Memes for President's Day!

Today is President's Day, and today we would like to "honor" (to use the term VERY loosely), our two new Co-Presidents:  Elon Musk and Vladimir Putin, along with their orange lapdog puppet that they thoroughly own now:

"Roman" Hands:

Russian Fingers:

It's Official. America's New Dark Age Has Now Begun In Earnest.

Well, it's finally official.  America's new dark age has begun.  President Muskrat and his orange puppet and their cronies have taken over, and they basically hold all of the cards now that all three branches of the federal government are doing their bidding.  The ONE thing they lack is a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, having less than 60 seats, but that is not much consolation.  Especially given how utterly obsequious practically everyone even remotely in Trump's orbit has been lately.  I mean, in the previous several months, Congress couldn't even manage to get the No Kings Act passed, which would have limited Trump's power.

Trump wasted no time with his executive pen on Days 1 and 2 of his second term.  From pardoning January 6th insurrectionists to cracking down at the border (and attempting mass deportations) to unconstitutionally attempting to end birthright citizenship (!) to pulling out of the Paris climate accords and pulling out of the WHO to rescinding many of Biden's executive orders, to so many other things.  Some of the things he is doing are already facing pushback and/or legal challenges which can tie things up for a while, while other things can have near-immediate impacts, mostly negative and often very negative indeed.  And other things are just plain silly, like him renaming the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America", for example.

And they're just getting warmed up!

Oh, and by the way, did you see Muskrat giving...wait for it...what looked suspiciously like a Nazi salute (sorry, "Roman" salute), not once, but twice in a row to the innauseation crowd?  If it quacks like a duck....

(Remember, the road to fascism is invariably paved with, "Calm down, you're overreacting!", followed by, "Meh, I wasn't really using my civil rights anyway".)

January 20, 2025 will very likely go down in history as "the day that democracy died".  But to be brutally honest, it has been on life support for quite a while now, and now the plug has finally been pulled.  America has long been an oligarchy, and is now a full-blown plutocracy and kleptocracy without any semblance of shame or any attempt to disguise it any longer.  And with increasingly neo-fascist leanings too.

This is, sadly, to be expected in a society that has become so desensitized that it has clearly forgotten how to shudder.

One can only hope that it's always darkest before the dawn.  But after seeing so many false dawns in the past, that outlook has gotten rather, well, darker lately.

Winter is coming, in more ways than one.  The winter of our discontent, that is.  And actually, it's already here now. 

R.I.P. Net Neutrality, Again

Well, it's official.  Net Neutrality has been struck down by the 6th Circuit US Court of Appeals on January 2, 2025.  While Big Tech, and Big Business in general, are celebrating this as a victory and salivating like a Pavlov's Dog, make no mistake, this is a major loss for We the People.  Now internet service providers can rig the internet in favor some people or entities over others via blocking access or varying speeds as "fast and slow lanes".  Gee, what could possibly go wrong?

(Meanwhile, at the same time, various vain and illiberal attempts to "childproof" the internet with mandatory age verification have met with varying degrees of legal success.)

2025 seems to be starting out on the wrong foot already, and of course the new dark age will begin in earnest on January 20, 2025 when Trump is re-inaugurated as President of the United States.  All with his puppet master Muskrat, the richest person in the world (and in literally all of recorded history) pulling his strings.  Grifters gonna graft, believe me.

We will admit, while we at the TSAP have always loathed Trump, a few years ago, we thought that Muskrat was a real-life Tony Stark.  Now it is obvious that he is more like Doctor Octopus on ketamine, only worse.  And Trump?  Well, he is more like Ganondorf, the villain from the Legend of Zelda series.  And the current moment in history is reminiscent of the part of Ocarina of Time when Ganondorf snuck in and took over, casting Hyrule into a new and horrible dark age.  Like Ganondorf, King Of Evil, Trump is the epitome of toxic masculinity, while Link the hero is the epitome of TONIC masculinity.  Unfortunately at this juncture in the real world, Link seems to be nowhere to be found these days, and Kamala Harris, the closest equivalent to Princess Zelda, will be out of power completely as VP on January 20.  

Buckle up, as we are in for a VERY wild ride!

Was The Election Hacked? Maybe

DISCLAIMER:  (*holds nose while typing this*) All people named in the following article and comments shall be presumed innocent until proven guilty.  

(H/T to Rachel Donald, whose Substack article on the same topic I am citing for this article below.)

There is a theory making the rounds lately online, namely, that the 2024 presidential election was allegedly hacked in favor of Trump, presumably by his buddy Elon Musk.  In fact, some cybersecurity experts agree, and have sounded the alarm in that regard.  And there are indeed some notable irregularities that have been observed.

First of all, the very fact that Trump won ALL SEVEN swing states in itself strains credulity, seeing as how historically unusual that is.  Such a massive sweep should ring alarm bells as too good to be true.

But the most crucial issue this time is the unusually high percentage of "bullet ballots", that is, ballots in which the president section was filled out but the rest of the ballot was left blank.  Typically, including in the last two presidential elections, that percentage hovers around 1% or less.  And in the non-swing states, that same pattern remained true.  But in the seven swing states, the "bullet ballot" percentage greatly exceeded that (often off the charts) for Trump ballots, with the highest being 11% in North Carolina.  And the biggest tell of all:  it wasn't evenly distributed either, but rather heavily concentrated in only some localities.

(Voting only for president and nothing else, especially in a year where hot-button issues were on the ballot as initiatives and referenda in several states, is anomalous to say the least.  And that it would occur so unevenly skewed and off the charts is suspicious.)

In other words, it sure seems like something is rotten in the states of Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. 

I smell a (Musk) rat.  There are a number of ways in which such an alleged hack could have happened, and all were indeed possible.  Either way, it looks likely that a non-trivial number of Trump ballots may very well never have even existed at all.

No wonder Trump, Musk, and the rest of the insiders in their orbit were so smug in the days and weeks leading up to the election, let alone afterwards:  they must have known on some level that the fix was in. 

All of this can be very easily debunked, of course, if a hand recount was done in all seven swing states.  But of course, neither Musk nor Trump nor anyone in their orbit will allow that.  Since the totals were just above the margin where such a recount would be required by law, no one will do it unless the Democrats (or others) fight for it. And unfortunately, we all know that most people are too lazy and chickenshit to do it, especially against the richest person in the world and his orange menace buddy, both of whom are known to be very spiteful. 

Indeed, Musk himself threatened to use the "Hammer of Justice" against those who spread such a theory in a post on his very own social media platform, X (formerly Twitter).  Natch.  Is that a promise, Elon?

True, there is no actual proof, not yet.  And we shouldn't pretend there is.  But the evidence thus far is highly suggestive that something isn't quite right with the numbers, and thus all the more reason to investigate, even if only to put this all to rest.

FINAL THOUGHT:  I will concede that this outcome, cheating or not, would not have even been possible at all in anything even approaching a healthy society.  Granted.  And yes, the mainstream Dems leave a LOT to be desired, to put it nicely.  But the Substack article, and the cybersecurity experts that the author cites, still make excellent points.  I still smell a Musk rat.

The Generation Who Failed

Recently, I realized what my greatest disappointment of all really is right now, and that is at my own generation, the Elder Millennials, or whatever we call ourselves this week.  We were supposed to be the generation who saved the world.  And we had every chance to do so, and we blew it big time.  No wonder we look like we haven't aged very much if at all:  just like vampires, we sold our souls long ago.  

We failed to stop the Bush/Cheney warmongering.  We let the once-promising Occupy movement fall by the wayside.  We failed to stop Trump the first time.  We fell for the Covid lockdown, mask, and jab nonsense and leaned heavily into it, instead of either adopting the "flu strategy" or perhaps grounding only our parents and grandparents for a brief time as we built herd immunity, which would have saved far more lives in the long run.  We couldn't wait to throw younger Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha under the bus, because "I got mine, screw everyone else".  And now, the majority of us either voted for Trump or third party or not at all, in part because we didn't have the intestinal fortitude to demand years ago that the mainstream Democrats do better.

Oh, and the world is on fire too, both literally and metaphorically.  And also metaphysically.

And then we have the GALL to blame it all on our Boomer parents?  Well, the apple sure didn't fall far from the tree!

So to any younger generations reading this, or who will read this in the future, I sincerely apologize for what my generation did and failed to do.  What a "wonderful" world you will be inheriting.

Will future generations ever forgive us?  Because that would be a pretty tall order!

It's Midnight In America

It's midnight in America, and the sun may never rise again.

Well, it's official.  Trump won the 2024 presidential election.  Again.  And this time, we can't blame it on the Electoral College or Russian interference or anything other than We the People.  Or rather, about half of us.  

Only this time around, literally everyone knew what he was all about, and yet so many still voted for him.  So literally NO ONE can credibly claim naivety or ignorance (unless truly willful) this time.  They had an easy out, and yet they chose to go right back to Trump.  They are NOT victims, they are volunteers, often very eager ones, which makes them complicit with the oppressors.  In fact, in the two weeks leading up to Election Day, Trump deliberately darkened his already vile rhetoric even more to get more undecided or apathetic folks off of their couches to go to the polls.

I mean, they literally chose the rapist, racist, misogynistic, convicted felon, lunatic, and insurrectionist candidate over the admittedly imperfect but highly accomplished woman of color candidate, because reasons.  Or they simply didn't vote at all, or they voted third party, because they chose to make the perfect the enemy of the good, and we all ultimately got neither as a result. 

They had ONE job this time, and that was to simply get off the damn couch and cast a secret ballot for Kamala, the only person really standing in the way of Trump, and no one would ever have to know.  And they couldn't even do that!  And now that they have sown the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind!

Unfortunately, ALL of us will.

America is basically dead and done now, and it will truly take a miracle of miracles to be able to transcend this madness and come out the other side in one piece.  Of course, once could argue that America was already slowly dying for quite some time now.  The fact that anywhere near half of the country would even remotely consider voting for Trump in the first place, again, would have been unthinkable in a truly healthy country and society. 

So as the darkness settles in once again, we need to keep all of this in mind.  And once again, we all must #RESIST tyranny of any kind.  If you give them an inch, they will take a mile. 

This November's Election Is For All The Marbles

Listen up, everyone.  Make no mistake, this November's election is for ALL the marbles.  And not just because the Donald has lost his marbles (he lost them long ago), but because the stakes are even higher still this time around.  A vote for Trump (or a vote for any third party candidate, or not voting at all) is effectively a vote for Project 2025, the latest Republican agenda, which would lead America into Margaret Atwood's worst nightmare.  What they are proposing is downright horrifying to say the least!  And it is also a vote for the Trump-Putin-Xi-Kim Axis of Evil as well.  Some may say that this election is essentially a choice between World War III and Civil War 2.0, but we think that Trump winning would make it that much more likely that we will get the two-for-one special, barring a miracle of miracles.

And to those who say that their vote doesn't count because it is rigged and the outcome is predetermined, keep in mind that such a thing really only happens when the election is close, and it becomes that much HARDER to cheat when the election is not close.  We still haven't gone so far down the rabbit hole of kleptocracy that we have full banana republic sham elections--YET.  (Though if Trump wins, he could very easily make that the case in the future.)  And if everyone who was eligible to vote actually voted, Trump (and the Republicans in general) really wouldn't stand a chance.

The lesson that should have been learned in 2016:  if you make the perfect the enemy of the good, we ultimately end up with neither. Seriously. 

P.S.  To all of the young(-ish) Trump supporting men out there who are still smug about Project 2025 because of your gender, race, etc., read the fine print.  One of the things on the agenda is to bring back the military draft.  Seriously.  That means YOU too.  So maybe you might want to reconsider which candidate, and party, you are willing to support.  And to all of the Serena Joy-esque self-hating misogynists out there, who think they personally will be spared, well, remember what ultimately happens to Serena in Atwood's novel.  Don't say you haven't been warned!

Like the song "Freewill" by Rush goes, "if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."

This November's Election Is For All The Marbles

With President Biden officially dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, and VP Kamala Harris the most likely candidate in his place, the 2024 election just got that much more interesting.  This is of course right on the heels of the recent (and mysterious) assassination attempt on Trump (which we condemn, of course), which has apparently elevated him to "martyr" status among his cult-like base.  

Make no mistake, this election is for ALL the marbles.  And not just because the Donald has lost his marbles (he lost them long ago), but because the stakes are even higher still this time around.  A vote for Trump (or a vote for any third party candidate, or not voting at all) is effectively a vote for Project 2025, the latest Republican agenda, which would lead America into Margaret Atwood's worst nightmare.  What they are proposing is downright horrifying to say the least!  And it is also a vote for the Trump-Putin-Xi-Kim Axis of Evil as well.  Some may say that this election is essentially a choice between World War III and Civil War 2.0, but we think that Trump winning would make it that much more likely that we will get the two-for-one special, barring a miracle of miracles.

And to those who say that their vote doesn't count because it is rigged and the outcome is predetermined, keep in mind that such a thing really only happens when the election is close, and it becomes that much HARDER to cheat when the election is not close.  We still haven't gone so far down the rabbit hole of kleptocracy that we have full banana republic sham elections--YET.  (Though if Trump wins, he could very easily make that the case in the future.)  And if everyone who was eligible to vote actually voted, Trump (and the Republicans in general) really wouldn't stand a chance.

The lesson that should have been learned in 2016:  if you make the perfect the enemy of the good, we ultimately end up with neither. Seriously. 

P.S.  To all of the young(-ish) Trump supporting men out there who are still smug about Project 2025 because of your gender, race, etc., read the fine print.  One of the things on the agenda is to bring back the military draft.  Seriously.  That means YOU too.  So maybe you might want to reconsider which candidate, and party, you are willing to support.  And to all of the Serena Joy-esque self-hating misogynists out there, who think they personally will be spared, well, remember what ultimately happens to Serena in Atwood's novel.  Don't say you haven't been warned!

Like the song "Freewill" by Rush goes, "if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."

Trump Is Guilty As Charged

It's official, Trump is GUILTY as charged.  On May 30, 2024, he was found guilty on all 34 counts in the hush-money trial.  That means he is now literally a convicted felon, and the first president in US history, current or former, to have ever been convicted of a felony.  That is, as he would say, "unpresidented".  He will be sentenced on July 11, and can face up to four years in prison, and also have to pay up to $5000 per count, if the judge (hopefully!) decides to give him the maximum sentence.  That's, as he would say YUUUUUGE!  Also, as he would say, Sad!

Of course, his die-hard supporters will see him as a martyr.  LOL.  But hopefully, even if he ends up avoiding prison and somehow still remains on the 2024 ballot, enough of the fence-sitters will be swayed to guarantee that he will lose the election, bigly.  

Believe me.

Smile And Say "Birth Certificate", Donald!

Found this on social media recently.  A picture is worth a thousand words:

Trumpty Dumpty Had A Great Fall

Well, it finally happened today.  The Donald has become the first (former) president to be indicted for a crime.  In his case, the primary charge (possibly a felony) was one related to the infamous Stormy Daniels hush money scheme, of all things.  And he also faces potential charges related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.  It is really NOT looking good for the washed up plutocrat turned reality TV star turned wannabe politician turned wannabe dictator turned disgrace of epic proportions.

All the king's horses and all the king's men, won't be able to put Trumpty together again.  Believe me.

UPDATE:  Trump was arrested and arraigned on April 4, 2023, and charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, and that's just what they have so far.  His next court date is December 4, 2023.  Scratch that, it is the next court date for THESE particular charges.  A civil case against him related to rape allegations is coming up before then on April 25.  Looks like all of that Teflon has finally worn off of the Don for good, and for the first time in his life he is finally being held accountable for something.  

And far from rallying around their fallen idol like they would have in the past, most of his supporters were strangely out to lunch when it happened.

He is rapidly falling away and falling apart now, and it is only going to get worse for him going forward.  Really sucks to be him now.  Sad!  Believe me. 

We Condemn Trump And His Deplorable Fan Club's Insurrection

Today, soon-to-be-ex-president Trump sank to a new low even for him.  He egged on a group of sore-loser stochastic domestic terrorists among his deplorable fan club to storm the U.S. Capitol in a desperate attempt to overturn the legitimate 2020 presidential election results by force.  They rioted, looted, attacked law enforcement and even shot at people, killing at least one.  And Donald even had the GALL to call them "patriots"!  Seriously, I believe there is another word that comes to mind instead--TRAITORS.  Or perhaps BROWNSHIRTS, as in early 1930s Germany.

Unprecedented, or as Donald himself would like to say, "UNPRESIDENTED".  Even his own party has now turned on him.  What them took so long, though?

We wholeheartedly condemn Trump and anyone who participated or encouraged such lawless and reckless behavior.  It was literally terrorism what they did, as well as sedition and insurrection.  All of which are very serious federal felonies, one more thing to add to the ever-growing rap sheet of the Trump Crime Family.  And he needs to be removed via the 25th Amendment yesterday and prosecuted for ALL of his misdeeds.  It will happen in two weeks anyway.

Meanwhile, the Democrats now officially control BOTH houses of Congress thanks to the Georgia runoff election, as well as the presidency starting January 20, 2021.  President-Elect Biden and Vice-President-Elect Kamala Harris will be sworn in, regardless.

As you like to say, Donald, "YOU'RE FIRED!"  Now go clean out your desk and GTFO.  Don't let the door hit you in the arse on the way out, loser.  And your new jumpsuit will match your orange complexion nicely.

You Lost, Donald. Accept it.

Dear Donald J. Trump,

Look, we all know you lost the election despite all of your skulduggery thus far. Not even your crony Postmaster General could save you from humiliating defeat.  You almost had it in the bag, but now it is all slipping away as we speak.  And having the GALL to actually go to court to attempt to stop legitimate ballot counting from continuing just because you aren't getting your way, is NOT a good look for you at all.

NO ONE likes a sore loser, Donald.  Your already tarnished image will only get that much more so if you continue with this infantile tantrum and charade.

On January 20, 2021, Joe Biden will take your place as President of the United States of America, and you will have to step down whether you like it or not.  If you refuse, Biden will just have you escorted off the premises by the Secret Service like they would any trespasser, and perhaps even the men in the white coats will cart you away as well.  In fact, "5150 at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" kinda has a nice ring to it.  You can do it the easy way, or the hard way, so you might as well start cleaning out your desk now.  Sad!

As you famously like to say, "YOU'RE FIRED!"  And don't let the door hit you on the way out, loser.

Sincerely, 

We The People 

UPDATE:  As of November 7, 2020, the election has now been called in favor of Biden.  Even Fox News admits it now, as it can no longer be denied anymore.

Congratulations, President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris!  You did it!

The Electoral College's Dirty Little Secret

Psst....wanna know a dirty little secret about the Electoral College?

As I noted in a previous post back in 2016, one of the reasons the Founders, especially Alexander Hamilton, designed the Electoral College was as a supposed fail-safe to prevent a dangerous and unqualified demagogue (especially one with foreign entanglements) from becoming President of the United States. (The 2016 election most ironically proved otherwise) Hamilton basically laid out the Federalist case for the Electoral College thusly, albeit combined with the sort of sneering elitism that even the most rabid Trump supporters would ironically claim to dislike today.

But there was also a much darker reason behind the creation of the Electoral College.  To put it bluntly, it was explicitly designed to protect--wait for it--SLAVERY.  In fact, that was the only way to get the Anti-Federalists in the southern slave states to sign on to the Constitution at all.  That is why less-populous states get a disproportionately large amount of electoral votes (since slave states often had as many slaves as free citizens and each slave only counted as 3/5 of a person in the census and was not allowed to vote).  And to this day, the Electoral College remains a bastion of white (sorry, "rural") privilege for the same reason.  Not all that surprising, really.

Thus, the Electoral College is obsolete and currently serves no useful purpose anymore.  In fact, the winner-take-all aspect, over and above the small state bias, was the primary reason Trump won the 2016 election despite getting nearly 3 million fewer votes than Hillary, so it actually does more harm than good to this country.  Allocating electoral votes proportionally in each state instead of winner-take-all would go a long way to fixing it, and indeed Hillary would have won the electoral vote by changing just this aspect of the system.  It would also make it harder to effectively cheat as well.  But it would not solve all problems, and would in fact create a new problem--third-party candidates throwing the election into the House of Representatives when no one gets 270 majority--unless candidates with a de minimis amount of the popular vote (say, 5%) are then denied any electoral votes and/or only the top two or three candidates actually counting. 

Therefore, all things considered, the very best and simplest solution is to abolish the Electoral College altogether, and elect the president by straight national popular vote going forward.  And yesterday is not soon enough, since it clearly gives Trump an unfair advantage this time as well.

Of course, abolishing it entirely would require a constitutional amendment, and would thus be quite a long shot indeed, but there is a way to make it irrelevant by 2020.  The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) is the way to do it, making it so that that only the winner of the national popular vote would win 270 electoral votes and become President, while still technically keeping the Electoral College in place.  Sign and share!

Dear Donald, Stop Sabotaging The US Postal Service!

Dear Donald J. Trump,

We know you are deliberately sabotaging the United States Postal Service, which until just a week or two ago has been the wonder of the world, in order to sabotage mail-in voting and thus desperately attempt to rig the election in your favor since you know you will lose otherwise.  BIGLY.  Sad.  It is so transparent what you are trying to do, and the delays and errors caused by wilfully and unnecessarily tampering with our mail system are more than a mere inconvenience.  People's lives literally depend on the USPS functioning properly even in normal times, let alone during a pandemic.  In fact, such deliberate tampering with the mail system is literally a FEDERAL FELONY OFFENSE, as if you really needed to make your miles-long rap sheet even longer.  Seriously.

Thus, we at the TSAP hereby demand that you do all of the following yesterday:

1. Reverse the cynical "Friday Night Massacre" firings of the top brass at the USPS, and replace the current Postmaster General with a non-crony non-campaign donor.
2. Restore full funding to the USPS.  If your GOP refuses or drags their feet, use your executive pen to do so in the meantime.
3. Do us all a YUUUGE favor and RESIGN. 
4. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Sincerely,

We the People of the United States of America

Is America Headed For Civil War Or Collapse?

Perhaps we are, according to a mathematical model by Professor Jack Goldstone.  Based on trends in inequality, selfish elites, and political polarization that began since the 1980s, the conditions for civil violence are the worst they have been since the 19th century.  In fact, this same model accurately predicts the (first) American Civil War, and if it is correct this time around, we are dangerously close to the precipice of another one very soon.  If so, it will make the pandemic look like a walk in the park by comparison, and the past three months look quaint.

The powder keg has been building for decades now, and recent events have been both a consequence (our national failure to mount anything close to an effective response to COVID-19 before it was too late) and a spark (recent civil unrest from pent-up rage over both persistent racial injustice and increasing police-state authoritarianism, along with the toxic effects of the lockdowns).  Throw in record levels of unemployment and economic anxiety followed by the cliff that results from the impending and abrupt ending of the extra $600 per week in unemployment benefits come July 31 (unless extended further).

But the biggest flashpoint of all is yet to come in a few months from now:  the 2020 presidential election.  Whichever side wins, the other side loses, and plenty of people on the losing side will be very, very angry.

It is probably not too late to stop a full-blown civil war and/or collapse before the Rubicon is crossed, but that window is closing very, very fast indeed.

So what do we need to do to save the Republic (again) before it is too late?  I mean, we really don't want to give the reich-wing accelerationists like the Boogaloo movement the satisfaction, right?  For starters:

• Immediately implement Universal Basic Income (UBI) for all, no strings attached, via federal or central bank money creation.  Start it at $2000 per month for everyone over 18 and $1000 for everyone under 18, for three months, then drop it to half that amount ($1000 and $500, respectively) indefinitely. 
• Immediately implement single-payer Medicare For All.  Yesterday.  And along with that, increase much-needed funding for hospitals and healthcare providers across the board.
• For both above items, include anyone with a SSN or ITIN, regardless of citizenship or immigration status.  No means test, no discrimination, no perverse incentives.  And no bank account required--use debit cards whenever needed.
• Free college (and trade school) for all, thus improving stagnant economic mobility.
• Implement the rest of Rodger Malcolm Mitchell's Ten Steps to Prosperity as well.  That includes, among other things, progressively taxing the very rich 0.1% very heavily to reduce inequality.
• Implement the Green New Deal, including a federal job creation program. 
• Implement much-needed and long-overdue reforms to police nationwide, rooting out structural racism and abuses of power.  Yesterday.  What are we waiting for? 
• Extend any moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures for an additional 30 days or until the aforementioned UBI payments reach everyone, whichever is longer.
• It should go without saying, but DO NOT LOCK DOWN EVER AGAIN!  Even in the worst COVID-19 hotspots, mandatory mask requirements and bans on very large gatherings are sufficient to prevent a worst case scenario at this point.
• And of course, we must go back to actually being a Constitutional Republic rather than an unconstitutional empire.  No more over-bloated military and unnecessary wars of choice to make the rich richer.

As the saying goes, "all models are wrong, but some are useful".  The TSAP sure hopes that this model is very wrong, but there is no denying that this one is highly useful.  The evidence is all around us.

America Is Literally Burning. Stop Fighting Fire With Gasoline!

In the wake of the state-sanctioned murder of George Floyd by three cops while a fourth cowardly bystander did nothing, protests have fully understandably erupted across the nation.  Racism (especially structural racism) and widespread police brutality are nothing new in America, and remain persistent problems that are clearly not going away on their own, so the protestors' anger is fully justified.  The murderers and all of their accomplices must be brought to justice, and structural reforms absolutely must be made, yesterday.

(The problem is actually twofold, involving an intersection of both 1) institutional racism and the resulting gross racial disparities at all levels of the criminal "justice" system, as well as 2) a more general overcriminalization of people for victimless "crimes" and gross overmilitarization of police, along with a general lack of accountability for rogue cops.  And both need to be tackled simultaneously.  Yesterday.)

But when protestors foolishly play into the hands of outside agents provocateur (everyone from extremists to recreational troublemakers to false flags and even undercover cops) infiltrating the otherwise peaceful protests to turn them violent and destructive, then it becomes something far different and highly toxic, and counterproductive to the cause.  And by taking the bait of Trump and his buddies--the ultimate master baiters (pun intended)--who are also pouring gasoline on the fire, that is like cutting off one's nose to spite one's face.  So please don't fall for it.

The last thing America needs right now is a full-blown civil war.  Which is where we are unfortunately heading if this continues to escalate much longer.  And it is what the "alt-right", white supremacists, and other right-wing extremists like the Boogaloo movement seem to really want to happen, hence their sending outside agitators to infiltrate protests.

(Hear that?  That's the sound of Putin having a good belly laugh at America's expense.)

And while we really hate to be a wet blanket, please remember that while the right to peacefully protest is sacrosanct in what is supposed to be free society, the COVID-19 pandemic is still going on, and you still need to take precautions nonetheless since the virus doesn't care about your or anyone's politics.  Wear a mask, carry hand sanitizer, stick to smaller groups, and try to keep as much physical distance as possible out there.  Don't deliberately get in anyone's face either.  And if you have any sort of questionable symptoms at all in the least, please sit this one out and stay home protesting virtually.  In other words, please use common sense.  That advice applies to both the George Floyd / Black Lives Matter protestors as well as any anti-lockdown protestors, by the way.

To quote Rodney King himself during the 1992 LA riots:  "Can we all just get along?"

Is The Cure Worse Than The Disease?

We know that the Trump administration clearly bungled its response to the coronavirus pandemic.  Scratch that, they failed miserably in practically every way possible to contain or suppress this virus, and now the proverbial genie is out of the bottle.  But what if the proverbial stopped clock can be right twice a day, particularly the claim that "the cure is worse than the disease" as far as shutdowns and lockdowns are concerned?

As is typical for Republicans, Democrats, and LOLbertarians alike, no one seems to do nuance, nor do they understand Monetary Sovereignty apparently. And the Donald is clearly no exception to the rule either.

That said, there are reasons to be concerned that longer-term shutdowns and lockdowns (some pundits even predict up to 18 months!) can cause a depression that NO amount of federal money can solve until well after such drastic measures are lifted. Because we didn’t quash it early on when we had the chance, there will likely be a long battle against COVID-19, to be sure, but the current “sledgehammer” phase of the battle cannot last indefinitely. Sooner or later we will have to ease or lift restrictions and pivot to case-based interventions rather than population-based ones once any of the following occur: A) the epidemic is largely under control, B) we reach the point of irreversible damage to the economy, or C) the epidemic exceeds 1% of the population and “flattening the curve” thus becomes impossible. Whichever comes first. And at least one of these three will happen within a few weeks from now at most, for better or worse.   Lockdowns and shutdowns are best thought of as a short-term tactic, not a long-term strategy. 

That’s to say nothing of the cost in terms of individual liberty, which is at *least* as priceless as life itself, as well as the cost in terms of mental health at least in the long run. Economic depression is not the only kind of depression to worry about, after all.

And even for hardcore communitarians who believe that individual liberty is worth absolutely zilch, one also can argue that the social consequences of long-term lockdowns and social distancing are ultimately corrosive to community as well.

And as of early April, option C likely already happened at least in parts of the USA, particularly the greater NYC metro area, plus several other hotspots around the nation.  Given how most people who catch the virus experience mild or no symptoms, it is very likely that the number of reported cases is off by a factor of ten or more.  Which, of course, makes the case fatality rate lower as well.  In any case, the peak will likely happen sometime in mid to late April in much of the country, with some areas in May.

Thus, there will come a point of diminishing returns where the cure really DOES become worse than the disease.  When exactly, no one knows for sure.  But a good ballpark estimate would be "weeks, not months".

Thus, the TSAP does NOT support the more extreme measures lasting more than a few weeks, nor even the less extreme ones lasting more than a few months at most.  And for NO length of time do we support arresting or jailing or shooting people for leaving their homes, suspending habeas corpus or the Constitution, or any form of martial law.  Period.

DISCLAIMER:  The TSAP are NOT doctors, epidemiologists, or otherwise experts on this matter, so please take our predictions with a grain of salt.

The Crash Of 2020 Has A Silver Lining

Looks like the long-overdue Crash of 2020 is finally here, with the novel coronavirus panic being the catalyst that finally popped the truly massive stock market bubble--scratch that, BOIL--that was several years in the making.  And there does not appear to be a firm bottom in sight yet.  And shhhh!--don't even talk about the even bigger derivatives bubble yet.  In other words, this can get real ugly real fast!

(And not even the FERAL Reserve can delay the inevitable for much longer, it seems.)

But as bad as it gets, better that it should happen several months before the 2020 presidential election rather than after.  A big crash and/or recession before the election would virtually guarantee Trump's defeat, and by extension (hopefully) Bernie's victory.  And so would finally mark the end of America's 40 year failed experiment with neoliberalism, that was started by Reagan and self-destructed by Trump.  Bookended by two unlikely "dark horse" yet celebrity candidates, Reagan and Trump, that both cut their teeth in Hollywood before entering politics late in life, and who both said they would "Make America Great Again" (right!), this will be the end of an era--or more accurately, the end of an ERROR on January 20, 2021.  Then we can finally pick up where we left off in 1980 when Carter almost won re-election but for the Reagan campaign's October Surprise dirty tricks (a conspiracy theory that actually turned out to be true, by the way).  Yes, you read that correctly.

And thus, America's long, dark night of the soul will finally be over.  Not just the past four years, but the past 40 as well.  That is, of course, only if enough Americans actually get off their butts and VOTE--not just in the general election, but also in the primaries as well.  The basket of deplorables will sure as hell vote regardless, so all progressives and even the fence-sitters need to get out and vote as well.

Did Trump Just Start A War With Iran?

On January 2, 2020, Trump apparently ordered a drone airstrike near Baghdad, Iraq, that killed Iran's top general, Qassim Soleimani.  This assassination was of very, very questionable legality given that Trump did not notify Congress (or really anyone else, for that matter) before giving the orders.  And now Iran is openly threatening (unspecified) revenge and retaliation for this foolish and reckless act of bravado and hubris by the Manchild Who Would Be King.

We are well aware that General Soleimani was not a good person by any stretch of the imagination, nor is his own Revolutionary Guard Quds Force particularly cuddly either.  They have in fact been officially designated as a terrorist organization by the United States Department of State years ago due to their notoriously rogue activities in the region, including their support for violent militias in Iraq.  But when the "leader" of the USA decides to go rogue himself and arbitrarily assassinate a leader of a sovereign nation that we are NOT actually at war with, that is a dangerous and irresponsible escalation that threatens to unleash a conflagration across the whole region, if not even further.  At the very least, it will delay any hope for peace in the region by at least a generation, and at worst can perhaps even trigger World War III.

And of course we can kiss goodbye practically forever any chance of reviving the Iran nuclear deal that, while imperfect, was in fact working to keep Iran from getting their hands on The Bomb for the foreseeable future--before Trump pulled out of it of course.  If Iran didn't have a reason to want nukes in the past, well they sure do now!  This latest stunt thus clearly does FAR more harm than good, and we at the TSAP condemn his reckless and irresponsible actions.

(As for motives, can you say, "Wag the Dog"?)