caucus99percent

So we have been watching the new play in our political theater for a while now. Somewhere along the line the first 100 days were chosen to tell us something. I'm not sure I can tell you what it is supposed to be.
Meanwhile these things are out there and are really no where near new.
Trump is a very good actor (or con man if you like) but a very poor leader.
The system is insensitive to who is "managing" it. (Or mismanaging it)
Elections are a distraction.

Your wages are going up fast!
Did you know that?
Well, you would have known that if you had read today's headlines.

Wage inflation running higher than it has in a decade

The Syrian civil war was always a proxy war between outside military powers, but this week the proxy element became much larger and much more dangerous.
For example, today are forces are rushing to the Syrian-Turkish border to try to stop our two allies from shooting each other.

Contrary to the current narrative, China has been instrumental in keeping the US economy viable for the middle class. As our economy has stagnated or collapsed for Middle America, China continues to produce goods for consumption in the US that helps to maintain our lifestyle. The narrative is that China stole our good paying manufacturing jobs. And this is true just looking at the data. Most of our retail goods today are made in China.

The thing is, I'm not qualified to formulate a legal analysis, as I am no where near being a lawyer.

Not long ago, I reminded you that the Republican National Committee had autopsied the Republican Party in 2012, even though Republicans had done well in 2010 and not badly in 2012. (Well, except for the Big Mitt.) I mentioned that I had concluded in 2012 that the autopsy was as bogus as it had first sounded to me: The conclusion of the autopsy was basically that the Republican Party needed better messaging because, gosh darn it, not enough people realized how very inclusive the Republican Party was.

As you know, Democrats have been emulating Republicans since the Koch brothers funded and guided the Democratic Leadership Council (and the Clintons) in the 1980s, giving the Koch Bros their money's worth and then some. In that spirit, House Democrats, too, autopsied themselves, although Democrats skipped the pesky part about doing well at the polls before engaging in a bogus autopsy. And, now--be still my heart--the autopsy results!

Loyal establishment foot soldier Markos Moulitsas has gotten his marching orders - Slander Bernie Sanders and all of his supporters.
He warmed up his message on the GOS and now he's taking the show on the road. And as you might imagine, he fumbled it.

News associated with the death penalty is usually horrific, but this week was particularly horrifying.
Let's start with the always appropriate Oklahoma.

President Trump's tax reform plan was only one page long, and thus short on details, but a quick run-down of today's news stories will give you an idea of what it means.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin can't guarantee middle class wouldn't pay more under tax plan

On Tuesday the New York Senate Investigations and Government Operations Committee took up S502, sponsored by Daniel L. Squadron, (D-Brooklyn waterfront and lower Manhattan), known as GENDA, the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act

The bill's purpose:

May I doff my hat in admiration to one who so often wades in regardless of shark fins, who marches into the lions den, and who rips off his sunglasses to expose the whites of eyes to his adversaries? Bob Swern, there aren’t enough metaphors to honor you today.

Success I say, it has gone exactly as planned

Note the era of the Great Depression, look familiar?

The last time I voted for a Democrat was 1992.
I've been registered Green Party ever since. If anything the Democrats have gotten worse and more disgusting ever since.
So why in the world would I ever consider registering Democrat?

You see, there is something special about me:
I happen to live in Nancy Pelosi's district.

Who benefits most - Rich people.

Who benefits least or not at all - everyone else.

Conclusion:

To answer this question, two contributing questions must be answered: Is a new party necessary, and is it possible? These answers are straightforward:

1. Most of us will agree that change is necessary. So, if the political monopoly formed by our twin party tyranny is beyond reform, then a new party is necessary.
2. New parties started from scratch have never yet grown powerful after the first parties in our nation formed and thereafter blocked all new ones; but new parties arising from the break-up of failing major parties have succeeded! So, at least when this condition is met, it actually is possible.

So, how does the land currently lay?

President Obama, early in his first term on December 13, 2009 famously said in an interview with CBS that "I Did Not Run for Office to Be Helping Out a Bunch of Fat Cat Bankers on Wall Street." Yet, as one of his last official acts as President that is exactly what he did by allowing federal loan guarantees of junk derivatives based on securitized mortgage backed rental properties. Now he’s in the news again for a receiving $400,000 to give a speech to Wall Street bank!

Gender may be the earliest identity and social category to emerge in development, research suggests, and acquiring knowledge about one's gender is considered a critical part of early childhood development.

It's not a done deal. It's probably a negotiating tactic, but it's something no Democratic president would ever do. Trump could forever turn the Rust Belt red with this.

Turkey has bombed northern Iraq every once in a while for decades.
This is different.

May 1 is International Workers Day, a day of reverence for the 90%. Buy nothing. And shake an upraised fist in the general direction of privileged, Democratic Presidential turd, Grover Cleveland. He's the reason people around the world celebrate Labor Day on May 1, in rembrance of the Haymarket Affair, but you don't. It's a day for pursuing peace and remembering the bloody struggle that had to be fought (still does) simply to avoid needless workplace deaths and injuries. (I post this essay today so that you can purchase anything you may need in advance of May 1.)

If you don't know about the Haymarket Affair, your ignorance is no accident:

Many antiwar and anti-imperialism proponents and activists have lamented the state of the sheeple, the acquiescent Americans, the complicit comrades of copious crimes against humanity.

Yes, it's that time of year when mothers (and grandmothers) are honored. True, it is a holiday based on crass commercialism, but it also affords us here at c99 the opportunity to help our friends who sell online. Take a gander at what's available, please: Caucus Catalog

Some say that the left right paradigm is over that politics needs to be based upon reality, usually by people to whom an ideology is an anathema.

Ideology
a set of beliefs or principles, especially one on which a political system, party, or organization is based:

This is flabbergasting to me. Maybe I've lost touch with what's happening around the country at our schools. I know the pigs don't do this where I live. I've got kids and grandkids, I'd know about it.

Buried deep in a recent L.A. Times news article was this gem.

Obama to give $400,000 speech at Wall Street conference

Former President Obama has agreed to speak at a Wall Street conference run by Cantor Fitzgerald LP, senior officials at the firm told FOX Business.

Obama will speak at Cantor’s health care conference this September for a fee of $400,000 and has agreed to be the keynote speaker at a luncheon held on one day of the event.