Earl R. Smith II's Blog, page 32
June 18, 2019
Subterfuge in North Carolina
North Carolina Republican lawmakers asked a judge to have the files of the now-deceased GOP strategist Tom Hoefler destroyed, or at minimum kept secret. They do not want them to be used in a high-profile gerrymandering lawsuit. The issue is important because, in North Carolina as in other states, lawmakers have exempted their emails and…
The Trump Battle Plan for 2020
“Help the Democrats fight amongst themselves while Republicans unite behind me.” The new campaign slogan is “Keep America Great”. According to the man who would be King, he has already “made America great again”. That’s the battle plan and, for it to work, he needs the Democrats to fight amongst themselves over small differences and…
June 17, 2019
The Alarm Bells are Ringing!
This from an article in the Washington Post, “… the president and his aides have emerged from the scorched-earth battle over the special counsel’s 22-month investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election with a conviction that they need not feel constrained by the safeguards built into the nation’s political system as they look to…
June 13, 2019
Who Else is Above the Law?
Here is one that you might have missed. The Office of Special Counsel, an independent agency that enforces the Hatch Act, has recommended that Kellyanne Conway be discharged as a federal employee. The act prohibits employees in the executive branch, except the president, vice-president, from engaging in some forms of political activity. OSC sent a report to Trump…
Little Georgie Stephanopoulos in the Principal’s Office
It was amusing, and very telling, to see Little Georgie Stephanopoulos standing by the President’s desk in the Oval Office like some fourth-grade student who has been called to the principal’s office. And during all that useless interview, Little Georgie never thought to ask the obvious question. “You and the Republican Party have decided that…
June 12, 2019
I don’t know about you, but …
I don’t know about you, but I’m getting tired of these talking heads blathering on and on about inanities while the Republic is at risk. I am tired of listening to people like Mary McCord or Joyce Vance tell us that William Barr is an institutionalist who would protect DOJ from political influence. These gullible…
June 7, 2019
Enmity is the enemy
Enmity (the state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something) is the biggest risk to the Democrats’ campaign to retake the White House and regain control of the Senate. Enmity not towards Trump but towards each other. The Republicans, Russian trolls, right-wing media, and a big part of the talking-head…
June 3, 2019
Manchurian Candidates
In 1962 a film was released starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey and Janet Leigh. A platoon of American soldiers was captured by the Communists during the Korean War and brainwashed. The central character, Raymond Shaw, became an unwitting assassin involved in an international communist conspiracy. The objective of this conspiracy was the destruction of the…
May 31, 2019
Let’s talk about Tom Perkins
You know, the guy who said “you don’t get to vote if you don’t pay a dollar in taxes. But what I really think is that it should be like a corporation. You pay $1 million; you get a million votes.” (Jonathan Chait, “voting Also Reminds Tom Perkins of Kristallnacht,” New York Magazine, February 14,…
May 30, 2019
Living for today has its downside
Liberalism results in an economy focused almost exclusively on the short-term. It’s not just that corporations focus on quarterly earnings and that CEOs manipulate financial statements in order to maximize their annual bonuses. Short-term focus extends to ordinary citizens. Liberalism creates debtors who live for present gratification, in the misguided confidence that the future will…
