Phillipe & Jorge’s Cool, Cool World

Trump’s International Recognition

From the UK’s Private Eye magazine:

How Soon They Forget

Are Phillipe and Jorge missing something, or is the fact that the fat groper and purported billionaire now turning the White House into a man cave still refusing to release his taxes not an issue of importance anymore?

As P&J are slogging over our modest incomes to see how much of it to send to the IRS via our W-4 form by April 18, President Rich Baby refuses to show how much he is reimbursing to the government to pay for our basic niceties such as public education, policemen and firefighters, our military’s obscene budget, and to help out the impoverished and truly needy. Most likely because, like the one tax statement that has made it to the public eye, Mr. Best Businessman Ever is doubtless claiming losses that allow him to do a spinning, toreador cape wave at the idea of paying his fair share.

That is galling enough, but it should make the public furious since he has consistently promised disclosure. Unfortunately for the truth, that is really the fault of anyone who honestly believed this suit-and-tie wearing, lying sack of manure had any intentions of baring his financial affairs for public scrutiny. Fool me once, your fault. Fool me 30 times, well, throw yourself off Trump Tower and make sure to land on your head so you won’t get hurt.

Obviously Donald Duck Dynasty knows no shame when it comes to this and about a gazillion other matters of basic civility when living among sentient creatures who, unlike him, walk around on their hind legs. But the flagrant dodging of personal responsibility to society, in a country based upon the premise of “United We Stand, Divided We Fall,” is the least of it.

What our flatulent, scorned leader (Mother of Mercy, how did it ever come to this?) is most afraid of is letting people know to whom he is beholden financially. One of his sons — P&J forget if it was Beavis or Butthead — admitted a few years back that the Trump Evil Empire was indeed funded heavily by Russian investors. Since any major financial player in Russia is totally beholden to the ultimate distributor and manager of the country’s wealth, the cuddly and lovable Vladimir Putin, this may explain why our president has become the slobbering lapdog of this murdering, former KGB thug. This doesn’t require a lot of guesswork. If there’s a Russian with enough money to back one of Trump’s development scams, he (sorry, no girls allowed) is buddies with Putin. How can you tell? They haven’t been assassinated or sent to a Gulag, or they are not in hiding abroad.

And how about Chinese ties to the Trump wealth? OK, let’s assume he has borrowed no money from China. Ha, gotcha! How stupid can you be? If you think front men for the Chinese government haven’t been working day and night for decades to financially compromise US business chumps like Trump in case the impossible happened — which it did, in a way that probably even surprised the Chinese — wethinks you underestimate our Occidental pals. They have a very good track record of covering every base, 24/7, whether out in the open market, or through relentless cyber hacking and cyber attacks.

We aren’t talking about whether Donald Dickhead paid enough withholding tax or claimed too many expenses for his golfing escapades masquerading as business trips. We are pointing out that our American president and his family may be owned lock, stock and barrel by foreign interests who view America’s financial superiority as a threat to their desires, and have him in a compromising position where he has to choose between his country and his bank account. And you know who will get the short end of the Trump stick when it comes to reckoning time for a man who knows no allegiance to anything but his own massive ego.

Donald Trump fears nothing more than this sort of disclosure, which is exactly the reason why as much pressure as possible should be applied to making his tax returns public every day, in every way, until the pig squeals. We owe it to ourselves more than anyone.

The Buck Stops There

Former President Harry ‘The buck stops here” Truman must be spinning in his grave as he watches Governor Gigi Raimondo try to pass that same buck of responsibility for the scandalous UHIP computer mess at the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Gigi thought she was showing contrition and accountability when she revealed a recent “unvarnished truth” study of what went wrong with a prematurely launched technical system that has left social services providers and the system’s clients in a mess that looks nowhere near to being cleaned up and/or corrected. Instead of saying, “I fucked up big time, and am going to fix this if it takes an all-nighter every single day until it is right,” she deftly sidestepped responsibility by saying she regrets she got “poor information” from her underlings, one of the sleaziest ways of sliding out the back door ever whipped up as an excuse.

The TV cameras rolled for weeks showing mothers holding babies and waiting in the rain for their food stamps outside DHS offices where the newly pared-down staffers who knew just enough to turn on their computers and not end up on a porn site sat. While people were looking for help paying the rent and buying Pampers and something edible, Gigi jettisoned the political crony UHIP officers she put in charge. Seeing that wasn’t enough, along with the release of the damning (but don’t look at me!) report, she also threw her pal Elizabeth Roberts, the former lt. governor and DHHS secretary, under the bus. Phillipe and Jorge have known Liz Roberts for years, and know her to be as competent, capable and considerate as anyone who has held public office in recent years, and to suggest it was Liz’s fault was a real stretch. But since profile in courage Governor Raimondo wasn’t prepared to take the rap, it was “Seeya, pal o’ mine” to Ms. Roberts.

After the “Cooler and Warmer” fiasco under Gigi’s rule, it appears the Raimondo administration would have trouble organizing a beer-drinking contest in a brewery. ”Cooler and Warmer” was a victim of incompetence and Gigi’s constant infatuation with anything that says “New York, New York.” The UHIP mess appears to have been much more preventable, if the administration had merely been paying attention.

But to suggest that final decisions on something like the UHIP hot mess, and even “Cooler and Warmer,” come from anywhere but the governor’s office is farcical. If Gigi couldn’t trust the info she was getting, why were those who delivered it even in her employ? So you either hired a bunch of chumps to run the show for you without properly seeing they were up to the job, or you’re blaming them for leading you down a primrose path. When the federal government sends up a giant red flag in advance of you diving into a technological nightmare that you don’t even understand yourself in hopes it will polish your tarnished image, maybe the one ultimately in charge ought to take the bulk of the blame.

Time to “Woman up!” Gigi.  Experience tells us that someone who can admit a mistake and say they learned from it is viewed far more leniently and with more compassion and understanding by folks who have made their own errors in life than one who points the finger elsewhere. And in your case, it is an unwritten part of the job description.