Month: March 2018

Will Trump fire Mueller?

I think Trump wants to fire Mueller and stop his investigation. Here’s a column from CNN.   The tweets by Trump and his lawyer are trial balloons to see what the reaction would be.

If Trump fired Mueller (or more accurately had the Justice Department do it), I think:

  1. Democrats and some member of the media will complain.  They can do nothing.
  2. Trump is more popular than Republicans in Congress among Republican voters.  I expect Republican “leaders” like McConnell and Ryan to do nothing.  They don’t want to alienate their voters.  Some Congressional Republicans will speak up (like Graham already has) but they won’t be able to do anything.

So, Trump can fire Mueller and there will be no immediate consequences.  At some point, through some investigation, we will get to the bottom of this.  Trump can’t hide the truth forever.  It must be bad if firing Mueller is a better option for him then letting Mueller find out the truth.  Sad!

Ry Cooder

Ry Cooder is a great musician (but not nearly as great as a singer).  His first album, produced by Van Dyke Parks, is one of his best and has ornate versions of “One Meatball” and Woody Guthrie’s “Do Re Mi”.

My favorite Cooder album is his second one, Into the Purple Valley, from 1972.  Like the first one, Cooder showcases songs from first half of the 20th Century such as “Taxes on the Farmer Feeds Us All” and “How Can You Keep On Moving (Unless You Migrate Too)”.

I also highly recommend Chicken Skin Music from 1976 which has Flaco Jimenez on accordian and several Hawaiian musicians.  His Tex-Mex arrangements of “He’ll Have to Go” and “Goodnight Irene” are among the highlights.

YouTube has video clips of Cooder and his band from this era.  Jimenez barely moves!

Austin City Limits (1976 – almost 38 minutes)

Old Grey Whistle Test (1977 – 39 minutes)

Rockpalast “Stand By Me” (1977)

 

 

Republicans in Congress will get more conservative

When the congressional elections are held later this year, which Republican House members will lose?  It won’t be the very conservative ones, safely shielded in red districts.  It will be the moderate/conservative ones in moderate districts.  Thus, the remaining House Republicans will be even more conservative as a group.  This is only an issue for liberals if the Republicans maintain control of the House.

Didn’t we learn from the recession?

Republicans, with the assistance of 16 Democratic senators, voted to roll back part of the banking restrictions put in place after the 2008 recession.

I recommend the film The Big Short for anyone who would like an entertaining and accessible way to understand the issues in the 2008 financial crisis.

Here’s the incredible amount of money banks have been fined since the financial crisis.  It’s $243 billion!  To be fair, the new looser rules do not affect the biggest banks, which were the ones listed here in the fine totals.  Still, we need to learn from the last crisis to avoid the next one.  Sad!