About that Swamp - Ohio addition

From Links 5/15/17 | naked capitalism:

Ohio’s sale of prison farms comes despite $8.9 million in upgrades 

Columbus Dispatch (BC). BC writes: “Governor Kasich’s administration wants to no-bid the sale of State property used by the prison farm system. The concern is that, without an open bid, the land will be sold for a fraction of its value as political favors to Kasich donors. The sale is being rushed without debate as well, so many unintended consequences are coming up too. For example several charities have relied on donated excess food from the prison system to feed disabled or poor people that they serve. The rapid timeframe is also impacting local small businesses that provide services or equipment.” Just in time for the Sanders v. Kasich debate on May 16!

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Top Taxes & Growth

Stumbling and Mumbling: Top taxes & growth:

"Much the same is true in the US; the economy there was stronger in the 50s and 60s when the top tax rate was 91% than it has been recently with lower taxes."

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O'Reilly - Hit Job

Bill O'Reilly blames a left-wing hit job.

"In the weeks to come we're going to be able to explain all of it," O'Reilly said Friday in his first interview since being fired on April 19. "It has to do with destroying voices that the far left and the organized left-wing cabal doesn't like."

Sort of like destroying the voice of George Tiller who O'Reilly and right-wingers didn't like. The one big difference being that George Tiller was actually "hit".

Wikipedia George Tiller

Tiller was discussed in 28 episodes of the Fox News talk show The O'Reilly Factor before his death in May 2009, focusing national attention on his practice. Although he later denied it, show host Bill O'Reilly sometimes described him as "Tiller the Baby Killer",[15][16] a nickname that Congressman Robert Dornan had used on the floor of the US House of Representatives. O'Reilly said he would not want to be Tiller, Kathleen Sebelius, and other pro-choice Kansas politicians "if there is a judgment day".[17] On November 3, 2006, O'Reilly featured an exclusive segment on The O'Reilly Factor, saying that he had an "inside source" with official clinic documentation indicating that Tiller performed late-term abortions to alleviate "temporary depression" in pregnant women.[18] He characterized the doctor as "a savage on the loose, killing babies willy-nilly", and accused him of "operating a death mill", and of protecting the rapists of children. He suggested that Tiller performed abortions for women who had "a bit of a headache or anxiety" or who felt "a bit blue".[19]

O'Reilly is a just a dick.

Crash

I'd bet this car was rebuilt (poorly) from a previous crash. The break looks pretty clean. The people were damn lucky.

Trump

The man is just not that smart. The latest Trump interview once again reveals appalling ignorance and dishonesty - Vox:

And maybe just a little out of touch. Donald Trump has no idea what health insurance costs 

“Insurance is, you’re 20-years-old, you just graduated from college, and you start paying $15 a month for the rest of your life and you really need it, you’re still paying the same amount and that’s really insurance,” Trump says.

And maybe just a little fucking crazy

On the future USS Ford-class carriers

You know the catapult is quite important. So I said what is this? Sir, this is our digital catapult system. He said well, we’re going to this because we wanted to keep up with modern [technology]. I said you don’t use steam anymore for catapult? No sir. I said, "Ah, how is it working?" "Sir, not good. Not good. Doesn’t have the power. You know the steam is just brutal. You see that sucker going and steam’s going all over the place, there’s planes thrown in the air."

It sounded bad to me. Digital. They have digital. What is digital? And it’s very complicated, you have to be Albert Einstein to figure it out. And I said–and now they want to buy more aircraft carriers. I said what system are you going to be–"Sir, we’re staying with digital." I said no you’re not. You going to goddamned steam, the digital costs hundreds of millions of dollars more money and it’s no good.

I put my money on this being the real reason for the Comey firing: Gaius Publius: Trump – A Nation in Crisis, Again

What particularly angered him [Trump], the reports say, was Comey saying it made him “mildly nauseous” to think the FBI may have swayed the election.

This hit right at President Trump’s psychological weak spot – the legitimacy of his victory in the election.

Mr Trump frequently talks up the size of his win in November and often disparages people, or photos, or agencies that suggest he didn’t win big…

Mr Trump hated what he heard in Mr Comey’s testimony. It made him angry, he felt disparaged and he hit back. This, we understand, was Mr Trump’s MO as a business man…

He does act pretty thin-skinned about his win. Trump to display map of 2016 election results in the White House: report

President Trump is planning on hanging a map displaying his 2016 Electoral College victory in the White House, according to a report.

One America News Network White House reporter spotted the framed map being carried through the White House by a Trump staffer.

"Spotted: A map to be hung somewhere in the West Wing," the reporter tweeted.

Trump has often brought up his election victory over Hillary Clinton in the months since he took office. In April, the Washington Post's White House bureau chief reported that Trump had asked the Post to run the election map on the front page of their newspaper.

Days before, Trump interrupted another interview with a Reuters reporter to pass out copies of the map showing his victory.

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Voters

Stumbling and Mumbling: The problem of ignorant voters:

... Millions of ignorant people will cast a vote next month.

This would not be so bad if their ignorance and irrationality were random and so merely introduced white noise into the election. But it’s not. It’s systematic. For example, people over-estimate the number of immigrants in the country and their adverse effect upon jobs and public services; over-estimate the level of welfare benefits and fraud; and mistakenly think the public finances are analogous to household finances. 

Yep...

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The Brain Eater

A good short read here:

The Brain Eater – Whatever:

What’s important is the gap, that wide space between where they think should have been and where they are now — and the “fact” that someone else, not them and not chance, is solely responsible for their failure to be who they are supposed to be, and their failure to achieve what they were entitled to achieve.

and

There is no expected path. Believing that there is will only make you unhappy, and from there, bitter, and from there, blame-seeking. There is only the path you make for yourself and where it takes you, however long you choose to be on it.

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Talking Trump down.

White House advisors called Ottawa to urge Trudeau to help talk Trump down from scrapping NAFTA | National Post:

"White House advisors called Ottawa to urge Trudeau to help talk Trump down from scrapping NAFTA"

I'm glad they didn't call Putin. Wouldn't want a foreign nation interfering in US politics.

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The Democratic Party Is a Ghost

The Democratic Party Is a Ghost:

"Democratic Party elites don’t have ideals. They just need you to be scared of the Republicans."

This is just a page out of the R's book with a slight change. The R version....

"Republican Party elites don’t have ideals. They just need you to hate Democrats."

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About That Swamp

Hullabaloo:

A much-criticized visa program that allows foreigners to win fast-track immigration in return for investing $500,000 in U.S. properties was extended in a bill signed by President Trump just one day before a sister of senior White House adviser Jared Kushner pitched the program to Chinese investors.

Trump, who advocates for restrictive immigration policies, extended the EB-5 investor program without long-promised changes as part of a massive federal spending bill. The program has offered wealthy foreigners a way around complicated U.S. immigration rules, allowing them to live in the United States and seek permanent residency in return for substantial investments.

The Washington Post reported Saturday that Nicole Kushner Meyer delivered a sales presentation in Beijing at which she urged Chinese citizens to invest in a New Jersey project being managed by the Kushner family’s real estate company. Meyer’s relationship to her brother was mentioned as part of the presentation.

On Sunday, the Kushner Companies, of which Meyer is a principal, said in an email to The Post that it “apologizes if that mention of her brother was in any way interpreted as an attempt to lure investors. That was not Ms. Meyer’s intention.”

The firm stressed that Jared Kushner “stepped away from the company in January and has nothing to do with this project,” which it said would provide $180 million in tax revenue over 30 years.

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