As the right wing, self-styled conservatives try to roll back the clock on almost every issue facing us: voting rights, civil rights, labor rights, health care and health insurance, environmental quality, women's rights, Social Security and Medicare, abortion and even contraception, I've come to the conclusion that they are not conservatives. Conservatives want to maintain the status quo. These right-wingers want to go back to a time when they imagined everything was perfect, like a Father Knows Best or Donna Reed episode of the 1950s, or even the 1920s: before FDR was elected, before he introduced Social Security, "Relief" [Public Assistance] and public work projects. They idolize Reagan, who was elected 35 years ago. Home computers were only introduced three years before that, and most homes still had rotary dial telephones; many still had black and white TVs. I could go on.

    My conclusion: they are not conservatives, seeking to preserve what prevails now. Rather, they are reactionaries, wanting to return to an era 40 to 80 years in the past.

    We should stop buying into their use of the term "conservative", with which they identify and pat themselves on their collective shoulders. Instead, we should start using the correct word, the one that more precisely defines them -- reactionaries.

    I'm old enough to remember how that term was used against Barry Goldwater, and the negative effect it had. For many years, they tried to make the word "liberal" pejorative; let's use the English word that perfectly and negatively defines them, i.e.

     R E A C T I O N A R I E S!

    A petition was started yesterday on change.com to nominate Prof. Anita Hill for the Supreme Court.

   Prof. Hill is an extremely respected, articulate Professor of Social Policy, Law and Women's with expertise in civil rights, international commerce, and bankruptcy. She is presently at Brandeis University, in the School for Social Policy and Management, and is a lawyer with a civil rights & employment practices group. Last year, the Brandeis Board of Trustees unanimously voted to recognize Hill with a promotion to University Professor of Social Policy, Law, and Women's Studies; University Professor is one of Brandeis’ most prestigious academic honors. [1]

    For those of you who are too young to remember her, or were somewhere on a desert island with no communications in 1991, I suggest that you do a bit of reading on the internet. The highlights: as a young lawyer, she had worked as an assistant to Clarence Thomas, first in the Education Dept., then in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. When the FBI routinely called her about Thomas, her conscience would not let her hide the facts: Thomas had sexually harassed her. Afraid of losing her job, she hadn't spoken out at the time. The all-male Judiciary Committee called her to testify, and they subjected her to the worst kind of smears and ridicule. The whole story is summarized nicely on Wikipedia.

The summer benefits program is designed to fill a food gap for children who rely on free- and reduced-price school meals for much of their nutrition. After small pilot programs in a handful of states over the past four years, administrators are confident that even a $45 monthly benefit during the summer months can reduce severe food insecurity among low-income children by 30 percent. A nationwide program would benefit 20 million children each summer once fully operational, according to White House estimates. 

The annual cost is $1.2 billion. Sounds like a lot, but keep in mind that the defense budget is some $600 billion a year!

The bill has bi-partisan support, but one representative, Robert Aderholt (R-AL), is apparently the only one blocking it. He can do this from his position as Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture. 

Not only is Aderholt against abortion, he’s adamantly opposed to cutting the military budget. Other agricultural programs that Aderholt supports are all way more expensive than the summer EBT program, e.g. price supports for farmers and crop insurance; many of these programs benefit corporate landowners, what I call “big farma”. 

I suggest that everyone read the link in the opening words above; all the details are there.

I wonder — who was this man’s mother? How was he raised? His father was a part-time minister for Congregationalist churches. I’m not Christian, but I can’t imagine that these are the Christian values he was taught by his parents.

A new system designed by Israeli students, who worked with the community in an Ethiopian village, utilizes rain water to provide clean, safe water for a school. For the first time, the 600 kids there can safely drink and wash during the school day.

We’ve all heard about Doctors Without Borders. But who knew there was an organization called Engineers Without Borders?! The engineers are apparently mostly engineering students, under the guidance of professors and professional engineers, who work with communities in the developing world to provide essential infrastructure for such basics as clean water, sewage, etc.

In the realm of “a good deed…leads to others”, Israel has a charity named SACH: Save a Child’s Heart. SACH brings children from the developing world to Israel for (free) life-saving heart surgery. One such boy came from the Ethiopian village of Meskele Cristos. When the SACH volunteers visited the boy and his family after his recovery, they discovered that the village had very few water sources, and there was no running water at the school.

Apple says that it won’t unlock the phone of the San Bernadino terrorists, despite the fact that the government has a perfectly legal warrant, because it is protecting privacy. Of course, given the broad surveillance of other government agencies, many people think that this is a good thing, that Apple is “standing up” for American citizens, and even for foreign dissidents who might be put in danger.

But I wonder how Apple became the moral arbiter of what is right in this issue. This is the company that is defiantly refusing to bring any of its profits back to the U.S., because, according to Tim Cook, it will be taxed at 40%. So Apple is keeping billions of dollars in offshore accounts, that aren’t taxedin those countries either. Apple is the most profitable business that ever existed: in 2015, Apple’s profits topped $200 billion, and 89% of that is being kept offshore. See: Tim Cook's Headache. Even Apple’s investors are beginning to demand their capital back. 

Let’s do some quick math. Eighty-nine percent of 200 billion is 178 billion. If Apple brought back only half of that, it would be 89 billion. And if Apple paid 40% taxes on it (which I doubt but don’t know how to check), that would be $35.6 billion going into the U.S. budget. (Money for Flint, perhaps? With plenty left over for …. ) Apple itself estimated  that bringing home the $69.7 billion in earnings on which it hasn’t taken a charge would cost about $23 billion  in U.S. taxes. But Apple has spent $4.1 million in federal lobbying, a lot of it directed at changing tax laws.

Another point: In 2012 Apple promised to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. I haven’t read anywhere that it did, but Tim Cook promised to spend $100 million to do so at that time. Mind you, that year Apple spent $10 billion on the tools and equipment needed to make its products. The vast majority of Apple’s manufacturing is done in China. Despite Apple’s promises to improve labor practices there, low wages and long hours persist at the iPhone factory. Workers  earn about $1.85, and the standard shift is nine hours a day. Starting in September, staff worked an additional minimum of 20 hours of overtime each week, bringing their weekly salaries to about $753.

So, my questions are:

1. By what right does Apple claim any moral superiority to a government to which it brags that it doesn’t pay taxes? In fact, how can Apple cloak itself in morals and ethics, given all of the above?

2. How can any Bernie supporter enthusiastically support his values and his demand to get corporate financing out of the political process, and simultaneously laud Apple’s practices and its defiance of the government’s legally obtained warrant — to try to prevent terrorism, no less? Many continue to buy Apple’s products, thereby directly supporting Apple’s lobbying. 

A study on howler monkeys in the peer-reviewed journal Current Biology, said that howler monkeys with deep roarstend to also have smaller testicles compared to their peers. Just sayin’.

Apologies for re-opening a subject that we thought was finally closed, but couldn’t keep this to myself.

by Christine Lavin

Words are unnecessary.

Just watch this:

Two of Donald Drumph’s kids won’t be voting for him in the primary election in New York. Not because they don’t support him. Rather, Eric and Ivanka Trump “waited too long to register”.

Which means that:

A) Either they had never registered to vote before, although both of them are well over age 18: Ivanka is 34, and Eric is 32, or;

B) They had never registered as Repugnicans.

Mind you, in NY State, one must register at least 25 days before any election in order to be eligible to vote in that election.  So they would have had to register by March 25 to be eligible to vote in the primary. That’s well after Drumph declared his candidacy, and after all of his kids have been “advising” him on his campaign.

Presumably, they have now taken care of the oversight, and will be eligible to vote in the general election.

The very model of a family that takes its citizenship responsibilities seriously, right?

Paul Manafort, the one who wants to make Trump appear “presidential” was questioned by Cayman Island liquidators about $26.2 million that “disappeared” from an account in which Oleg Deripaska invested. Deripasta is a Russian oligarch who was barred from entering the U.S. because he allegedly had ties to organized crime. The money, supposedly for a deal involving a big Ukrainian telecommunications firm, was invested in the Davis Manafort International company. Davis was McCain’s campaign manager in 2008.

Originally, the lawyers for the Cayman Island liquidators said they couldn’t find Manafort: “It appears that Paul Manafort and Rick Gates have simply disappeared,” Deripaska’s lawyers wrote in a petition to the Cayman Islands court filed in Dec. 4, 2014. “Deripaska’s lawyers had alleged that Manafort and another of his business partners, Rick Gates (who also recently went to work for the Trump campaign), had failed to respond to repeated requests for audit reports or any other information about the Ukrainian investment funds put out by Deripaska.”

Now, Manafort’s lawyer said he was deposed by the Cayman Island liquidators in Virginia a few months ago, but the matter is still pending in the Cayman Islands, so of course the lawyer wouldn’t say anything more.

Manafort had been the political consultant to Victor Yanukovych, the corrupt former president of the Ukraine. During that period and since, he’s had dealings with a number of Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs, many involving accounts in the Cayman Islands, Panama, Cyprus, and other tax-sheltering locations. In fact, the former Ukranian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Yanukovych’s rival, sued Manafort in a NY court. The suit alleged that Manafort’s business deals were part of a “racketeering” scheme to launder hundreds of millions of dollars through a “labyrinth” of companies owned by a Ukrainian pro-Putin oligarch named Dimitri Firtash. (The suit was tossed out because of lack of jurisdiction.)

Apparently, this is just the tip of the iceberg concerning Manafort’s dealings with shady Russian oligarchs.

See: Trump’s campaign chief is questioned about ties to Russian billionaire

So much for Drumph’s prowess as a business man. Wouldn’t the first order of any business be to vet new employees?

I think that this story will have more developments soon, and will try to keep an eye on this one.

Only six months ago, in January, Trump was trying to get traction on getting Cruz disqualified from running for president because he was born in Canada. In an interview with the Washington Post, Trump said Cruz’s Canadian birth could be ‘very precarious’ for the GOP.

“Republicans are going to have to ask themselves the question: ‘Do we want a candidate who could be tied up in court for two years?’ That’d be a big problem,” Trump said…. “It’d be a very precarious one for Republicans because he’d be running and the courts may take a long time to make a decision. You don’t want to be running and have that kind of thing over your head.”

Trump University is facing not one but two class action suits, one of which may entail Federal RICO charges. Trump may even be forced to testify.

It’s a good bet that these cases will continue for a minimum of two more years; they’ve been going on for at least two years. 

In addition, the NY State Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, filed a law suit in 2013, for the fraud perpetrated by Trump University.  2013 was long before Trump declared himself a candidate. This had nothing to do with politics; Schneiderman’s a great AG, and really cares about NY’s citizens. In March, a state Court of Appeals panel allowed the suit to go forward. Schneiderman has expressed outrage over Trump’s blatant fraud, and has vowed to go forward with the case. He himself, however, notes that it won’t be finished before election day.

Nor is that the only case that Trump is involved in at this very moment. Only last week, it was announced that Trump filed suit against ex-campaign consultant Sam Nunberg for ten million dollars for breaching a non-disclosure agreement. Guess this is Trump’s unique fund-raising method, since the big-money Republicans aren’t contributing to his campaign.

At any rate, this case, too, is sure to run for months, if not years.

So, Republicans have to ask themselves whether they want to back a candidate who’s running while legal actions , including federal, state and civil suits, are hanging over his head.

Whadya think — disqualifies Trump, no?

When is exposure of e-mails not a good thing?

When it exposes to the world private information, and puts hundreds of thousands of lives in danger — for no reason.

We all agree that unrestrained, unlimited and uncensored use of the internet is a good thing. People may have differing views of Snowden’s act, and many admire his bravery and that of the people behind Wikileaks. By contrast, no one likes the idea that the credit-card information and data bases of Citibank and Capitol One, Target and Home Depot — and who knows how many other companies — were hacked. That can result in major money theft and worse, identity theft.

But such hacks usually don’t put lives in danger.

It took Wikileaks to do so.

I just read this in Salon, and have to pass it on. What if the GOP front runner ... [is] unwell? 

It takes a while for the author, Prof. Sophia McClennan, Professor of International Affairs and Comparative Literature at Penn. State, to get to the point. But she quotes the Alzheimer’s Association, that if “two of the ...[listed] core mental functions seem impaired, medical help should be sought.” The core functions: “Memory, communication and language, ability to focus and pay attention, reasoning and judgment, visual perception. Alzheimer’s carries other symptoms besides memory loss including: difficulty remembering newly learned information, disorientation, mood and behavior changes; deepening confusion about events, time and place; unfounded suspicions about family, friends and professional caregivers; more serious memory loss and behavior changes.” Among other things, she points out Trump’s poor grammar and speech patterns, and numerous examples of his ignorance of basic facts, including ones I hadn’t read of before e.g. that he wanted to bring Joe Paterno back to Penn State, even though Paterno died in 2012. Despite the length, I urge people to read the article.

I have personal experience with Alzheimer's: for the last year and 4 years, respectively, of my mother’s and father's lives, I took care of them. Both of them died of Alzeheimer's. Before they required help, they were both widely read, knowledgeable, involved, extremely liberal people who were very well-respected; they both had responsible positions before their retirement. (When it was announced that Reagan was suffering from Alzheimer’s, my mother and I looked at each other and at the same instant, said, “How can they tell?” and we all laughed. Little did we know then….) My parents exhibited many of the lesser-known symptoms described above, but one of the salient features was, for the most part, that their own personalities and characteristics got more extreme. My mother, for example, had a very biting sense of humor and was “assertive” all her life. By the last year, that assertiveness had turned into frequently violent aggression, and her statements had more bite and less humor.

If McClennan's suggestion is true, and she makes a fairly convincing case, I would go a step further: that Trump does have Narcissist Personality Disorder, aggravated by the beginnings of Alzheimer's. Furthermore, one of the symptoms that are not listed, is that normal sleep patterns are disrupted. As we know, Trump boasts of needing very little sleep, and we see his tweets from all hours of the night.

The “doctor's note " that the campaign had issued was, as we know, off the wall. Maybe his family, if they truly care about him, should have him examined by a qualified neurologist who is experienced with Alzheimer’s patients.

Re: Elizabeth Warren’s tweet, that Trump is “… a pathetic coward….”, we have this from Occupied Democrats: Warren responds to Trump's death threats

“Trump’s notoriously insecure and misogynistic towards women. So much so that his ex-wife, Marla Maples, never saw  The Donald naked according to a 1993 biography, “The Lost Tycoon.” The book’s author Harry Hurt wrote of Maples, “She has never seen him completely naked—at least almost never—because he won’t let her. Whenever they’re about to have sex, he makes her go into the bathroom while he gets undressed. As soon as he takes off his clothes, he jumps into the bed and pulls up the covers. She knows that he’s ashamed to show her what a flabby old body he has.”

“Does this sound like the behavior of a man who would ask his supporters to shoot Hillary Clinton? Absolutely. Sen. Warren hit the bulls eye squarely in her dissection of his behavior. Trump has always been, and will always be, a pathetic coward.”

‘Nuf said.

ALSO: he apparently doesn’t want to be Vice President after all.

I had to make sure the article in today’s Huff Post wasn’t written by the Onion. Pence Doesn't Want to Be Called Vice Presidential Candidate.

Due to religious scruples, Pence doesn’t want to be called the Vice Presidential candidate, because the Bible apparently defines vice as “wicked” and “evil” (if the shoe fits). [BTW, as a Hebrew speaker, I must remind everyone that the Bible wasn’t originally written in English, not even the New Testament. And AFAIK, there is no one-word translation of vice in Hebrew.]

But the kicker came when he “...was asked during his press conference if he condemned the word “vice” on Christian principles, why then didn’t he condemn the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist organization, that openly participates in immoral and wicked behavior?

That’s why all his screws are loose, and he has parts the purpose of which he doesn’t know.

(With thanks to the Israeli genius who originally wrote it about Bibi and his bizarro Minister of Culture.)

WaPo just headlined its breaking news: Trump won’t drop out of race.

As I wrote in a comment a few minutes ago, his ego won’t let him: “I’ve never withdrawn in my life.”

I suggest y’all just read the whole article: Trump Vows Never to Withdraw

It’s gonna get worse for him: 2 women have come forward, one by name, cf. Kristof’s article in the NYTimes, CNN anchor’s reference. There will be more.

Stay tuned.

:-)

From my extremely talented spouse. Obviously to the tune of “Mademoiselle from Armentières", better known as Hinky Dinky Parlez Vous

Humpty Dumpty Trump, Resign!

© Sharon Neeman 2017

The first one out was Sally Yates – Trump, resign!

The first one out was Sally Yates – Trump, resign!

The first one out was Sally Yates,

Who wouldn’t hate people from Muslim states –

Humpty Dumpty Trump, resign!

The second one out was Michael Flynn – Trump, resign!

The second one out was Michael Flynn – Trump, resign!

The second one out was Michael Flynn,

Whose lies about Russia caused negative spin –

Humpty Dumpty Trump, resign!

The third one out was Angella Reid – Trump, resign!

The third one out was Angella Reid – Trump, resign!

The third one out was Angella Reid –

Chief Usher and female? A crime, indeed!

Humpty Dumpty Trump, resign!

The fourth one out was Comey James – Trump, resign!

The fourth one out was Comey James – Trump, resign!

The fourth one out was Comey James –

But was it for emails, or other games?

Humpty Dumpty Trump, resign!

The fifth one out was Walter Shaub – Trump, resign!

The fifth one out was Walter Shaub – Trump, resign!

The fifth one out was Walter Shaub,

Who chose to stay honest and leave his job –

Humpty Dumpty Trump, resign!

The sixth one out was Spicer Sean – Trump, resign!

The sixth one out was Spicer Sean – Trump, resign!

The sixth one out was Spicer Sean,

Who wanted no Scars on the White House lawn –

Humpty Dumpty Trump, resign!

The seventh one out was Priebus Reince – Trump, resign!

The seventh one out was Priebus Reince – Trump, resign!

The seventh one out was Priebus Reince

(Did he get booted, or did he resignce?) –

Humpty Dumpty Trump, resign!

The eighth one out was Tony Scar – Trump, resign!

The eighth one out was Tony Scar – Trump, resign!

The eighth one out was Tony Scar,

A nine-days’ wonder who went too far –

Humpty Dumpty Trump, resign!

The ninth one out was Bannon Steve – Trump, resign!

The ninth one out was Bannon Steve – Trump, resign!

The ninth one out was Bannon Steve;

He’s gone with hardly a soul to grieve –

Humpty Dumpty Trump, resign!

Who’ll be the tenth to fall off the shelf – Trump, resign!

Who’ll be the tenth to fall off the shelf – Trump, resign!

Who’ll be the tenth to fall off the shelf?

Oh, please let it be 45 himself –

HUMPTY DUMPTY TRUMP, RESIGN!

A pedophile was arrested at Sydney Airport, as he attempted to fly out of Australia, under laws that went into effect the same day that prevent registered child sex offenders from traveling overseas to abuse children.

Visiting Sydney Airport this morning, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the laws gave her the authority to deny a passport to a child sex offender, cancel existing passports, or order the surrender of a foreign passport.

“Registered child sex offenders have reporting obligations in Australia because of the ongoing risk that they present to children in Australia, but we are aware that they have a high propensity to re-offend if they are in the country where they not monitored and where child sex exploitation is rampant,” Ms Bishop said.

“These laws are designed to protect children at home and abroad.”

The laws are part of an array of proposed legislation, to ensure that pedophiles serve serious prison time, don’t get let out on bail or early parole, and are continually monitored after their release from prison. According to the Australian Justice Minister, the laws constitute the first efforts to crack down on child sex tourism anywhere in the world. Given the fact that many countries in Southeast Asia have minimal or non-existent laws against child sex abuse, or don’t enforce the laws if they do exist, the Australians felt it was their responsibility to prevent child sex abuse abroad by Australians. 

Australia is only half a world away geographically, but it’s a world ahead of the U.S. in this and other matters.

A case in point: gun control. In 1996, a 28-year old man killed 35 people and wounded 18 others in what was called the Port Arthur Massacre. Within two weeks (!), all of the states in Australia immediately passed the identical gun laws banning semi-automatic rifles and shotguns, and making it more difficult to purchase weapons. The newly banned weapons were bought back by the government and then destroyed. Thousands of people handed in non-banned weapons. In all, over  700 000 guns were removed and destroyed.

Australia's revised gun laws also required that all firearms be individually registered to their licensed owners, that private firearm sales be prohibited and that each gun transfer through a licensed arms dealer be approved only after the police are satisfied of a genuine reason for ownership. Possession of firearms for self‐defense in Australia is specifically prohibited. The federal government restricts gun imports. In 2002, additional laws were enacted, limiting magazine to 10-round capacities, limiting barrel length and bullet caliber.

There have not been any mass murders in Australia since 1996, although in 2002, a mentally ill student killed two students and injured five others with illegally obtained weapons.

The homicide (murder and manslaughter) rate is down significantly, as are the suicide rates.

So, Australia, with its live-and-let-live ethos, is safer and more protective of its children than is the U.S., and particularly the heavily “Christian”, evangelical states. 

In other words, there are solutions, if our politicians would address our national problems, and put solving them above their narrow, personal and political interests. It should be noted that the Prime Minister who pushed for the laws in 1996 and his Deputy, who was nationally associated with them, were vilified after the laws were passed, and their party lost 12 seats in the next election. Nevertheless, the Prime Minister was re-elected four times, and became the second-longest serving PM in Australian history; the Deputy also had a long, distinguished career in government.

Australia: a highly civilized, responsible country.

As everybody knows by now, Chair of the Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerry Nadler, issued requests for documents from 81 entities and individuals. The requests were accompanied by a threat — or promise — of subpoenas if the documents were not forthcoming.

Talking Points Memo has done us all a service, and broke down the requests by the subject of the investigation. For those who subscribe, here’s the link: TPM's Comprehensive Guide.

I highly recommend subscribing for those who can afford to. The guide is behind a pay wall, so keeping in mind fair use rules, I’ll try to summarize just the subjects that they want to investigate, without — as I originally planned — listing everyone. I’m also using some shorthand: I assume that everyone reading this knows the names of the entities involved, i.e. “the usual suspects”.  ;-)

TPM’s introductory paragraphs succinctly summarize things:

“When taken together, the separate areas of inquiry portray a range of wrongdoing that’s breathtaking in its scope. …

From Michael Flynn’s time as national security adviser at the beginning of the Trump administration to varied allegations of pay-for-play between foreign officials and the White House, House investigators are homing in on allegations of self-dealing, obstruction of justice, and abuse of power at the highest levels of American government. Other, less-scrutinized episodes appear to be squarely within their crosshairs.”…

The subjects:

 * To determine whether Flynn’s appointment in the WH was part of the conspiracy with Russia, or the beginning of attempts to obstruct investigation therein.

* Attempts to influence Comey’s investigation of Flynn, and Comey’s firing. They’re also specifically asking about surreptitious recordings and discussions about invoking the 25th Amendment — including from Kushner, although notably, Rosenstein is not on the list.

* Attempts to fire Sessions and communications about his recusal.

* Potential pardons of Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Michael Flynn, and Rick Gates, which speaks to obstruction of justice. The four are asked to provide communications about potential pardons, and a number of others are asked to provide documents as well.

* Why Whittaker — a hot tub salesman —  was appointed as Acting AG, and attempts to get Berman, who had recused himself, put in charge of the Cohen investigation in the Southern District of NY.

* Michael Cohen’s admittedly false testimony to the House Intelligence Committee — whether Trump directed Cohen to lie, i.e. supporting or shooting down Buzzfeed’s report

* Contacts between the campaign and Russian Officials

* Russian financing for the campaign, the Trump Org. the Trump family, including Kushner and his family business. They’re looking at apartment purchases as means of money-laundering.

* Attempts to build the Moscow Trump Tower during the campaign.

* The meeting in June, 2016, in Trump Tower NY, enthusiastically arranged with Don Jr.;  the statement(s) made afterward, ostensibly by Jr.

* Contact between Wikileaks and the Campaign.

* Sharing or receiving data with/from foreign countries during the campaign. (Manafort and Cambridge Analytica).

* Manafort’s and Gates’ contact with Ukrainian oligarchs, and perhaps a Russian spy, during the campaign.

* What negotiations were going on with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, and Russia, during the campaign and the transition. That includes info. about the meeting in the Seychelles between Erik Prince, a Russian rep. and the UAE crown prince.

* Hush money payments and catch-and-kill.

* Michael Cohen’s million dollar deal with Columbus Nova, owned by Andrew Intrater and his cousin, Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.

* Where did the inaugural committee get the over $100 million, i.e. were foreigners amongst the contributors?

* Emoluments.

* The change in the Republican Party’s platform regarding Ukraine, at the behest of the Trump campaign.

* The contents of Trump’s off-camera and off-record meetings with Putin.

* Possible deal to lift sanctions imposed on Russia.

Whew! As I say, Josh Marshall and his staff at TPM are amazing, and have  done us all a real service.  Please try to support him if you can. I have no personal connection to him or anyone there, I just appreciate really hard work and excellent analyses. 

Language frames the way that we think about issues. The language that we, lawmakers, journalists and pundits, and citizens, use ipso facto defines the way we relate to an issue.

Take the multi-headed issue that Drumph has created; even well-meaning people fall into the trap of calling undocumented people “illegals”. But the linguistic framing goes deeper. The word “migrants” implies a choice. Yes, many of those crossing the U.S.’s southern border are migrants, pulled by the hope of better lives, better educations and environments for their children. 

But so many more are really refugees, fleeing murderous gang wars, violent crime, and yes, such harsh economic environments that they create untenable living conditions.

After WWII, when the full horrors of what the Nazis had done in Europe became widely known, the U.S. finally let in some Holocaust survivors. They were called “refugees”, (the word Holocaust hadn’t yet been adopted) and the general public looked more kindly on them, tried to help them, and made allowances for sometimes apparently strange behavior. For the most part, they were hard-working, contributed to the country, and one or two generations later, their educated children are professionals or business people, further contributing to the country.

I suggest that we start calling the new wave of people coming to our country refugees, rather than migrants, undocumented immigrants, or any variation thereof. People escaping from the violence of gang and drug wars are as much refugees as are those escaping from civil wars in Africa and going to Europe — and they, too, should be called refugees. As has been the case with previous refugees, and the Dreamers today, they are hardworking, striving for educations and better lives, and will contribute to the economy and well-being of the U.S. 

Let’s start the ball rolling.

A gathering of Covidiots is called a Covfefe.

My spouse and I had our second vaccination yesterday, and I'd like to share a bit of the experience with you. I apologize ahead of time for its length.

First, some background: Even before Israel was first founded, the socialist-oriented immigrants from Eastern Europe and Russia established a union, which in turn built factories for its members to work in, construction companies, etc. which I find to be hilarious. Among the perks for the union members was a "sick fund"; medical services were provided in clinics by the sick fund, with no out-of-pocket costs, except for tiny co-payments for medications. Over the years, the clinics and services got more sophisticated, and the sick fund built entire hospitals, as did the government and non-profits like Hadassah, St. Vincent DePaul, Augusta Victoria, etc. Other sick funds were established; they're really like pre-paid HMOs/group practices (similar to H.I.P. in NY, Kaiser Permanente in CA).

Fast forward several decades. Medical costs were spiraling, the union and the other sick funds were running deficits. The government re-organized the entire health system, removed the link between the union and its sick fund, and made all payments to one's sick fund part of the compulsory deductible for National Insurance (Israel's social security). Employers pay two-thirds of cost, employees pay one-third of the cost; the self-employed like my spouse and I pay 100%. One can choose one's sick fund, and transfer between them, but everyone is required to join one, and the sick funds are prohibited from denying membership to any Israeli. All four of the sick funds are required by the government to provide a basic "basket of services", which is fairly comprehensive. The former union sick fund, Clalit, or General Sick Fund, has by far the largest number of patients, and provides services in offices, clinics, specialty clinics and hospitals literally throughout the country, in small places like kibbutzes and villages as well as in towns and cities.

Everything is computerized, and most of one's records, while carefully kept private, are accessible to other health providers with the patient's signed permission. Every member has a magnetic card, and swipes it upon arrival at the medical center/clinic/pharmacy. The computer knows if you have an appt., and gives you a number. If not, it gives you the choice of the receptionists or nurses, neither of which require appointments, of course.

Obviously, when Israel embarked on its vaccination campaign last month, the government set up the delivery systems and the protocols through the sick funds. A government Corona advisory committee recommended the guidelines, and the government adopted them. The procedures were disseminated on all media: TV, radio, digital…. The first tranche of people included all medical personnel and those potentially in touch with Covid-19 patients, e.g. hospital orderlies; people over 60; those suffering from chronic illnesses and health conditions; nursing home residents and staffs, and teachers. Notably, all spouses, care-givers and any other adults living in the households of those eligible were also eligible. My spouse and I received IMs from our General Sick Fund, as did everyone eligible, telling us to call or register on-line for the first vaccination, with the number and links. My spouse undertook to make the appointments. Having heard from friends about the long wait time on their call systems, some of which crashed, as did the sites, she waited until the second day to register. We were going out of town for my spouse's hydrotherapy that Thursday, so she tried to get an appointment in that town first, but nothing was available there for weeks. The earliest vaccinations in any other nearby city or town was a week or two later. What was available that Thursday, December 24^th, was in the Arab city of Nazareth. Yes, that Nazareth; 31% of the residents are Christian, and the rest Muslim.

We always leave extra time to get somewhere we've never been, especially with unforeseen traffic problems. Because of Corona, inter-city traffic was light, until we got to the city itself. Traffic there, as expected, was heavy, but it gave us a chance to enjoy the Christmas decorations. Nevertheless, we ended up getting there more than an hour early. Having come in from the parking lot, we followed the new signs in Hebrew that had been added to the Arabic ones, found the lobby, a computer station for patient use, and one of us swiped our card – but everything on the screen came up in Arabic! Unfortunately, although we're translators, Arabic is not one of the languages we know. A gentleman immediately approached. I use that word because it fits him: impeccably  dressed in a suit and tie, unusual in Israel, his demeanor was that of a gentleman. He asked us in perfect, unaccented Hebrew, if we had an appointment. When we answered affirmatively, he touched the correct on-screen box, but was puzzled by the result. We swiped the other card, he touched the screen, same result. Turned out that the station in the lobby was only programmed to issue numbers for appointments in the next hour. So he directed us to the receptionists' desk a few feet away, wishing us good health. A young man smilingly took our cards, gave us our numbers, and also in perfect Hebrew, directed us to the room where the vaccinations were being given, wishing us good health. If we were in doubt about his directions, signs in Hebrew and Arabic directed us down four steps, and to a corridor lined with chairs that doubled as a waiting room. A stern looking but friendly and extremely helpful security guard helped people find seats, and called out the numbers from inside the room.

We were there barely 10 minutes – still an hour before our scheduled appointment – and we were called in. If two people were together, as we were, they were called in together. Curtains screened off several cubicles, and we were directed to one of them. The Muslim nurse, whose name we unfortunately never got, took our cards, swiped her computer, asked all the questions necessary, e.g. did we have coughs, temperatures, allergies with anaphylactic reactions, had we had Covid, been in quarantine because of exposure to anyone who tested positive, gotten tested ourselves…. My spouse had been tested in the summer, when she had the regular flu. We managed to get a little humor into the exchange. Then she explained the procedure, asked which arm we wanted it in, jabbed us, and printed out the certification that we'd gotten the first vaccination. She instructed us to wait in the corridor for 15 minutes, then go up and make an appointment for three weeks later.

After waiting, we returned to the same nice young man. There were no appointments available exactly three weeks from then, i.e. on Thursday. He said we could come in anyway, and wait and 'squeeze in', but after all the hassles that my mother had had with people who tried to do that when she was a medical assistant, we wouldn't. So we made the appointment for the following day, a Friday, January 15^th. By this time, it was already after six p.m. – on Christmas Eve! And although the sick fund's hours are usually until 7:00 p.m., they'd extended the hours to 8:00 p.m., because of the vaccinations. Obviously Christian, the young man was touched when we wished him a happy holiday (most Israelis aren't even aware of Christmas) and remarked that everyone there was working so hard and late on their holiday. He wistfully said, "Yes, it's our holiday tonight", and printed out the form with the appointment.

Yesterday, three weeks later, we went back for our second vaccination. In the interim, cases here have increased significantly, and the entire country has gone into lockdown – or at least, that's what has been mandated. Many people are still bending the rules and breaking the laws. In efforts to stem the spread, the police have been setting up roadblocks and checking people's reasons for traveling. The roadblocks have narrowed even highways to one-lane crawls, and have snarled urban transportation more than usual. And Friday is the day that many working families do their grocery shopping.

We left plenty of time to take the roadblocks into account. We passed one where the lane was still closed, but they were beginning to take it down, and no one checked us. Another one, in Nazareth, was only a few blocks away from the clinic, and I noticed someone in a car two cars ahead of us holding up their appointment printout. We did the same, and the policeman just nodded and waved us through.

Traffic near the clinic always seems to be crawling, and today was no exception. This time, the parking lot was jammed, and we parked in a small private lot across the street. Although the sign said 20 shekels for the first hour, and 5 for every quarter hour after that, when I paid my 20 shekels, the man who took my money said that I could park there all day for the 20. We said – and it was obvious – that we were going for the vaccinations, and would return before the hour was over, but why the discount? He said it was out of respect, that I deserved it(!) When I asked him how he knew, he said it was because of my white hair, and we all laughed.

Our appointments were for 11:30 and 11:40; we were still about 30 minutes early. This time, I was able to get my number immediately; they'd added some Hebrew to the screen, and I just touched it to get my number. For some reason, my spouse's screen was mostly in Arabic, but she managed to get hers, without anyone else helping as well.

We walked down the four steps to the corridor, and were looking around for a seat for my spouse, and they called my number! We both went in, got asked some more questions along the same lines, and particularly if we'd had any reaction to the first shot, (our only reactions were mildly sore arms, like a flu shot) and then were given the vaccination in the arm of our choice. She printed out our temporary "green passport", explaining that we'd get the permanent one from the Ministry of Health, which was automatically informed by the computer. When we walked out, our phones dinged, and while we waited the obligatory 15 minutes, we read our IMs. They were from the sick fund, congratulating us on getting the second vaccine, that they'd informed the Ministry of Health, which would send us our green passport, and in the meantime, we could download a temporary one, with the link. The message timed in at 11:16!!

The icing on the cake was at the parking lot again, which I think is really this man's backyard that he set up as a parking lot. Getting back to the car, I noticed a small sign on an olive tree near the car:     Don't Forget to Help [in Hebrew].      

[I can’t seem to be able to add the picture here. Sorry.]

When he saw me taking a picture of it, the man came over and explained that the district police department, where he works, had asked him to make one for each of the precincts – he'd made 36 of them. He had two extras hanging on the fence. We spoke about the terrific staff at the sick fund, and he pointed out that, unlike in Jewish communities, they work Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays! IOW, they're open seven days a week. We wished each other a good weekend and left.

Amazing experience all around. And we feel much, much more secure, although masks are still de rigueur for the next several weeks. On Thursday, the government announced that 2 million Israelis have already gotten the first round of vaccinations; with a population of 6,552,000 adults over the age of 14, that's almost a third of the adult population. The over 40s should start getting their shots next week.

As most people know, Israel had the fastest vaccination rate in the world, with more than 60% of adults vaccinated already, and the newly allowed 12-16 year old cohort getting their vaccinations. So, Israel gradually reduced restrictions, and we went back to normal lives this month.

That includes vacation travel. Israel is a small country, and only two of our four bordering countries are not officially at war with us, so many people travel abroad. And some, even those vaccinated, are coming back and testing positive for Covid-19. Most of the people who test positive are kids under the age of 12 who haven’t been vaccinated, and are rapidly spreading it to their classmates (we extended school to make up for lost Covid time). But some are adults, and some of those have been vaccinated; they can apparently serve as vectors, although that’s still being investigated. Half of both children and adults have symptoms.

We have a “traffic light” system of designating towns and cities, and one town of some 21,000 people, only about five miles from my town, has been designated red, and at least 2,000 people there are under quarantine. The children of one elementary school in my town are in quarantine, and the school shut down because a teacher came down with Covid. The reports don’t say if she had been vaccinated or not, but most people in my town are.

Foreign tourism, a major source of Israel’s income, which was already beginning, has been halted, and will only begin on Aug. 1. My prediction is that it may be delayed even more, depending on the situation. Twelve thousand Israelis who returned from abroad are in quarantine, and police are going to their homes to verify that they’re staying there. Heavy fines are being levied on each individual if they’re not maintaining quarantine. That includes children — their parents have to pay.

We’ve had over 100 new cases per day for the last four days, and 187 just yesterday. That may seem like a drop in the bucket to Americans, but we were down to low double digits, even under 20 new cases per day, before this. Wearing masks indoors is highly recommended, and will probably be required again starting at the beginning of next week. Many places require them anyway; it’s not a political issue here, so no one challenges it in venues requiring masks, like stores, post offices, clinics or banks. At the supermarket on Wednesday, I saw many people, myself included, wearing them voluntarily. The entire staff did. 

In short, we thought it was behind us. It’s not. The government did spring into action, and we’re trying to avoid another wave, without drastic measures, i.e. another national lockdown, or even towns/cities getting locked down.

Clearly, Pfizer’s vaccination is not as effective against the Delta variant as they have said. Apparently, symptoms aren’t as bad in those who are vaccinated, and hospitalizations don’t seem to have spiked, although the rate is increasing gradually.

Don’t get me wrong. I believe in the science of the vaccinations, and my spouse and I were among the first in the country to be vaccinated, the second week vaccines were available, in our case on Christmas eve, 2020. (We’re both over 65, the first tranche to be eligible.) But I don’t think that the vaccine is that effective against the Delta variant, and much as we hate it, I think we need to go back to many of our precautions — wearing masks, staying 6 ft (2 meters) apart, reducing contact with strangers as much as possible. 

So, be cautious y’all. And have a good, safe and healthy weekend.

This was translated by reliable, trustworthy Ukranians, one of whom I know. Please, read and distribute. Note: Translators’ notes are in parentheses. — Marsharon