Tag: Calamity Politics

Trump Attacks The FBI

  By

The FBI is a world-famous crime fighting organization. It is synonymous with solid professionalism. I have never heard anyone say they didn’t want the FBI working their case after a crime has been committed.

The FBI is like all organizations, imperfect. In the post 9/11 era, its anti-terrorism focus was at times thought to be overzealous, generating complaints from multiple sources including minority communities, and civil libertarians. The fast and loose ways of the J.Edgar Hoover FBI are long gone. The infamous founder of the crime fighting agency was famous for pursuing personal vendettas and agendas. But since FBI Associate Director, Mark Felt was discovered to be “Deep Throat”, the secret source for the Washington’s Post’s insight into the corrupt Nixon administration, a large majority of Americans have viewed the FBI as an honest and neutral bulwark against criminals of all kinds, inside and outside of the government.

Last weekend, in a rush of tweets Trump took aim at targets old and new. Trump criticized the FBI and raised questions about the special prosecutor’s investigation into Russian election meddling and the possible ties to the Trump campaign.

In that storm of tweets, more than a dozen–came after his former NSA, Mike Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. In one of his posts Trump once again denied that he had asked former FBI Director James Comey for a loyalty pledge, or directed him to stop investigating Flynn. Trump called the nation’s top law enforcement agency a biased institution whose reputation was “in Tatters–worst in History!” and urged FBI Director Chris Wray to “clean house.” Trump personally promised in his tweet meltdown to “bring it back to greatness.”

Eric Holder, former FBI Director, tweeted in response, “Nope. Not letting this go. The FBI’s reputation is not in ‘tatters.’ It’s composed of the same dedicated men and women who have always worked there and who do a great, apolitical job. You’ll find integrity and honesty at FBI headquarters and not at 1600 Penn Avenue right now.”

Trump had seized on reports that a veteran FBI counterintelligence agent, Peter Strzok was removed by special counsel Mueller last summer after the discovery of an exchange of text messages that were viewed as potentially anti-Trump. The agent, had also worked on the investigation of Democrat Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

Continue reading

Times Change

  By

Times Change

D. S. Mitchell

I stumbled across some statistics from 1900. Mind you, just over a 100 years ago things were very different from today. I thought the information was both amusing, and eye-opening. Check it out.

1) Average life expectancy in USA was 46 years. 2) Fourteen per cent of American homes had a bathtub.  Eight per cent had a telephone. 3)Mississippi, Iowa, Tennessee and Alabama all had larger populations than California. 4) There were 8,000 cars and 144 miles of paved roads.5) The average hourly wage in USA was 22 cents and the average worker made between $200-$400 a year. 6)  Population of Las Vegas was 30. 7) Ninety per cent of doctors in the USA never attended college.8) The Eiffel Tower was the tallest structure in the world   9) Sugar cost 4 cents a pound, coffee was 15 cents a pound, and eggs were 14 cents a dozen. 10) There was 230 reported murders in the USA. 11) Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Hawaii, and Alaska were not yet states.  12) Only six percent of American adults were high school graduates. Ten percent of adults were illiterate. 13) Most women washed their hair once a month and used egg yolks or borax for shampoo. 14) Ninety five percent of all births took place at home.  15) Leading causes of death in the USA were pneumonia, influenza, tuberculosis, heart disease, diarrhea, and stroke. 16) Eighteen percent of American homes had a full-time servant. 17) Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn’t been invented yet.

Hope you got a laugh or two. Calamity Politics is a progressive on-line news magazine. Join the Resistance. *This list of what was going on in 1900 came from “Uncle John’s Fast-Acting, Long-Lasting Bathroom Reader by the Bathroom Reader’s Institute, 18th Edition.”

Dar

While We Slept

  By

While We Slept

D. S. Mitchell

The bill will hurt most Americans. Remember it was passed in the middle of the night, done without hearings, and without time for basic analysis of the economic impact. Central to the bill is the redistribution of income from lower and middle class income families to corporations and business owners.

Corporate tax rate drops to 20%, while ordinary families are “nickle-and-dimed” by a series of tax changes, not one of which is a big deal, but when added together become significant tax increases on at least 75% of middle class taxpayers.

Additionally, ObamaCare will be repealed in such a way as to sharply cut assistance to lower-income families and raise the cost of insurance for many in the middle-income group.

And Lisa Murkowski was bought off with a pledge to open Arctic Wilderness to oil drilling. I just want to barf, and I hope it lands right on her shoes. Social and environmental issues entangled with the tax legislation, really shameful.

This is what the Republican senators accomplished while you were asleep. I guess the rule here is, don’t close your eyes while the Republicans are in control of the government.

Calamity Politics is a progressive on-line news magazine that keeps you up to date on the Washington political scene. Join the Resistance.

Dar

Tools To Change Unwanted Behavior

  By

Tools To Change Unwanted Behavior

D. S. Mitchell

Habits affect us in every aspect of our lives, home, school, work, church. It could be nail-biting, thumb-sucking, over eating, procrastination, avoidance.  Each one of us has habits we wish we could break. How do we escape these unwanted behaviors, when often we do not understand the basis of the behavior?

New York Times reporter Charles Duhigg has written a book that examines the structure of habit, its underlying causes, and the impact of habit on our careers and our personal lives, entitled “The Power Of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life & Business.”

The first part of Duhigg’s book investigates the “habit loop.” The habit loop comprises the “cue” (the situation that stimulates the habitual behavior), the “routine” (the behavior or activity) and the “reward” (the emotional satisfaction resulting from engaging in the behavior).

The key to stopping an undesirable habit is to break down this self-perpetuating loop, according to Duhigg. Breaking down the loop is the key to altering behavior. If you don’t understand the “why” (the reason) for the action it is hard to escape the behavior itself.  As Duhigg writes, “Once you break a habit into its components, you can fiddle with the gears.”

Duhigg also takes a look at the habits of successful organizations. As a business owner, the habits you instill in your staff  go a long way in determining the success of the venture.  He looks at organizations as big as Target and as intimate as the structure of NFL teams. It is the owner’s job to create positive habits in the staff.  If as an owner, you notice a way to replace a bad operational habit with a good one, you have the ability to improve productivity and employee happiness.

Duhigg details four steps to changing any habit. 1.) Pinpoint the “routine” (the habit)  2.) Examine the “reward” that the behavior provides 3.) Isolate the situations that “cue” the unwanted behavior 4.) Develop a “plan” to change the behavior.

Lastly, Duhigg says, “You have to actually believe in your capacity to change for habits to permanently change.” With the tools and examples provided in “The Power Of Habit” you should be able to take control of habits you thought were unbreakable. In business and life the ability to change unwanted behaviors is a valuable asset.

Many years ago when I was taking a graduate psychology class I participated in a stop smoking study. The study was very simple. Each participant kept a “smoking journal.”  We were required to make a note of the emotion experienced when we felt the desire to have a cigarette (the cue/trigger), the action itself (the behavior), and how we felt after the cigarette (the reward).

We were required to journal for six weeks. At the end of the six-week period we met with the study designer and talked about our experience, and designed a plan to stop smoking based solely on the journaling information. This all took place forty years ago, but even now I can remember how amazed I was with my reactions to the journaling experience. First, the journaling made me intently aware of the behavior.  Second, I became aware for the first time the situations that triggered the habit. Third, I became aware of the reward. And, lastly, with the information I had learned about the behavior I was able to create a plan to change the undesirable activity.

If I had not participated in that study I may never have been able to quit  smoking, but with the isolation of the “behavior loop” it was easy. In fact, by the end of the six weeks I had stopped smoking and have never smoked again. So, like Duhigg says, break the loop.

Calamity Politics is an on-line news magazine that openly promotes a progressive political agenda. Please join me for comment and opinion as I dissect the political scene in the era of Trump. Join the Resistance.

Dar

27 Reasons To Smile

  By

27 Reasons To Smile

D. S. Mitchell

The wind is howling, the surf is broiling, and the fireplace is blazing. The dog is contentedly snoring in front of her food dish. I just remembered it was Sunday, and I am supposed to be working on my weekly, “Reason To Smile” post. So, here we go, I want you to smile too:

1.) Willow tree at the pond’s edge 2.) First day cold enough for a cable knit sweater 3.) Elephants, lions, rhinos, hippos and the majesty of Africa 4.) Palm Springs,CA at Christmas 5.) An unexpected caress 6.) Penguins marching 7.) Mist rising off the river 8.) A vine covered cottage 9.) Coffee and cinnamon toast 10.) Steamer clams dunked in melted butter 11.) A friend’s smile 12.) A silent beach walk after the tourists leave 13.) Polished wood floors 14.) A winning Bingo card 15.) Long winter weekends 16.) Watching whales journey the Pacific coast 17.) High school basketball games 18.) 1/2 off sales 19.) The estimated 45,000 words per pencil 20.) My dog greeting me when I get home all wiggling and waggling 21.) Scented oils 22.) The weathered shingles of beach side cottages 22.) Tootsie Roll Pops 23.) A bathroom towel warmer 24.) Old suitcases to make a coffee table 25) Portland, OR 26.) Turkey & Spiraled Ham for Thanksgiving dinner 27.) Shorty skies for speed

Hope you smiled at a couple of the entries. Have a great week.

Calamity Politics is an online political news magazine. Calamity Politics has an admitted progressive agenda, supporting Democratic and Independent candidates with Progressive ideas and ideals. Calamity Politics shares opinion and comment on the catastrophe going on in Washington, D.C. Join the Resistance.

Dar

That Stench You Smell Is The GOP Tax Plan

  By

That Stench You Smell Is The GOP Tax Plan

D. S. Mitchell

The GOP plan is to raise taxes on at least 38 million middle class families, destroy health insurance  coverage for millions so as to give massive breaks to international companies and the wealthiest among us. A last-minute add-on in the Senate bill is a provision that would repeal the ACA (Obama health care law) that mandates all Americans get insurance coverage.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has projected that dismantling the requirement would mean 4 million more uninsured people by 2019 and 13 million uninsured by 2027. Worries about an increasing population of uninsured was one of the causes of the GOP failure last summer to repeal ObamaCare. The repeal action failed amidst protests in the streets and the halls of congress.

In another last-minute move the Senate bill was altered to end personal tax reductions in 2025. Corporate tax cuts however, will be permanent. This includes dropping the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20%. The corporate handouts are permanent, the family breaks are not,” said Oregon Senator Ron Wyden. Wyden is my senator, and he is great. Here’s what else he had to say, “To pay for these handouts to multinational corporations, millions of Americans are going to lose their health care, millions will see their premiums skyrocket, and millions will get hit with a tax hike.”

The Republicans have been promising jobs through “trickle down” economics.  Trickle down is a proven failure. Don’t be taken in. It’s all a shell game. A bunch of nonsense.

The GOP tax bill will 1.) Repeal pro middle class personal exemptions 2.) Will eliminate medical expense deduction for approximately 10 million people 3.) Will gut the state and local tax deduction 4.) Companies that outsource US jobs will get tax breaks 5.) Gutting 1.5 trillion dollars from Medicaid & Medicare will devastate services for disabled veterans, seniors and critically ill children 6.) Eliminate the ACA mandate.

The GOP tax cuts will add 1.5 trillion dollars to the deficit. This is disgusting. The 1% do not need any tax cuts. Secondly, the elimination of the estate tax only effects people who are worth more than 5 million dollars, and if you have a good CPA he is smart enough to adjust those numbers for the beneficiaries of an estate worth over 5 million. The estate tax, or the “death tax” effects the most wealthy, and by eliminating the estate tax the GOP will be perpetuating the wealth of the 1% into perpetuity.

Now is the time. Call and tweet Republican Senators and tell them No to their tax fraud. The idea that Republicans are so desperate to pass anything is a sad state of their governing. A bad bill is a bill that helps the few, and harms the many. That’s what we have here. Bad legislation based on donor needs, not the needs of the 99%.

Calamity Politics is a political on-line news magazine that offers a lot of opinion & comment with a progressive agenda well identified. Join the Resistance.

Darlene

Trade In The Era Of Trump

  By ,

Trade In The Era Of Trump

D. S. Mitchell

As an epic economic and diplomatic tour, empty-handed. His tactics of insult and bullying did not play well.

Here in the United States there is white knuckle fear that NAFTA will once again become central in Trump’s great trade experiment. Of course, there are valid points made by the administration. There is trade imbalance, but most US industries are looking for a few tweaks, not abolishment of a treaty that has produced many benefits for US industry and farmers.

NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, is a 1994 pact between Canada, US and Mexico. I’m from NW Oregon and many Mexican markets were opened to Northwest wheat growers. In fact, exports increased by 400%. At the same time many of these farmers have complaints about Canadian wheat pricing. You can’t make everybody happy, but that does not mean these folks want to tear up the historic treaty.

Continue reading

Trump Moves Quickly To Reshape Appeals Courts

  By ,

Trump Moves Quickly To Reshape Appeals Courts

D. S. Mitchell

Sounds pretty boring, talking about the US judicial system. But here goes, because what Trump is doing could change court decisions in this country for the next two plus generations.

There are 179 judgeships on the US courts of appeals as authorized. The judges are all nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. These positions have lifetime terms.

Continue reading

I’m Back, And I’m Optimistic

  By

I’m Back, And I’m Optimistic

D. S. Mitchell

The last post written by me specifically directed at Donald Trump was written on October 14, 2017. Since that date, I have mostly been writing about environmental issues, domestic problems and the American health scene. The reason quite honestly, is that after completing my 7 part series, Trump: Behind The Curtain, I was so disgusted and repelled by the revelations that I felt I needed to step back, and take those proverbial deep breaths. But, I am back now, and I am feeling hopeful.

The elections across the country on Tuesday November 7, 2017, the one year anniversary of the election of Donald J. Trump as president of the United States, brought out a lot of  people who are madder than hell at the direction that Trump and the GOP are taking this country. Women, people of color, immigrants, the college educated, suburbanites, the LGBT community, came together to vote for decency and inclusion.

Our history is imperfect, but our direction toward inclusiveness and decency has been ongoing and progressive.  The results of Tuesday’s elections make it clear that the American people want to continue on the road forward and not turn backwards to a time when a person was defined by their race, their sex, their wealth; not their intelligence, their creativity, their courage and their moral character.

If you are part of the Resistance, you can be proud and happy for Tuesday’s victories, but I believe that very success will lead to greater efforts by the 1% donors, Russian meddlers and old line Republicans to suppress the vote, demoralize and discourage participation by Democrats and Independents.

Turn out is the key. Voting for what you believe in and not staying home because you feel powerless. Your vote is America’s future. It is easy to leave it up to someone else to make those decisions, but if you are committed to progress then you must take responsibility for your actions.  If you want change, if you want progress, you must speak up, you must speak out. No bystanders allowed.

Calamity Politics is an active, progressive on-line political news magazine that proudly admits to a Progressive agenda. Join us weekly for opinion and analysis of the national political scene.

Join the Resistance.

Dar

Are You Thinking About Getting A Dog?

  By

Are You Thinking About Getting A Dog?

D. S. Mitchell

Dogs save lives in more ways than one. But sometimes we, or the family, are not in the right place, time-wise, geographically, or emotionally to bring a new friend laden with responsibilities into our lives. With the holidays fast approaching, many of us think, “wouldn’t a puppy make a perfect Christmas gift for Johnny, or Jenny Jr?”

Maybe, maybe not.

The time commitment required for a new puppy is often ignored. Before you start looking for that new pup, make sure that you have the time and the energy required to daily commit to your new best buddy. Puppies will need to go out every hour until they are house trained. You or your children will need to be ready to commit no less than two hours daily for play, exercise, socialization and stimulation. Additionally, puppies because they are rapidly growing, need to be fed and watered three times a day.

Continue reading