Carol D. Leonnig, Craig Timberg, and Drew Harwell report Odd markings, ellipses fuel doubts about the ‘rough transcript’ of Trump’s Ukraine call: President Trump said Wednesday that his controversial July call with his Ukrainian counterpart was transcribed “word-for-word, comma-for-comma,” an assertion that fueled growing questions about the nature and completeness of an official memorandum about…
Trump
Bad Ideas, Boosterism, Mendacity, Politics, Trump, Waste Digesters
Saying and Believing Anything
by JOHN ADAMS •
Adam Serwer, writing on Twitter in response to a series of distortions from the conservative Federalist website, states plainly the truth of Trump-supporting lies: There is no incentive to correct because the targeted audience will believe anything pro-Trump they are told, whereas acknowledging error would signal weakness and insufficient devotion to the Great Leader. Yes,…
Disinformation, Mendacity, Propaganda, Putin, Trump
Kasparov on Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt
by JOHN ADAMS •
Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63), the former chess champion and longtime human rights activist, recently described the role of propaganda in creating fear, uncertainty, and doubt. The thread from Twitter is below (linked here from the first tweet) in the thread: As you watch Trump’s defenders lie, deflect, and distract today and in the coming weeks, remember…
America, Federal Government, Law, Trump
Hear or Read the Whistleblower Complaint
by JOHN ADAMS •
Ethics, Mendacity, Trump
Reminder: Trump Admin Has History of Falsifying Documents
by JOHN ADAMS •
America, Congress, Impeachment, Law, Trump
Right & Necessary
by JOHN ADAMS •
America, History, Liberty, Never Trump, Politics, Trump
After This Conflict Is Won
by JOHN ADAMS •
These last years have been difficult, and one can reasonably expect worse from Trumpism before that ideology is consigned – as it will be – to the political outer darkness. A necessary condition for optimism is an understanding of the present from which one can build a better future. (Local boosterism and babbittry are failures…
Kakistocracy, Trump
Top Trump Departures
by JOHN ADAMS •
Bad Ideas, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economy, Foxconn, Government Spending, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, Trump, Water, WEDC, WGTB, WHEN GREEN TURNS BROWN, Wisconsin
It Shouldn’t
by JOHN ADAMS •
Anna Clark (author of The Poisoned City: Flint’s Water and the American Urban Tragedy) asks Why should Wisconsin drain Lake Michigan for Foxconn?: The Great Lakes — five inland seas holding one-fifth of all the fresh water on Earth — are vast, but they are not limitless. So it is alarming that Wisconsin intends to send…
Authoritarianism, Politics, Trump
Trump as a ‘grotesque inflation of the presidency’
by JOHN ADAMS •
There are many ways in which Trump is grotesque – bigot, ignoramus, grifter, liar, admirer of America’s adversaries — but it’s his authoritarian desires that makes these immoralities or errors dangerous to others. As all people are flawed, so in proportion a thirst for control carries risk to others; from those who are not flawed…
Economics, Economy, Poll, Taxes/Taxation, Trade, Trump
Americans’ Support for Free Trade Reaches New High
by JOHN ADAMS •
A strong majority supports free trade and rejects Trump’s anti-market trade wars and tariffs. Mark Murray reports that Amid President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, nearly two-thirds of Americans say they support free trade with foreign countries, according to the latest national poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal. That represents a…
Corporate Welfare, Economics, Economy, Federal Government, Government Spending, Trade, Trump
Wastrel
by JOHN ADAMS •
Embed from Getty Images John Bresnahan and Burgess Everett report Deficit Don? Red ink gushes in Trump era (‘The president endorsed a bipartisan budget deal without any of the spending restraints previously demanded by Republicans’): With a new bipartisan budget deal that does nothing to cut federal spending, Trump is on track for another $1 trillion…
Bad Ideas, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economy, Foxconn, Government Spending, Scott Walker, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, Trump, WEDC, Wisconsin
Foxconn: Independent Study Confirms Project is Beyond Repair
by JOHN ADAMS •
[embeddoc url=”https://freewhitewater.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Costs-and-Benefits-of-a-Revised-Foxconn-Project.pdf” width=”100%” download=”all” viewer=”google”] Previously: 10 Key Articles About Foxconn, Foxconn as Alchemy: Magic Multipliers, Foxconn Destroys Single-Family Homes, Foxconn Devours Tens of Millions from State’s Road Repair Budget, The Man Behind the Foxconn Project, A Sham News Story on Foxconn, Another Pig at the Trough, Even Foxconn’s Projections Show a Vulnerable (Replaceable) Workforce, Foxconn in Wisconsin: Not So High Tech After All, Foxconn’s Ambition…