Monday, March 31, 2025
Most Voters Think Hegseth Should Resign
The chart above is from the Daily Mail / J.L. Partners Poll -- done between March 25th and 27th of a nationwide sample of 1,001 registered voters, with a 3.4 point margin of error.
Trump Is Trashing The Constitution With His Deportations
Donald Trump has been playing fast and loose with his deportations. He has deported 261 people he claimed were members of a Venezuelan gang called Teen de Aragua. They weren't sent back to their home country, but were sent to a prison in El Salvador.
Don't get me wrong. If there are undocumented members of a foreign criminal gang in the United States, I have no problem with them being deported. But I am bothered by how it was done.
First, is there proof that they were really gang members? No proof has been offered. Trump has said they were, but after the many thousands of lies he has told I don't think we should take his word for it. Some doubt has been cast about some who were labeled as gang members and deported. One was a gay hairdresser. Does anyone really think a macho South American gang would have a gay hairdresser as a member? That's just not believable.
Second, there were not deported back to the country they came from, which has always been U.S. policy. Instead of being sent back to Venezuela, they were sent to El Salvador - a country they know nothing about.
Third, they were not just sent to El Salvador, but to a prison in El Salvador. When did the U.S. start putting people in prison without charges and a conviction at a trial? Maybe some (or nearly all) of them were gang members who were breaking one or more laws. If so, they should have been charged with a crime, put on trial, and convicted after proof was offered.
But most important, the arrest and deportation of these individuals violated the U.S. Constitution. You may be thinking that foreign gang members don't have the same rights as a citizen. But that is wrong.
The U.S. Constitution guarantees certain right to people - not citizens. Those rights, including due process rights, are guaranteed to everyone that is inside the borders of the United States - even undocumented immigrants who belong to a criminal gang. They should not have been deported without a due process hearing before an immigration judge or imprisoned without a due process trial before a state or federal judge.
It may be easy to violate the constitutional rights of these foreign gang members, because they are not popular. But it shouldn't be. Constitutional rights don't just apply to the people we (or the government) likes. It applies to everyone!
If the rights of unpopular people can be violated with impunity, it just makes it easier for the authorities to violate the rights of others - maybe even citizens they don't like. Protecting the rights of "bad people" protects the rights of everyone else.
It's sad and scary that Trump and his cronies don't understand that.
Sunday, March 30, 2025
Saturday, March 29, 2025
Most Disapprove Of How Trump Is Handling Inflation/Prices
The chart above reflects the results of the Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between March 22nd and 25th of a nationwide sample of 1,600 adults (including 1,440 registered voters). The margin of error is 3.4 points for adults and 3.3 points for registered voters.
The Right To Assembly And To Free Speech Applies To Everyone In The U.S.
The trump administration has arrested a legal immigrant student for taking part in a demonstration against the Israeli action in Gaza. They want to revoke his right to be in this country and deport him.
They have also arrested a female doctoral student for writing a pro-Hamas editorial for her student newspaper. They want to revoke her right to stay in this country and deport her.
The Trump administration would like you to think that because these were not citizens, they don't have the same rights as citizens do under the Constitution. That is simply not true.
Anyone inside the borders of the United States have the rights guaranteed in the Constitution - including the right to assemble for a redress of grievances, free speech, and due process. Even Justice Scalia, a hero of the conservative right, agreed with this.
The Trump administration said these two had supported Hamas, and their actions were antisemitic. That may or may not be true. It doesn't matter, because the Constitution protects even offensive speech. It protects racist, homophobic, and misogynistic speech - and it protects anti semitic speech.
Any citizen or organization can respond to offensive hate speech, and even take legal action against it. BUT THE GOVERNMENT CAN NOT! The government cannot act against a person for exercising speech or assembly rights - even if it is offensive.
Trump has claimed he wants to protect free speech, but in reality, the only speech he wants to protect is the speech that he agrees with. As president, he cannot take any action to curtail free speech or assembly, no matter how offensive he finds it to be.
The Constitution is very clear on that!
Friday, March 28, 2025
jobsanger Is 19 Years Old!
Trump has me so upset these days that I forget the birthday of this blog. I made my first post on March 17th of 2006. That makes the blog 19 years old.
THANK YOU to the readers! You give me the energy to keep going.
Most People Say Democrats Are Not Doing Enough To Resist Trump
The chart above reflects the results of the Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between March 22nd and 25th of a nationwide sample of 1,600 adults (including 1,440 registered voters). The margin of error was 3.4 points for adults and 3.3 points for registered voters.
About 224,000 Workers Filed For Unemployment Last Week
The Labor Department released its weekly unemployment report on Thursday. It showed about 224,000 workers filed for unemployment benefits in the week ending on March 22nd. Here is the official Labor Department statement:
In the week ending March 22, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 224,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 223,000 to 225,000. The 4-week moving average was 224,000, a decrease of 4,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 1,750 from 227,000 to 228,750.
Trump's Tariff On Imported Cars Will Raise The Price Of ALL Cars
Donald Trump has announced that a 25% tariff on all imported automobiles will go into effect on April 3rd. This will turn out to be a massive tax increase on all Americans who need to own a car (which is most people).
The tariff will make imported autos much more expensive by raising their price to the consumer by thousands of dollars. Take for instance a car that costs about $40,000. The tariff would raise the price to $50,000 - a jump of $10,000 dollars. The jump would be even bigger for more expensive cars. Even the cheapest new imported car will have its price raised by $5,000 to $6,000.
You might be thinking you could avoid the huge jump is price by buying one of the few cars made in this country. If you think that, then you don't understand the dynamics of corporate greed. American corporations will see this as an opportunity to get some free money. They will raise their price by 15% to 20%. They would then be slightly cheaper than the imports, but it will still cost the consumer thousands of dollars more than it does currently.
And don't think you can avoid the huge price increases by buying a used car. With the price of new cars going up by several thousand dollars, used car dealers can raise their price by thousands of dollars - and they will do that.
All the consumer can do is to drive their old car much longer. But even that will be more expensive since the tariff also includes car parts. It will be more expensive to keep your old car running longer.
Trump and his billionaire friends don't care about cars becoming more expensive. The increase is a pittance to them. But it's much worse for most Americans, who are already trying to keep up with inflation. This will make inflation much worse.
Trump, drunk with power, has either not thought this through or doesn't care about most Americans - probably both.
Thursday, March 27, 2025
Americans Say Sharing Military Plans With A Journalist Was A Serious Problem
The chart above is from the YouGov Poll -- done on March 25th of a nationwide sample of 5,976 adults with a 2 point margin of error.
Trump's Security Team Is Careless And Incompetent
You may think my title is a bit over the top, but consider the following:
As far back as 2023, the Defense Department had sent a memo warning government officials not to use the Signal texting system for any official government meetings - warning it was capable of being hacked by Russia.
NSA Mike Waltz arranged a meeting of defense and security officials using the Signal system.
Waltz then accidentally(?) added a journalist to the text group Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic.
Defense Department head Pete Hegseth then posted the particulars of an attack on Yemen to the group (even though the group didn't need to know the specifics of the attack).
Once the attack was completed and the journalist reported the security blunder, Tulsi Gabbard told Congress that no secret intelligence was discussed in the text meeting. But that was a lie. Hegseth's text had included the name of the country to be attacked, the specific places within the country to be attacked, the times each attack would happen, and the particular weapons to be used in the attacks - all top secret information.
Any soldier that revealed this type of information before an attack - to a journalist or anyone else - would have been severely punished and probably criminally charged. But these guys will not have to pay, because the narcissist-in-chief can't admit any mistakes, and won't let anyone else in his administration do so.
That doesn't change the fact though. They were careless and incompetent. And that should worry the American people - and our allies.
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
The Oligarchy Is Here - And Democracy Is Fading
The figure above doesn't include the wealth of Elon Musk (since he's not actually a member of Trump's cabinet). There are those who don't like the term oligarchy. But doesn't the Trump administration deserve that designation? We are truly being ruled by the super-rich for the benefit of the rich - and they have shown they don't care about ordinary Americans (especially those who need Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, AFDC, or any other government program).
The oligarchy is growing, and our democracy is dying.
British Writer Tells Us Why Brits Don't Like Donald Trump
A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.
Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever. I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman. But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.
Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.
There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface. Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.
And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead. There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.
So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:
• Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.
• You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.
This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss. After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.
And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: ‘My God… what… have… I… created?' If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Trump Is Responsible For The Cuts - Musk Is Just The Front Man
Deep cuts have been made to the federal government, and more are on the way. Foreign aid has virtually been eliminated. Veterans benefits have been cut. Education jobs have been cut, and we are told the entire department is to be closed down. Social Security has had job cut and many Social Security offices are to be closed. The CDC has been gutted.
Elon Musk is being blamed for the cuts, and the American people are growing angry. His popularity has taken a significant hit, and Tesla has seen a large drop is sales and its stock market price. This is understandable, but it ignores the real culprit - Donald Trump.
Donald Trump has always been a micromanager. This was true when he was in the business world. Nothing happened at Trump's businesses that did not have prior approval of Trump. The same thing is true in his current administration. It's just in his nature to micromanage.
Elon Musk is just the front man for the agency cuts. It gives Trump a little cover for the unpopular cuts - and if the cuts become very unpopular with voters, which seems likely now, then Musk will be the one to get the blame. He will be the fall guy (much a Cohen was is Trump criminal venture in the 2016 election).
Don't be fooled! Musk is getting the bad publicity for the cuts, but none of those cuts would have happened if Trump didn't want them to happen. As with his businesses, Trump had prior knowledge and approved them. That's just the way he operates.
Monday, March 24, 2025
$3% Of Voters Say Trump Has Too Much Power
CEO Faith In Trump Economy Has Plunged 20 Points Since January
The following is from ChiefExecutive.net:
After a double-digit surge in optimism in the months following the November presidential election, confidence among America’s business community fell sharply the first week of March, according to Chief Executive’s latest CEO Confidence Index, fielded March 4 and 5.
CEOs’ rating of current business conditions in the U.S. fell 20 percent from January, from 6.3 to 5 out of 10, on a scale where 1 is Poor and 10 is Excellent. This is the lowest level since the spring of 2020, when the pandemic shut down businesses around the world.
CEOs’ forecast for what those conditions will look like 12 months from now fell by an even greater margin—28 percent—from 7/10 in January to 5/10 in March. The last time CEOs’ outlook hit that low was November 2012.
Overall, only 39 percent of the more than 220 CEOs we surveyed now believe the business climate will improve this year, down 13 percentage points (or 25 percent) from 52 percent at the start of the year. Instead, 36 percent say they expect things will get worse, up from 20 percent in January (note: we did not field the survey in February 2025).
Asked about how they anticipate current events will affect the U.S. economy in general, 48 percent say they anticipate a recession or slowdown within the next six months.
The Trump administration’s gyrating tariff threats against Mexico and Canada are the most commonly cited reason for declining optimism. Three-quarters of those surveyed said they believe those tariffs, if imposed, will have negative effects on their respective industries. Rising geopolitical uncertainty, sweeping government layoffs and overall unpredictability for what comes next were all additional factors cited by CEOs we surveyed for their rising pessimism.
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