L’ETAT C’EST MOI or THE FRENCH CONNECTION

This is the catch phrase of Napoléon Bonaparte and it appears to also be the mantra of Donald Trump ( Napoléon was channeling Louis XIV). It goes “the state is me” or as Trump would say, “I am the state”.  An interesting development in the Michael Flynn case occurred recently.  The career prosecutors all quit in disgust at what was going on.  A Trump (Barr) appointed attorney was assigned as a lead and was instructing the others to use the POTUS talking points about Flynn.  This, in light of the facts that he lied on two occasions to the FBI, and oh by the way, was fired for lying to Mike Pence.  These were only the lesser charges they pursued. 

They had evidence he was involved in a plot to kidnap a Turkish Cleric that was to be rendered to Turkey.  He was also acting for and receiving payments from Turkey as an unregistered foreign agent.  They dropped these charges, even though they had more than sufficient evidence.  They then concentrated on the lies to the FBI.  It’s like we have two separate legal systems one for Trump’s friends and co-conspirators and enablers that get in trouble and one for everyone else. 

There is a good reason for Trump in dropping the charges now, even though he pled guilty.  It’s all about the optics and the laser show this creates.  Everyone knows he has been aiming for an excuse to let Michael Flynn off since he was convicted.  Trump had choices. He could have waited and pardoned him after his sentence, but would this look good months before an election?  So he chose to have his appointed justice department minion (a Barr protégé and confidant) sign off, requesting the case be dropped. This action is another example of potentially having another rationale.  If Flynn were pardoned, he would have no immunity to testifying against Trump, and if he were questioned about it, he could not plead the 5^Th.  I believe that while Trump is president, he will not pardon anyone implicated in a crime, which the president could be implicated due to their lack of 5^th amendment protection.

There are over 100 potential candidates for a vaccine.  Will the President intervene and make demands to favor cronies and lean toward contributors and cronies, in lieu of most effective, and of course not in the best interest of you and I.  After all, his re-organization of the task force is meant to now include the political and economic advisors, to lie about the economy and the thrust of the economic engine spurting out trillions in deficits, only to buoy the stock market and having nothing to do with the GNP and employment, which are the real measures of the health of the economy.  I said in a previous rant in January that the stock market, due to its ability to be manipulated, is not a measure of the economy, although Trump thinks it is, only because its optically appealing.  I have a feeling the above story about Flynn was to cover for the Maduro fiasco, I discussed previously. Blinded by the light.  The laser light show is rather blinding.

CDC AND YOU

Stepping all over themselves after claiming their guidelines for opening, published last month, were science based and reasonable due to the nature of the virus.  The medical professionals all agreed to the impact the virus would have as a result of prematurely opening and skipping over milestones.  A Harvard study just released, shows none of the states met the previous science and medical based guidelines.  Thus the increase in projected deaths. 

So what does the administration do, of course they want the CDC to revise the guidelines since they are so late on testing.  They are de-emphasizing testing for opening which makes no sense.  What does the CDC stand for in a national pandemic.  After all, control is in it’s name and the pandemic is a disease, and they should be the center for a coordinated national response and should be the ones giving national guidance for implementation and prevention.  As a side note, even with the new guidelines, will the recommend guidelines still state, “if exposed, self-isolate for 14 days”?   It is now known that a valet who brings the Presidents meals, has tested positive for the virus and Trump does not wear a mask.  One can only pray for the valet.  Just more of the clown laser show. 

It is clear the CDC had readied for publication last week, a 17-page document that outlined the necessary precautions for opening religious services, eating establishments and other currently closed establishments.  This document was crushed, and employees at the CDC were told it would not see the light of day.  These medical experts that approved the document, were overridden for political and economic reasons during a pandemic that has killed thousands and this document could save lives. Was it just inconvenient for the president’s rhetoric, in opening the economy?  Or is it so he can shed any responsibility for the potential outcome in prematurely re-opening the economy?  It’s “look over there! The states are responsible! Don’t look at me!”  In trump’s mind it’s, “I, like Pontius Pilot, have washed my hands of the response”.

USPS REVISITED

The postal service is the only government organization mentioned in Article 1 of the constitution, making it the oldest government run institution.  The “get even at any cost” approach is, again being implemented by the man-child president, still reeling at Jeff Bezos for the honest treatment in the Washington Post. 

So what does this thin skin leader want to do? Punish Bezos, by creating a false narrative that the Post Office is going broke because Amazon (owned by Bezos) is getting breaks in their rates.  The truth is Amazon handles ½ of all deliveries and using UPS, FedEx, or DHL and an increase in rates, would be counter-productive and due to competition, would hasten the demise of USPS.

What else does the pre-school baby in chief do? He installs the chairman of the Republican National Committee and single largest contributor to his campaign, Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General, in an election year.  This is the first Postmaster General that has not been promoted from within the ranks and of course, it’s someone with no experience. Trump’s stated objective is to raise fees on Amazon.  What could go wrong with mail in ballots and pressures to increase rates, so states may not be able financially to offer mail in?  Trump and the Republican party have always sought to privatize and make the USPS “for profit” and this takes it one step closer.  The only problem is the constitution; however this does not seem to be a limitation for his vindictive self-serving actions.  The post office is the largest single employer outside of military service.  The problem is, it’s a stupid requirement to fund a new employee’s pension on the first day of employment, which no other department must do.

NEWS

In other news, the unemployment rate hit 14.7% measured through mid-April and since then, an additional 10 million Americans are unemployed.  If my math is correct, the actual current rate should be close to 20%. 

Trump has declared this a war and we are all warriors, in this fight with the pandemic.  I know that a war is always best fought alongside allies with strength in numbers and the sharing of intelligence is critical for winning.  There is only one thing worse than fighting with your allies, its fighting alone, which this president chooses to do as an isolationist during a time when the world should come together to fight this global scourge.