Skip navigation

Category Archives: Information

No generation ever feels empowered, why?


Engagement is empowerment! In order to feel empowered is to dig through the obvious trash and look back a bit at what has occurred. Each administration benefits from the work of the previous one (sometimes). When the time to elect a Head of state arrives look at history and understand what was done and the effect it has now. All work done is not grandiose, fully 90% is done by routine daily work. Sensationalism is to benefit the larger public many of whom want instant action, but Government does not work that fast sine what they do affects millions not just a few. Following the crowd is not the way to change government, voting with intelligence is!

The Real Trump Years



Worse than inflation: Let’s remember Trump’s real record in office

Anyone who looks back on the Trump years as a golden time when things were so much better isn’t remembering reality

By HEATHER DIGBY PARTON

Columnist

PUBLISHED JUNE 7, 2024 9:48AM (EDT)

Public opinion polls about the current presidential race are mystifying in a lot of ways. How can it be that the twice impeached, convicted felon Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party again? As inexplicable as it is to many of us, I think after eight years we have to accept that almost half the country is beguiled by the man while the other half looks on in abject horror and carry on from there. But as much as we may be dismayed by this adoration and fealty to Trump the man, it’s still maddening that so many voters — including even Democrats — insist that everything was so much better when Donald Trump was president. I can’t believe that people have forgotten what it was really like. By almost any measure it was an epic sh**show. 

One obvious explanation is that Trump lies relentlessly about his record. So after a while people start to believe him. According to Trump, we had unprecedented prosperity, the greatest foreign policy, the safest, the cleanest, the most peaceful world in human history and it immediately turned into a toxic dystopia upon his departure from the White House. 

What people think they miss about the Trump years was the allegedly great pre-pandemic economy and the world peace that he brought through the sheer force of his magnetic personality.

The reality, of course, was far different.

From the day after the election, Trump’s presidential tenure was a non-stop scandal. Even in the early days of the transition, there were substantial and well-founded charges of corruption, nepotism and collusion with foreign adversaries. There was the early firing of Trump’s national security advisor, the subsequent firing of the FBI director and eventually the appointment of a special counsel. He did manage to set a record while in the White House: the highest number of staff and cabinet turnovers in history, 85%. Some were forced out due to their unscrupulous behavior, others quit or were fired after they refused to carry out unethical or illegal orders ordered by the president. This continued throughout the term until the very last days of his presidency when a handful of Cabinet members, including the attorney general, resigned over Trump’s Big Lie and refusal to accept his loss. 

Yes, those were really good times. Let’s sign on for another four years of chaos, corruption and criminality.

Don’t let MAGA theatrics fool you: Donald Trump’s 34 felony convictions are not helping him

But, let’s face facts. What people think they miss about the Trump years was the allegedly great pre-pandemic economy and the world peace that he brought through the sheer force of his magnetic personality. None of that is remotely true. The Trump economy was the tail end of the longest expansion in history begun under President Barack Obama and the low interest rates that went with it. Nothing Trump did added to it and he never lived up to even his own hype:

Trump assured the public in 2017 that the U.S. economy with his tax cuts would grow at “3%,” but he added, “I think it could go to 4, 5, and maybe even 6%, ultimately.”If the 2020 pandemic is excluded, growth after inflation averaged 2.67% under Trump, according to figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Include the pandemic-induced recession and that average drops to an anemic 1.45%. By contrast, growth during the second term of then-President Barack Obama averaged 2.33%. So far under Biden, annual growth is averaging 3.4%.

Inflation started its rise at the beginning of the pandemic (Trump’s last year) and continued to rise sharply in the first year of the Biden administration before it started to come back down. The reasons are complex but the fact that it was lower under Trump is simply a matter of timing. Trump’s economy was good but it wasn’t great even before the pandemic. He had higher unemployment than we have now, he blew out the deficit with his tax cuts and his tariffs accomplished zilch. Sure, the stock market was roaring but it’s even higher now.

Unlike Trump, who simply rode an already good economy, Biden started out with the massive crisis Trump left him and managed to dig out from under it in record time. No other country in the world has recovered as quickly and had Trump won re-election there’s little evidence in his record that he could have done the same. All he knows is tariffs and and tax cuts and he’s promising more of the same. 

On the world stage, he was a disaster. From his ill-treatment of allies to his sucking up to dictators from Kim Jong Un to Vladimir Putin, everything Trump did internationally was wrong. He was impeached for blackmailing the leader of Ukraine to get him dirt on Joe Biden, for goodness sakes! Does that sound like a sound foreign policy decision? The reverberations of his ignorant posturing will be felt for a generation even if he doesn’t win another term.

And despite the alleged peacenik’s boast that he never had a war while he was president, it’s actually a lie. The US had troops in Afghanistan fighting throughout his entire term despite his promise to withdraw and there was a very ugly drone war carried out throughout his term. Trump bombed Syria and assassinated Iranian leaders and did all the things American presidents had been doing ever since 9/11. His only answer today to the vexing problems that are confronting Biden in Ukraine and Israel is to fatuously declare “it never would have happened” if he were president. On Gaza, Trump’s solution is “finish the problem” and I don’t think there’s any question about what he means by that. 

Trump’s labor record was abominable, his assaults on civil rights and civil liberties were horrific and he did nothing positive on health care. There was the Muslim ban, family separations, the grotesque response to the George Floyd protests and the rollback of hundreds of environmental regulations. And then there was January 6.

Trump, who called himself the greatest jobs president in history, was the first president since Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression to depart office with fewer jobs in the country than when he entered. He can say that doesn’t count because of the pandemic but so much of that was his fault that it actually is. It was his crucible and he failed miserably.

His administration had disbanded the pandemic office and failed to replenish the stockpiles of medical supplies so we already started out ill-prepared. He denied the crisis at first, and we learned from Bob Woodward’s interview that he knew very well how deadly it was, he lied, he put his son-in-law and some college buddies in charge of logistics. He pushed snake oil cures and disparaged common sense public health measures because they threatened his desire for a quick economic revival despite the fact that Americans were dropping dead by the thousands every single day. And, as always, he blamed everyone else for his problems. COVID killed far more Americans than other peer nations and it was due to Trump’s failed leadership. 

For all these reasons, anyone who looks back on the Trump years as a golden time when everything was so much better isn’t remembering the reality of those four awful years. There are worse things in life than inflation. 

By HEATHER DIGBY PARTON

Heather Digby Parton, also known as “Digby,” is a contributing writer to Salon. She was the winner of the 2014 Hillman Prize for Opinion and Analysis Journalism.


Don’t let MAGA theatrics fool you: Donald Trump’s 34 felony convictions are not helping him

Story by Amanda Marcotte

 • 3h • 6 min read

Many people mistake cynicism for savviness. So, of course, it took no time at all for some political pundits to rush forward to declare that Donald Trump’s historic 34 felony convictions would somehow “help” him. Republicans rushed to beat their chests and made loud threats that Democrats will rue these convictions, even though it was 12 randomly selected jurors in Manhattan, and not the Democratic Party, that convicted Trump. He falsely claimed that his “poll numbers have gone up substantially” since the verdict. (So far, it hasn’t moved the polls much, though it seems to have made some voters more hesitant to support Trump.) The campaign claimed a $53 million fundraising haul in the aftermath of the verdict, though this should be taken with a grain of salt, as they lie constantly. And, of course, Republicans ran towards every microphone is sight to feign outrage and declare that an upswell of once-skeptical Americans would now vote for Trump. Who knew there was a massive constituency of voters outraged that New York would enforce its laws against criminal conspiracies to defraud the public? 

Alas, the GOP theatrics appear to have scared some folks.

Failed presidential candidate Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., called on Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., to “pardon” Trump, claiming failure to do so is “[m]aking him a martyr” and “energizing his base.” Future failed presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — pretending still not to be on the right — insisted this will “backfire” on Democrats. (It cannot be stated enough that the Democratic Party did not convict Trump, a jury did.) But even some well-meaning liberals had a nearly superstitious reaction to the celebrations, worried that somehow Trump would find a way to turn this to his advantage. 

I don’t want to jinx things, but it seems highly unlikely that Trump will benefit from having “convicted felon” replace “former president” as his most recent title. It doesn’t mean Trump’s presidential bid is doomed, as the polls remain alarmingly tight. But the notion that Trump is going to find some fresh wellspring of support because he’s been proved a grubby little criminal by a jury of his peers? I’m not buying it. 

Related video: How Trump’s deny-everything strategy could hurt him at sentencing (The Associated Press)

he was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records

Loaded: 19.85%

Play

Current Time 0:04

/

Duration 2:00

Quality Settings

Captions

Fullscreen

The Associated Press

How Trump’s deny-everything strategy could hurt him at sentencing

Unmute

0

View on Watch

Even Jonathan Chait of New York magazine, who tends to be the voice of the Democratic skittishness, had to admit that the MAGA hollering over the Trump conviction has failed to intimidate. He points out that Republicans are always claiming Democrats are forcing them to support an odious policy or candidate. Even 24 years ago, Republicans argued they had no choice but to vote for George W. Bush because Bill Clinton lied about an extramarital affair. Now, of course, they are “forced” to vote for Trump, which they definitely weren’t going to do before, in defense of candidates breaking the law to cover up sexual misdeeds. “Next thing you know, Trump is going to be so angry about his conviction that he will resort to attempting to overturn an election result,” Chait joked. It’s ironic because Chait was one of the loudest quisling voices freaking out over hypothetical backlash when District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Trump on these charges in April 2023. So that even he’s not scared of Republican threats says a lot.

But ultimately, it comes down to this: If getting convicted of crimes is so goshdarned awesome for Trump, then why are his allies doing everything in their power to delay Trump’s other criminal trials? If a guilty verdict is such a boon to Trump, you’d think the six corrupt Republicans on the Supreme Court would be eager for the January 6 trial, instead of dragging their feet on releasing a decision on presidential immunity that will likely push the trial until after the election. If Judge Aileen Cannon believed a conviction would boost the man who appointed her to the federal bench, you can bet the classified documents trial would have happened already. Instead, she’s indefinitely delayed it. If felonies give Trump such an edge in the polls, Republicans in Georgia would be rushing forward with the RICO case there, instead of filing frivolous motions against District Attorney Fani Willis to keep the case from trial. 

Certainly, the post-conviction Reuters poll showed 35% of Republican voters saying the verdict makes them more likely to vote for Trump, but that’s a number roughly no one is taking seriously. Those are quite obviously people whose political motives are defined entirely by resentment of liberals and feelings of entitlement, i.e. folks who were going to vote for Trump anyway. What’s more interesting is the 10% of Republicans who say they are less likely to vote for Trump now. Conservative media has been downplaying these charges for over a year now, so it’s possible many of these voters are only now just realizing these were serious crimes indeed. 

What all this discourse about “the base” is missing is that it’s not just Trump who has a base of supporters to motivate. Trump hasn’t actually risen in the polls. It’s just that President Joe Biden’s support has eroded. It’s not entirely clear why so many people who voted for Biden in 2020 are unhappy. They keep saying “the economy,” even though unemployment is at record lows and inflation has dropped back down to low rates. I agree with Heather “Digby” Parton, however, that the actual reason is the general bad vibes caused by Trump’s continuing presence on the political scene. “For all of Biden’s successes, he couldn’t put an end to the single biggest problem we face,” she writes. Biden, although it’s unfair, is paying the price for our Trump-caused psychological malaise. 

But that’s a reason to hope that Trump’s conviction might actually matter. It’s not a cure-all for the corruption and institutional failure that is wearing people down, to be sure. But it’s energizing to have proof that Trump is not invincible. Especially if Democrats can find the discipline to hammer the words “convicted felon” and “jury of his peers” home through brute repetition. It’s not just about reminding voters what a terrible man Trump is. Those phrases are a promise that the system can work, if people put their minds to it. It might actually help put a little pep in people’s steps, all the way to the polls. 

Certainly, Trump himself is not acting like a man who thinks things are going great for him. His post-conviction appearance at Trump Tower more closely resembled the ravings of an addled person screaming about demons on the subway than a press conference. Over the weekend, he gave an interview to Fox News that appears to have created a lot of headaches for their talented editing staff. 

As many have pointed out, the only way the Trump trial in Manhattan really benefitted him is by keeping him off the campaign trail. Whenever he speaks publicly, the lies and rants are startling, even to people who follow politics closely and are aware that Trump’s already low levels of coherence have fallen through the floor. Beyond just the rabid MAGA base, a lot of Trump’s polling support comes from people who just aren’t paying much attention, and have no idea what Trump is sounding like these days.

The prediction is that once some of these folks hear Trump’s word salad rage dumps, they might rethink their complacent acceptance of a grievance-addicted liar with 34 felony convictions. Certainly, if that theory has any juice, there’s reason to hope they’ll be alarmed, as the guilty verdicts increase the number of truly unhinged statements from Trump. He won’t have the Fox News editing staff around every day to protect him from himself. 

Don’t let MAGA theatrics fool you: Donald Trump’s 34 felony convictions are not helping him


(note embedded video may not play-sorry about that, MA)

Story by Amanda Marcotte

 • 3h • 6 min read

Many people mistake cynicism for savviness. So, of course, it took no time at all for some political pundits to rush forward to declare that Donald Trump’s historic 34 felony convictions would somehow “help” him. Republicans rushed to beat their chests and made loud threats that Democrats will rue these convictions, even though it was 12 randomly selected jurors in Manhattan, and not the Democratic Party, that convicted Trump. He falsely claimed that his “poll numbers have gone up substantially” since the verdict. (So far, it hasn’t moved the polls much, though it seems to have made some voters more hesitant to support Trump.) The campaign claimed a $53 million fundraising haul in the aftermath of the verdict, though this should be taken with a grain of salt, as they lie constantly. And, of course, Republicans ran towards every microphone is sight to feign outrage and declare that an upswell of once-skeptical Americans would now vote for Trump. Who knew there was a massive constituency of voters outraged that New York would enforce its laws against criminal conspiracies to defraud the public? 

Alas, the GOP theatrics appear to have scared some folks.

Failed presidential candidate Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., called on Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., to “pardon” Trump, claiming failure to do so is “[m]aking him a martyr” and “energizing his base.” Future failed presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — pretending still not to be on the right — insisted this will “backfire” on Democrats. (It cannot be stated enough that the Democratic Party did not convict Trump, a jury did.) But even some well-meaning liberals had a nearly superstitious reaction to the celebrations, worried that somehow Trump would find a way to turn this to his advantage. 

I don’t want to jinx things, but it seems highly unlikely that Trump will benefit from having “convicted felon” replace “former president” as his most recent title. It doesn’t mean Trump’s presidential bid is doomed, as the polls remain alarmingly tight. But the notion that Trump is going to find some fresh wellspring of support because he’s been proved a grubby little criminal by a jury of his peers? I’m not buying it. 

Related video: How Trump’s deny-everything strategy could hurt him at sentencing (The Associated Press)

he was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records Loaded: 19.85%

Play

Current Time 0:04

/

Duration 2:00

Quality Settings

Captions

Fullscreen

The Associated Press

How Trump’s deny-everything strategy could hurt him at sentencing

Unmute

0

View on Watch

Even Jonathan Chait of New York magazine, who tends to be the voice of the Democratic skittishness, had to admit that the MAGA hollering over the Trump conviction has failed to intimidate. He points out that Republicans are always claiming Democrats are forcing them to support an odious policy or candidate. Even 24 years ago, Republicans argued they had no choice but to vote for George W. Bush because Bill Clinton lied about an extramarital affair. Now, of course, they are “forced” to vote for Trump, which they definitely weren’t going to do before, in defense of candidates breaking the law to cover up sexual misdeeds. “Next thing you know, Trump is going to be so angry about his conviction that he will resort to attempting to overturn an election result,” Chait joked. It’s ironic because Chait was one of the loudest quisling voices freaking out over hypothetical backlash when District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Trump on these charges in April 2023. So that even he’s not scared of Republican threats says a lot.

But ultimately, it comes down to this: If getting convicted of crimes is so goshdarned awesome for Trump, then why are his allies doing everything in their power to delay Trump’s other criminal trials? If a guilty verdict is such a boon to Trump, you’d think the six corrupt Republicans on the Supreme Court would be eager for the January 6 trial, instead of dragging their feet on releasing a decision on presidential immunity that will likely push the trial until after the election. If Judge Aileen Cannon believed a conviction would boost the man who appointed her to the federal bench, you can bet the classified documents trial would have happened already. Instead, she’s indefinitely delayed it. If felonies give Trump such an edge in the polls, Republicans in Georgia would be rushing forward with the RICO case there, instead of filing frivolous motions against District Attorney Fani Willis to keep the case from trial. 

Certainly, the post-conviction Reuters poll showed 35% of Republican voters saying the verdict makes them more likely to vote for Trump, but that’s a number roughly no one is taking seriously. Those are quite obviously people whose political motives are defined entirely by resentment of liberals and feelings of entitlement, i.e. folks who were going to vote for Trump anyway. What’s more interesting is the 10% of Republicans who say they are less likely to vote for Trump now. Conservative media has been downplaying these charges for over a year now, so it’s possible many of these voters are only now just realizing these were serious crimes indeed. 

What all this discourse about “the base” is missing is that it’s not just Trump who has a base of supporters to motivate. Trump hasn’t actually risen in the polls. It’s just that President Joe Biden’s support has eroded. It’s not entirely clear why so many people who voted for Biden in 2020 are unhappy. They keep saying “the economy,” even though unemployment is at record lows and inflation has dropped back down to low rates. I agree with Heather “Digby” Parton, however, that the actual reason is the general bad vibes caused by Trump’s continuing presence on the political scene. “For all of Biden’s successes, he couldn’t put an end to the single biggest problem we face,” she writes. Biden, although it’s unfair, is paying the price for our Trump-caused psychological malaise. 

But that’s a reason to hope that Trump’s conviction might actually matter. It’s not a cure-all for the corruption and institutional failure that is wearing people down, to be sure. But it’s energizing to have proof that Trump is not invincible. Especially if Democrats can find the discipline to hammer the words “convicted felon” and “jury of his peers” home through brute repetition. It’s not just about reminding voters what a terrible man Trump is. Those phrases are a promise that the system can work, if people put their minds to it. It might actually help put a little pep in people’s steps, all the way to the polls. 

Certainly, Trump himself is not acting like a man who thinks things are going great for him. His post-conviction appearance at Trump Tower more closely resembled the ravings of an addled person screaming about demons on the subway than a press conference. Over the weekend, he gave an interview to Fox News that appears to have created a lot of headaches for their talented editing staff. 

As many have pointed out, the only way the Trump trial in Manhattan really benefitted him is by keeping him off the campaign trail. Whenever he speaks publicly, the lies and rants are startling, even to people who follow politics closely and are aware that Trump’s already low levels of coherence have fallen through the floor. Beyond just the rabid MAGA base, a lot of Trump’s polling support comes from people who just aren’t paying much attention, and have no idea what Trump is sounding like these days.

The prediction is that once some of these folks hear Trump’s word salad rage dumps, they might rethink their complacent acceptance of a grievance-addicted liar with 34 felony convictions. Certainly, if that theory has any juice, there’s reason to hope they’ll be alarmed, as the guilty verdicts increase the number of truly unhinged statements from Trump. He won’t have the Fox News editing staff around every day to protect him from himself. 

Have We Arrived at The “AHA’ moment?


The past number of months in the Presidential campaign has clearly shown that our Democracy is in trouble. We have legislators bent on revenge rather than fulfilling their duty. Some who have no understanding of what it takes to maintain a democracy. The Far-right side of the GOP is busily following the “former guy.” whose sole objective is to sow dissent and disorder. His Presidency is a wide open testament to his petulance and ineptitude. His followers are no more than pawns and have no clear concept of what Governing is. As we approach the national elections, the ongoing trials of DJT keeps surfacing while the topic needs to be a non-issue! The formation of parties and the sub sects of them has created more confusion over the real collective issues we face daily, while fomenting divisions that should not exist or perhaps should not take high priority in Governing. Nationality, Race, ethnicity are not indicative of a person’s qualities but appear to color our everyday. The election of DJT aka, TOTUS, LOTUS, Orange Guy” or whatever you want to name him is a recipe for disaster. This is not about politics as much as it is about who is capable of running the country. The last thing we need is folks like MTG, AOC raging over nothing rather than being serious about governing. We need people who will address the High court’s integrity by perhaps term limits, a code of ethics (that should also apply to Congress as well). This should be the goal, achieving or approaching those goals will allow for the correction needed to truly make America the country everyone thinks we are!

Knee Jerk (and results of)


Observing and listening to the political news from multiple sources, one could be persuaded to avoid voting. Politics is a dirty business and possibly the most disingenuous. Remembering the spelling of poLItics, the 2 middle letters are ” LI”. While this is not the exact spelling of the word the meaning is clear. We have been historically warned about the “negative or misguided” ideas of politicians and some major news figures. Churchill warned about striking a deal with Hitler prior to WWII, Gen. Patton warned about appeasing or allying with Russia after WWII and Gen. Macarthur warned about China after WWII. This is all historic information, yet many have embraced the extreme left and right of center politics that led up to the Several wars experienced since the turn of the century (1900 till now).

The availability of information through mass media gives several views of information that can confuse and befuddle but if we use our common sense and avoid personal (and sometimes erroneous) conceptions of what we have learned, we can elect better people to represent us and hopefully make laws that advantage all of us. There will never be a “perfect” solution to the many issues that we face daily but with reasonable electees and our knowledge of the facts we can potentially rise above the mire we exist in re now.

Postal Deforms?


DeJoy’s USPS reform efforts

USPS is stripping rural America of reliable service without “legitimate justification,” senator says.

MAY 3, 2024 02:10 PM ET

ERIC KATZ

Senior Correspondent

The U.S. Postal Service would face new restrictions in implementing the reforms it says are necessary to save the mailing agency from financial ruin under a bill that adds to the mounting pressure on USPS management. 

The Protecting Access to Rural Carriers for Every Location (PARCEL) Act, introduced by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., would prohibit the consolidation of mail processing operations unless the Postal Service met certain conditions. Under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 10-year Delivering for America plan, USPS is in the midst of consolidating mail sorting away from individual post offices in favor of centralized centers and moving processing operations away from hundreds of cities and towns in favor of 60 mega-centers throughout the country. 

In some cases, such as Tester’s home state of Montana, those changes will move major elements of mail processing out of a state entirely. Several lawmakers have voiced concern with that approach, citing the potential for increased delays as traffic and weather disrupt mail transportation. 

Under the PARCEL Act, USPS would only be able to proceed with its plans to stand up the mega-centers—known as Regional Processing and Delivery Centers—if mail processing remains inside of state boundaries or causes no harm to local mail delivery. USPS would also have to complete a geographical review of its changes, including the impact of moving mail through mountain passes, and receive public input in support of the consolidations. 

Lawmakers from states such as Colorado and Nevada have criticized USPS plans to move mail processing across or out of their states, noting the mountain passes in the new routes would likely cause significant logistical difficulties. 

During a Senate hearing last month, DeJoy defended his plan and said he was committed to seeing it through. He told lawmakers that a return to the previous status quo would mean a continuation of the “financial death spiral” that predated his arrival. DeJoy stressed that he is not closing facilities, but repurposing and investing in them to meet modern needs. He added the Postal Service maintains “a process to analyze the movement of mail” and makes data-based decisions. 

Mail delays have spiked across the country and performance has been particularly poor in areas piloting the new network structure, leading DeJoy to apologize and promise improvements. He added, however, that his efforts will bear fruit if given appropriate time. 

“It’s easy to criticize when you show up at the crime scene and see the damage, but the path there is long and people are working very hard to change minds and hearts in terms of how we perform,” the postmaster general said.

A recent inspector general report found the standing up of a new RPDC in Richmond, Virginia, led to worse service, an uninformed public, decreased employee availability and a spike in late and canceled mail transportation trips.

The changes have caused “additional labor and transportation costs, and it is uncertain if expected savings will be achieved,” the IG said. Previous IG reports have found prior efforts to consolidate facilities led USPS to perform worse while realizing just a tiny fraction of the cost reductions it had anticipated.

The Postal Regulatory Commission said last week that while postal leaders have said the negative impacts are temporary, they have not shown any evidence to support that contention. The watchdog is now seeking increased scrutiny of the agency’s reforms. 

USPS in recent months has faced a long series of letters and calls to explain or adjust its reform plans, including a recent demand from several Senate Democrats that the postal board of governors abandon DeJoy’s changes altogether. Tester’s bill, which the senator introduced as USPS plans to move processing operations from Missoula in his state to Spokane, Washington, marks a new effort to statutorily limit the postmaster general. 

“USPS leadership has failed to listen to the people of Montana time and time again, and it’s time to put a stop to their attack on service in rural America,” Tester said. He added his bill would “bring full operations back to Missoula and ensure that Postmaster DeJoy won’t be able to strip rural America of reliable service without public approval and legitimate justification ever again.”

Steve Bannon’s Refusal to Pay His Bills Is Costing Him Big


Could this be a forecast for Donald Trump?

Jose Pagliery

Thu, March 7, 2024 at 3:31 AM CST·3 min read

161

Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty
  • For two years, Steve Bannon has refused to pay the half-million dollars he owes his former lawyer. Now, his refusal to settle his debts has exposed him and his current attorney to potential sanctions.

“Bannon, with the aid of his counsel, has, for months, done nothing but intentionally stall and delay plaintiff’s enforcement of its valid money judgment,” the law firm that previously represented him wrote to a New York state judge last month, employing an underline to show their heightened frustration.

Bannon, who was once Donald Trump’s White House chief strategist and played an active role in the former president’s Jan. 6 coup attempt, is already trapped in a precarious position. He’s a convict trying to avoid serving his four-month prison sentence for ignoring a congressional subpoena that sought to question him over his role in the MAGA insurrection. And the Manhattan District Attorney is putting him on trial in May for duping nativist donors to “We Build The Wall” who wanted to support a privately built U.S.-Mexico border barrier.

But now he’s making it even worse on himself.

It’s been seven months since a New York state judge ordered the conspiracy-spewing right-wing political agitator to pay the $484,197 he owed the defense lawyer he stiffed, Bob Costello.

Steve Bannon Admits Bank Account May Have Evidence of Fraud

But since then, according to court filings, Bannon has been dodging the ordered judgment and ignoring follow-up subpoenas. That has put the aggrieved New York City law firm of Davidoff Hutcher and Citron in the awkward position of asking the judge to intervene yet again, citing what they called “a last ditch effort concocted by Bannon to game this court.”

In its attempt to get a readout of Bannon’s personal finances and his ability to pay the bill, the law firm tried to question him under oath and sent subpoenas to learn more about his businesses and what’s in his personal bank accounts. Emails show that Bannon’s new lawyer, Harlan Protass, initially agreed in November to schedule a deposition and turn over materials—provided that they first sign a “simple and straightforward” confidentiality agreement.

But as the months went by, nothing happened.

Then, in January, Bannon suddenly put up resistance and claimed he couldn’t possibly answer questions or turn over bank records. Doing so would potentially reveal evidence of fraud that could ruin his attempt to overturn his federal conviction or even bolster the Manhattan DA’s case.

“DHC’s taking of post-judgment discovery from Mr. Bannon poses a significant risk of compromising Mr. Bannon’s Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination,” Protass wrote in court filings.

It was an unwelcome surprise. On Feb. 6, Costello’s law firm told the judge that Protass has been toying with them and engaging in “a feeble attempt at stalling.” Joseph N. Polito, a senior counsel at Costello’s firm, wrote that the excuse “is beyond any and all logic.”

Steve Bannon’s Lawyer Sues Him Over Unpaid Bills

Polito then took the relatively rare and aggressive approach of asking that New York Supreme Court Justice Arlene P. Bluth hit the right-wing influencer and his lawyer each with $10,000 sanctions—the highest allowable fine “for engaging in intentional dilatory litigation tactics.”

“Bannon’s intentional bad faith conduct has left plaintiff with no other choice but to seek civil contempt and sanctions. Without this relief, Bannon will be further emboldened to continue his dilatory tactics that have, and continue to, severely prejudice plaintiff in its efforts to satisfy the substantial money judgment that remains outstanding,” Polito wrote.

But Polito went even further, asking the judge to also tack on the cost he incurred “for having to address Bannon’s frivolity,” an eloquent insult used to describe the hours he’s wasted chasing down the conservative media figure.

Protass did not respond to a request for comment, but he is expected to file a formal reply in court records later this week. Polito did not reply to an email asking about the case.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Get the Daily Beast’s biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now.

Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast’s unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. View comments (161)

Lest We Forget!!!


Factual History Always prevails

The past 8 to 10 years has revealed how badly our government has been run. This less to do with the President than the long serving Congress. Granted that all persons elected to the highest office are not suited to do or even make an attempt at doing the job but many over the years have listened to the counsel of staff members who have expertise in the assorted positions and or the most part enable the “chief Exec” to accomplish their agenda. This country has angry people for a myriad of reasons from the ridiculous to the sublime. Many of those reasons are based on incomplete, inaccurate and slanted information (also called alternate facts). The long serving Congress uses it voting power (when they have) it to further the agenda of the sitting President (when it’s to their advantage) or their deep pocket donors. We now have State executives using the same game plan to further agendas which do not benefit the majority of the American public. The first to feel the negative effects of these agendas are the poor, handicapped and neediest (not to mention a double effect on people of color no matter their origin). History has all of the information we need to remember what can happen in America if we are not well informed. Simply put: Russian pogroms, German (Nazi) death camps, African continental Fascist groups are all past and present indicators of what is happening now and can increase if we are not wary. Currently we have people serving(?) in Federal legislatures and state Legislatures who have no idea what lawmaking is about but managed to con enough voters to gain the office. They have played on the anger of voters (who are largely uninformed) by them and the media. The solution is fairly easy: Voters need to spread their attention around to multiple news sources and remember: Democracy Dies In Darkness—Done In By Ignorance And Apathy.

Can His Racism Be Any More Transparent?


Trump says Black voters relate to criminal prosecutions, prefer the ‘white guy’ to Obama

David Jackson

USA TODAY

COLUMBIA, S.C. − Former president Donald Trump, campaigning in South Carolina Friday, brought the issue of race into the campaign by comparing his legal battles to the injustices Black Americans face in the legal system and saying Black voters would prefer him over his predecessor, “Black president” Barack Obama.

Speaking to an audience of mostly Black Americans, Trump suggested − inaccurately − that he is popular with African American voters. He said his 91 criminal indictments and mug shot were part of the reason.

“A lot of people said that’s why the Black people like me, because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as I’m being discriminated against,” he told an event sponsored by the Black Conservative Federation where about two-thirds of the crowd were Black Americans and one third were white people.

“It’s been pretty amazing but possibly, maybe, there’s something there,” he said of his theory that his criminal woes are something that makes him relatable to Black voters.

At another point, Trump squinted at the crowd and said: “The lights are so bright in my eyes I can’t see too many people out there. But I can only see the Black ones. I can’t see any white ones. That’s how far I’ve come.”

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

In disparaging President Barack Obama over the costs of a new Air Force One, Trump “Would you rather have the Black president or the white president who got $1.7 billion off the price?”

As the crowd cheered that remark, Trump said: “I think they want the white guy.”

A USA TODAY Suffolk poll published on Jan. 1 showed Trump with the support of only a small sliver of Black voters – 12%.

PollingA fraying coalition: Black, Hispanic, young voters abandon Biden as election year begins

His support among Black Americans has not increased and is identical to what he garnered in the 2020 election.

Trump’s primary opponent, Nikki Haley, blasted him over the comments.

“It’s disgusting,” Haley told reporters Saturday. “But that’s what happens when he goes off the teleprompter.”

Former Congressman Cedric Richmond, co-chair of the Biden-Harris 2024 campaign, blasted Trump’s comments.

“Though I may be disgusted, I am not at all surprised that Donald Trump would equate the suffering and injustice of Black people in America to consequences he now faces because of his own actions,” Richmond said, in a statement. “Donald Trump claiming that Black Americans will support him because of his criminal charges is insulting. It’s moronic. And it’s just plain racist.”

Trump’s remarks were defended by Diante Johnson, president of the Black Conservative Federation.” Our community supports the policies of President Donald J. Trump and knows full well that life was better four years ago under his administration,” Johnson said. He said that Black voters will cast their ballots in November “for safer streets, a better financial well-being, a secure border, and a complete rejection of Joe Biden’s disastrous tenure.”