The Messing Link

Twitter Thread: How Donald Trump got rich by getting $413 million from his Daddy, then by scamming and cheating and tax fraud.

IMPORTANT: MAKE SURE YOU READ THE UPDATE AT THE END OF THIS ARTICLE. THIS ARTICLE'S CLAIM THAT THE HOUSE CAN IMPEACH A SENATOR IS OPEN TO QUESTION

The following is an open letter to Congresman Tom Reed in response to Donald Trump's racist tweets attacking Congresswomen  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib.

So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly......

Note: This is a slightly revised version of the second part of an article that I had posted on January 15.  The first part of the article, which discusses the legitimacy and effectiveness of Brian Kolfage's GoFundMe campaign to build the Wall, is posted here.

Let's put reservations about the legitimacy of Brian Kolfage's campaign and its effectiveness in raising money from conservatives who want the Wall aside. Let's assume that the campaign will be able to prove its legitimacy and that it will become a fund-raising juggernaut among conservatives who want the Wall. The biggest obstacle preventing Kolfage's campaign from being as effective as it could be is that its appeal is limited to the roughly 1/3 of the population who see the wall as a priority. They will contribute to the wall while liberals will contribute nothing while enjoying the benefits of the Wall (such as they are). FEAR NOT, CONSERVATIVES--there IS a way to get liberals to not only contribute to the Wall, but to contribute willingly and eagerly. How? Imagine this.

Note: This article is a revised version of the first part of an article that I had posted on January 15. The second part of this article is posted here.

Triple Amputee Iraqi War veteran Brian Kolfage was sick and tired of waiting for the government to provide funds to build Trump's Wall along the Southern border, so he took matters into his own hands by starting a GoFundMe campaign to fund the Wall. The campaign's goal is ambitious--Kolfage wants to raise $1 Billion of the $5 billion that Trump says he wants to start the Wall. Kolfage's campaign relies on the voluntary contributions of those who want the Wall to pay for it. As such, it has zero chance of receiving significant money from the one half to two thirds of the population who either oppose to the Wall or who do not see it as a priority.

Tom Reed's campaign and his supporters are making a big stink about some very ill-considered remarks posted by one of Tracy Mitrano's staffers on her Instagram account. Reed has posted this photo from the Instagram post, along with the caption  "WARNING: Explicit Language – Extreme Ithaca Liberal Post" on his Extreme Ithaca Liberal site.

I have made many less than warm remarks about my Congressman, Tom Reed. Now it is time for me to say something nice about him.

It is hard for me to find just one thing to admire about Tom Reed. I actually can't choose between his bravery and his loyalty. Tom Reed showed true bravery in last year while some of his fellow Republicans were running away from angry constituents who were furious that their Representatives were jeopardizing their lives by trying to kill the Affordable Health Care Act and replace it with a plan that did not guarantee coverage of pre-existing conditions. Witness Colorado Congressman Mike Coffman who snuck out a side door before a community meeting even began January 2017 when he saw that over 150 angry constituents showed up. Or California Congressman Tom McClintock who scurried away from his constituents in February 2017.  Only 13 Republicans held Town Halls during June 2017 because the rest were avoiding their constituents, yet Reed held four.

And through it all Tom Reed stood tall at town hall meetings and bravely "agreed to disagree" with those who thought his recklessness would drive them into bankruptcy or prevent them from getting the health care needed for their children. It takes true guts to take a feces fajita and try to palm it off as a filet mignon.

Tom Reed is constantly touting his pride in being a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus--a small bipartisan group of legislators who are willing to reach across the aisle to develop compromise legislation to be passed by Congress. While I applaud his effort to reach across the aisle to get things done, there are several things we must keep in mind when evaluating his role in this caucus.

Matthew McGowen’s October 9 article in the Cornell Daily Sun about Congressman Tom Reed’s visit to campus emphasized Republican students’ fears about being subjected to social backlash if they wore their MAGA hats on campus. Senator Rand Paul recently said that political divisiveness will lead to “an assassination” and that “someone is going to be killed and that those who are ratcheting up the conversation ... they have to realize that they bear some responsibility if this elevates to violence.”  Tom Reed’s website claims that his staff members have been threatened by his opponent, Tracy Mitrano’s, supporters and blamed Representative Maxine Waters for encouraging harassment of public servants. And Republicans are quick to point out the attempted assassination of GOP Representative Steve Scalise in June 2016.

It is time to put Republican claims of perpetual victimhood in context.

Ever since the election in which he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 3 million votes, Donald Trump and the Republicans have been screaming, "Voter Fraud! Voter Fraud! Voter Fraud!" Again and again Donald Trump has claimed that he would have won the election had millions of illegal votes not been cast for Hillary.  Trump's being a sore winner would be comical except for the fact that Republicans have used his allegations of voter fraud to justify various schemes to suppress the vote. But the basic assumption that there is widespread voter fraud is a pure, unadulterated lie. Here are some articles that discuss this lie in more detail.