may threaten our future social
stability. The United States will be
more secure when our scores approach lower levels as in several European
countries. Our United States average GINI score of 48 is well above countries
like Norway, Sweden and Denmark.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Selected Country GINI</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">[Higher bad]</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">USA 48.0</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">SWEDEN 30.1</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">DENMARK 28.2</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">CANADA 33.3</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">NORWAY 27.6</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">RUSSIA 37.5</span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Many writers recognize the
importance of inequality: Bertrand Russell said this about rich and
unscrupulous financiers: </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 45.0pt; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">“A modern community is not likely to be
prosperous if its financial affairs are conducted solely with a view to the
interests of rich and unscrupulous financiers, without regard to the effect
upon the rest of the population. Needless to say, it is unwise to leave these
financiers to the unfettered pursuit of their private profit. One might as well
run an art museum for the sole profit of the curator, leaving him at liberty
and whim to sell the contents whenever he happened to be offered a good price.“
<a href="#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">[i]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<div><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href=" https://econoak.org/?page_id=1048" target="_blank"> Click here.</a> for a more complete discussion.<br clear="all" />
</span><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Bertrand
Russell, In Praise of Idleness: And Other Essays (1935), Ch: IV, The Modern
Midas (1932), p. 77<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-73709701257471326672023-12-07T08:18:00.000-08:002023-12-07T08:18:25.876-08:00 Enemy of the United States<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The United States Constitution creates a government elected by the Voters of the country. Officials of the Government take an oath to defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign or domestic. Officials and citizens agree to obey the rules and regulations adopted pursuant to the Constitution. Should a person or organization violate one or more of those laws, then that person or organization can be prosecuted and/or punished as the law establishes. The laws protect citizens from the harm criminals might inflict on them.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Any person who refuses by actions, oaths or words to obey the laws and accept any punishment pursuant to the law becomes a criminal and is subject to punishment up to and including death.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">An unexpected situation happens when an elected or appointed official, who is authorized to enforce those laws, chooses to disobey any or all the laws adopted pursuant to the Constitution despite their earlier sworn oath to protect the Constitution. We consider them criminals and prosecute them as established in the law. Such prosecutions happen regularly at all levels of government.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">A special case happens today when we prosecute former President Trump for a variety of crimes against the Constitution while he campaigns actively to be re-elected President. Further, he has announced that, if elected, he will use his Presidential powers to punish his enemies and reward his friends. It is likely he will dismantle the Constitution and attempt to remain as POTUS regardless of any future election.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Since he intends to disregard the Constitution if elected, then he is not protected by the Constitution or the laws. The sovereign power of the United States can be used directly against Trump to prevent him from taking any elected office without regard for any Constitutional protection he may claim. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Such action can include any action that prevents him from taking office.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">' According to 50 USCS § 2204 [Title 50. War and National Defense; Chapter 39. Spoils of War], enemy of the United States means any country, government, group, or person that has been engaged in hostilities, whether or not lawfully authorized, with the United States;</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">(3) the term "person" means</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">(A) any natural person;</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">(B) any corporation, partnership, or other legal entity; and</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">(C) any organization, association, or group.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">[https://definitions.uslegal.com/e/enemy-of-the-united-states/]</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">USLegal.com; USA Legal, Inc. Convenient, Affordable Legal Help - Because We Care! </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">USLegal</span></p><div><br /></div>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-41526364790272654282023-12-06T09:19:00.000-08:002023-12-06T09:29:07.594-08:00Repairing United States Welfare Programs<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">This excerpt from 'The <a href=" https://econoak.org/?page_id=1048" target="_blank"> 'The Captured State: Selected Statistics Show Harms of Wealth Concentration to American Life'</a> discusses a new approach to social welfare spending and offers some hope for better outcomes.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">'The question arises: can we spend
our way out of our current political hatred and violence by making a more costly
safety net for disadvantaged Americans? </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">We may find other countries with
better safety nets and less political violence than the United States. We might
learn from them. A corollary assumption is that countries with better safety
nets spend more money on them than we do. However, the facts show that more
spending, by itself,<b><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> does not</span></b> make things better. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">We already spend as much per
capita as most countries with better social welfare results. We spend enough
money, we just don't spend it right. Chapter Z. Alternate Solutions to Social Welfare Problems on page 28 discusses
different spending methods to improve our performance <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Expectations help determine the outcomes of social
welfare programs as they do in educational institutions. The United States uses
one set of expectations and shows poor social policy results. Some Nordic
countries use a very different set of expectations and show better social
policy results. [Page 14]<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b>1. High Expectations
in Social Welfare Programs <a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">[i]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Educational experiments show that students perform
better when teachers have high expectations of them. Conversely, students do
poorly when teachers have low expectations for them. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">'The students of high expectation teachers show larger
achievement gains, while the students of low expectation teachers make smaller
or negative gains. The positive attitudes and equitable teaching practices of
high expectation teachers also lead to higher levels of engagement, motivation
and self-efficacy in students.' <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">United States social welfare programs appear to
demonstrate low expectations of the recipients. Some programs may be modeled on
the Southern Strategy to delay racial integration. ‘The Southern strategy [to
integration] was one of holding out, of being so difficult, so painful to deal
with that, hoping that the North would then do what it had done during
Reconstruction, get disheartened and then leave.’ <i><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> <a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">[ii]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Contrarily, welfare programs in other countries take
the opposite approach of assuming that welfare recipients are family members
who have fallen on hard times. The welfare program supports people as they move
toward better circumstances. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>2. United States’
Expectations<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">In our effort to reduce the inequality gap by
transferring income and assets to the less fortunate among us, we make it hard
to qualify for the programs and then we make it hard to prove your
qualification. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Some people who need the assistance do not receive the
aid available to them; and, in many cases, they fail to apply or complete the application.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Most ‘means tested’ welfare programs in the USA fail
to deliver because many qualified recipients of the aid do not apply. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.5in;"><i> ‘…avoidable
and unavoidable costs, states' distorted incentives, and social norms are the
major sources of impediments to benefits and that most of these impediments are
embedded in or result from certain legal mechanisms of the welfare system. Law
and Inequality: A Journal’<a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">[iii]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Many highly disadvantaged people do not apply for
substantial benefits for which they are eligible by their circumstances.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"><i> ‘An
estimated 46 million Americans live below the poverty line. But millions aren’t
covered by any of the welfare programs. Records show that 72% of people living
in poverty received help from at least one welfare program. Among those living
in deep poverty - an income that falls 50% below the poverty threshold - 70%
received assistance, while the remaining 5.5 million people did not. At least
13 million people live in poverty and don’t receive any benefits from welfare
programs.’ Urban Institute <a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_edn4" name="_ednref4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[iv]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><i>‘Complaints of mistreatment in navigating the welfare
state are commonplace, with most unpleasant encounters arising from
interactions between welfare recipients and social workers. The dominant
approach to social work was casework which emphasized the personal
characteristics or moral deficiencies of the recipient rather than social
reform. In some cases the said deficiency was grounds for denying assistance.
Casework fostered a paternalistic and demeaning relationship between social
workers and clients. Caseworkers are the persons who have the most opportunity
for showing respect or described not as
much in terms of what they receive in their checks but rather in terms of the
relationship that they have with their caseworker; a study found that the way in
which a client was shown respect was often more important to the client than
what the provider in the situation did to solve the client’s problems.’ Nadasen, Premilla (June 17, 2014). Welfare
Warriors:’<a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_edn5" name="_ednref5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">[v]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Most ‘means tested’ welfare programs in the USA fail
to deliver because many qualified recipients of the aid do not apply.
‘…avoidable and unavoidable costs, states' distorted incentives, and social
norms are the major sources of impediments to benefits and that most of these
impediments are embedded in or result from certain legal mechanisms of the
welfare system.’<a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_edn6" name="_ednref6" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Many highly disadvantaged people do not apply for substantial benefits for
which they are eligible by their circumstances.<o:p></o:p></p>
<div><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""></a><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><b>1. High
Expectations in Social Welfare Programs<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Effect of high expectations, </span><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Libretexts Social Sciences:
[https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Education_and_Professional_Development/Foundations_of_Education_and_Instructional_Assessment_(Kidd_et_al.)/10%3A_Effective_Teaching/10.06%3A_What_is_the_effect_of_having_high_expectations_for_students#:~:text=Pygmalion%20Effect%20and%20Self%2DFulfilling%20Prophecy&text=If%20the%20student%20feels%20that,5).]<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> <span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Daily Stoic, Sep 21, 2023</span><i><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><b>2. United
States’ Expectations<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Source: Unwelcome Benefits: Why Welfare Beneficiaries Reject Government
Aid?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Law and Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice,
Vol. 24, No. 107, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4">
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_ednref4" name="_edn4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Five
Things You May Not Know about the US Social Safety Net, Sarah Minton and Linda
Giannarelli February 2019, </span><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt;">[https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/99674/five_things_you_may_not_know_about_the_us_social_safety_net_1.pdf]<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_ednref5" name="_edn5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">WIKIPEDIA, Nadasen, Premilla (June 17, 2014). Welfare
Warriors: The Welfare Rights Movement in the United States. Routledge. ISBN
9781136743696.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6">
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_ednref6" name="_edn6" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Source: Unwelcome
Benefits: Why Welfare Beneficiaries Reject Government Aid?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Law and Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice,
Vol. 24, No. 107, 2006<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri","sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
</div>
</div><p> </p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-10608609480243097122023-12-04T15:37:00.000-08:002023-12-26T07:49:32.943-08:00ABSTRACT ‘The Captured State: Selected Statistics Show Harms of Wealth Concentration to American Life'<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhargAPzBr3x3-9cBw-Z_qETKzEPvDdG8KL9tH3tDmhtzxCM7Md8JNs3bikJflu2FTq-9KiAtFVMeMRSwBiMPLZjGAW1h_kMbvW05bdrvBaZ8sFK_zNg9R-aqLojmi4OhPOQXFNUs9TS8CLG2g_8t6XKbzULMTZ23OiU1lk2kEeFSReeMyuPsCTGDfznJwl" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="631" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhargAPzBr3x3-9cBw-Z_qETKzEPvDdG8KL9tH3tDmhtzxCM7Md8JNs3bikJflu2FTq-9KiAtFVMeMRSwBiMPLZjGAW1h_kMbvW05bdrvBaZ8sFK_zNg9R-aqLojmi4OhPOQXFNUs9TS8CLG2g_8t6XKbzULMTZ23OiU1lk2kEeFSReeMyuPsCTGDfznJwl=w401-h298" width="401" /></a></span></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></i></p><br /><i><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The United States formed July 4, 1776 as
a sovereign state. Therefore, we have the right and duty to protect our
Constitution from all enemies, foreign or domestic in a manner chosen by the
people. <o:p></o:p></span></i><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Firing
Squad. </span></i><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Adobe Stock images </span></i></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">ABSTRACT ‘The Captured State: Selected Statistics Show Harms of Wealth Concentration to American Life'</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This paper suggests that the historically large concentrations of wealth possessed in 2023 by American Billionaires and CEO's create a blockage in the United States, which interferes with our government's attempts to change existing laws and regulations. The concentration blocks effectively the law making process granted by the Constitution in 1789. Our constitution gave American citizens the right to vote as a check on attempts to bend our laws and regulations toward the personal favor of any person or group. However, today concentrated wealth collectively prevents Congress from adopting proposed laws or regulations that correspond to the will of citizens.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">As a direct result of that blockage, Congress has been, and continues to be, unable to pass laws and regulations to benefit American voters' social well-being. The United States has fallen behind many other countries in most measures of Social well-being. The paper presents several measurements of social well being and compares the United States' scores to selected other countries.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Many countries with very large imbalances of incomes and wealth have suffered violent revolutions including the imprisonment and assassination of the rulers. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Author: Mike P. McKeever; Founding Editor of the Oakland School of Economics Journal, est. 2021</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Published in the Oakland School of Economics Journal December 2023.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The complete paper is here: : <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://econoak.org/?page_id%3D1048&source=gmail&ust=1701819320089000&usg=AOvVaw2oMpd--aAKvO5hHZRxI89Q" href="https://econoak.org/?page_id=1048" target="_blank">https://econoak.org/?page_id=<wbr></wbr>1048</a></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-20303256232633215242023-11-27T05:27:00.000-08:002023-11-27T05:27:39.431-08:00Trump Has a Master Plan for Destroying the ‘Deep State’, By Donald P. Moynihan
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Be worried now - </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">
By Donald P. Moynihan
</span></p><p>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/27/opinion/trump-deep-state-schedule-f.html">
I study government bureaucracies. This is not normally a key political issue. Right now, it is, and everyone should be paying attention.
</a>
</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Mr. Moynihan is a professor of public policy at Georgetown and an expert on the administrative state.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Donald Trump, the former president and current candidate, puts it in apocalyptic terms: “Either the deep state destroys America or we destroy the deep state.” This is not an empty threat. He has a real and plausible plan to utterly transform American government. It will undermine the quality of that government and it will threaten our democracy.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">A second Trump administration would be very different from the first. Mr. Trump’s blueprint for amassing power has been developed by a constellation of conservative organizations that surround him, led by the Heritage Foundation and its Project 2025. This plan would elevate personal fealty to Mr. Trump as the central value in government employment, processes and institutions.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">It has three major parts.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The first is to put Trump loyalists into appointment positions. Mr. Trump believed that “the resistance” to his presidency included his own appointees. Unlike in 2016, he now has a deep bench of loyalists. The Heritage Foundation and dozens of other Trump-aligned organizations are screening candidates to create 20,000 potential MAGA appointees. They will be placed in every agency across government, including the agencies responsible for protecting the environment, regulating workplace safety, collecting taxes, determining immigration policy, maintaining safety net programs, representing American interests overseas and ensuring the impartial rule of law.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">These are not conservatives reluctantly serving Mr. Trump out of a sense of patriotic duty, but those enthusiastic about helping a twice-impeached president who tried to overturn the results of an election. An influx of appointees like this would come at a cost to the rest of us. Political science research that examines the effects of politicization on federal agencies shows that political appointees, especially inexperienced ones, are associated with lower performance in government and less responsiveness to the public and to Congress.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The second part of the Trump plan is to terrify career civil servants into submission. To do so, he would reimpose an executive order that he signed but never implemented at the end of his first administration. The Schedule F order would allow him to convert many of these officials into political appointees.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Schedule F would be the most profound change to the civil service system since its creation in 1883. Presidents can currently fill about 4,000 political appointment positions at the federal level. This already makes the United States an outlier among similar democracies, in terms of the degree of politicization of the government. The authors of Schedule F have suggested it would be used to turn another 50,000 officials — with deep experience of how to run every major federal program we rely on — into appointees. Other Republican presidential candidates have also pledged to use Schedule F aggressively. Ron DeSantis, for example, promised that as president he would “start slitting throats on Day 1.”</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Schedule F would be a catastrophe for government performance. Merit-based government personnel systems perform better than more politicized bureaucracies. Under the first Trump administration, career officials were more likely to quit when sidelined by political appointees.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Schedule F would also damage democracy. The framers included a requirement, in the Constitution itself, that public officials swear an oath of loyalty to the Constitution, a reminder to public employees that their deepest loyalty is to something greater than whoever occupies the White House or Congress. By using Schedule F to demand personal loyalty, Mr. Trump would make it harder for them to keep that oath.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">When he was president, his administration frequently targeted officials for abuse, denial of promotions or investigations for their perceived disloyalty. In a second administration, he would simply fire them. Trump loyalists reportedly have lists ready of civil servants who will be fired because they were not deemed cooperative enough during his first term.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The third part of Mr. Trump’s authoritarian blueprint is to create a legal framework that would allow him to use government resources to protect himself, attack his political enemies and force through his policy goals without congressional approval. Internal government lawyers can block illegal or unconstitutional actions. Reporters for The New York Times have uncovered a plan to place Trump loyalists in those key positions.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">This is not about conservatism. Mr. Trump grew disillusioned with conservative Federalist Society lawyers, despite drawing on them to stock his judicial nominations. It is about finding lawyers willing to create a legal rationale for his authoritarian impulses. Examples from Mr. Trump’s time in office include Mark Paoletta, the former general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget, who approved Mr. Trump’s illegal withholding of aid to Ukraine. Or Jeffery Clark, who almost became Mr. Trump’s acting attorney general when his superiors refused to advance Mr. Trump’s false claims of election fraud.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Mr. Clark is now under indictment for a “criminal attempt to communicate false statements and writings” to Georgia state officials. But he continues to lay the groundwork for a second Trump term. He has made the case for the president using military forces for domestic law enforcement. He has also written a legal analysis arguing that “the U.S. Justice Department is not independent,” while Mr. Paoletta told The Times, “I believe a president doesn’t need to be so hands-off with the D.O.J.” If government lawyers will not defend norms of Justice Department independence, Mr. Trump will use the department to shield himself from legal accountability and to pursue his enemies.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We sometimes think of democracy as merely the act of voting. But the operation of government is also democracy in action, a measure of how well the social contract between the citizen and the state is being kept. When values like transparency, legality, honesty, due process, fealty to the Constitution and competence are threatened in government offices, so too is our democracy. These democratic values would be eviscerated if Mr. Trump returns to power with an army of loyalists applying novel legal theories and imposing a political code of silence on potential holdouts.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Donald P. Moynihan is a professor of public policy at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University and the author, with Pamela Herd, of “Administrative Burden: Policymaking by Other Means.”</span></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p></p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-50368769871995929252023-11-25T13:31:00.000-08:002023-11-25T13:31:54.412-08:00The Captured State: Selected Statistics Show Harms of Wealth Concentration to American Life <p><span style="font-size: medium;">All: </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">You can read my latest article on the Oakland School of Economics Journal [www.econoak.org]. If you like it, tell your friends, if not, then tell me. Thanks in advance.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Here is the link to the OSE Journal page - open the page, scroll down to paper then click on the title of paper </span></p><h4><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://storage.googleapis.com/production-bluehost-v1-0-4/014/1254014/D4kDjywu/9b80e605b30a437c9e4fc19f10f5f852?fileName%3DThe%2520Captured%2520State%2520Selected%2520Statistics%2520Show%2520Harms%2520of%2520Wealth%2520Concentration%2520to%2520American%2520Life.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1701033540100000&usg=AOvVaw0cmz-QQEUAcYCW-2Is1hDa" href="https://storage.googleapis.com/production-bluehost-v1-0-4/014/1254014/D4kDjywu/9b80e605b30a437c9e4fc19f10f5f852?fileName=The%20Captured%20State%20Selected%20Statistics%20Show%20Harms%20of%20Wealth%20Concentration%20to%20American%20Life.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Captured State: Selected Statistics Show Harms of Wealth Concentration to American Life </span></a></h4><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Copy and paste this link :<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://econoak.org/?page_id%3D1048&source=gmail&ust=1701033540100000&usg=AOvVaw0AfrrqIXL2nrlJkEKTWPMI" fg_scanned="1" href="https://econoak.org/?page_id=1048" target="_blank">https://econoak.org/?page_id=<wbr></wbr>1048</a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">A teaser:</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;">Prequel: A Declaration [Rant?]<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: large;">Now listen up, all you American Billionaires and CEO's:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> E</span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: large;">nough………</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: large;">You have taken most of what we have.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: large;">It is enough for you. We want some of it back. We are coming for
you.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="font-size: large;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">[i]</span></span></span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;">You take our wages and cross too many lines.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: large;">You control the law making system and you, and only you, can fix the
country. Without you letting loose some control, our laws cannot fix our
problems today. If you choose to help us, we can fix America together. </span><a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="font-size: large;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">[ii]</span></span></span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">You cannot escape your responsibility for our plight: with your great
wealth comes your greater responsibility.</span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-size: large;">You cannot avoid acting because doing nothing is making a choice to
continue as we are today.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">We CAN change with your help. Without you, the end-result will be
violence against you.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">You want to install a Dictator who works for Vladimir Putin. If you
succeed, then he will steal all our liberty and our property, yours and mine.
You will not escape him. </span><a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="font-size: large;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">[iii]</span></span></span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">You call it ‘competitive advantage’ when you find loopholes in the laws
to steal our incomes.. </span><a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="font-size: large;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">[iv]</span></span></span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">You threaten our National Security by creating disastrous extremes of income
and wealth.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">About 10% to 20% of us live in hunger and fear. Some among the rest of
us have little peace or rest.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">You poison our air and our water and you kill the planet we call home.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">You shoot to ‘kill/death’ thousands of us every year.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span><i><span style="font-size: medium;">'In 2021, the
most recent year for which complete data is available, 48,830 people died from
gun-related injuries in the U.S., according to the CDC’ <a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_edn5" name="_ednref5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">[v]</span></b></span></span></a></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;">You won. Congratulations.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: large;">Now, look around: many Americans suffer privation and desperation. They
may resort to violence against you as happened to the Russian Romanovs, Saddam
Hussein, French nobility and a long list of murdered tyrants. Our Deal can save
you.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: large;">You can choose your legacy: You can be a modern Alfred Nobel or
Rockefeller.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Or, you will be an evil
tyrant like industrialist Henry Clay Frick or Germany’s Quandt family, who own
BMW.</span><a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_edn6" name="_ednref6" style="font-size: large;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">[vi]</span></span></span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: large;">We want to make a deal. Understand that we will come for you even if
there is no deal. We will not be happy if we must come when there is no deal.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: large;">The deal: You agree to pay higher income taxes sufficient to balance our
budget, retire the national debt over time and fix our social policies. Just
tell your Congressional minions it is OK to raise our income taxes and expand
social programs.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: large;">In return, let you live and keep your assets, just like the New Deal of
FDR from 1930. It is what we want today.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: large;">With you, we can balance the Federal budget and pay down the debt by
raising tax revenues instead of simply cutting benefit expenditures.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><i style="font-size: large; text-indent: -0.25in;"> Eisenhower explained it this way: ‘The super
rich could avoid the high taxes by investing their money in things that make
America stronger. If they wanted to avoid high taxes, he said they could invest
in business expansions and higher employee wages. They could give a million or
two to tax-exempt non-profits that feed, house and clothe poor people of
America, among other things. They did some of that, but the Eisenhower years
generated enough taxes to launch and complete the labyrinth of interstate
highways, the largest road project America had ever seen and is needed again.'
Dave Peyton, AP news <a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_edn7" name="_ednref7" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">[vii]</span></b></span></span></a></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: large;">However, instead you choose to maximize your wealth. You tell your
Senators and Representatives, or even a SCOTUS judge: 'Kill any proposed laws
or regulations which might benefit working people, then approve any laws which
reduce income and wealth taxes.'</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><i style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">CNBC says: 63%
of American workers are unable to pay a $500 emergency expense. <a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_edn8" name="_ednref8" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">[viii]</span></b></span></span></a></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: large;">You know a storm is coming: you see MAGA violence in the political
process. Mob thugs have not come for you … yet.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span><span style="font-size: large;">You became very rich when you ordered lower income taxes. The US Treasury
borrows more money to pay our bills, instead of using income tax revenue from
you to pay. We borrow so that you do not have to pay income taxes. That steals from
my grandchildren and future, unborn generations; it must stop.</span></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;">
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">NOTES Prequel: A
Declaration [Rant?]<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="font-size: large;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">[i]</span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Robert Reich
[https://robertreich.substack.com/p/billionaires-dont-have-a-right-to]</span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="font-size: large;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">[ii]</span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">These Days, the Very Rich Are Very Selfish.
It Could Get Ugly. By Guido Alfani, NYT Nov 19, 2023; Mr. Alfani is an economic
history professor at Bocconi University in Milan.
[https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/19/opinion/rich-billionaires-philanthropy-covid.html]</span></p></div><div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="font-size: large;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">[iii]</span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;">
PUTIN'S PEOPLE: HOW THE KGB TOOK BACK RUSSIA AND THEN TOOK ON THE WEST,
Catherine Belton, 2020, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, New York</span></p></div><div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="font-size: large;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">[iv]</span></span></span></a></p></div><div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE SCHEME: HOW THE RIGHT WING USED DARK MONEY TO
CAPTURE THE SUPREME COURT, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Jennifer Mueller, 2022,
The New Press, New York.</span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="font-size: large;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">[v]</span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;">
Pew Research Center publishes gun deaths in the US:</span></p></div><div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;">[https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/26/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/]</span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_ednref6" name="_edn6" style="font-size: large;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">[vi]</span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></p></div><div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rich People From
History Who Committed Shady and Evil Deeds - Khalid Elhassan - April 12, 2022,
History Collection </span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;">a. Henry Clay Frick.</span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;">In 1880, industrialist Henry Clay Frick and a group of
rich Pittsburgh magnates bought the South Fork Dam, an earthen dam that formed
an artificial Lake Conemaugh in Cambria County. ...because when the dam was
built, it had a system of relief pipes and valves to lower water levels in an
emergency. That system had been sold as scrap metal, and never replaced.
Between that and the clogged spillway, there was no way to release water in
case of an emergency. Such an emergency occurred on May 31st, 1889, and it
killed thousands in what came to be known as the Johnstown Flood, after the
chief town struck by the disaster.’</span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;">b. Quandt Family, BMW</span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;">BMW. Less known is that its major shareholders, the
seriously rich Quandt family, were close friends and admirers of Hitler and the
Nazis.</span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;">The study commissioned by the Quandt family resulted in
a 1200-page report that concluded: “[t]he Quandts were linked inseparably with
the crimes of the Nazis … The family patriarch was part of the regime“. Among
other things, the Quandts profited from the Nazis’ “Aryanization Program”,
which stripped Jews of their property and turned it over to Germans approved by
the new regime. BMW’s owners benefitted greatly from Aryanization: dozens of
businesses were seized from rich Jews and handed over to the already rich
Quandts.</span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;">[https://historycollection.com/rich-people-from-history-who-committed-shady-and-evil-deeds/]</span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_ednref7" name="_edn7" style="font-size: large;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">[vii]</span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;">
BY DAVE PEYTON Published 10:28 PM PST, January 30, 2019
[https://apnews.com/article/2184e9f18f6f4acca1ed007bdcdca818]</span></p></div><div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><a href="file:///E:/LIVE%20Violence%20Book%20Nov%2023.docx#_ednref8" name="_edn8" style="font-size: large;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif";">[viii]</span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">CNBC Survey shows that many working Americans
are a single expense away from homelessness.</span></p></div><div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;">[https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/31/63percent-of-workers-are-unable-to-pay-a-500-emergency-expense-survey.html#:~:text=To%20that%20point%2C%2063%25%20of,employers%20provide%20emergency%20savings%20benefits]</span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><br /></p></div></div></div>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-12851913855963213802023-11-15T07:27:00.000-08:002023-11-15T07:27:06.367-08:00 DDOS<p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Several scumbags hacked my computer via this page.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">To scumbag hackers : You want to know something, just ask me............</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Otherwise, go to hell.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7295849592693662872.post-29816952080775978622023-11-09T09:50:00.001-08:002023-11-09T09:50:38.075-08:00Putin's Plan for the USA<p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We are in the middle of a hostile takeover of the United States of America by Vladimir Putin.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I do not say it is a takeover by Russia because Putin is simply a greedy and violent tyrant, acting for his own purposes while ignoring the will of Russian people. Russian voices keep silent today because Putin murders or imprisons his political opponents.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I outline Putin's Plan below. Historians and Political Scientists know his plan well, but few Americans know it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Putin wants to seize control of the United States without an invasion. Stalin and the USSR used this plan to seize and control most of the Republics in the USSR. Putin is adapting it for today's world.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Putin recognizes, as did Stalin, three classes of people inside any country he wishes to control.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Class 1 : Assets</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Class 2 : Useful Idiots</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Class 3 : Enemies of the State.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Assets are people bought and paid for by Putin to help in the hostile takeover coup. Trump is a Putin asset, on Putin's payroll. Ceausescu was a Stalin asset. The asset wants to eliminate any forces that stand in his way: Courts, legislatures, Police, Armed Forces and any principled person who tries to stop the takeover. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Useful idiots are naïve people who agree with the propaganda about the takeover and help Putin's asset seize control. The AltRight and extreme GOP congress members are useful idiots.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Everyone else is an Enemy of the State. Enemies of the State can live so long as they contribute to the Putin's goals. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We can save the United States from this coup by recognizing and opposing all of its actions. We can succeed, but we must act to oppose it relentlessly.</span> </p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">This message was available in other forums but it cannot be repeated often enough. </span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Mike P. McKeever Institute of Economic Policy Analysis (MIEPA)http://www.blogger.com/profile/09267574722022397174noreply@blogger.com0