American Psycho

Donald Trump's docket: All the legal cases and investigations Trump faces including federal charges over classified documents

The lawsuits and prosecutions involving Donald Trump are piling up.

The ex-president — who has officially launched his 2024 presidential bid — now is indicted in two separate prosecutions, the first former White House occupant to ever be charged. In New York, he stands charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. And in Florida, the Justice Department brought 37 counts against him for his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House, making him the first president to face federal criminal charges.

Beyond that, Trump remains the subject of at least three major investigations relating to the election, the insurrection, and his finances.

A state prosecutor in Georgia is weighing if Trump broke laws in attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in that state. The Justice Department is also looking into the 2020 election.

Indictments of Donald Trump

United States of America v. Donald J. Trump and Waltine Nauta

The People of the State of New York -against- Donald J. Trump

Larry Summers: Corporate Greed Apologist

Rule of Law?

The Neverending Grift

How dare workers expect more than $7.25 per hour! Don't count on a decent retirement or health care plan from your employer either. Fix poisonous lead pipes? Gonna have to wait. Repair potholes and crumbling bridges? Not this decade. Strengthen Social Security and Medicare? Not a chance! Maybe we should phase them out. 

More money for private, billionaires' sport stadiums? No problem. There's always hundreds of millions in public dollars for private playgrounds and speculation.

Milwaukee's Miller Park (now American Family Field) baseball stadium (for the Milwaukee Brewers) opened in 2001. Total cost to taxpayers was estimated over a billion dollars. Already, twenty years later, the Brewers need nearly $300 million more from taxpayers.

The same old myth is playing out in this greed and grift saga, wrapped in the contrived cloak of economic development and jobs. As the fairy tale goes, sports have a significant economic impact, spurring other developments, and creating jobs. And, as always, there's the threat of leaving. The Brewers may find a new host city if Milwaukee and Wisconsin don't fork over the cash.

Thought experiment: Can a business (sport team) claim to be infinitely successful and astoundingly economically impactful if, every twenty years or so, said entity must bribe and blackmail to be able to afford, supposedly, needed upgrades for their place of work (the sport arena)? 

Or, sadly, is that just how this blackmail song-and-dance shakes out, each and every time, in city after city? [Spoiler - yes, this is how it plays out in city after city, year after year.]

The boondoggles march on.

For Further Reading:
Site Selection Shenanigans

Stadium Swindle

Bonds & Bondage: Indentured to the Sports Stadium Cabal

Another American Revolution Needed

The United States has 13 of the world's top 20 billionaires. 

Let's stop pretending welfare, social programs, minimum wage, retirement plans, etc. are the true American budgetary issues. Living wages, health care, and pension plans are NOT the problem.

It's the fact that we've allowed a privileged few to avoid paying their fair share whilst amassing grotesque fortunes. 

It's time to start taxing these kings and queens and return the United States to a shared prosperity instead of the current plutocracy.

[source]

Best Metal Music of 2022

-(16)- - Into Dust

Abhorrent Expanse - Gateways To Resplendence
Acephalix - Theothanatology
Acid Witch - Rot Among Us
Aenimus - Sacrificial
Aethereus - Leiden
Allegaeon - Damnum
Alunah - Strange Machine
Amon Amarth - The Great Heathen Army
Amorphis - Halo
An Abstract Illusion - Woe
AngelMaker - Sanctum
Animals As Leaders - Parrhesia
The Antichrist Imperium - Volume III: Satan In His Original Glory
Antropofagus - Origin
Artificial Brain - Artificial Brain
Author & Punisher - Krüller
Autophagy - Bacteriophage
Autopsy - Morbidity Triumphant
Baest - Justitia
Bastard Noise / Merzbow - Retribution By All Other Creatures
Bastions - Acres Of Love
Begrime Exemious - Rotting In The Aftermath
Behemoth - Opvs Contra Natvram

Black Lava - Soul Furnace
Bleed From Within - Shrine
Bleeding Through - Rage
Blood Incantation - Timewave Zero
Candlemass - Sweet Evil Sun
Carrion Vael - Abhorrent Obsessions
Castrator - Defiled In Oblivion
Catalyst - A Different Painting For A New World
Cave In - Heavy Pendulum
Clutch - Sunrise On Slaughter Beach
Come To Grief - When The World Dies
Corpsessed - Succumb To Rot
De Profundis - The Corruption Of Virtue

Deathspell Omega - The Long Defeat
Decapitated - Cancer Culture
Devil Master - Ecstasies Of Never Ending Night
Devin Townsend - Lightwork

Doldrum - The Knocking. or the Story of the Sound that Preceded Their Disappearance

Drudkh - All Belong To The Night
Electric Callboy - Tekkno
Full Of Hell - Aurora Leaking From An Open Wound
Gaerea - Mirage
Ghost - Impera
Goatwhore - Angels Hung From The Arches Of Heaven
Hällas - Isle Of Wisdom
Hath - All That Was Promised
HEALTH - Disco 4: Part II
Horndal - Be Evil
Imperial Triumphant - Spirit Of Ecstasy
Ingested - Ashes Lie Still
Inhuman Condition - Fearsick
Jungle Rot - A Call To Arms
Lamentations - Passion Of Depression
Liturgy - As The Blood Of God Bursts The Veins Of Time
Lorna Shore - Pain Remains
Mass Worship - Portal Tombs
Massacre - Mythos
Meshuggah - Immutable
Midnight - Let There Be Witchery
Misery Index - Complete Control
Molder - Engrossed In Decay
The Monolith Deathcult - V4 - Verbittering
Nebula - Transmissions From Mothership Earth
Nekrogoblikon - The Fundamental Slimes and Humours
Oceans Of Slumber - Starlight And Ash
Origin - Chaosmos
The Otolith - Folium Limina
Primitive Man - Insurmountable
Primus - Conspiranoid
Psycroptic - Divine Council
Rammstein - Zeit
Revocation - Netherheaven
Ripped To Shreds - 劇變 (Jubian)
Rolo Tomassi - Where Myth Becomes Memory
Savage Master - Those Who Hunt At Night
Septicflesh - Modern Primitive
Slugcrust - Ecocide
SOEN - Atlantis
Spirit Adrift - 20 Centuries Gone
Stray From The Path - Euthanasia
Sumerlands - Dreamkiller
Sylvaine - Nova
Tómarúm - Ash In Realms Of Stone Icons
Tombs - Ex Oblivion
Trial - Feed The Fire
Tzompantli - Tlazcaltiliztli

Undeath - It's Time ... To Rise From The Grave
Watain - The Agony & Ecstasy Of Watain
Warforged - The Grove

Witchery - Nightside
Zeal & Ardor - Zeal & Ardor

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Midweek Reading

Top economist Mohamed El-Erian says we’re not just headed for another recession, but a ‘profound economic and financial shift’

Gerrymandering Wins In 2022 Election

Republican Proposal Cuts Taxes On The Wealthy

Dan Bice Undermines Elections Commission

How Much Do U.S. Cities Spend On Policing?

The Blue Budget: What Cities Spend on Police

Police Funding Trends in Wisconsin

Laura Ingraham's Question About Violence Gets A Brutal 'Daily Show' Supercut

National Geographic names Milwaukee a top global travel destination for 2023

Yes, Texans actually pay more in taxes than Californians do

50 years of tax cuts for the rich failed to trickle down, economics study says

Scathing New Supercut Exposes Right-Wing Hypocrisy Over Biden's Fascism Warning

Will RNC Have $200 Million Impact on City?

Robert Reich debunks inflation myths

Republicans Say Economy Is In Recession After It Added Half A Million Jobs In July

Growth of US economy under Trump was worst since Hoover

How To Solve (Mostly) All Our Problems

 TAX THE RICH!!!

And, by "rich", I mean millionaires. Which, for the U.S., is about 9% of the entire population. This isn't a call for increased taxation on low-income, working families, or the middle-class. It's a call to tax those that have clawed, cheated, and stolen the wealth and productivity gains of the past few decades. No, not all millionaires have clawed, cheated, and stolen. But those who have clawed, cheated and stolen, and who have bought politicians to get legislation and tax laws in their favor, need to be taxed more.

Income has been steadily redistributed upward since the 1980s. Millionaires are reaping more and more of the gains of workers. This is not sustainable. It's time to reverse this. Tax the rich! 

Turn That Frown Upside Down

An overarching theme for Republicans, regarding the next election cycle, is this idea that things are an economic mess. Times are tough, everyone is struggling. 

Yet, in many metrics, a reasonable, non-partisan observer would most likely conclude that times are, generally, good. 

Unemployment

The current unemployment rate is under 4% (3.7% as of today for the U.S.; 3% for Wisconsin). And, despite an historically low unemployment rate, wages are rising.

Interest Rates

Historically speaking, interest rates are low. In the 1970s, rates were mid-7 percent. The 1980s saw rates rise to mid-9 percent. The 1990s started around 10 percent, and finished around 8 percent. From 2000 through the 2010s, rates fell from 8 percent to 3 percent. The 2020s have seen rates rise from high-3 percent to the current mid-5 percent.

Inflation Rate

The majority of noise in the inflation rate hangs on the energy sector. A better descriptor for this phenomenon is price-gouging. The energy sector doubled gasoline prices and laughed all the way to the bank as Republicans and their accomplices manufactured the price-gouging into a Joe Biden spending (inflation) problem. It's no coincidence that as the energy sector has gouged less (gas prices have come down), inflation has fallen.

No Brain Necessary: Trumpers in Waukesha, Wisconsin

Little Economic Impact From Stadium Projects

Report Finds Little Economic Impact From Stadium Projects

For Further Reading:

The Legalized Bribery That Is Sport Subsidization

It's A Scandal! It's A Outrage!

The Math and Taxes of Stadium Boondoggles

Big League Confusion

Brewing Up An Inflated Impact

Big League Broke

Bonds & Bondage: Indentured To The Sports Entertainment Cabal

Other Reasons Why Ron Johnson Is A Terrible Person

Ron Johnson Wants Social Security, Medicare To Be Discretionary Spending

America Is Not A Christian Nation

Is America A Christian Nation?

No, It Is Not a Christian Nation, and It Never Has Been and ShouldNot Be One

Founding Fathers: We Are Not a Christian Nation

Repeat After Us: America Is Not a Christian Nation

Sunday Reading

How one institution keeps claiming math’s highest award

Wisconsin Supreme Court Backs GOP Scheme To Rob Dem Governor Of Appointment

Reiki: still stupid after all these years

Blame the Fed For Everything!

Inflation, Unemployment, Mortgage Rates: Here's What History Tells Us About the Economy

The Inefficient Market Hypothesis

How the Fed Bailed Out the Investor Class Without Spending a Cent

No evidence that violent video games are causing mass shootings, despite politicians’ claims

Video Games Aren’t Why Shootings Happen. Politicians Still Blame Them.

How will we know if we’re in a recession?

The Most Pathetic Men in America

The Supreme Court’s Gone Rogue — And This is a Judicial Coup

The Supreme Court's Partisan Divide Hasn't Been This Sharp In Generations

The Supreme Court has pushed America to the brink.

Screenshots of Wisdom

Insurrection Consequences

United States: Guns & Gun-Related Deaths

30 years of mass shootings by country: between 1983 to 2013, 119 mass shootings took place around the world—66% were in the U.S.

Mass shootings: US the worst in the world by far

There’s a new global ranking of gun deaths. Here’s where the U.S. stands

America's gun culture - in charts

On gun violence, the United States is an outlier

Spare Me The Bullshit!

Screenshots of Wisdom

Whiskey

Companies Keep Hiring

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 390,000 in May, above the 328,000 Dow Jones estimate.

The unemployment rate held at 3.6%, while a more encompassing jobless rate edged higher to 7.1%.

Average hourly earnings rose slightly less than expected but were still up 5.2% from a year ago.

Leisure and hospitality led gains, followed by professional and business services then warehousing and transportation. [source]

Fox News thinks all of this is bad. The delusion continues. Being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian continues. 

Corporate Profits and Inflation

For Further Reading:

Ignoring the role of profits makes inflation analyses a lot weaker

Corporate profits have contributed disproportionately to inflation. How should policymakers respond?

The future of work depends on stopping Amazon’s union busting

Ron Johnson: International Embarrassment

Fred Guttenberg Corrects Ron Johnson's Idiocy

Holiday Reading

Monarch butterflies bounce back in Mexico wintering grounds

The Media Needs to Stop Pretending that Elon Musk is a Wise Sage rather than a Grifter

When I First Saw Elon Musk for Who He Really Is

No Atheist Has Done This Much Damage to the Christian Faith

'Big Short' investor Michael Burry compares the market slump to a plane crash — and hints tumbling stocks and home sales remind him of the housing bubble bursting

The massive gap between rich and poor Americans costs the US economy more than $300 billion every year, study says

The Southern Baptist Horror

How America Sold Out Little League Baseball

Bad Economics

No Right

Here's What GOP-Nominated Justices Said About Roe v. Wade During Their Senate Hearings
The Most Extreme Abortion Ban In The Country Was Just Signed Into Law In Oklahoma

Samuel Alito: the abrasive justice taking abortion rights back to the 17th century

Spineless, Selfish, Murderous Cowards: Republicans & The NRA

The NRA Convention Begins Today. You Can’t Bring Your Gun.

Ted Cruz Praises Guns To NRA Days After School Shooting

Ted Cruz Stops Interview Rather Than Answer Why America Has So Many Mass Shootings

Texas shooting: America is killing itself, as the Republican Party looks the other way

Nationwide Protests Demanding Gun Control Planned By Youth-Led Movement

Gunman's Last 90 Minutes Fuel Questions About Police Response At Uvalde School

Michael Moore Tells MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, “It’s Time To Repeal The Second Amendment”

Marjorie Taylor Greene takes pro-gun stance following Texas school shooting: 'We don't need more gun control. We need to return to God.'

Why Steve Kerr's comments on Uvalde should stop you in your tracks

Warriors' Steve Kerr delivers impassioned plea for gun control after Texas school shooting: 'We can't get numb to this'

The Onion Calls Out Inaction Over Mass Shootings With Classic Response

Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham Ridiculously Rip Biden's Reaction To Texas School Shooting

Latest Elementary School Massacre Not Enough For GOP To Reconsider Gun Control

Top Texas Republicans Call For More Guns, Fortified Schools, Armed Teachers After Attack

Who are the right blaming for the Texas shooting? Trans people, immigrants and victims’ parents

Gun map: Ownership by state

Reduce The Number Of Guns

Hypocrisy & 40 Years of Anti-Abortion Protests

Vote Democrat

If you were on the fence, if you were thinking of voting Republican, if you were thinking of not voting at all, here is a glaring example of why the majority of Americans should vote Democrat.

Protests Erupt Nationwide To Support Abortion Rights After SCOTUS Draft Leak

Ocasio-Cortez Torches Collins And Murkowski: 'They Don't Get To Play Victim Now'

George Carlin Nailed Conservative Hypocrisy On Abortion More Than 25 Years Ago

Wisconsin Abortion Rights Could Be Set Back Nearly 200 Years

How We Know It Wasn't A Liberal Who Leaked SCOTUS Decision

VP Harris: Overturning Roe 'A Direct Assault On Freedom'

Republicans only care about power and cronyism. And, this latest Supreme Court leak shows they definitely do not give a shit about women. 

Upcoming Elections:

Fall Primary - Tuesday, August 9

General Election - Tuesday, November 8

Midweek Reading

The strongest case for urban density isn’t aesthetics, it’s math

Union membership at Wisconsin private employers declined 69% from peak in 1984

The Lasting Legacy Of Redlining

Amy Coney Barrett served as a ‘handmaid’ in Christian group People of Praise

Want to make money? Become a mathematician. Seriously.

Eight Charts that Explain the Market

“The Richest People on the Planet are Criminals”

“If You’re Getting a W-2, You’re a Sucker”

Gun deaths were the leading killer of US children in 2020

The Amazonification of the American workforce

Choice School Must Pay Property Taxes

How Conservatives Fell in Love With Judicial Activism

The Lie About the Supreme Court Everyone Pretends to Believe

Are Performance Improvement Plans Just Code For 'You Should Quit'?

Brewers Cost Taxpayers $1.56 Billion

63% of State’s Corporations Pay No Taxes

Milwaukee deemed 'climate haven' for resistance against climate disasters

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