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America It Happened to Me The Current Situation

Every phone call with my family in Canada

Just had a FaceTime conversation with Mom, and it went pretty much like this.

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Uncategorized

“Dave’s not here, man.”

Image by Gregory Klein, posted to the “Star Trek Shitposting” Facebook group.

As a fan of both Star Trek: The Next Generation and Cheech and Chong, this made me chortle.

References:

Categories
America The Current Situation

Want a sneak peek into a Trump second term? His ex-campaign manager’s freakout offers a hint.

Yesterday afternoon, former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale was “Baker Acted”. That’s a term that I’d never heard of before moving to Florida, and it refers to the Baker Act, the colloquial name for the Florida Mental Health Act of 1971. It’s for involuntarily institutionalizing a person who may have a mental illness and is posing a threat to themself or others.

From Business Insider:

The Fort Lauderdale Police Department said in a statement to Business Insider that officers responded to Parscale’s home shortly before 4 p.m. local time after his wife called the police.

Parscale, who was the only person inside the home at the time, “had access to multiple firearms inside the residence and was threatening to harm himself,” according to the statement.

“Officers made contact with the male, developed a rapport, and safely negotiated for him to exit the home,” the department said in the statement. “The male was detained without injury and transported to Broward Health Medical Center for a Baker Act.”

If you watched the Netflix dramatized documentary The Social Dilemma, you might be wondering who the advertisers who helped turned Facebook into a cesspool are. Parscale is chief among them, as he’s credited as the one who came up with the 2016 campaign’s Facebook strategy.

“I was the digital-media director,” he said at California Republican Party’s fall convention in 2019. “So, yes, all that crazy Facebook stuff was my idea.”

“We have turned the R.N.C. into one of the largest data-gathering operations in United States history.”

For more, see The New Yorker’s March 2020 article, The Man Behind Trump’s Facebook Juggernaut.

Photo art from Mother Jones by Delcan & Co.

Prior to meeting the Trumps, Parscale ran a modestly successful web marketing company. It was a chance encounter on a flight that changed his destiny:

One of Parscale’s customers sat on a flight next to a passenger who would soon join the Trump Organization. Parscale’s work came up, and eventually he got an email from the seatmate asking whether he wanted to bid on developing a website for Trump’s company.

Parscale, a regular viewer of Trump’s reality show, “The Apprentice,” jumped at the chance.

“I just made up a price,” said Parscale, offering to do it for $10,000. He told Trump’s son Eric that the money was refundable if the work was unsatisfactory. “I recognized that I was a nobody in San Antonio, but working for the Trumps would be everything.”

Eric Trump became Parscale’s biggest supporter. “He wowed me,” Eric Trump said in an interview. “I found myself going to Brad over and over again.”

Over the next five years, the Trump Organization sent hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of website-related work to Parscale.

In mid-2015, Parscale got a call from Jared Kushner asking how he would run the Trump campaign’s digital strategy:

“If he wants to be the next president, he has got to harness Facebook,” Parscale said he told Kushner. “Give me the power, and I can help you win.”

Since that time, Parscale’s companies — and yes, that plural companies — have been raking in millions from the Trump campaign, and he’s done well as a result.

As much as I hate to link to the Daily Mail (also known as “The Daily Heil”), there’s no better explainer of Parscale’s change in fortunes has been spending his money that their fawning, bootlicking article from August 2019 titled How Donald Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale went from family bankruptcy to splashing out millions on mansions, condos and luxury cars through his companies that get a hefty cut of the president’s $57M campaign contributions.

He’s been spending money like a drunken sailor on shore leave, and The Lincoln Project have used it as fodder in one of their anti-Trump campaign ads:

And then the rally at Tulsa happened. Or more accurately, failed to happen.

First, I’ll let these stories do the talking:

Then, I’ll let these stories do the talking:

The scene outside Parscale’s house, courtesy of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Last night’s incident is probably the result of the convergence of a number of things:

Yesterday’s New York Times exposé of Trump’s tax records and debt may also have been a factor.

Yesterday’s article, Long-Concealed Records Show Trump’s Chronic Losses And Years Of Tax Avoidance, got a lot of people talking about how little tax Trump has paid over the past couple of decades.

While the tax issue is irksome, what concerns me more is Trump’s debt. A key part of his campaign was that he was a successful businessman, and as a rich person, he couldn’t be bought.

Trump is personally responsible for over $300 million in loans which are due for payment over the next four years, and his sources of revenue are in the hospitality industry, which has taken a big hit due to the pandemic.

What we have are two men with similar back-stories…

…Parscale’s accounts of his life and his work for the president comprise a classic Trumpian tale: They’re a combination of hyperbole, half-truths and the occasional fiction. Indeed, Parscale shares more than one trait with his most important client. He has embraced political beliefs not in evidence before the 2016 campaign. Like Trump, he has adapted to opportunities as they arose. And like Trump, Parscale is largely unencumbered by the concerns for consistency and accuracy that are the hobgoblins of smaller minds.

…who find themselves in similar situations:

  • Facing a reversal of fortunes,
  • under investigation, and
  • deeply in debt (Trump’s debt is certain, Parscale’s is probable, given that just a decade ago, he was doing low-ball bids on website work).

Faced with this crisis, Parscale had a meltdown. What happens when the President* has to reckon with a similar situation?

Categories
America The Current Situation

The 164 Republicans who couldn’t bring themselves to say anti Asian-American racism is wrong

On September 17th, Congress passed a measure that demands the condemnation of all forms of racism and scapegoating and calls on public officials to denounce any anti-Asian sentiment, which has become a problem with COVID-19.

It passed in a 243-164 vote, with all 164 “nay” votes coming from…well, guess which party:

The resolution did not reference Trump by name or the presidency, yet it passed on a largely party-line vote — with 164 Republicans voting against it.

Some responses from the Asian-American community:

Credit where credit is due

First, I’m going to say “thanks” to the 14 Republicans who broke ranks and voted “yea” on the measure:

REPRESENTATIVE PARTY STATE VOTE
Brooks (IN) Republican YEA
Fitzpatrick Republican YEA
Gonzalez (OH) Republican YEA
Herrera Beutler Republican YEA
Hurd (TX) Republican YEA
Katko Republican YEA
McCaul Republican YEA
Smith (NJ) Republican YEA
Stivers Republican YEA
Upton Republican YEA
Wagner Republican YEA
Walden Republican YEA
Webster (FL) Republican YEA
Woodall Republican YEA

…and hey, there’s a Florida representative in there, and he’s from the district just north of mine!

Censure where censure is due

And now, the racist a-holes who couldn’t even bring themselves to make a symbolic gesture condemning anti-Asian discrimination.

If you can, please vote them out.

REPRESENTATIVE PARTY STATE VOTE
Aderholt Republican NAY
Allen Republican NAY
Amodei Republican NAY
Armstrong Republican NAY
Arrington Republican NAY
Babin Republican NAY
Bacon Republican NAY
Baird Republican NAY
Balderson Republican NAY
Banks Republican NAY
Barr Republican NAY
Bergman Republican NAY
Biggs Republican NAY
Bilirakis Republican NAY
Bishop (NC) Republican NAY
Bishop (UT) Republican NAY
Bost Republican NAY
Brady Republican NAY
Brooks (AL) Republican NAY
Buchanan Republican NAY
Buck Republican NAY
Bucshon Republican NAY
Budd Republican NAY
Burchett Republican NAY
Burgess Republican NAY
Calvert Republican NAY
Carter (GA) Republican NAY
Carter (TX) Republican NAY
Chabot Republican NAY
Cheney Republican NAY
Cline Republican NAY
Cloud Republican NAY
Cole Republican NAY
Collins (GA) Republican NAY
Comer Republican NAY
Conaway Republican NAY
Crawford Republican NAY
Crenshaw Republican NAY
Curtis Republican NAY
Davis, Rodney Republican NAY
DesJarlais Republican NAY
Diaz-Balart Republican NAY
Emmer Republican NAY
Estes Republican NAY
Ferguson Republican NAY
Fleischmann Republican NAY
Flores Republican NAY
Fortenberry Republican NAY
Foxx (NC) Republican NAY
Fulcher Republican NAY
Gallagher Republican NAY
Garcia (CA) Republican NAY
Gianforte Republican NAY
Gibbs Republican NAY
Gohmert Republican NAY
Gooden Republican NAY
Gosar Republican NAY
Granger Republican NAY
Graves (LA) Republican NAY
Graves (MO) Republican NAY
Green (TN) Republican NAY
Griffith Republican NAY
Grothman Republican NAY
Guest Republican NAY
Guthrie Republican NAY
Hagedorn Republican NAY
Harris Republican NAY
Hartzler Republican NAY
Hern, Kevin Republican NAY
Hice (GA) Republican NAY
Higgins (LA) Republican NAY
Hill (AR) Republican NAY
Holding Republican NAY
Hollingsworth Republican NAY
Hudson Republican NAY
Huizenga Republican NAY
Jacobs Republican NAY
Johnson (LA) Republican NAY
Johnson (OH) Republican NAY
Johnson (SD) Republican NAY
Jordan Republican NAY
Joyce (OH) Republican NAY
Joyce (PA) Republican NAY
Keller Republican NAY
Kelly (MS) Republican NAY
Kelly (PA) Republican NAY
King (IA) Republican NAY
King (NY) Republican NAY
Kinzinger Republican NAY
Kustoff (TN) Republican NAY
LaHood Republican NAY
Lamborn Republican NAY
Latta Republican NAY
Lesko Republican NAY
Long Republican NAY
Loudermilk Republican NAY
Lucas Republican NAY
Luetkemeyer Republican NAY
Marshall Republican NAY
Massie Republican NAY
Mast Republican NAY
McCarthy Republican NAY
McClintock Republican NAY
McKinley Republican NAY
Meuser Republican NAY
Miller Republican NAY
Mitchell Republican NAY
Moolenaar Republican NAY
Mooney (WV) Republican NAY
Mullin Republican NAY
Murphy (NC) Republican NAY
Newhouse Republican NAY
Norman Republican NAY
Nunes Republican NAY
Palmer Republican NAY
Pence Republican NAY
Perry Republican NAY
Posey Republican NAY
Reed Republican NAY
Reschenthaler Republican NAY
Rice (SC) Republican NAY
Rodgers (WA) Republican NAY
Roe, David P. Republican NAY
Rogers (AL) Republican NAY
Rogers (KY) Republican NAY
Rooney (FL) Republican NAY
Rose, John W. Republican NAY
Rouzer Republican NAY
Roy Republican NAY
Rutherford Republican NAY
Scalise Republican NAY
Schweikert Republican NAY
Scott, Austin Republican NAY
Sensenbrenner Republican NAY
Shimkus Republican NAY
Simpson Republican NAY
Smith (MO) Republican NAY
Smith (NE) Republican NAY
Smucker Republican NAY
Stauber Republican NAY
Stefanik Republican NAY
Steil Republican NAY
Steube Republican NAY
Stewart Republican NAY
Taylor Republican NAY
Thompson (PA) Republican NAY
Thornberry Republican NAY
Tipton Republican NAY
Turner Republican NAY
Van Drew Republican NAY
Walberg Republican NAY
Walorski Republican NAY
Waltz Republican NAY
Watkins Republican NAY
Weber (TX) Republican NAY
Wenstrup Republican NAY
Westerman Republican NAY
Williams Republican NAY
Wilson (SC) Republican NAY
Wittman Republican NAY
Womack Republican NAY
Yoho Republican NAY
Young Republican NAY
Zeldin Republican NAY
Categories
funny Geek The Current Situation

This is the way.

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America The Current Situation

Rick “Senator Skeletor” Scott’s proposed bill makes fewer votes count

Rick Scott, flashing his biggest, most Skeletor-like smile
Rick “Senator Skeletor” Scott

Florida Senator Rick Scott — or, as I like to call him, “Senator Skeletor” — has proposed a new bill whose desired effect appears to be to reduce the number of eligible votes.

On Thursday, he proposed the ironically-named Help America Vote Act of 2020 (aren’t they always named ironically now?), which:

  • Requires that mail-in ballots be counted within 24 hours of when voting closes on Election Day, and
  • Prevents mail-in ballots received before Election Day to NOT BE PROCESSED and COUNTED before Election Day.

This bill drastically cuts the window of time for counting votes down to just over a day. Any votes not counted during this period are simply not counted.

This is a drastic reduction from the the way it is now, where the period to count votes can be weeks, because of advance absentee and mail-in voting. For example,

  • In Colorado, where all voting is mail-in, votes can be processed as early as 15 days before Election Day.
  • In Florida, Senator Skeletor’s home state (and mine!), votes can be processed as early as 22 days before Election Day.

This runs against a lot of election statutes across the U.S., where federal elections are handled at the local level and subject to local laws.

It’s probably too late to pass this law, as advance and absentee voting has already started, but there’s no reason why Senator Skeletor and company can’t try to get it enacted for the next election.

As to why the Republicans seem to like minimizing the number of votes counted, I present you with some reading material:

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Florida The Current Situation

The Florida governor’s really bad ideas

Florida’s governor, Ron “DipShantis” DeSantis, in a bid to help win the state for his lord and master Donald Trump in the upcoming election, has been pushing some really bad ideas this week.

First, he proposed the Combatting Violence, Disorder and Looting and Law Enforcement Protection Act, whose primary purpose seems to be discouraging and criminalizing dissent.

Among other things:

  • It provides a loophole for people who run over protesters with their vehicles if they’re “fleeing for their safety”.
  • You can be arrested for attending a protest where someone decides to pick a fight.
  • You won’t be able to post bail if you’re arrested at a protest that turns violent.
  • If you organize a protest and someone who attends starts a fight or engages in vandalism, you’ll be liable under RICO (the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act), which is not the intended purpose of that law.

While he’s not so keen on first amendment rights, the governor is a big fan of university students’ right to party. He wants a “bill of rights” to protect college kids who might get expelled for breaking the no-parties rule that universities in the state are trying to enforce.

“I personally think it’s incredibly draconian that a student would get potentially expelled for going to a party,” he said on Thursday. “That’s what college kids do.”

But proposing that we deny bail to protesters and charge protest organizers as if they were mobsters? That’s what corrupt governors do.

And finally, there’s the surprise announcement yesterday that he signed an executive order lifting major restrictions on restaurants. Local governments can still restrict restaurant capacity, but they can only restrict capacity to no lower than 50%, and if they’re trying to restrict capacity at all, they need to clear it with the state.

As observed in Politico:

President Donald Trump found a new applause line at his Florida rally this week: “Normal life. O! I love normal life. We want to get back to normal life.” The next day, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis moved to deliver on that promise — or the appearance of it.

The Republican governor of the president’s must-win battleground responded 24 hours later by canceling all state coronavirus restrictions Friday without warning, catching local governments and epidemiologists off-guard amid their own strategies to keep the coronavirus contained.

As of yesterday, we had over 18,000 cases in the past 7 days.

I used to think that the mayor of the beach town of Amity from Jaws was a bit over-the top. “No real-world politician would be that deadly a combination of foolish, power-hungry, and popular,” I thought, but I was wrong. We’ve got them in spades right now, and the governor is among the worst of them.

As Florida author, podcaster, and former Republican strategist Rick Wilson tweeted five months ago:

At this point, you’re probably wondering “What can I do?” And the answer, thankfully, is “plenty”.

  1. Just because restaurants can open at full capacity doesn’t mean you have to go. You can still support your local eateries by ordering “to go” or delivery, and tipping generously. And be sure to support mom-and-pop operations!
  2. Just because there’s a bangin’ party full of hot co-eds doesn’t mean you have to go. This is a hard sell to a college student (trust me, my own university career was Van Wilder-esque), but it’s not a true hardship, kids. You still have it easier than most of your forebears:
  3. Use your voice. Tell your elected officials what you think. Discuss this with your friends. Vote.
  4. Hope. The goal of disenfranchisement is for you to lose hope that you can make a difference and meaningful change, lose faith in democracy, and simply surrender to authoritarian power. Resist, take heart, disconnect from the internet and news when you need to, and remember Alasdair Gray’s words:

    Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation.