Making America Great Again...a year in review, actually just the last 2 weeks!

Exclusively available at the Donald J. Trump for President Store

Can you say 'Emoluments Clause'?

Don't worry, apparently the President and his family cant either.....

This 'Presidency' has been nothing more than a branding exercise since the great orange one came down the escalator in Trump Tower and changed the course of Americas history forever.

Without rehashing the last 2 years....(you can do that by reading previous issues of the Puzzle Palace)...let's concentrate on the last 2 weeks shall we.

In no particular order from the previous episode of 'TRUMP' a crime family drama......

Pelosi and Schumer visit the President and he swears on National TV that he will own the Government shutdown if he doesn't get his wall.

General Flynn pleads guilty to some strange bullshit involving influence peddling to the Turkish Government.

Michael Coehn pleads guilty to being a stupid ass Trump minion and all around money launderer. Gets ready for Prison. Decides to tell all about Trump family business.

Paul Manafort goes back to court, (already in prison) to talk about Russian influence peddling and money laundering.

The  CHUMP...er TRUMP Foundation is ordered to close and give remaining money to actual charities instead of paying for Barron's Cub Scout dues ($7) and large photos of Trump to hang at his Golf Course.($20,000.00)

Ivanka..(who the hell names their kid IVANKA?) overcharged guests for the use of the Trump DC hotel for the inaugural ball and literally is told, that if this gets audited they could be in trouble...She does it anyway. Over $100 Million is donated to hold a few dances without any (A) list entertainers. An audit is being considered.... PS. the hotel is actually owned by the government and has a clause in the contract forbidding Trump from owning it...WTF?

Trump mysteriously on a whim decides to pull out of Syria and hand it over to the Russians and the Turks...(wait, WHAT?) didnt i just mention something  about Russia and Turkey? 

The Secretary of Defense quits in protest.......

Trump says its all or nothing on his wall...$5 Billion or nothing.

Government shuts down..for the 3rd time this year, Trump blames it on the Democrats...(see above) 

OH, and I almost forgot, The stock market is in decline and will close with the worst year in the last 10 and ends up wiping out all of it gains for the year, interest rates are on the rise and GM and other Big industry corporations are closing factories and laying off 1000's of employees.

AND THIS IS JUST THE LAST 2 WEEKS!

Wake the FUCK UP PEOPLE! Please.........

At least we can say Merry Christmas again........

so there's that. 

The Disassembling of the United States by the Republican Party or How the West was won without firing a single shot....

All that Red...can there really be that many Republicans?

The political crisis facing the U.S. today is a maelstrom of unintended consequences that have merged like 2 giant storms to form a super-storm of what I perceive will eventually be our undoing.

A fatal flaw in the Constitution, compounded by Gerrymandering at the state level and the Citizens United ruling are to blame.....

FIRST: Every state gets 2 Senators regardless of Population density.

That may have worked in the beginning when the differences in population vs land mass was not that great, but now its out of hand.

A state the size of California has over 30 MILLION residents. Thats equal to the population of Canada...yet only has 2 Senators. 7 states combined from the Upper Northwest region Including Montana and UTAH have roughly the same population density.!!

This means that the less than 30 million Americans have 14 Senators representing them.

So if the 2 California Senators are Democrats, and the 14 other Senators are Republican, you now have an overwhelming majority in the senate voting on issues that only affect a tiny percentage of that states population.

SECONDLY: Throw in Gerrymandering in those 7 states that may actually unfairly skew the representation to be Republican when in fact the majority 'might ' actually be Democratic leaning and this now creates a false sense of representation on National issues. (abortion, gay rights,tax breaks for the wealthy..stacking the Supreme Court....yada yada yada)..Are you starting to see where this is headed?

THIRD:  add in Citizens United and the unlimited spending power of rich lobbyists and Corporations trying to force their will on the voting public and the circle is now complete.

These are 3 things I can guarantee you the original founders of our Country could never foresee or compensate for in the Constitution.

Now add in the fact...(and it is a verifiable fact) That less than 40% of voters pulled the lever for Trump and he only won 3 states with less than 30000 votes and now we see how the Electoral College played a role in favor of the MINORITY party. (another unintended consequence)

The Republican way of life is a Minority in our Country (as I see it)... But, when more people stay home instead of voting the numbers are skewed even more in favor of the Republicans.     Democrats and Liberals are more apt to bitch about an issue than actually solve it...add into that the fact that we need to Fall in Love with our candidates vs the Republican who tend to Fall in Line in order to win and the problem compounds itself.

So the only way to change this is for the Democrats to rise up and win back the Senate, house and Presidency...which actually happened for a minute in 2008...and pass legislation that fixes the problem and restore fairness in the systems. Then if they lose  in the future it will be based on the actual will of the people and not the Greed of a few......

GET OUT AND VOTE!

Drain the $wamp

UPDATED 1/4/19....ITS NOW BEEN ALMOST 2 YEARS SINCE THE INAUGURATION

Well, its been almost 18 months since the Donnie Horror President Show began and I thought now would be a good time to figure out where we are as a nation.   

In the beginning I kept my posts lighthearted and fun since it seemed like this was all some farce that would play itself out and maybe.....just maybe I was wrong about him and he would bring in the correct people to manage the day to day operations and show some of that brilliant leadership that 35% of the country that watched 'The Apprentice' knew that I was unaware of......

I'm still waiting!

So far all he has succeeded in doing is taking all of the strong political people and lifelong bureaucrats that know how to keep the trains running on time and filled them with Wall Street friends and cronie capitalists that think the government is the personal playground to enrich their personal and professional lives.

He has literally taken his pledge of drain the swamp and turned it onto its head and at the same time been able to coerce his followers (he is after all a cult of personality) into believing that he is actually cleaning it up!

This is what strongmen and autocrats do. They take the truth and skew/bend/break or bury it in order to remain in power and popular.

His ability to use twitter to incite his detractors and brainwash his followers is nothing short of a study in social psychology behavior and influence.

There is no 'TRUTH' in anything he says, and by surrounding himself with yes men and influence peddlers, he is able to retain his power even under intense scrutiny by scholars and lawyers alike!

Using social media and right wing demagogues, he keeps himself insulated in a made up world of "fake news' and cries of 'witch hunt', while literally flipping all of us off in plain view of the truth!

His cries foul of Obama golfing, yet he spends more time on the Golf Course at MaraLago than Obama ever did, yet incredibly, if you ask any of his following, they will tell you its all for the good of the country,  or...he doesn't. Which is easily verifiable and patently false..

THEY DON'T CARE...they don't care that the Tax reform only reformed it for himself and his Wall Street Billionaire Hedge fund, Yacht and plane owning brethren. And then,  even able to convince them that somehow this additional wealth will  trickle down to them and move them up the ladder of wealth.

It doesn't work! I have seen this show, Its called Reaganomics. It didn't work then and it cant work now...But the 35% of Americans that just hate everything about the US think this is the answer and add in a Republican controlled house and Senate and its nothing short of a rubber stamp machine to get every bad idea every thought about by the Republicans to become reality.

FACT: after Reagan cut taxes...he ended up quietly raising them 11 more times to compensate for the lack of income the government needed to pay its bills...

Did you know that part of the reform was doing away with the inheritance tax? The theory is that farmers were losing 50%of their land/money when they died and the government took it.  This only applied to estates valued over 5 million dollars for single payers and 11 million for couples. And then it was only on the amount OVER that threshold.... It affected aprox 5000 people a year and of those less than 10% were in the agriculture industry. 

Great news though..Ivanka  and Jared will receive an estimated 2 BILLION dollars more after Trump Departs the playing field....How that wasn't identified as a conflict of interest is mind boggling! He literally changed a law to double his children's inheritance and no one seems to care.

But I am getting an extra $20 a check.....Thanks Trump...ugh!

And exactly how can you take in less money (taxes) and then decrease the deficit? 

UPDATE: 1/4/2019 It is estimated that the Deficit increased by $2 TRILLION in just one year since the tax break.

 By cutting services and entitlements of course. The biggest lie ever told by the Right Wing is how the Social Security and Welfare programs are ruining this country while we spend almost 3/4's of a TRILLION dollars a year on national defense!

Supposedly all of these great machines we pay for like Submarines and Aircraft carriers are supposed to last 50 years, yet we replace them on a regular basis far short of their design life to keep the Military Industrial Complex well fed and the lobbyists well paid.

But cutting out meals on wheels and children's school lunch programs and medicare for the old and in-firmed is exactly what we need to right the ship.

When did the War on Poverty become the War on the Poor?

Am I pissed? YES. Am I pissed at Trump because he is an idiot? NO...NO, this is exactly what we need.

They say in order to recover from anything that is bad for you, you must hit rock bottom. You must look into the mirror and tell yourself that you feel like hell and look like shit. And if you continue to live the way you live its going to kill you!

Welcome to morning in America.....

Man, do you look like SHIT......

UPDATE 1/4/2019

From the Land of Shitholia......

President John F. Kennedy....

History will not judge our endeavors—and a government cannot be selected—merely on the basis of color or creed or even party affiliation. Neither will competence and loyalty and stature, while essential to the utmost, suffice in times such as these. For of those to whom much is given, much is required

President Ronald Reagan......

These visitors to that city on the Potomac do not come as white or black, red or yellow; they are not Jews or Christians; conservatives or liberals; or Democrats or Republicans. They are Americans awed by what has gone before, proud of what for them is still… a shining city on a hill

President George W. Bush.....

Like generations before us, we have a calling from beyond the stars to stand for freedom. This is the everlasting dream of America.

I am posting these Presidential quotes to help educate those younger than myself that may not know about them or have forgotten them.

I can remember hearing them for the first time as they were  spoken feeling a deep sense of pride knowing that I was living in the best country in the world and best times of history.

Friends/ Family and neighbors all agreeing that we were respected the world over as the Guardians of Peace and Prosperity. The worlds Policeman and Bread Basket.

We took pride in our military and statesman. 

We built the United Nations here in the USA knowing that whatever problems the world suffered…. Citizens of the world could always know that they had a safe haven in the USA. 

That we would protect them and honor their culture and opinions and fight to defend their way of life.

And then.....

President Donald J. Trump...

"Why do we want all these people from 'shithole countries' coming here?"

  

Its not that President Trump said what he said….its the fact that we have fallen so far as a nation that someone with his attitude and temperament could even get elected!

Why do all of these people from ‘shithole’ countries want to come here and abandon their culture and way of life?

Probably because of Terrorism and our decision to become less active in the worlds humanitarian objectives to raise everyone’s standards to our level of justice/prosperity and freedom.

You want people to stay where they are, then how about making sure they have a warm meal and clean sheets and a safe place to raise a family?

Even with his rancor and close-minded view of what America is, people are still clambering to come here.

WHY? 

Because in the end, with all of our faults and foibles, we are still that ‘Shining City on the Hill’.

A friend of mine recently said:

 “Reagan is probably spinning so fast in his grave right now, you could  power most of the West Coast”!

I have no doubt he is correct……..

"Gents Without  Cents Sense" 

My apologies to the 3 stooges for changing the spelling

"Slowly I turned ... step by step ... inch by inch ..."

A vaudeville skit from the late 20's (Niagara Falls) is being replayed in the White House since the inauguration. 

Since Jan 20th of  2017, Donald J. T-rump has been on a mission to erase President Obama (read 'the black guys') legacy by issuing 49 executive orders culminating in the biggest prize of all..

DUH DUH DUH...OBAMACARE!!!!!!!

If the Presidency for Donald J. T-rump was a chocolate Sunday, then this executive order would be the cherry on top.

Everything he has done up to this point is a slow and relentless undoing of the previous administrations actions.

Every Treaty, Every agreement between allies, EVERY executive order is being rewritten or rescinded in an attempt to wipe out Barack Obama's legacy.

This has nothing to do with governing! It has to do with a Racist, misogynist creep of a man wielding power against the majority with an almost mystical perception of legitimacy based on a minority of the countries citizenry. 

If there has ever been a time to rethink the founding fathers ideals of an 'electoral' college it is now!

As useless as an appendix and as deadly if it goes bad, we can now see the outcome of the worst case scenario.

This man has neither the intelligence for the job or the attitude required to fulfill his constitutional obligations,

Him and his Moral Majority lackey..(read Mike Pence) are trying to pit a small fraction of voters into a perceived majority to try and change the very fabric of our Democracy!

Here is a quick definition (and there are many) of Sharia law as stated by the Muslims for Progressive Values of the United States.

(As time went on, people had new questions about new problems. Religious scholars could use Shari’a to try to figure out what people should do. The goal was to try to get as close as possible to what the Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) would have said if he were still around.) 

Now, take Prophet Muhammad(PBUH), and substitute Jesus Christ then re-read the statement above.

Sounds a lot like what the moral majority and fellow by the name of Steve Bannon are trying to do.....have you seen the idiot from Alabama Roy Moore that he has recently been able to get on the ballot?

How is it that these people are now able to control our election process? Easy...Citizens United and Gerrymandering!

MONEY MONEY MONEY.....

and if you are wondering how the story of Niagara Falls ends?

A rogue seduced his sweetheart. He trailed the miscreant from town to town, finally catching up with him in Niagara Falls, where he pummeled him mercilessly.

How does it feel to be pummeled mercilessly by the Moral Majority and the Alt Right?

Republicare, Ryancare. Trumpcare, we dont care.......

The Rich Persons All white Chorus conducted by the Great White Trump 

So is this what you imagined our leaders of the United States would look like in 2017? 

I dont think the Truman administration had this many white people in it!

How did we get back to here?

 In my lifetime I have been around for:

Eisenhower/JFK/LBJ/Nixon/Ford/Carter/Reagan/Bush/Clinton/

Bush/Obama and now this guy.

I have seen Mercury/Gemini/Apollo/Space Shuttle/Rovers on Mars

Civil Rights enacted/Vietnam ended/Moon Landing/ Space Station

3 channels/antenna turners/cable TV/ Atari/satellites/VCR's/DVD's/DVR's/Computers and the internet.

I have seen the twin towers built and destroyed.

But I have never seen a bunch of self righteous, RWF (rich white fuckers) stand around the Rose Garden, led by the Whitest, Richest Fucker  of them all and mock the American citizenry with a take away of a benefit that helps millions of needy Americans. 

How,  after this, can you honestly say America is the greatest country on the planet? 

We are being led down a road of exclusion and division by the Hedge Fund Managers/Wall Street Bankers and Insurance Company Executives that only care about the bottom line.

It has been said that the United States is basically a global insurance company with a Standing Military.

We used to stand for all that was good and right in the world, now all we stand for is Profit.

As Winston Churchill once stated:

 'The Americans will do the right thing...once they have exhausted all of the other possibilities".

Everyone of the people in this photo are either wealthy or close to it and get free health care or can afford to pay for anything they would ever need.

How does that represent the rest of us?  

Forget Science, forget Compassion. forget inclusion........

As you can see  from the lifetime events I listed, I grew up in an age of enlightenment...too bad my grandchildren wont.

They didn't call it the Dark Ages because it was Dark!

Besides the death of my Grandmother, this is the saddest day of my life....

The Death of America, She was a grand old dame.........

Republican Farm.....

I remember in High School we were required to read Animal Farm by George Orwell.

I have to be honest, I never understood why......it seemed like such a waste of a young teenagers’ time.

Tonight it all made sense......

As I was watching the news and on every channel the Republican Pundits were all calling the repeal and replacement of Obamacare a Repair bill.

HUH? I have been hearing them say repeal..for years, then during the campaign they added replace.

But now that their attempts to push the 'Replace' bill through on the eve of the anniversary of the Obamacare signing...( a Republican created and sponsored bill that stinks so bad that they cant get enough Republicans to actually vote for it), they are now bandying around the term 'REPAIR"

"(animal farm excerpt) It was about this time that the pigs suddenly moved into the farmhouse and took up their residence there. Again the animals seemed to remember that a resolution against this had been passed in the early days, and again Squealer was able to convince them that this was not the case. It was absolutely necessary, he said, that the pigs, who were the brains of the farm, should have a quiet place to work in. It was also more suited to the dignity of the Leader (for of late he had taken to speaking of Napoleon under the title of "Leader") to live in a house than in a mere sty. Nevertheless, some of the animals were disturbed when they heard that the pigs not only took their meals in the kitchen and used the drawing-room as a recreation room, but also slept in the beds. Boxer passed it off as usual with "Napoleon is always right!", but Clover, who thought she remembered a definite ruling against beds, went to the end of the barn and tried to puzzle out the Seven Commandments which were inscribed there. Finding herself unable to read more than individual letters, she fetched Muriel.

"Muriel," she said, "read me the Fourth Commandment. Does it not say something about never sleeping in a bed?"

With some difficulty Muriel spelt it out.

"It says, 'No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets,'" she announced finally.

Curiously enough, Clover had not remembered that the Fourth Commandment mentioned sheets; but as it was there on the wall, it must have been so.

Sound familiar? Repair bill?

That George guy was a pretty smart cookie..........