Future of Local Journalism and the Collapse of the Fourth Estate

Disruption (or creative destruction) in an economy can be a great thing and an awful thing simultaneously. When the automobile was introduced, this disrupted the livelihood of thousands of people who sold and serviced horses (horse-breakers and blacksmiths) and wagons (wheelwrights). While they all lost their jobs and businesses, thousands of businesses and jobs were created making cars, paving roads and selling gas. Disruption is inherit in capitalism. Technology is not the only disruptor, but it is the most common. The biggest disruptor in my life has been the introduction of the internet and ecommerce. Almost every industry has been affected: music, education, retail, movies and gyms among others. 

Brick and mortar stores are being killed by Amazon, movie theaters are being killed by Netflix and music stores almost don't exist anymore because you can buy a song instantly on your phone or stream for free. Jobs and careers have really been shuffling for the past decade or two. I have benefited by this as well. I have been able to have a high-tech job and tele-commute to NYC each day while living in my rural home in northern Vermont. This wasn't possible twenty years ago when I moved to VT. 

Of all these disruptions, the one that bothers me the most is what is happening with local newspapers. Local news is expensive. Newspapers have to employ reporters who attend town and city counsel meetings, local events, sporting events, car crashes and fires. This is, of course, in addition to their overhead and the expenses of producing the paper. Traditionally their revenue streams are the selling of advertisement space and classifieds. When I was young, if you were looking for a job or looking for a kitten, you had to pick up the local paper. Now you can go on Craigslist for free. Craigslist devastated the classified revenue for papers, which in turn greatly reduced circulation. When circulation is down, it is harder to sell advertisement. Collapse ensued. 

In 2000, the advertising revenue for newspapers peaked to over $70 billion in the US. In 2018, it had dropped to under $15 billion which is lower than the 1950's. As of 2019, 65 million Americans live in a county with one or zero local news sources. How do citizens stay informed if there is no local news source? How can they vote confidently? How do they find out about businesses that is polluting their water or a politician that is stealing from them? They don't. Meanwhile, your local clueless jackoff has a YouTube channel, he's "telling it like it is" and giving it out for free. People are not just uninformed, they are misinformed. 

Some papers are hanging in there with a digital presence, but digital advertising revenue is still very low. There is also an increase of digital subscription in the past few years. Four in ten people under the age of 35 have at least one digital subscription. Young people are figuring out that paying for media means you get better information. Regardless, the outlook for local news to remain local is not good. When is a local paper not local? 

Since its founding in 1906, Gannett has been going around buying up small newspapers and other media markets. In addition to owning US Today, they currently own 260 daily local newspapers and about 300 national papers. These including The Providence Journal, The Cincinnati Enquirer, Detroit Free Press, Indianapolis Star, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, El Paso Times etc.  They own media in 47 states and Guam. This is a lot of power. Gannet is not immune to circulation problems. They are losing circulation even higher than non-Gannett papers. Here in VT, our "local" Gannett paper, The Burlington Free Press, circulation is down more than 36% since 2017. How long can they can survive with numbers like that? 

The Void: In capitalistic societies, the voids left by failing industries and businesses are often filled quickly but not always in desirable ways. The New York Times this week ran an article about how pay-to-play organizations are filling this void. Political and/or corporate PR groups are paying free lance reporters to write articles supporting their agendas. That agenda could be to promote their business or attack their opponents in an election. These articles are then sold to less than credible "news" papers and not labelled as advertisements, which they should be (according to the Federal Trade Commission). Here is a list of them organized by state. You may recognize some of them. Perhaps you get one of them free in the mail or perhaps, you pick one up outside your local market. They look legit because they might have a real article about your local high school soccer team or a local fire, but they are not. In 2010, there were five of these. Now there are over 1200. Something you should always remember, when you get something for free, it is not the commodity, you are. You are being manipulated into voting for someone or buying a product.  It is not journalism that you are reading but an advertisement. 

On a more positive note, David Plotz, one of my favorite podcast journalists, has created a new venture called City Cast. Print may be dead or dying, but podcasting is thriving. He is trying to create a network of local podcasts in cities around the country where the void is at its worst. I listen to podcasts all day at work. When I jump in my car, I put them on. We listen in bed. If there was a local podcast that I liked, about my town or larger local towns, I'd be listening. I feel so clueless about local news and politics. He is trying to get this going, guess what? ... he's hiring.  Contact him if you are interested. I contacted David on Twitter to find what towns they are going to start with and I haven't heard back yet. I assume medium size cities like Portland or Cincinnati. Regardless, I am excited about this. Hopefully it is coming to your town soon. 

The Longterm Social Effects of this Crisis

The greatest long term effect of the Spanish Flu pandemic in the early 20th century was its effect on World War I. It hit Germany and Austria before it hit France and England giving the Allies early advantages and the Allies eventually won the war. This flu is often considered the "forgotten" pandemic because there was so much else going on in the world at the time, not just a World War but other major illnesses also hit the world around the same time: yellow fever, diphtheria, cholera and typhoid.  History classes often overlook the diseases of this era because of the war. The Spanish Flu lasted 36 months and killed 50 million people. We all hope this pandemic won't be as devastating. At the writing of this sentence, the world is at three million and counting.

The long term effects I am talking about in this post are the social ones. The Spanish Flu left people with a lingering lack of trust in strangers. Strangers carry disease. This lead to isolationism and xenophobia giving way to fascists like Hitler, Mussolini and Franco. Of course, there were other factors, like a horrendous war, but the flu contributed to it. Anti-Semites have long linked Jews to the plague. Hitler famously referred to them as "racial tuberculosis" in "German lungs."  Such vile terms were more effective with the memory of the Spanish Flu fresh in their memory. .

It is impossible from this vantage point to predict the long term effects of COVID-19 on our society. Most lasting societal changes usually come as a surprise. Henry Ford had no idea that the mass production of cars would lead to more teenage pregnancies and air pollution. Did the flood of boys without fathers after World War II bring us rock and roll?  Did Roe v. Wade help bring us low crime rates decades later due to the lack of unwanted children? These are thought experiments. Let's do it, a COVID-19 version.

Celebrity: Celebrities have been showing us who they really are in this crisis. Maybe we'll finally stop making otherwise stupid, careless and mega-privileged people famous. Maybe we'll be more selective on who gets to be famous or perhaps put them on a lower pedestal. Of course not all celebrities are so bad. The smart ones know how to control themselves and shut up. You notice that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt haven't stuck their feet in their mouths, but the hyper-narcissists and morons surely are.

• Ellen DeGeneres (aka Queen of Nice) compared her quarantine to being in a prison while she lives in a beachfront palatial mansion 
• Evangeline Lily urged people to ignore social distancing rules and isolation using terms like "Marshall Law" on Instagram which she obviously doesn't understand nor know how to spell. 
• Actress Jaimie King released a video thanking the virus 
• Gwyneth Paltrow is tweeting about what the best dildo to use during isolation, selling them as well. Some poor warehouse worker is risking his/her life to get someone a dildo. 
• Sam Smith tweeted the stages of his meltdown while he had to deal with isolation in his $15 million London mansion
• NBA player Ruby Gobert touched a bunch of mics at a media event as a joke. A few days later, he tested positive.
• Gisele Bundchen posted a picture of herself in front of a tropical waterfall meditating.
• High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens suggested that people dying is "like, inevitable."
• Bette Middler is figuring out what her appliances do, no joke.

While many of their fans are living in tiny apartments, some of them under duress ... we get a crash course in how crudely unequal our society is. Our doctors, who keep us alive, don't live this way. Entertainers do. Will income inequality become an even bigger issue after this crisis?

Entertainment: When next year's television shows roll out, will they be including the pandemic in their story lines?  Do we want them to? Do you prefer them to have more of an escapist quality? Will we get to see the family on "This Is Us" in social isolation ... where will the plot line come from. We get to watch them binge watch other shows and argue ... not so fun.

Concert venues will be devastated by this crisis.Our days of hanging shoulder to shoulder in the dark listening to our favorite bands jam may be a thing of the past. They will be the last businesses to be allowed to open and for all we know, may not be allowed to fill them in like they used to.  This means that entry and/or beer will be more expensive ... I cried a little bit while writing this.

Environmental: Quarantine is only a few weeks old and already we see the environment recovering. Factories are idle, planes are grounded and commuters are staying home. We have cut carbon emissions worldwide by 8% and energy use is down in some places by 25% of last year. Some cities are reporting seeing constellations for the first time in decades. With the city streets desolate, wild life is returning to some areas that haven't seen them in decades. We will return to our old ways soon enough but this quick recovery might really inspire people to change. Stay home, use less, use mass transit, telecommute ... these are easy to do for some of us. We might just get into the habit.

Cities around the world have closed more than 1,000 miles of streets to cars for the use of bicycles. How much of that is going to be permanent? Seattle has already announced that 20 miles of their new bike only roads will be permanent. If the locals like it, it will stay. So if this is happening in your area. Contact a politician to keep it. They are probably desperate to find ways to make citizens happy right now.

Hate: Hate crimes are already a lot higher for anyone that looks Chinese. Trump hasn't helped with this. "Go back to China," "Kung Flu" and "Wu Flu" are all things being said to and about people from Far East origins. Hate will only subside until we get rid of the creep in the White House, but it will never go away permanently. The protests in Michigan and other states have been organized by white supremacy groups. Many of the people showing up don't even know this. I hope this is all temporary, but isolation breeds contempt and xenophobic (the evil twin of isolationism) is not far behind. I fear these people will get more powerful the longer this quarantine lasts. Here is a list from the Anti-Defamation League of anti-Asian incidents in America since this crisis began.

Sporting Events: Maybe we'll have standing ovations for doctors, scientists and other essential workers during our sporting events rather than for the military. Instead of players wearing khaki to honor the troops, maybe they will wear smocks to honor the real heroes, and not those who make invasions possible. We live in a violent nation, with a violent past. It would be nice, if our priorities could finally change.

Parades: Maybe our parades will celebrate these essential workers as well.

The Work Place: A lot of mangers are going to realize after this is over that remote employees are quite productive. I have been doing it for twelve years now and it has its distractions but compared to the distractions of being in the office, it is nothing. No one is coming into my office to talk about the game or the weather, and I have no commuter traffic to stress me out.  Telecommuting is the way to go. Those who can do it, will. Office spaces will become like empty warehouses, and food delivery, during work hours, will spike to new heights. This is not going away.

Teachers: The only real distractions, for a lot of us, these days is that kids are at home. Will there be more respect for our teachers now that many parents had to teach their own kids and they getting first hand knowledge how difficult their angels really are to teach? or how difficult teaching actually really is? I'm guessing that the snow day will no longer exist now that we know teaching can happen remotely. Teachers should have a national strike in the Fall, demanding more pay.  We'd all freak to think that we'd have to have our kids home anymore after this Spring and cave immediately. 

Essential Workers: Will people have more respect for essential workers? I am not talking about me, someone who supports a hospital's software system. But those who bring us food, stack shelves, drive trucks and buses. They are not staying home and they are keeping us alive. I am guessing once this is over, we will go back to paying them badly and not providing them health care. That's the America I know. Hopefully, I am wrong. But with scum like Trump and his loyalty cult in charge, I don't see how change for the essential worker could be possible. Can you imagine how bad it would be without Obamacare (aka the ACA)? And yet, Trump is still busy trying to repeal it. I'm guessing (and hoping) that Medicare For All will get a big boost from this crisis, but I have been very wrong about this type of thing in the past. I did predict a landslide victory for President Gore.

Trade: Isolation will raise its ugly head again. I am expecting that domestic manufacturing will make a comeback. We still have factories in the US now, but not like in the past. I expect factories, mostly with robotic workers, will increase. Buying American will give people a sense of security and consumers will pay more for that feeling ... but not a lot more.This come back will be short.lived. Businesses will find new and creative ways to trick people that something is made domestically and eventually, they will forget all about this.

The Economy - What industry will recover? Will people go to gyms anymore now that they know how easy it is to do the trainer thing on-line. I want to know how my favorite restaurants are going to survive this. Restaurants have such a thin profit margin. How could they possibly survive this? I have a friend who is a contractor who did two hours of work in April, doing a training on Zoom. The state of Vermont used that as a reason to reject him for a small business grant. You think quarantine has been crazy, the recovery is going to be completely nuts.

After the Spanish Flu, if you had the flu and survived, this gave you economic benefits over others who had not. At this point, we don't know if having COVID-19 makes you immune. If this does end up being true for COVID-19, I could imagine that anyone that works with the public would have the advantage in a pre-vaccine economy.

Privacy: Those in charge know that when we are in crisis, we are more likely to accept power grabs... think of the Patriot Act after 9/11. Some authoritarian countries are using this crisis as justification to monitor their citizens. I can imagine this will get worst before it gets better. Expect more invasion of your privacy. It will be justified under the moniker of public health.

New Cold War: Will this crisis spark a new Cold War with China. Should they pay for their negligence in the matter of the spreading of the virus and the lack of openness? As soon as healthcare workers started getting sick, they should have told the world about it. There was a three week period that we could have stopped this pandemic or at least saved many lives. Perhaps they should reimburse the world, but they won't so why push it? It also sets an awful precedence, especially with the recent discovery that the Spanish Flu started in Kansas. If we push this, they may just close their doors to the world. You think a world where is China is open is a bad thing, wait until they shut their borders!

Politics: Maybe we'll stop electing politicians who are ignorant of science. Germany elected a Chancellor that has a PHD in Chemistry who wrote her thesis on quantum chemistry ... the US elected a President who doesn't understand and rejects evolution. Guess which country has been better prepared for this crisis?  Perhaps the Republican Party's war on science will finally come to an end.

Trump missed a golden opportunity. Great presidents emerge in the midst of great crises. FDR with World War II and The Depression, Lincoln in the Civil War ... we remember them as great leaders for taking us forward. We barely remember Hoover and Buchanan ... because they faltered. This disease's second wave will be hitting us badly right around the time of the presidential election. Hopefully, people will remember Trump's disastrous performance and lack of leader while they go into the polls. 

The countries doing the best during this crisis are the countries with the strong safety nets: Germany, South Korea and Taiwan. The countries with libertarian bents, the US and the UK, are fairing badly. Will we learn from this lesson? COVID-19 is the first truly global event in human history. Perhaps it will make the world closer.  It is hard to be believe when yahoos with guns are storming statehouses.But maybe this crisis will just scare enough people to move us along on this matter. Government can be a good thing with the right people in charge.

Hindsight 2020: July 2019 edition

It is easy to say that a lot of these candidates should drop out if they are still only at 1 or 2% in polls at this point in the race, but it is still early. In 1991, Paul Tsongas wasn't even at 1% at this point and he went on to win New Hampshire and won five of the first 15 primaries/caucuses. He ended up losing to Bill Clinton who was also polling below 2% at this point in 1991. Jimmy Carter was only at .75% at this point in 1975. I realize we live in a very different era now, but a long shot still has a chance at this point. I am not predicting a surge for Michael Bennet or Tim Ryan, but I am not ruling anything out either.

On all the polling I see, five candidates stand out: Biden, Sanders, Harris, Warren and Buttigieg. Biden is always first and sometimes with a double digit lead. Polling is imperfect and it is still early. Most Americans don't pay as close attention to this as I do. Most voters pay attention to the election like I do the Super Bowl. The day before the game, I ask who's playing. Those of us paying attention pick the candidate for the rest of them. We need to pick someone who can beat Trump.

I found the debates very interesting and entertaining. I hate having raise-your-hand type of questions in a debate but with this many candidates on the stage, I can't see how we could avoid it. These debates were much better than usual. Some real discussions, disagreements and arguments happened. We can argue policy all we want, but no one is going to beat Trump because of great policies. That might serve them well in the primary but not in the general. If voters voted based on who had the best policies, Hillary Clinton and Al Gore would have won in landslides. Voting is more primal and emotional.

I thought Castro, Sanders, Warren, Harris, Delaney, Booker, Buttigieg, Swalwell and Hickenlooper, all did well at the debates. O'Rourke, Biden and Gabbard, not so. Both Harris and Warren are surging since, Biden, Sanders and Buttigieg are falling.

I am torn because I like what some of the people on the left have to say. Warren and Sanders appeal to my sense of wanting to tear the whole shit house down and rebuild from ground up. But it is this very thing that is going to scare the heck out of the moderate voters in the general election. If it is Warren/Sanders against Trump in the general election, the moderates will have no place to go again. They will split their votes or vote third party or just not show up ... just like they did in 2016. This is why I am drawn to a moderate like Joe Biden who is ahead in the polls right now. I have no love for Joe Biden. I think he, like all of these candidates, is flawed. But in the general election, if the moderates have a choice between Biden and Trump, they will flock to Joe. In 2016, a ton of Obama voters voted for Trump. Was this because they loved Trump? Of course not. It was because they hated the alternative, Hillary. We need an alternative that is at least palatable to the moderate. Trump will try to make Biden seem as unlikable as Hillary in the next few months, but I don't think he'll succeed. I know some Republicans that hate Trump as well. Some of them even voted for Hillary but most did not. Most of them will NOT vote for Sanders or Warren but they would for Biden, Klobuchar, Hickenlooper or Delaney. The goal here is to defeat Trump. Remember: Perfection is the enemy of progress. If you are waiting for the perfect candidate to vote for, you could be waiting a very long time.

Trump has a steady base of support but after that, his support is slim. We need to go after these slim supporters. To do this, Democrats need stop talking about the minimum wage. The people that are hurting the most now are people that used to have $30 to $40 an hour manufacturing or mining jobs. A $15.00 minimum wage just makes them shutter. Democrats used to do well with this crowd. How do you attract them without lying to them? Be honest and tell them that their old jobs aren't coming back. Tell them about the new jobs they will get in the Green Economy. Trump attracts them by lying to them and demonizing immigrants. The higher ground of the truth is a winner here.

Announcing:
Joe Sestak is a Congressman from Pennsylvania. He is ex-Navy and a Persia Gulf War vet. I am sure he is a great guy but we don't need anymore candidates.

Our Field:
Joe Biden rolled out a climate change plan much of it may be plagiarized.

Pete Buttigieg said he wants to depoliticize the Supreme Court by expanding it to 15 judges, 5 Dems, 5 Reps and 5 chosen by a bi-partisan group. He is having difficulty on the home front with a police shooting in South Bend. His honesty about it, during the debate, was refreshing.

Julian Castro announced a policy on policing. He wants federal oversight, standards and demilitarization. He held a town hall on Fox News. He says he supports a Marshall Plan to address problems in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

Bernie Sanders wrote an Op Ed in the New York Times about his financial struggles and income inequality. He announced a bill in the Senate that would cancel all student loan debt. This would really work for me if it were retroactive.

Cory Booker released his housing plan that includes tax breaks for renters.

Steve Bullock wrote an Op Ed for the Des Moines Register about defeating Citizens United.

Eric Swalwell appeared on The View. He released his gun control plan.

Elizabeth Warren introduced her Green Energy Economy Plan. She appeared on The Ezra Klein Show podcast. She also announced another plan, this one to eliminate private prisons. 

Andrew Yang was on Real Time with Bill Maher and the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Amy Klobuchar was on Face the Nation. She has stated that she plans to give mental health a top priority. 

John Delaney was on The View. It is too bad he is not polling higher. I think he would make a fine President. He is the only candidate to admit that he supports the Trans Pacific Partnership. 

Kamala Harris released an immigration plan. She was on Face the Nation.

John Hickenlooper released his climate change plan. He supports the Green New Deal but not the job guarantee component. He also wants to give all people who are here illegally, a 10 year visa.

Tim Ryan was on the Daily Show with Trevor Noah and Morning Joe.

Michael Bennet was profiled by Yahoo! Finance focusing on his health care plan. He also introduced (along with some other Senators) the Hunger-Free Summer for Kids Act of 2019 which attempts flexibility in providing for hungry children.

Tulsi Gabbard was on Real Time with Bill Maher. She had made it clear, ending wasteful wars is her top priority. She is a combat veteran and brings this experience to the job.

Jay Inslee announced his fourth climate change plan, the Freedom from Fossil Fuels Plan. 

Power Rankings:

We have 25 candidates. If I had to rank the Democrats in order of my personal preference, I would do so in the following manner: 

Warren

Biden

Buttigieg

Booker

Sanders

Inslee

Klobuchar

Swalwell

Harris

Delaney

Hickenlooper

Castro

O'Rourke

Gabbard

de Blasio

Ryan

Bennet

Bullock

Moulton

Messam

Yang

Sestak

(I probably won't vote if the people below get the nomination)

Gillibrand

Gravel

Williamson

I expect this to change.

Hindsight 2020 - May 2019 Edition

Can we agree, you and I, that whomever gets the Democratic nomination, will have our support? We will not support a third party candidate whether they are a Green, Libertarian or Independent. The goal is to not have Trump as the president. Whoever wins the Democratic nomination will not be perfect. They will have something in their past that we don't like. They will have a stance that we disagree with.  We know this. The key thing we have to keep reminding ourselves is that on their worst day, they are still better than Trump on his best day. In the 2000 election in Florida, George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by 537 votes. Nader received 97,421 votes in Florida (and Pat Buchanan and Harry Browne received 17,484 and 16,415 respectively), which led to claims that Nader was responsible for Gore's defeat. Same thing happened in 2016 in state like Michigan, Ohio and Penn. If you are in a solidly blue state like California or Vermont, vote third party all you want. But if you are in a red or purple state (a swing state), you better go with the Democrat. If you don't, then you are voting for Trump by not voting for his only viable opponent ... plain and simple.

The books are closed on fundraising in the first quarter of the year. Trump leads the pack with over $30 million in his coffers.  Sanders, Warren and Harris have $20.7 million, $16.5 milli0n and $13.2 million, respectively. Don't dismay. This makes sense. The Democrats have a very competitive primary while Trump is an incumbent. Once the Dems are down to one candidate, there are many people like me, who will then donate. We have 22 candidates fighting for the same pool of money right now.

All but five candidates have qualified for the first Democratic debate Mike Gravel, Wayne Messam, Seth Moulton, Michael Bennet and Marianne Williamson. The first set will be on June 26th and 27th in Miami. A candidate will need to either have at least 1 percent support in three qualifying polls, or provide evidence of at least 65,000 individual donations from a minimum of 200 different donors in at least 20 states.

It is too bad we couldn't have all of these candidates as president and have them concentrate on their expertise. Inslee would be the environmental president, Booker would be the gun violence candidate, etc. We are very lucky to have such a great field of candidates. They are the most diverse group of candidates ever assembled. Why shouldn't they be?  We are America. We are a nation of immigrants and the candidates should reflect that. Not only in race and gender but in sexual orientation, religion, experience and age.  I love it. This is truly a big tent and a political junkie's dream. 

Announcing:

Ex-VP Joe Biden: He enters the race as a behemoth and on the top of the polls, but this is only because of his name recognition. Once the general public get to the know the other candidates, he will plateau. Once Joe starts opening his mouth and making those gaffs that we know him for, his numbers will drop. We've seen this before, Biden running for President, it is not a pleasant sight. Biden is from Delaware (born in Scranton, PA), was a US Senator for 36 years and Vice President under a very popular president Obama. In 1972, shortly after first being elected Senator, both his wife Neilla and daughter Naomi died in a car crash while Christmas shopping, Biden has a lot of baggage, particularly for liberal voters. The two big ones (1) his treatment of Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas hearings and (2) his support for mass incarceration. He might have peaked already. I don't think we'll have a Joe Biden presidency.

US Rep. from California, Eric Swalwell: He was born in Iowa where his father was Chief of Police in a smallish town, Algona. His family moved to California when Eric was young. He's been in Congress since 2013. He has probably been the most outspoken anti-Trump voice in Congress. That is the only reason I have heard of him. Five Thirty Eight published a story of how he could win. He pledged to ask a woman to be VP on his ticket. He recently wrote an Op Ed for US Today about gun control and the NRA.

US Rep. from Massachusetts, Seth Moulton: He was born in Salem, MA to a secretary and real-estate attorney. He went to Harvard for undergrad (physics) and grad school (business and public policy). He is an ex-marine officer and lead one of the first platoons that entered Baghdad in 2003. Here is where he stands on five issues. Does it surprise you that the ex-marine wants to increase funding to the State Department?  If Gabbard is the dove candidate, then Moulton is the hawk.

Colorado Senator Michael Bennet: He was born in New Delhi, India while his father (who is from NJ) was working at the Indian embassy. His mother is a Polish Jew who survived the Warsaw Ghetto and is a school librarian. His family has political roots. His father worked for VP Hubert Humphrey and his grandfather for FDR. He's been a Senator since 2009. Before that he was the Denver Superintendent of Schools and the Chief of Staff to Denver Mayor Hickenlooper (who is also running for President). He is also the brother of NY Times editorial page editor James Bennet, who has recuse himself from editorializing on the campaign.

Drop-outs and not-running:
Ex-governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, is not running for President. He is going to focus on helping Virginia Democrats.

Our Field:
We have a field of 22 now.

Booker has raised over $5 million in the first quarter of 2019 and 80% of the contributions are from first time contributors. That usually means he is attracting the young and/or tapping into something that everyone else is missing. He also introduced the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act that would require a bond hearing for all detained immigrants.

Klobuchar has raised over $5 million as well with 85% of it coming from donors giving $100 or less. She reintroduced the Americans Giving Care to Elders Act (AGE) to give relief to people supporting elderly members of the families.

Mayor Pete got some bad press when Buzz Feed published a story about gentrification in South Bend. He appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers. He does seem to be tapping into the hope and change phenomenon that none of these other folks are.

Bernie released Medicare For All bill. According to 538, he is doing better this time around in regards to media coverage, polling, fund raising and endorsements. Not having the spectre of Hillary in the race might explain that. He is calling for the reduction in defense spending to help pay for his programs which I love to hear. 

Warren raised $6 million in the first quarter with the average donation being $28.  Impressive! She also has the largest campaign staff among the 22 candidates.She released a Corporate Tax Plan and a plan to eliminate student debt.

Delaney announced a National Service and Climate Corp Plan for young people that has four tracts: 1) military service, 2) community service, 3) infrastructure and 4) climate corp.Also, he wants to create a Department for Cybersecurity lead by a cabinet level Secretary. He recently revealed his platform on mental health.

Harris is concentrating on California and the South rather than the traditional NH and IA.She reintroduced the Rent Relief Act to help renters recoup some of their expenses, if their rent is over 30% of our income.

Messam appeared on NPR's On Point and on an independent podcast called The Trail.

O'Rourke: Two of his top advisers left his campaign once he hired Jen O'Malley Dillon, Obama's old campaign chair, to run his campaign. He seems to be fizzling. Other than standing on tables and counter tops, he hasn't really done a lot.

Inslee appeared on Pod Save America for an interview (see below). He seems like a great candidate, but I am not sure how his "climate change is the #1 issue" goes over in middle America. I agree with him but I don't think he can beat Trump with this message. He also participated in the March for Science.




Castro says that he will create a department within the Department of Justice, just to investigate racial discrimination by police. He probably won't win the endorsement of the policemen's union.

Hickenlooper wrote an Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal, apparently stating that he opposes both massive regulation and socialism. He said, “I’m running to save capitalism.” If he is looking for more exposure, perhaps he should write for publications that aren't entirely behind a pay wall. He did appear on Pod Save America. He kinda looks like a used car salesman.

Ryan introduced a bill that would require the Department of Justice to train law enforcement  in de-escalation.

Gabbard was recently called the best Democratic candidate by former Rep Ron Paul. He said she was "the best chance to bring about peace." His endorsement may be a good enough reason to move her down in my rankings.

Yang: To demonstrate Universal Basic Income (UBI), he is going to give two families in NH and IA $1,000 a month to show how it works.  I volunteer my family if he expands this to Vermont. 

Gravel doesn't really want to be President. He wants to qualify for the debates and push the debate to the left. Check out this Vice report. He's kind of a nut. He's a 9/11 truther. He should probably be ignored.

Power Rankings:
We have 22 candidates, soon to be 23 with Mayor de Blasio soon to declare that he is running. If I had to rank the Democrats in order of my personal preference, I would do so in the following manner:
Warren
Harris
Booker
Buttigieg
Sanders
Biden
Inslee
O'Rourke
Hickenlooper
Klobuchar
Delaney
Swalwell
Castro
Gabbard
Moulton
Messam
Ryan
Bennet
Yang
(I probably won't vote if the people below get the nomination)
Gravel
Gillibrand
Williamson

This is expected to change. 

Hindsight 2020 - March 2019 edition

Before I say anything the 2020 election, let us give thanks to the president. Thank you, Mr. Trump for setting a new precedent for presidential power. Traditionally, Congress has the power of the purse. Congress consistently told him "no" about funding the building of a wall on our southern border, but he is choosing to ignore it giving us a new tier of presidential power. We will surely remember this when a Democratic president takes over. We can declare emergencies also. If Congress refuses to fund the Green New Deal or the Medicare For All ... we say "Emergency" and pull out the funding reserved for disasters and invasion for our pet product.  Thank for having the foresight for giving us this power.

Trump's 2020 campaign has started collecting data on three Democrats, according to Politico: Booker, Warren and Harris. We look like we have some front runners at least in their minds.

Back to the issues: About those issue, David Leonhardt in the NY Times suggested that the issues don't matter much in the Democratic primary. Why? Because the candidates (12 now I believe), mostly agree with each other. So we should primarily be concentrating on one thing: Who can beat Trump?  He says that Sherrod Brown and Kamala Harris are the standouts.But they are all out there, still talking about the issues. You may or may not agree with them, but every single one of them is better than Trump. If you say that both parties are to blame for our awful political situation, then you are just announcing to the world that you haven't been paying attention for the last 30 years.

The Republican party is still the party of global warming denial, maintaining the status quo on health care and billionaire tax cuts. By the year 2050, there may be no maple syrup production in Vermont and no wine grapes growing in California, but yet, a border wall is the emergency. I think the existential and economic crisis of our environmental situation is the real emergency. How silly of me!

I would love another president, like Obama, that would make the right wing extremist freak out. This generally means we are going in the right direction as a society. So a Jewish, Hispanic or a Black Woman as a president would be a really good thing then we can watch every scumbag pundit on Fox "News" heads explode.

Announcing this month:
Vermont Senator, Bernie Sanders: Bernie was the dark horse candidate in 2016. He enters this race as one of the front runners, if not the front runner. At this point, they could all be chasing him if he gets the momentum that he did last time. He is 77 years old which for many makes him too old. Is this ageism or simple practicality? The presidency is a very stressful job so his health is something to take into consideration, but health and age are not the same thing. His VP candidate should be chosen wisely because of this. He has two scandals behind him: (1) his wife's problems with Burlington College and (2) the sexism in his staff during the 2016 campaign. Hopefully, both of them don't weigh too heavily in the general voter's minds. If you think about him running against Trump, these "scandals" are minuscule compared to anything Trump has accumulated in only two years in office. As a Vermonter, I like Bernie and I have voted for his for both Rep. and Senator. I also voted for him in the primaries in 2016. I have met him twice. I disagree with him on a lot (particularly on economics), but I know him as an honorable and honest person. I vote for him because I trust him. He represents us well. He'd be a fine president. Jamelle Bouie in NY Times, says that Bernie is the only candidate so far that has a clear and comprehensive message on foreign policy, something he lacked during the 2016 campaign.

Bernie has the passion without details while Warren has details but is lacking in the passion. This makes me think that among the two further left candidates, Bernie is more likely to beat Trump, but far left is still going to be tough to win in the general election.

South Bend Mayor, Pete Buttigieg: In last month's Hindsight 2020, I didn't mention Pete Buttigieg (pronounced Buddha judge), who is the two term mayor of South Bend, Indiana. What's a mayor of a city of 100,000 people doing running for president? Good question. One thing to point out, he has more experience in government than Trump did when he became president. He is another Rhode Scholar, an Afghanistan war veteran and is openly gay. Just on that last sentence alone, he is a better candidate than Trump. I've heard him speak a view times in the past few weeks and I like him, a lot actually. But the key question here is: will the general public vote for a gay man? a married gay man? It is hard to believe he'd win the general election.

New York Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand: She is very pleasant and personable. If you have watched Colbert at any point in the past, you may have seen her on one of his shows. She was conservative in her past, but has claimed to be reformed. She appears to me to be an opportunist and a hypocrite.When she talks about important issues she comes off as being quite trite. When sexual assault accusations came out about Senator Al Franken, he asked for investigations into the allegations and she lead the charge to throw him under the bus. Now that much worse allegations have come out about Lt. Governor of Virginia, Justin Fairfax, she is calling for an investigation. Not sure why Al Franken didn't get this respect. She is a lightweight and I wouldn't turn my back on her.

Governor of Washington Jay Inslee: He is the current governor of the state of Washington and used to be a member of the US House of Representatives. His campaign is the only one so far to have his campaign headquarters fully based on the West Coast. He is from humble stock with his mother being a clerk at Sears while his father was a high school counselor and football coach. His big issue is the environment which makes him appealing to me. Can a relatively unknown like this defeat a sitting president? Since that President is Trump, perhaps, yes.  Clinton did it to Bush and Bush (the first one) was a half decent President.

Marianne Williamson: She is a new age spiritualist author from Houston and is often called Oprah's "spiritual adviser." I don't take her very seriously and unless I see something that makes her qualified to run this country, I am not going to mention her again.

Those still not declared yet:
Former VP Joe Biden, former NYC mayor Mike Bloomberg, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, Governor of Montana Steve Bullock, former Governor of Colorado John Hickenlooper, former Governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, Rep. from Massachusetts Seth Moulton, former Rep. from Texas Beto O'Rourke, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, California Rep. Eric Swalwell and Mark Warner, Senator from Virginia.

The rest of the field:
Cory Booker: I have notice that eight of my friends, on Facebook, are following Mr. Booker. One of them is a staunch Republican so I know this doesn't mean much, other than he probably has the most name recognition in the Democratic field right now, among those who have announced. He made a visit to Iowa in February and is hiring staff in the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. He is trying to draw a distinction between himself and his competition stating that they haven't run anything and while he has run a major city, Newark. He has released a plan to reduce housing costs.

Kamala Harris: California's primary has been moved up early this year. This gives a distinct advantage to Ms. Harris. She has visited Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada in February. She advocated for universal childcare and has proposed the LIFT act to assist struggling middle class families.

Amy Klobuchar: The Senator from Minnesota raised $1 million within 48 hours of announcing her candidacy which is pretty impressive. She is the only candidate that is positioning herself as a moderate. She may do well if Biden stays out of the race. If he does enter the race, his name recognition alone may overshadow her.

Elizabeth Warren: While Bernie talks about blowing the system up and rebuilding, she talks about restructuring the system from within. She has proposed a universal childcare program.and a family leave act. She is a policy candidate, which may have a lot of appeal to someone like me, but many voters choose based on personality and the "would I like to share a beer with this person?" question looms bad for her. If I were voting on domestic policies alone, she may have my vote.

Julian Castro: He plans on visiting all 50 states during his campaign. I'm looking forward to seeing him here in VT if he lasts that long. Maybe he should just come on over when he is pounding the pavement in New Hampshire. Since we're overwhelmingly for Sanders, I doubt if we'll see him.

Tulsi Gabbard: If you are looking for the peace candidate, she might be your candidate. She has come out strong against US involvement in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Here is an interesting fact about her. Her net worth is only $208,504.00. This is really amazing since she lives in a very expensive state, Hawaii.

John Delaney: Because he declared so early, he has already visited all 99 counties in Iowa. He is another moderate candidate who has gotten accolades from even conservatives like George Will who in a November 2018 opinion piece in the Washington Post, stated that Democrats should consider a moderate like Delaney to defeat Trump. While having a background in business might not appeal to the left in the Democratic party, it may be gold in the general election. He is pro-business but he still stands in all the right places on the issues that Democrats care about: health care, the environment and education etc.

Andrew Yang: He is another candidate I am not taking too seriously because he has no government experience, but it seem like others are. Rolling Stone Magazine puts him at #17 among 27 candidates (published in mid February 2019) which is not great but is higher than Delaney or Gabbard. So I will keep him on my radar.

Talk to you next month.

Health Care and How to Win an Election in 2018

I agree with Conservatives on at least one thing, that the US has some of the greatest hospitals in the world. One of those great hospitals employees me. Wealthy people come from around the world to be treated at American hospitals. The problem with our health care system lies with not in the quality of our health care, but in its accessibility and its affordability. We are the only industrialized nation that doesn't have some sort of comprehensive socialized health care. Medicare is not comprehensive in that it only covers a small group of people: the elderly, government employees, Amtrak employees and the military (aka Tricare).

Medicare is great, not perfect, but for the most part very well run. In my twenty years as a Health Care IT professional, in dealing with health care payers, I rarely have problems with them or with commercial insurances like Aetna, Cigna and US Healthcare among many others. In contrast Medicaid is a nightmare. Each time I have to call them, while I sit on hold, for usually a very long time, I feel like I am falling into an abyss of red tape. They are understaffed, underfunded and not taken very seriously. When I do get someone on the phone, they often contradict the last person I talked to there. It is my impression that they are saying whatever they need to get me off the phone. This is very frustrating when you are just trying to get the health care providers the money they have coming to them. It is a wonder that the poor's health care bills ever get paid.

One of the problems is that people confuse Medicaid with Medicare because their names are so similar. Medicaid used to be called Welfare, but it was rebranded because of the negative connotations that Welfare elicits. It is government assistance for the extreme poor among us. This is probably why they are a mess. America doesn't prioritize the poor very highly and the poor doesn't have strong lobbyists fighting for them like the elderly do.

Those who follow the numbers have noticed that our health care system is getting worst, from a financial standpoint for the last few decades. It is untenable and will crash eventually. My wife said to me recently, in frustration, "Our health insurance sucks!" My response was "Everyone's health insurance sucks now. That is the problem." Costs are spiraling and health care payers are struggling to stay afloat. This isn't new. We've known about this as a society for quite some time. A few brave politicians have tried to tackle it. President Richard Nixon did, but then came Watergate and survival became his priority. President Clinton tried but that was a complete failure, but he did pass HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act) which was tremendous success at least from my viewpoint. Obama passed the ACA (Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare) and it was, by no means perfect, but it was a step in the right direction.

What HIPAA did for me, as an IT professional, is standardize things. Before HIPAA, insurance companies could demand you send them electronic files and/or paper for claims in any format they wanted. Each payer had a different requirement and the providers had to jump through hoops to get their money from them. After HIPAA, there are standards that everyone (payer, provider, government, commercial) have to follow. We have what are called 837 files for insurance claims. After they are approved, the payments come in 835 files. When there is a problem with one of these files, it is deemed HIPAA non-compliant and most of the time the errors you deal with are benign and common. Life is a lot easier now. This is why whenever I hear someone say that government isn't the answer to our health care woes, I reject it completely. Government can and does often make things better. Not perfect, but better.

How did our health care system get so bad? I blame Baylor University.  I kid about this really. I've worked with people at Baylor and they are some of the nicest and capable people I've ever worked with. In the early 20th century, health care was not a big deal. Americans didn't spend a lot of money on it and only went to see a doctor until they were dying or very hurt. Baylor hospital had empty beds that they wanted to fill so they had an idea to offer a low cost payment plan that would allow people to come to the hospital for non-deathly matters. The first plan offered teachers 21 days of a hospital bed for $6 a year (equivalent to about $120.00 in today's cash). Other hospitals in the Dallas, Texas area came on board. Once the Great Depression hit, no one was going to the hospital because they didn't have the money even for cheap health care, so other hospitals came on board. This plan was called Blue Cross. In a short time, every state had a Blue Cross plan available. During World World II, President Roosevelt sign Executive Order 9250 as a means to control inflation. Wages were frozen. So employers found a way around this by offering benefits to attract hard to find employees. Health insurance being tied to your employment was born.  When WW II ended, the American economy boomed with the rest of the industrialized world in tatters. Competition for good employees was high. By then, you could not compete without have an insurance plan for your employees. In 1943, the IRS deemed that health plans were tax exempt. This created a boom for anyone who wanted to start their own health insurance plan.

Nothing about this is set in stone. It is just an accident of history. This fee for service plan only drives up the cost of health care. Providers have financial incentive to provide more care in quantity, not quality. It has gotten to the point where the system is unsustainable. When the ACA was passed and your good plan was cancelled, it was going to be cancelled anyway. Insurance companies just timed the cancellation of these to coincide with the ACA's passing so they could scapegoat the government, rather than explain the hard realities to their customers. The American health care system is on the verge of collapse.

The 2018 mid-term election just took place on Tuesday this week. I am in amazement by two things: 1) Trump's ability to drive people to the polls. Both voters that hate him and love him, showed up in droves. We had the highest turn-out for a mid-term election in recent years. 2) Democrats were able to stay on message. It is not a simple thing, for a politician, particularly one leaning toward the left. I have never seen this before. They could have easily ran against Trump, but they didn't. They let him be his own worst enemy. They ran on health care. The Republicans tried to claim that they were the health care party but it is obvious to anyone paying attention that they are not. Many of them lied during their rallies and commercials that they supported protecting pre-existing conditions coverage. In regards to health care they had nothing to run on. They couldn't bring up their bullshit tax plan that no one other than billionaires liked. Americans are finally figuring out that something needs to be done with our health care woes and there is only one party that is doing anything.

Lets hope that the Democrats continue to stay on message and run this wave into the 2020 election. I don't know how to get to a Medicare For All. It seems to an insurmountable problem. But I know, the first thing we need is the political will. The Democrats will need your support to do this.  Stay with them. Your life could depend on it.

Trump Log # 68: Please Remember To Vote

Regardless how bad Trump is doing as President people will still support him, because the economy is doing well. It is great irony because the economy is still one of those things that the American president has little control over. That is the beauty of free enterprise. Unlike most of our allies in Europe and especially Asia, our economy, for the most part, is truly free.  Yet, you will still hear people say that they are going to support the president's agenda, because the economy is doing well.

Economies are cyclical. Our Federal Executive branch can pick winners and losers, overall the economy is on its own unencumbered by government. If you are one of the winners in the Trump economy please remember that it comes with a cost. Cost to our environment, to the education system, our health care and to our poor and disenfranchised. One should be voting not only for one's self-interest but for the interest of the nation and the planet as a whole, especially if you are doing well.

Please remember to vote this Tuesday. This President needs some checks in place to keep him under control. We need the improvements in our health care system protected. For this to happen, we need a Democratic congress.

I am taking a break from the Trump Log for a while. Perhaps I will publish one of these monthly instead of weekly. There is some other stuff I'd like to get done.

Trump Log:

Monday 10/29/18 - Trump is corrupt through and through, from his family to his cabinet. The New York Times has compiled a definitive list.

Tuesday 10/30/18 - Trump plans to end birthright citizenship. (Source: Washington Post)

Wednesday 10/31/18 - Trump was asked by Pittsburgh's leadership to wait a while before he visits. He visits anyway. (Source: Washington Post)

Thursday 11/1/18 - Trump wants to send 15,000 US troops to the Mexican border to greet the refugee caravan. This is about the same number of troops that we have in Afghanistan. (Source: Washington Post)

Friday 11/2/18 - Trump's average rate of lies per day has gone up to 30, leading up the election. Fear mongering is obvious in many of them. (Source: Washington Post)

Saturday 11/3/18 - US reimposes sanctions on Iran but gives exemptions to many countries including China, but not the European Union. Trump once again favors tyranny over of our allies of free nations. (Source: New York Times).

Sunday 11/4/18 -  In a speech, Trump advocates the use of firearms against rock throwers at the border. The Nigerian Army uses Trump's words as a justification to fire upon protesters leaving at least 40 dead. (Source New York Times)

rior Trump Logs:
Issue # 1 - posted November 15th, 2016
Issue # 2 - posted November 22nd, 2016
Issue # 3 - posted November 29th, 2016
Issue # 4 - posted December 6, 2016
Issue # 5 - posted December 12, 2016
Issue # 6 - posted December 19, 2016
Issue # 7 - posted December 26, 2016
Issue # 8 - posted January 3, 2017
Issue # 9 - posted January 10, 2017
Issue #10 - posted January 17, 2017
Issue #11 - posted January 24, 2017
Issue #12 - posted January 31, 2017
Issue #13 - posted February 7, 2017
Issue #14 - posted February 14, 2017
Issue #15 - posted February 21, 2017
Issue #16 - posted February 28, 2017
Issue #17 - posted March 7, 2017
Issue #18 - posted March 14, 2017
Issue #19 - posted March 21, 2017
Issue #20 - posted March 28, 2017
Issue #21 - posted April 5, 2017
Issue #22 - posted April 11, 2017
Issue #23 - posted April 18, 2017
Issue #24 - posted April 25, 2017
Issue #25 - posted May 2, 2017
Issue #26 - posted May 9, 2017
Issue #27 - posted May 16, 2017
Issue #28 - posted May 23, 2017

Issue #29 - posted May 30, 2017

Issue #30 - posted June 6, 2017
Issue #31 - posted June 13, 2017
Issue #32 - posted June 20, 2017

Issue #33 - posted June 27, 2017
Issue #34 - posted March 12, 2018
Issue #35 - posted March 19, 2018
Issue #36 - posted March 26, 2018
Issue #37 - posted April 1, 2018
Issue #38 - posted April 8, 2018
Issue #39 - posted April 15, 2018
Issue #40 - posted April 22, 2018
Issue #41 - posted April 29, 2018
Issue #42 - posted May 6, 2018
Issue #43 - posted May 13, 2018
Issue #44 - posted May 20, 2018
Issue #45 - posted May 27, 2018
Issue #46 - posted June 3, 2018
Issue #47 - posted June 10, 2018
Issue #48 - posted June 17, 2018
Issue #49 - posted June 24, 2018
Issue #50 - posted July 1, 2018
Issue #51 - posted July 8, 2018
Issue #52 - posted July 15, 2018
Issue #53 - posted July 22, 2018
Issue #54 - posted July 29, 2018

Issue #55 - posted August 5, 2018
Issue #56 - posted August 12, 2018
Issue #57 - posted August 19, 2018
Issue #58 - posted August 26, 2018

Issue #59 - posted September 2, 2018
Issue #60 - posted September 9, 2018
Issue #61 - posted September 16, 2018
Issue #62 - posted September 23, 2018
Issue #63 - posted September 30, 2018
Issue #64 - posted October 7, 2018
Issue #65 - posted October 14, 2018
Issue #66 - posted October 21, 2018
Issue #67 - posted October 28, 2018

Trump Log #61: Daily Deluge

I didn't like George W. Bush as president. At the time, I thought he was the worst president ever. One of the things I really hate Trump for, is that I now I am starting to like Bush. When Bush was president, I wasn't disgusted everyday when I read the news. Bush was quietly incompetent. His presidency was one of long and large travesties: 911, Katrina, two unnecessary wars and then, instead of paying for those wars, he cut taxes. But still each day, when I read my newspaper, it wasn't something new everyday like it is today. I couldn't have come up Bush log if I tried.

Now we have a Daily Deluge of embarrassments and outrages. The president's lie count, while in office, is up over 5,000 lies now. It is really exhausting to stay informed now.

Trump has had his big travesties also (Hurricane Maria and kids in cages), but somehow it seems the worst is yet to come. This is why you need to vote in November. We need a Congress that will control him.

Trump Log:
Monday, September 10th - Trump is still obsessing over the anonymous New York Times Op-Ed. (Source: Washington Post)

Tuesday, September 11th - Trump's EPA is stepping back on their regulation of methane gas. (Source: New York Times)

Wednesday, September 12th -Trump is transferring $9.8 million away from FEMA to ICE ... just in time for hurricane season. That is shifting money from a badly needed program to pay for his pet project, a non-existent problem. (Source: NPR)

Thursday, September 13th - Trump claims that the Democrats have fabricated the number of deaths from Hurricane Maria in PR last year. He also claims his administration's response was a complete success.  All evidence is to the contrary!  It is not all about him. (Source: Washington Post)

Friday, September 14th - In his first public speech, Trump's new national security adviser, John Bolton, castigated the ICC (International Crime Court). This probably has a lot to do with the amount of war crime that the US is guilty of in the middle east. (Source: TheIntercept)

Saturday, September 15th - Trump's efforts to discourage migrant children coming to our borders is a miserable failure. This month they reached all time high of 12,800. In May 2017, it was as low as 2400. (Source: New York Times)

Sunday, September 16th - Trump's announces a new set of tariff's on China, arguably the toughest restrictions ever by a US president. (Source: Slate)

Prior Trump Logs:
Issue # 1 - posted November 15th, 2016
Issue # 2 - posted November 22nd, 2016
Issue # 3 - posted November 29th, 2016
Issue # 4 - posted December 6, 2016
Issue # 5 - posted December 12, 2016
Issue # 6 - posted December 19, 2016
Issue # 7 - posted December 26, 2016
Issue # 8 - posted January 3, 2017
Issue # 9 - posted January 10, 2017
Issue #10 - posted January 17, 2017
Issue #11 - posted January 24, 2017
Issue #12 - posted January 31, 2017
Issue #13 - posted February 7, 2017
Issue #14 - posted February 14, 2017
Issue #15 - posted February 21, 2017
Issue #16 - posted February 28, 2017
Issue #17 - posted March 7, 2017
Issue #18 - posted March 14, 2017
Issue #19 - posted March 21, 2017
Issue #20 - posted March 28, 2017
Issue #21 - posted April 5, 2017
Issue #22 - posted April 11, 2017
Issue #23 - posted April 18, 2017
Issue #24 - posted April 25, 2017
Issue #25 - posted May 2, 2017
Issue #26 - posted May 9, 2017
Issue #27 - posted May 16, 2017
Issue #28 - posted May 23, 2017

Issue #29 - posted May 30, 2017

Issue #30 - posted June 6, 2017
Issue #31 - posted June 13, 2017
Issue #32 - posted June 20, 2017

Issue #33 - posted June 27, 2017
Issue #34 - posted March 12, 2018
Issue #35 - posted March 19, 2018
Issue #36 - posted March 26, 2018
Issue #37 - posted April 1, 2018
Issue #38 - posted April 8, 2018
Issue #39 - posted April 15, 2018
Issue #40 - posted April 22, 2018
Issue #41 - posted April 29, 2018
Issue #42 - posted May 6, 2018
Issue #43 - posted May 13, 2018
Issue #44 - posted May 20, 2018
Issue #45 - posted May 27, 2018
Issue #46 - posted June 3, 2018
Issue #47 - posted June 10, 2018
Issue #48 - posted June 17, 2018
Issue #49 - posted June 24, 2018
Issue #50 - posted July 1, 2018
Issue #51 - posted July 8, 2018
Issue #52 - posted July 15, 2018
Issue #53 - posted July 22, 2018
Issue #54 - posted July 29, 2018

Issue #55 - posted August 5, 2018
Issue #56 - posted August 12, 2018
Issue #57 - posted August 19, 2018
Issue #58 - posted August 26, 2018

Issue #59 - posted September 2, 2018
Issue #60 - posted September 9, 2018

Trump Log #57: The Man-Child Cometh

He is a man-child. If you criticize him, he doesn't reflect on the criticism and learn from it. He lashes out like a child, a spoiled brat. Presidential? Not even close! Adult, even? I don't think so! Man-child? Yes.

His lashing out is Nixonian in quality, but worse. He out-Nixons Nixon. His obstruction of justice is obvious and public. His enemy list is published daily, hourly even, on Twitter. Unlike Nixon, he actually follows up on his enemy list. Nixon used to have a list, he never did anything with it. Trump removes your security clearance if you criticize him, he bashes you in public or he fires you.  Wah! Wah! He's all id. He hasn't reached the stage of his development yet that he has developed empathy for others or an understanding that his action have repercussions.

... and the GOP, they are his enablers.

Trump Log:
Monday 8/13/18 - The numbers are in. Trump's tax cut helped the extremely rich. That's it. No one else. No big surprise. (Source: New York Times)

Tuesday 8/14/18 - Turkey announced tariffs on US electronics in response to Trump's tariffs. (Source: Washington Post)

Wednesday 8/15/18 - Even those people supplying numbers to Trump are lying. Between his receiving erroneous reports and watching Fox "News," truth never reaches him. (Source: Washington Post).

Thursday 8/16/18 - Another tyrant has a friend in Trump. (Source: New York Times)

Friday 8/17/18 - Trump claims he is going to strip the people investigating him of their security clearances. He's acting a lot like Nixon did during Watergate, a.k.a. like a guilty man. (Source: Washington Post)

Saturday 8/18/18 - Trump's Interior Secretary, Zinke, is using the California fires to help ... victims? ... don't be silly ... he's helping the timber industry. (Source: TheIntercept)

Sunday 8/19/18 - Trump's new plan for power plants does away with Obama's plan to speed up the retirement of coal plants and puts limits on their emissions instead. (Source: Washington Post)

Prior Trump Logs:
Issue # 1 - posted November 15th, 2016
Issue # 2 - posted November 22nd, 2016
Issue # 3 - posted November 29th, 2016
Issue # 4 - posted December 6, 2016
Issue # 5 - posted December 12, 2016
Issue # 6 - posted December 19, 2016
Issue # 7 - posted December 26, 2016
Issue # 8 - posted January 3, 2017
Issue # 9 - posted January 10, 2017
Issue #10 - posted January 17, 2017
Issue #11 - posted January 24, 2017
Issue #12 - posted January 31, 2017
Issue #13 - posted February 7, 2017
Issue #14 - posted February 14, 2017
Issue #15 - posted February 21, 2017
Issue #16 - posted February 28, 2017
Issue #17 - posted March 7, 2017
Issue #18 - posted March 14, 2017
Issue #19 - posted March 21, 2017
Issue #20 - posted March 28, 2017
Issue #21 - posted April 5, 2017
Issue #22 - posted April 11, 2017
Issue #23 - posted April 18, 2017
Issue #24 - posted April 25, 2017
Issue #25 - posted May 2, 2017
Issue #26 - posted May 9, 2017
Issue #27 - posted May 16, 2017
Issue #28 - posted May 23, 2017

Issue #29 - posted May 30, 2017

Issue #30 - posted June 6, 2017
Issue #31 - posted June 13, 2017
Issue #32 - posted June 20, 2017

Issue #33 - posted June 27, 2017
Issue #34 - posted March 12, 2018
Issue #35 - posted March 19, 2018
Issue #36 - posted March 26, 2018
Issue #37 - posted April 1, 2018
Issue #38 - posted April 8, 2018
Issue #39 - posted April 15, 2018
Issue #40 - posted April 22, 2018
Issue #41 - posted April 29, 2018
Issue #42 - posted May 6, 2018
Issue #43 - posted May 13, 2018
Issue #44 - posted May 20, 2018
Issue #45 - posted May 27, 2018
Issue #46 - posted June 3, 2018
Issue #47 - posted June 10, 2018
Issue #48 - posted June 17, 2018
Issue #49 - posted June 24, 2018
Issue #50 - posted July 1, 2018
Issue #51 - posted July 8, 2018
Issue #52 - posted July 15, 2018
Issue #53 - posted July 22, 2018
Issue #54 - posted July 29, 2018

Issue #55 - posted August 5, 2018
Issue #56 - posted August 12, 2018