Paula White and Jerry Falwell Jr. are great examples of why candidate endorsing churches should be taxed. These are mini cults preying on the weak, violating separation of church and state.

I have no issue with issue endorsing, but candidate endorsing crosses the line.

It’s probably way too early to be speculating on anything to do with the democratic primaries.  At this point all we have is the media’s rankings which is mostly based on fund raising success or lack thereof.

Not long ago I was leaning hard towards Kamala Harris.  The original reasons that attracted me to her candidacy still exist.  She’s smart.  She’s tough.  She’s kind and very likable, and perhaps best of all, she’s not at risk of being an octogenarian during her first term.  Sure, go ahead and accuse me of agism.  See if I care.  I really don’t at this point.

As time goes on, the more I see of Mayor Pete, the more I like the idea of his candidacy.  Here are my reasons.

• He’s incredibly intelligent and articulate
• He’s a veteran so he comes with creds on foreign policy to some extent.  He’s served his country honorably.
• He’s from Indiana, so he cannot be viewed as a “coastal elite” which is the ball and chain that I think Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would have to shake off with the midwest voters.
• On healthcare he’s a realist for the public options vs. medicare for all.  There are a lot of people who would be extremely upset if they had to give up their employer paid healthcare.
• He’s young

At this point I can’t get excited about Sanders, Warren, or Biden.  I would support them in a heartbeat over any republican of course but Pete Buttigeig would be a complete breath of fresh air into our political system.  The voter turnout for young people would be off the charts.  After all, it’s going to be their country 20 years from now, no?  Someone from their generation should be guiding the direction of it.   Especially now with critical climate decisions in the equation.

I only mention this because I like the idea of being an early adopter.  It’s kind of like investing.  Everyone knows Amazon is a great stock now, but the ones who bought at $50/share are the visionaries.

Count me in the Pete Buttigeig camp fairly early.   The chance that he gets the nomination are probably pretty slim, but not if people keep an open mind.

That’s what did the democrats in the last time.  Wasserman-Shultz declared Clinton the heir to the thrown before the primaries even got off the ground.  Let’s hope that doesn’t happen this time.

Chuck Todd had a political analyst from Iowa on Meet The Press last Sunday. To be sure there were some interesting stats about what the people from the great state of Iowa were concerned about. My question is: Who gives a shit what Iowans think? It’s 6 bloody electoral votes. Iowa isn’t the “pulse” of the American heartland. It’s a small state out in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of farms and a few universities.

I’d like to believe that we live in a county where “diversity of opinions” is a good thing.  I really would like to believe that.  But I cannot.

With the onset of the Great Recession we saw the origins of the Tea Party movement, ostensibly a group of conservatives who were very concerned about our national debt, the budget deficit and government spending.  They were successful at handcuffing then speaker Paul Ryan from negotiating any progress with progressives in the house.  With a republican majority and speaker, it was all but guaranteed nothing would get done.  Week after week they would appear on the Sunday News shows and express their outrage over government spending!

The problem for the Tea Party now is that they appear to have selective outrage.  When a republican holds the White House, subsidies for farmers is suddenly okay.  The vote for massive tax cuts for the wealthy on the promise that they will pay for themselves with a booming economy.

The problem is twofold.  1)  The promise of the tax cuts paying for themselves was a lie and they knew it, and 2) Republicans suck at math.

Debt and deficits have grown at worse rates under republican leadership since Ronald Reagan introduced his infamous Trickle Down theory.  Tax rates for the ultra wealthy went from 70% down to 39% and with capital gains at 15%, what we’re seeing is the upper tier pays less in percentage (~23%) than their hired help does.

Today they are fully trained in the New Gingrich mold of switching the conversation to “entitlements” as the root cause.  The problem here is, social security isn’t an entitlement.  We paid into that program and are owed the money.

No, the problem is that corporations and the wealthy haven’t been paying their fair share.  70% down to 23%.  Do the math.

But they are the job creators comes the rallying cry from the peanut gallery!  Bullshit.  The lessons of the past 4 decades have told a different story.  They haven’t created living wage jobs.  If anything they have outsourced more.

And now with a Republican holding the White House and record deficits, the Tea Party is conspicuously absent from the conversation about debt and deficits.  In fact, they vote in block to expand the very thing they were reportedly enraged about: big government spending.

I can only draw one conclusion from this: Tea Party Republicans are full of shit.

@chrislhayes

Look, if the president says it’s 72 degrees and sunny out then it’s 72 degrees and sunny out! That’s just how it is! It’s in the constitution. Look it up. #MAGA

It wasn’t even a week ago the bloviator in chief promised to die on the hill of $5B for his border wall or shut down the government. Predictably, that was all bullshit. I feel it’s my responsibility to point this out.

With a ballooning deficit because tax receipts are falling short and the Dow Jones down a full 6% since the tax cut for millionaires was enacted, Trump is feeling the heat of the one and only issue he could stand on slipping away: the economy.

Investor psychology is real and at the moment volitility in securities and rising interest rates are driving psychological sentiment negative. And once negative, it takes quite awhile to turn that bus around. And I didn’t even mention the asinine tarrifs that are killing jobs in the auto and farm industries.

Bring on the recession post haste. We’re overdue, so let it happen on Trump’s watch. Let it happen tomorrow. I’m bearish on 2019 and plan to profit off it by betting against companies with high debt who boosted their stock prices in 2018 with stock buy backs fueled by their exorbitant republican tax cut.