Hail Marys From 1600

Rudy Giuliani getting booed in Yankee Stadium

Could White House efforts to try and deflect attention from the mounting evidence surrounding the Trump administration's numerous ties to the Russian government during the 2016 presidential campaign possibly get any more desperate?

Rudy Giuliani's unhinged appearances on network and cable news programs over the past couple weeks haven't exactly boosted Trump's credibility.

Or his own for that matter.

While attending a Yankees game in the Bronx last Monday, Giuliani was loudly booed by a Memorial Day crowd when he was introduced on the PA system as the camera panned about for celebrities in attendance.

The 74-year-old crackpot Trump supporter / lawyer tried to pass the unmistakeable slight off as the Yankee fans showing him "love", but as I've mentioned on this blog before, I lived in New York City for 14 years and have attended dozens of Yankees games over the years.

Just to be clear, when Yanks fans boo you in Yankee Stadium, it ain't love.

Giuliani's efforts to try and undermine special counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation have gotten so bizarre, it's actually getting embarrassing for Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Particularly given that mid-term elections, which are clearly shaping up to be a referendum on Trump's first two chaotic years in office, and the divisive, mean-spirited tone of his administration, are now only four months off.

Top Republicans Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and
Trey Gowdy all support the Mueller investigation

In today's social-media-influenced 24/7 news cycle, that's like a two-minute warning in the 4th quarter of a close football game.

For those nervous, legacy-cognizant Republican members of Congress who haven't already announced that they won't seek another term in office (in an effort to avoid the humiliation of being in the same party as Trump) the stakes are high heading into summer.


The week before last, even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other leading Republican members of Congress, including the dependably right-leaning Hillary-basher, Representative Trey Gowdy, publicly stated their firm support for the ongoing investigation being led by special counsel Robert Mueller of intentional interference in the 2016 U.S. elections ordered by Vladimir Putin.

In political terms, that's a pretty revealing indicator of how Republican politicians preparing to face  a fired-up voter base are trying to re-position themselves.

But it's more than that.

For example, obviously I don't agree with a lot of the policy positions of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, but I respect his mastery of the arcane rules of the Senate chamber.

And don't think for a second that he's forgotten Trump's loudmouth support for failed pedophile Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore last fall - who ran on a platform that was partially based on checking the power of the "Republican Washington establishment", calling out McConnell by name repeatedly.

Trump in Nashville telling one of the 35 lies or
factually-misleading statements he told.

Politically-savvy Republicans running for office in November don't want to get caught calling the ongoing investigation into Russian interference a "witch hunt" as Trump has taken to characterizing an investigation that's already filed more than 100 criminal charges against 19 different people and 3 companies.

Five of those indicted have already plead guilty.

As the New York Times reported, "Thirteen are Russians accused of meddling in the 2016 elections."


True to his bombastic nature, Trump's response to members of his own political party publicly supporting the Mueller investigation even as he desperately tries to undermine it, has been predictable.

He took it as a snub from the same mainstream Republicans that he gleefully eviscerated like dead fish during the 2016 campaign and, as he's done consistently when he's getting bludgeoned by the mainstream press and social media, he took to the road Wednesday night.

Heading down south to try and rally his shrinking, but loyal base of support.

As USA Today and other news organizations reported, Trump used an appearance at a "Make America Great Again" rally in Nashville, Tennessee to meander through at least 35 different false or misleading statements on his favorite topics including provably false statements on the Affordable Care Act championed by President Obama, taking credit for wage growth that began under Obama and of course Trump's central theme - irrational immigrant bashing.

Even the local Tennessean.com caught Trump, once again, lying about the size of the crowd there.

His blundering, back-and-forth foreign policy efforts, including on-again, off-again negotiations with North Korea and the announcement of 25% tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from some of America's closest allies - including France, Canada and Mexico - have further fractured already-tenuous relationships with some the country's biggest global trading partners.

To say nothing of the fact that such tariffs will likely increase steel costs for U.S. manufacturers

Dinesh D'Souza being arrested for illegal campaign
contributions back in 2014

Costs which will inevitably translate to higher prices for American consumers.

The tariffs in particular were so reckless, it's possible they were meant to overshadow Trump's decision to help Chinese electronics maker ZTE after the Chinese announced they would invest hundreds of millions in an Indonesian project from which Trump would personally profit.

The ZTE decision even irked Republican politicians in Washington.

And it certainly didn't help that the announcement coincided with China approving additional trademarks for profiteering First Daughter Ivanka Trump, who has shamelessly helped herself - as has her husband Jared Kushner - to unabashed financial feeding at the trough during their questionable tenure in the White House as roving "senior advisers" to their quasi-delusional daddy. 

But unquestionably, Trump's most bizarre effort to rally his right-wing base and deflect from the reality of his disastrous presidency, was his decision to issue a presidential pardon last week to the textbook homophobic bigot Dinesh D'Souza (pictured above).

As an op-ed by the New York Times editorial board on Thursday titled "Dinesh D'Souza? Really?"
noted:

"On Thursday, Mr. Trump pardoned Dinesh D'Souza, the right-wing troll known for, among other things, posting racist tweets about President Barack Obama, spreading the lie that George Soros was a Nazi collaborator and writing that 'the American slave was treated like property, which is to say, pretty well.' "

Trump's decision to pardon D'Souza for funneling $20,000 in illegal campaign contributions to Republican Senate candidate Wendy Long back in 2012 seems intended as yet another petty swipe in Trump's bizarre obsession with President Obama.

Particularly given D'Souza's many racist attacks on Obama over the years, including a widely-panned and unsubstantiated book and calling Obama "boy" on Twitter among other assorted classless, low-rent nonsense.

So it's not surprising that Trump used his executive power to pardon someone like that (Hell, he pardoned ex-Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio), anything to distract from the ongoing disaster that is his presidency.

Another Hail Mary pass lobbed from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue - not to score, but to distract.

Deafening Silence & Trump Kool-Aid

"Nothin' to see here folks!" Giuliani on Meet the Press

It's overcast outside and rather gloomy here in central New Jersey today, and with no hint of a breeze to stir the humid air, it seems unusually still; and if you listen there's a deafening silence.

A collective looming silence from the millions of moderate Republicans in this country who are quietly hanging their heads in shame at the man selected to represent their party.



While Hillary Clinton visited the Little Rock A.M.E Zion Church in Charlotte, North Carolina this Sunday morning to offer words of comfort to those still trying to make sense of the unjustified recent shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, Donald Trump is busy sending out more nonsensical Twitter messages and dispatching his two favorite spinmeisters, NJ Governor Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani, out to try and stem the bleeding from the bombshell New York Times article revealing that Trump likely hasn't paid federal taxes in 20 years.

As the examination of a copy of Trump's 1995 tax forms show, he claimed over $915 million in losses on crap-shoot business like his failed Trump Airlines and a long list of sketchy real estate write-offs to basically write himself a free pass from paying any taxes whatsoever on the "billions" he claims to be worth.

Same guy whose only coherent campaign promises, to construct a massive wall across the Mexican border and deport about 11 million undocumented immigrants, is estimated to cost taxpayers in excess of $300 billion.

So essentially he wants American taxpayers to foot the bill for his own delusional schemes.

Presidential? Not so much.

No wonder Christie and Giuliani were up early today trying to shill for this world-class huckster.

As columnist Maureen Dowd observed in a scathing op-ed in the Times on Saturday titled "Girl Talk at Trump Tower": "Trump is surrounded by a bitchy sewing circle of overweight men who are overwrought at the prospect of a distaff Clinton presidency."

(Distaff meaning of, or relating to, or being a woman - I had to look that one up...)

And bitchy is exactly what Christie and Giuliani were on the Sunday morning news programs earlier today.

In a reflection of just how delusional reality looks inside the cozy sphere of the conservative media echo chamber where Trump exists, remarkably Christie actually said the revelations about Trump's tax return was a "very, very good story for Donald Trump." 

A "very, very good story" for Richard Nixon?

Which is kind of like saying the revelations of the Watergate conspiracy, the Nixon tapes and his subsequent resignation was a "very, very good thing for Richard Nixon."

Don't laugh folks, Christie is the governor of the state I live in.

Giuliani tried to sell that Trump Kool-Aid too.

The quasi-delusional former NY mayor said the revelation of Trump's shameless tax-dodging made him an "absolute genius." 

You couldn't make that up.

Now I'm obviously no Nate Silver with the analytical prowess to use mathematics to accurately predict political outcomes, but my gut sense is that on election day next month, to some degree there's going to be a kind of reverse-Tom Bradley effect that takes place at the polls that's going to hurt Trump.

Meaning when many conservatives pull the curtain shut to cast their votes, even though they might have publicly nodded with reluctant approval at the prospect of a Trump presidency around similar-minded family, friends and co-workers, privately they know it would be an unmitigated disaster of epic proportions to put that clown into the White House as Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful nation in the world - so they're going to vote for Hillary but they won't tell anyone.

With Trump still trying to convince people that former Miss Universe Alicia Machado was involved in a murder conspiracy further solidifying the public perception that he's completely unqualified to serve as the president, where are all the Republican Senate and House leaders?

Some members of traditionally conservative media, including the Dallas Morning News, have shown the courage to admit the obvious and publicly declare that Trump simply isn't qualified to be president.

Like the staunchly conservative Arizona Republic which hasn't endorsed a Democrat for president since it was first published in 1890,  published an op-ed from the editorial board endorsing Clinton over Trump .

A decision which, remarkably, drew death threats from some of the more extremist conservatives eager to see a Trump presidency.

That took courage.

So in an effort to try and salvage some shred of the Republican party's tattered image, wouldn't you think it would be logical for Republican politicians to follow suit?

You'd think you'd see more GOP Congressional leaders standing up to publicly repudiate Donald Trump.

After learning that Trump appeared in the opening of a softcore porn video for Playboy six years ago (when Hillary Clinton was being elected as the junior Senator for the state of New York...) even the staunchest conservative politicians would have to say enough is enough.

For the good of the GOP, you'd think Republican Congressional leaders like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would have to stand up and distance themselves from Trump and say that what he represents doesn't reflect the Republican party of Jack Kemp, George Bush Sr., Bob Dole or my Congressman Chris Smith - genuinely principled men who were, and are, decent and show an ability to put their country's needs above self or petty squabbles.

But no, all you hear from leading Republican politicians is a deafening silence.

As if they're just sipping on their Kool-Aid and waiting for it to all be over.

Christie Knows Nothing & Assorted Conservative Bunk

John Bannerman as Sgt. Schultz

During his weekly "Ask the Governor" radio show on NJ 101.5 FM last night, Republican NJ Governor Christie boldly continued to try and maintain the laughable assertion that he "knew nothing" about Bridgegate.

This despite the sworn testimony by former top aides to Christie that he knew all along.

Even though Bridgegate "mastermind" David Wildstein recently testified under oath in court that Christie was in the know about the astonishingly crooked scheme to punish Democratic Ft. Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Christie by intentionally causing a massive traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge, Christie continues to pull a "Sgt. Schultz".

Not to amuse, as the brilliant character actor John Bannerman famously did in his classic role as the gullible German POW camp guard in the 60's television series Hogan's Heroes

did.

His signature punchline, "I know nothing!", uttered during his efforts to turn a blind eye to the zany hijinks of the Allied POW's under his watch, may have fooled his equally clueless commanding officer Colonel Klink, but it never fooled anyone else; and that's kind of what Christie's doubling-down on his denials about knowing about Bridgegate are coming off as.    

It was sad but interesting to listen to the embattled Christie further shred the tattered remnants of his once sterling political reputation Tuesday night by trying to pin Donald Trump's disastrous performance during the widely-watched first 2016 presidential debate on moderator Lester Holt by calling the respected NBC News anchor an "idiot" for challenging Trump's views on the controversial "Stop and Frisk" police policy.

Which strikes me as an interesting insult to use considering that last week during an interview with Bill O'Reilly on Fox, Trump tried to fan the flames of the eternal Republican conspiracy about "liberal media bias" by insisting that NBC is biased against conservatives and then making the unfounded suggestion that the debate was somehow rigged because Holt was a Democrat.


Holt has been a registered Republican since 2003. Idiot indeed...

Of course Christie isn't the only high-profile Republican to make eye-opening public statements that are more characteristic of a bloviating loudmouth dummkopf this week.

Conservative one-trick pony Rudy Giuliani did his best to kick up some positive spin on Trump's debate implosion and clear lack of preparation by calling Hillary Clinton "stupid" and eagerly joining the conservative media clarion call to blame Lester Holt for Trump's epic fail on a nationally televised stage.

Which is hardly surprising, conservative Trump supporters are still miffed that a joint CNN/ORC poll
as well as a joint NBC News / SurveyMonkey poll showed that a majority of respondents thought Hillary won the debate.

Her performance also scored her a nice 4-point bump in the polls by, in part, keeping her cool on the podium Monday night - including her smooth invitation for viewers to visit her Website to read some of Trump's numerous outrageous falsehoods which are carefully listed and fact-checked on the site.

Not surprisingly Fox News quickly kicked into overdrive in an effort to try and put a new spin on Trump's erratic gaff-prone performance on Monday by unleashing a flood of excuses and nonsensical bunk in an attempt to fight the facts quoted and used so effectively by Clinton during the debate.   

For example as a MediaMatters.org article reported, earlier this evening on On the Record with Brit Hume on Fox News, a panel of three white people agreed that the debunked Birther movement was not racist.

Over on conservative talk radio the consistently tone-deaf Rush Limbaugh actually tried to build on Trump's misogynistic treatment of the then-teenage Miss Universe Alicia Machado by calling her "a porn star" based on some unsupported allegations in a smear article published by The Daily Caller.

Not surprisingly The Daily Caller is a right-wing news Website founded by conservative commentator Tucker Carlson with $3 million in funding from the wealthy Koch-like conservative backer Foster Friess.

Friess is the notoriously Islamophobic multi-millionaire supporter of right-wing Christian causes who blamed the Columbine massacre on liberals; check out ThinkProgress.org's 'Seven Facts Your Need To Know' about this guy.

From Trump's debate performance on Monday, to Christie's denial of his knowledge of Bridgegate, to Fox News and conservative talk media's injection of concocted bunk into the isolated conservative echo-chamber, Republicans have pulled a collective Sgt. Schultz this week:

They know nothing.

Chachi Jumps the Shark: Opening Night At the RNC

Trump & wife before overt plagiarizing of FLOTUS speech

The opening night of the 2016 Republican National Convention had all the elements of the kind of crass reality TV show culture for which Donald Trump has become so famous.

There were an odd assortment of real-life characters on stage who at various times wept, accused, screamed, yelled and lied.

The GOP Clown Car finally came to a screeching halt at the circus.

But let's be fair.

Give the Republicans credit for adding some racial diversity to their opening night lineup.

To bolster the RNC's opening night "Make America Safe Again" theme, they trotted out the frequently unhinged African-American Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke, Jr.

This peculiar Democrat-turned rabid Trump supporter has vowed to "do everything I can" to get Trump into the White House and has a clear message for the numerous members of the Republican party who fear that a Trump presidential bid will destroy what party unity that's left, and threaten the GOP majorities in the House and Senate:

"Anyone who thinks Trump will wreck the GOP is delusional." We'll see soon enough Sheriff!

The outspoken law enforcement officer, a frequent critic of President Obama, also called the charges filed against the Baltimore PD officers responsible for breaking Freddie Gray's neck and killing him the product of a "malicious" prosecutor - which is exactly what many Americans would call cops who intentionally use a "rough ride" in a police van to purposefully abuse someone in custody then end up killing him.

Sheriff Clarke also described the Black Lives Matter protest movement as "anarchy" (so much for 1st Amendment rights!) and defended Donald Trump for saying a federal judge born in Indiana would be unable to rule fairly in a court case against Trump's sham university because his Mexican heritage would bias him against Trump.

Rudy Giuliani inflames the hysteria Monday night

Speaking of law and out of order, former New York City Mayor and resident paranoid fear-meister Rudy Giuliani also took the stage and proceeded to tear into one of the most bizarre public speeches he's ever given.

This morning long-time New York political observer and WNYC radio host Brian Lehrer observed that he'd never seen Giuliani talk publicly like that before.

It was like Giuliani was possessed by some kind of bizarre determination to convince the audience that the Apocalypse was upon us as he yelled hysterically into the microphone like he thought the thing wasn't working, insisting to the cheering throngs that:

"The vast majority of Americans today do not feel safe. They fear for their children and they fear for themselves."

Which of course completely contradicts F.B.I data on crime statistics as well as extensive research by the Brennan Center for Justice that shows crime rates in America (including killings of police officers) are at a 30 year low.

Clint babbles to an empty chair at the 2012 RNC

Now obviously we're all entitled to our own personal political views, and the right to express them, but there's always something slightly unsettling about famous actors who bring their unvarnished political beliefs into the public arena.

I've enjoyed films that Clint Eastwood has acted in and directed for years, but I'm not sure I'll ever look at him in quite the same way after his bizarre onstage tirade against an empty chair on the stage of the 2012 Republican National Convention.

For me it's somewhat jarring to listen to an actor I've always known through the lens of popular entertainment profess political views that veer to the fringes of the far right.

In the history of American politics, there has never been a presidential candidate of a major party who is viewed as unfavorably as Donald Trump; according to the results of a recent poll of 1,000 people conducted by the Washington Post and ABC News, Trump has a 70% unfavorable rating among Americans, which climbs to a remarkable 89% unfavorable rating with Hispanics.

So it's hardly surprising that the people Trump described as "winners" who would be speaking at the RNC on his behalf, including former Indiana coach Bobby Knight, former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka and NFL quarterbacks Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger, have all backed out.

From Chachi to right wing nut bag?

Enter actor and former teen heart throb Scott Baio, who might not even have been on Trump's bucket list of potential speakers save for a recent random encounter.

Apparently Baio was at a Trump fundraiser when The Donald asked him to speak at the convention in Cleveland.

According to an article on Philly.com, Baio, who endorsed Trump back in March, has said he backs Trump because he wants someone "to go into Washington and blow it up." 

Growing up in the 1970's as I did, actor Scott Baio went from playing the cute wisecracking sidekick to Fonzi on 'Happy Days', known as Chachi Arcola, to a guy who has become intoxicated by Trump's delusional xenophobic hate speech.

Et tu Chachi?

Last night I listened to a number of the opening speeches at the RNC, including Scott Baio's brief remarks to an enthusiastic audience.

Baio earned a public rebuke from MSNBC's Tamron Hall for his toxic Twitter comments about Hillary Clinton; now say anything you want about her policies, fine, but using the c-word to refer to a former Senator, Secretary of State and First Lady, or any woman for that matter is wrong - especially in the public arena.

Baio panders to Republicans in Cleveland 

Last night the once-dreamy television veteran was less inflammatory in front of a national prime time audience, but just as partisan - and looking decidedly less cool than he used to look standing next to Fonzi with a mouthful of perfectly shaped teeth.

He assured the conservative crowd that he trusts Trump with his family's lives, I have no idea what that means but I wouldn't want Trump babysitting either of my two nieces.

True to his newfound identity as an enlightened conservative firebrand, Baio shared his definition of what it means to be an American, saying it "doesn't mean getting free stuff." 

Which I assume includes the millions of American GI's who returned home after WWII and were given free college education under the GI Bill?

Or the billions in taxpayer-funded corporate subsidies regularly dolled out to the defense, agricultural or petrochemical industries?

 Was Baio's uninformed opinionating as toxic as Giuliani's fear-mongering?

No, but it's a sad state of affairs when Chachi resorts to simplistic toxic Republican code-speak to demean and slander millions of Americans.

We all know how that worked out for Mitt "47%" Romney. 

Garbled Fiction & Defending the Shire: Conservative Frenzy Heats Up

Utah Congresswoman Mia Love

With an amusing list of excuses that range from  "I can watch it on TV", to the more blunt "I don't even want to be involved", (yes those are real excuses) the list of prominent Republicans who plan on skipping the RNC convention in Cleveland next week reads like a who's who of the party elite.

The Republican Governor of Ohio John Kasich and Mitt Romney won't be anywhere near the Cleveland Convention Center when Donald Trump is presumably anointed the de facto head of the Republican party.

Nor will a host of Republican Congressman and Senators who either openly despise him, or are facing tough elections this fall and are terrified of being associated with Trump when voters head to the polls.

Yesterday I watched a CNN interview with Republican Utah Congresswoman Mia Love.

Ms. Love, who was trotted out like a unicorn at the last Republican convention, is something of an anomaly in this country; a black female Republican Mormon.

She's a GOP stalwart who normally toes the party line, but she made it quite clear during the CNN interview with Jake Tapper that she has no intention of appearing at this year's convention and in polite "poltic-speak" left no question that she has no love for Trump.

The Republican National Convention is next week, and while many prominent party leaders won't be there, a slew of protesters are sure to be.

As Kira Lerner reported in an article for ThinkProgress.org, as the news of the initial proposed amendments for the 2016 Republican party platform planks and policy positions leaked out, it's clear the GOP is trying to take a hard right and steer the party straight into La-La land.

Even as leaders, politicians, cops and families gathered in Dallas to mourn the latest victims of another mass shooting, the Republican party has proposed declaring pornography a "public health crisis that is destroying the life of millions."

Yes, Porn.Worse than guns, wealth inequality or poverty. Porn.

So much for the thousands of Americans wounded and killed by gun violence I guess; I'm sure the NRA had absolutely NOTHING to do with the idea of framing pornography as Public Enemy Number One for the Republican convention.

To the casual observer, it almost seems like prominent conservative figures are determined to use the nationwide backlash of protests against the killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile at the hands of police last week (and the subsequent mass shooting of five police officers in Dallas by a disturbed lone African-American gunman) as an excuse to try and whip Republicans into some kind of cultural frenzy.

Danger Will Robinson, Danger ! Pat Buchanan

For example, last week conservative windbag Ann Coulter compared Donald Trump's efforts to demonize millions of immigrants to Abraham Lincoln's efforts to end slavery.

The always grim, perpetual right wing fear-monger Pat Buchanan penned an op-ed in which he warned that "White America has begun to die" due to inevitable demographic shifts in the U.S. population in the next 30 years.

After peppering the text of his op-ed with pedestrian warnings of a "rising tide of Muslim immigrants and refugees", the dependably backwards-looking Buchanan concluded by imploring "Western Man" to "defend the shire, pull up the drawbridge and man the parapets."

(Guessing he'd just watched the director's cut of LOTR: Return of the King before he wrote that?)

But by no means does Mr. Buchanan have a monopoly on high-minded conservative lunacy.    

Count Giuliani

In a scorching Op-Ed on Tuesday, the Editorial Board of the New York Times ripped into former Mayor Rudy Giuliani for the divisive, reactionary, overtly racist schpeel he launched into during an appearance on CBS' 'Face The Nation' on Sunday.

Rather than backing off after public backlash, he took his act to Fox on Monday and doubled down.

Taking a cue from the worn pages of the Republican playbook, Giuliani followed an all-too-common tactic employed by conservatives in the wake of unjustified killings of people of color by police; he changed the subject and tried to blame black people for it.

This pandering peddler of loony Birther theories, who once stated that President Obama "doesn't love America the way we do", even tried to pivot the topic from out of control cops to black-on-black crime by offering up some helpful advice for a young black son:

"Be very careful of those kids in the neighborhood and don't get involved with them, son, because there's a 99% chance they're going to kill you, not the police."

The Editorial Board of the NY Times called that hokum "Mr. Giuliani's garbled, fictional statistic".

Garbled fiction pretty much sums of the Republican message as they head into what is sure to be one of the most interesting conventions in years.

Seriously I wouldn't miss this one for the world.

Social Media's Magic - Rudy Questions Obama's Love For America

The reach, power and value of social media may be debated in some circles even as it evolves, but the tangible impact it's had on grass roots progressive issues like wage inequality in this country is not in question.

The announcement that Walmart will increase wages for a half million workers, alter the way it currently haphazardly schedules employee hours and actively seek to overhaul it's brand as a crappy employer that systematically underpays it's workers, owes much to the various social media campaigns that have relentlessly targeted the nation's biggest employer for years.

Just think about the past few holiday shopping seasons.

News about Walmart's own employees (and supporters) picketing the stores around the nation over wages and worker's rights, or disturbing stories about the numbers of Walmart employees forced to seek public assistance benefits and food stamps, have made bigger headlines than news about holiday spending at the stores themselves - and the brand has suffered.

Walmart's decision to spend over a billion dollars to restructure it's employment policies and revamp it's image is a huge statement that could serve as a major influence on other large US companies finally moving to increase lower and middle class wages after years of record corporate profits.

Economic policies paid for by US taxpayers, including huge bailouts to banks and allowing companies to borrow at zero interest have pumped enormous amounts of money into the system and allowed American corporations to stockpile massive cash reserves overseas ($1.45 trillion and counting by spring of 2013...) without paying Uncle Sam his share, or worse; using it to expand hiring here at home.

Does Walmart deserve a measure of credit for making the decision to start paying it's workers more than the federal minimum wage? Sure. But if not for the relentless social media campaigns calling Walmart out, it never would have happened.

Plus I'd venture that Walmart execs recognized the long-term strategic risk of the company inadvertently serving as the spark for a resurgence in pro-labor union movements; which it wants no part of in it's stores.

Besides, a billion dollars is a drop in the bucket for a company like Walmart, even if they did anticipate the need to raise wages collectively across the board, kudos to social media for helping to make it happen sooner.

Social media is also proving to be an effective counterweight against the juggernaut of right-wing media channeled through mainstream media outlets like Fox News.

Limbaugh looses ground

As Time's Brian Rosenwald reported yesterday, social media is also having a tangible impact on the grass roots public backlash against hate speech broadcast on public radio airwaves.

His excellent analysis shows how multiple social media campaigns against Rush Limbaugh are steadily eroding his sponsors as well as the radio stations willing to broadcast his show.    


Rush doesn't like it, but the Constitution (like social media) is a complex creature that does not serve one master.

In the same way Limbaugh uses the 1st Amendment as a license to justify his using radio as a platform to spread his misogynist, racist, homophobic beliefs; millions of people are now using online petitions, e-mail campaigns and other online sources to raise awareness of what he says on the air.

In doing so they're making it increasingly uncomfortable for companies that sponsor his show to be associated with the kind of content he creates.

And like Walmart's recognition that it had become THE poster-company for greed, wage inequality and unfair treatment of workers, the cost to the brands of the companies that sponsor Limbaugh's show are starting to outweigh any increased market share or sales volume those commercials may have reaped.

America's authority on who loves America?

Finally I had to follow up my blog yesterday about Dinseh D'Souza's empty political rhetoric after hearing about another ignorant comment made about the president based not on any kind of fact or policy; but on his race.

Over the years it's been interesting watching Rudy Giuliani's metamorphosis from a politically centrist right-leaning mayor of a major northeastern urban city, to the divisive, quasi-delusional right-wing figurehead he's become.

As Justin Baragona reported on PoliticusUSA earlier today, when Giuliani stands up in a pricey Manhattan restaurant in front of a group of well-heeled Republican donors and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and says things like, "I do not believe that the president loves America. He doesn't love you. And he doesn't love me. He wasn't brought up in the way you were brought up and I was brought up through love of this country." as he did last night, I'm not sure whether to laugh or just feel sorry for him.

Anyone who suggests that the same president who authorized US Special Forces to track down and kill Osama Bin Laden, risked his political legacy to fight for all Americans to have reasonable access to health care and is presiding over one of the most sustained periods of job creation on record does not love his country is not firing bullets out of the business end of the barrel.

The whole "He wasn't brought up in the way you were brought up" reeks of a weak attempt at the kind of coded racism that fuels the Republican Southern Strategy.

Worse it's classless and totally unprovable.

I lived in NYC for 15 years and though I frequently disagreed with Giuliani as a mayor, (particularly on heavy-handed police tactics) I generally respected him as a leader and you always knew where he stood on the issues.

So it's sad to see him relegated to appearances on Fox News to toss low ball cheap-shots at the president from the safety of the sidelines of the political arena where he once wielded influence.

A guy who once lead the greatest city in the world now reduced to referencing debunked birther theories and dredging up Dinesh D'Souza's discredited cornball ideas about Obama's issues with "colonialism" shaping his foreign policy decisions? Sad.

As Mitt Romney learned, in this day and age what's said in a closed-door dinner filled with wealthy Republican backers will be breaking on social media within hours.

Rudy should have known it wasn't just 60 Republicans in the room when he questioned the president's love for his country, there were millions of us listening - and holding Hizzoner accountable for what he said.

Broken Windows, Broken System - Daniel Pantaleo's Arrest Record Reveals Wildly Distorted Policing Policy

Officer Daniel Pantaleo after choking (& killing) Eric Garner in Staten Island

Analysis of records of the 259 arrests made by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, who was caught on video applying an illegal choke hold during an arrest that led to Eric Garner's death, calls into question the very existence of the NYPD's "Broken Windows" policing policy.

Records show that a mere 24 of Pantaleo's 259 arrests were actually for serious felony crimes.

The bulk of his arrests are for very minor infractions like marijuana possession, loitering, obstructing traffic, selling loose cigarettes and of course, resisting arrest. If his record is a sample of a typical NYPD patrol officer, what does that say about Broken Windows and the thousands of people being shuttled into New York City's penal system?

The basic theory of Broken Windows follows a simple premise: by focusing police resources and manpower on lower-level offenses that directly impact quality of life, much more serious felony offenses like rape, robbery, assault and murder would in turn be reduced.

But is the enforcement itself triggering horrific felonies far beyond the petty offenses that often trigger violent confrontations between police and (mostly) minority suspects? WNYC reporter Robert Lewis explored that question in an excellent piece back in July.

The Broken Windows policy was a hallmark of the Rudy Giuliani-era when NYPD officers began to crack down hard on things like overly aggressive squeegee guys approaching idling vehicles, cleaning windshields then demanding change for the unsolicited service.

The NYPD also stopped graffiti artists from tagging trains, subway stations and walls; in conjunction with city ordinances they made it harder for kids to buy spray paint (and box cutters) from hardware stores. Fare-jumpers who hopped subway turn styles, or people drinking from open containers of alcohol in public also drastically dropped. They even started harassing food cart vendors.

The policy continued under the Bloomberg administration. 

But as the arrest statistics piled up almost exclusively for young men of color, as did the staggering number of totally innocent citizens caught up in the wide net that Broken Windows cast, the Constitutionality of "Stop and Frisk" (a core element of Broken Windows policing strategy) became a much larger legal issue. Now it's an ugly stain on the legacy of the Bloomberg administration.

In light of the national attention focused on Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson's fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown over the summer, Eric Garner's death from Daniel Pantaleo's illegal choke hold during an encounter in Staten Island (resulting from Garner's arrest for selling loose cigarettes to people on the street) became more than just business as usual for the NYPD.

The encounter was filmed by a bystander and went viral, placing the policy of Broken Windows squarely into the spotlight of global media scrutiny.

Disturbing facts about Pantaleo have emerged as witnesses from some of his 259 arrests have stepped forward with alarming details of his treatment of suspects.

Back on August 2nd the NY Daily News ran a piece on 43 year-old Tommy Rice, a welder who was stopped, strip-searched and falsely arrested (along with three other passengers in a car) in Staten Island by Pantaleo and another officer back in March of 2012.

Rice was eventually awarded $30,000 from the city after it was shown Pantaleo mocked and insulted Rice during the strip search by slapping his genitals. Where do you find that technique in the NYPD manual?

Earlier today NPR ran a feature and interview about another African-American who was falsely arrested by Pantaleo in Staten Island after the rogue cop stopped him and a friend on the street while they were taking an old boiler to a scrap yard for cash.

Pantaleo accused the man of stealing the boiler even though he explained that it had come from his girlfriend's mother's home and had been given to him. Pantaleo arrested him anyway; further clogging the New York City court system by charging the guy with obstructing traffic for pushing the boiler along the street in a shopping cart.

Obviously Garner's death was a ruled a homicide, but should we really blame Pantaleo? What about the system that put him back out on the street as a cop? Clearly the guy is no brain surgeon, but he's only enforcing the existing laws on the city's books.

What's becoming painfully clear is that Pantaleo is just one cog in a damaged machine and a symptom of a broken system.

If you want evidence of just how broken the system is, last week Sarah Ryley published the findings of some truly unsettling analysis by the NY Daily News. Look for yourself as these startling statistics showing the disproportionate rate at which Hispanics and Blacks are issued summonses for low-level offenses in New York.

Take for example the Upper West Side (North) in Manhattan, where, according to Ryley's Daily News article, blacks and Hispanics make up 34% of the population - yet they account for 84% of the summonses issued by the NYPD.

As Ryley's article states: "The analysis also found blacks and Hispanics received the vast majority of summonses for scores of common offenses, such as disorderly conduct (88%), loitering (89%), spitting (92%) and failure to have a dog license (91%) — even though the Health Department estimates that less than 17% of dogs citywide are licensed."

Those numbers are startling. If you consider the amount of revenue those summonses generate for the city, one might conclude the Broken Windows policy essentially amounts to a city tax on the behavior of black and Hispanic citizens.

Or perhaps Broken Windows policing serves the more sinister goal of offering NYPD officers the option of being able to criminalize virtually anything a person of color is doing in New York; walking an unlicensed dog, spitting on the sidewalk, having some weed in their pocket - any of which their white counterparts are also doing on any given day in Park Slope, the Village, Williamsburg or DUMBO.

I lived in New York for 15 years, I know that's true. By the way it's common knowledge that you can walk into almost any corner Bodega and by a "loosie" (a single cigarette) in case you just want a quick smoke and don't want to shell out ten bucks for a pack, strange that Pantaleo would arrest Eric Garner for doing it on the street in Staten Island.

Stranger still that Pantaleo would put him in a choke hold and end Garner's life for doing it.

But when viewed in the larger context of the numbers cited in the Daily News analysis, an officer like Daniel Pantaleo actually makes sense - a policy like Broken Windows can only function when you have officers like him to do the dirty work.

Dirty work indeed.