Republican Senators, including the majority leader, are so fed-up with the Democrat-hatched Impeachment Hoax they have signaled they will meet that hoax with a hoax of their own: a fake trial to guarantee an acquittal of the president.
Their intention is apparently based on the time-honored legal theory that two wrongs make a right.
Theoretically, they could have taken the high road, refuting what they see as bogus charges against Donald Trump with witnesses and documents of their choosing, including those specifically withheld by the president in the impeachment investigation.
Doing that would be the perfect antidote to a so-called witch hunt.
Instead, they appear to be on the road to perdition, taking the torturous course the president has scouted out for them, a crooked path that leads down the rabbit hole toward the nether regions of the earth.
Literally on their way to hell, according to beliefs they profess to their constituents in order to get and stay elected.
These Republicans appear willing to risk divine punishment by violating an oath to God, an oath swearing to be impartial, despite that fact they are clearly proud to be partial to the president and to the party of Trump.
Risky behavior, that.
(And all because of a "perfect" phone call between Trump and the president of Ukraine. I guess it's the little things that trip you up and send you down.)
According to one recent poll, seventy percent of Americans want the Senate trial to include witnesses and documents. Can the Republicans withstand that desire?
More importantly, can anyone stop them from stonewalling?
American democracy has fallen prey to exactly what the founding fathers feared might happen: political factions vying for the right to run the country.
These days we call those factions parties, and party politics rule the roost. Mostly to the detriment of the people.
Unfortunately, the only thing more mentally challenged than a human being is a collection of human beings.
But there is safety in numbers. Hanging with like-minded folks buoys you up, reinforces your position, makes you think you must be right. The fact is, in this highly connected world, no position, no matter how outlandish, need suffer from the stigma of standing alone. One can always find another idiot vibrating on the same wavelength.
And it's nice to have company when you're marching down the yellow brick road to hell.
Thursday, December 19, 2019
Thursday, June 20, 2019
FROM MAGA TO KAG
One thing about Donald Trump's 2016 campaign that has always been a sticking pont is the slogan: Make America Great Again.
What the hell does he mean by that?
I speculated he was referring to a time before we had income tax. Around the time we helped save democracy in Europe at the end of the Great War.
But that's too intellectual for Trump.
I concluded he meant Put a White Man Back in the White House.
In other words, his campaign was all about de-Obama-izing the country. And that made sense. Trump full on hates Obama and everything the man did while he was president. In fact, Trump has hardly ever misses an opportunity to denigrate the man and take steps to undo his actions.
Some would say this attitude is simple racism.
Others point out Obama made fun of Trump at a White House Correspondents Dinner. Turns out The Donald has very little tolerance for being kidded, so events that night might explain what amounts to a vendetta against the man.
(Obama showed a tarted-up version of the White House as modified by a future Trump presidency. What Trump is proposing for a redesigned Air Force One is a step in that direction -- and he's not done yet. Wait till the folks in Iran get a load of their new radioactive wilderness, courtesy of the Trump Design Team.)
Fortunately, figuring out MAGA recently became a little easier. Even before launching his reelection campaign, Trump revealed his new slogan: Keep America Great!
(Or KAG.)
Considering how little Trump has actually done (tax breaks to corporations and rich folks), we are left to wonder if this was all it took to make the country great.
Of course, Trump also takes full credit for a booming economy. Let's face it, no way could he give a nod to Obama for lifting us out of the Great Recession. (Trump probably blames the guy for putting us there in the first place.)
But KAG makes it clear: Trump made America great simply by getting his ass elected. He didn't have to do a thing AS president. And we can keep this great feeling alive just by sending him back for another four years.
Pretty cool, right?
The only problem is that he will have to leave the White House eventually, by (current) law. And that will be the end of America's greatness forever.
What the hell does he mean by that?
I speculated he was referring to a time before we had income tax. Around the time we helped save democracy in Europe at the end of the Great War.
But that's too intellectual for Trump.
I concluded he meant Put a White Man Back in the White House.
In other words, his campaign was all about de-Obama-izing the country. And that made sense. Trump full on hates Obama and everything the man did while he was president. In fact, Trump has hardly ever misses an opportunity to denigrate the man and take steps to undo his actions.
Some would say this attitude is simple racism.
Others point out Obama made fun of Trump at a White House Correspondents Dinner. Turns out The Donald has very little tolerance for being kidded, so events that night might explain what amounts to a vendetta against the man.
(Obama showed a tarted-up version of the White House as modified by a future Trump presidency. What Trump is proposing for a redesigned Air Force One is a step in that direction -- and he's not done yet. Wait till the folks in Iran get a load of their new radioactive wilderness, courtesy of the Trump Design Team.)
Fortunately, figuring out MAGA recently became a little easier. Even before launching his reelection campaign, Trump revealed his new slogan: Keep America Great!
(Or KAG.)
Considering how little Trump has actually done (tax breaks to corporations and rich folks), we are left to wonder if this was all it took to make the country great.
Of course, Trump also takes full credit for a booming economy. Let's face it, no way could he give a nod to Obama for lifting us out of the Great Recession. (Trump probably blames the guy for putting us there in the first place.)
But KAG makes it clear: Trump made America great simply by getting his ass elected. He didn't have to do a thing AS president. And we can keep this great feeling alive just by sending him back for another four years.
Pretty cool, right?
The only problem is that he will have to leave the White House eventually, by (current) law. And that will be the end of America's greatness forever.
That's sad, sure, but those are the inflexible rules of the self-aggrandizing lunatic. There's only so much of the exalted fellow to go around. And when that inflated bag of orange skin is empty, the party's over.
Saturday, June 15, 2019
THE TRUMPING OF AMERICA
Donald Trump recently indicated he would listen to any foreign government if it claimed to have dirt on a political opponent. Everybody does it, he says, so why wouldn't he?
Makes sense to him. And if it's technically illegal, so what?
He pointed out he has seen a lot of stuff in his life, and had never called the FBI. Besides, there are not enough agents in the Bureau to look at all that stuff.
So I guess we can expect a repeat of the Russia Thing. And, in a way, it's already happening.
Kim Jong-un (or a spokesman) recently declared Trump's nearest political rival, Joe Biden, to be a "low-IQ" individual. And Trump agreed.
Of course he agreed. "Low-IQ individual" is petty much what he calls everybody he doesn't like.
Something tells me North Korea follows Trump on Twitter.
That Trump is so eager to line up with those guys is a reminder of how starved the man is for reinforcement. He'll take it from anybody willing to slather it over his parsnips (to use an old expression; not that Trump is likely to consort with vegetables).
By the way, in that same interview Trump showed off illustrations of his new paint design for Air Force One. He says it's for future presidents.
More likely it's for him, even if he never flies in it.
Part of his legacy, man.
Like the lasting residue of his extensive federal judge appointments. Or the easing of governmental regulations that hinder a rich man's plan of becoming even richer.
Trump means to rub his junk on all parts of this country.
I guess we're lucky he doesn't literally mark his territory, like a randy alley cat.
Makes sense to him. And if it's technically illegal, so what?
He pointed out he has seen a lot of stuff in his life, and had never called the FBI. Besides, there are not enough agents in the Bureau to look at all that stuff.
So I guess we can expect a repeat of the Russia Thing. And, in a way, it's already happening.
Kim Jong-un (or a spokesman) recently declared Trump's nearest political rival, Joe Biden, to be a "low-IQ" individual. And Trump agreed.
Of course he agreed. "Low-IQ individual" is petty much what he calls everybody he doesn't like.
Something tells me North Korea follows Trump on Twitter.
That Trump is so eager to line up with those guys is a reminder of how starved the man is for reinforcement. He'll take it from anybody willing to slather it over his parsnips (to use an old expression; not that Trump is likely to consort with vegetables).
By the way, in that same interview Trump showed off illustrations of his new paint design for Air Force One. He says it's for future presidents.
More likely it's for him, even if he never flies in it.
Part of his legacy, man.
Like the lasting residue of his extensive federal judge appointments. Or the easing of governmental regulations that hinder a rich man's plan of becoming even richer.
Trump means to rub his junk on all parts of this country.
I guess we're lucky he doesn't literally mark his territory, like a randy alley cat.
Tuesday, June 4, 2019
LOUNGING IN THE COMFORT ZONE
Donald Trump is in Great Britain (which refers to the fact England is combined with Scotland and Wales and so forth, not that they consider the country some pretty hot stuff).
At a press conference he pointed out he only saw a handful of protesters -- which meant the notion he was widely protested was another instance of the famous "fake news."
What it really meant was that his handlers kept him away from the real stuff: the Baby Trump blimp, the audio-animatronic Trump tweeting on the toilet, and so forth.
Trump's world view is just that limited.
The universe is contacting to a dot, like an old fashioned CRT television when the plug is pulled.
But that's all right. Far as Trump can tell, he already knows more than he needs to.
No doubt that's very comforting to the man. But will it console him if he loses the 2020 election?
At a press conference he pointed out he only saw a handful of protesters -- which meant the notion he was widely protested was another instance of the famous "fake news."
What it really meant was that his handlers kept him away from the real stuff: the Baby Trump blimp, the audio-animatronic Trump tweeting on the toilet, and so forth.
Trump's world view is just that limited.
The universe is contacting to a dot, like an old fashioned CRT television when the plug is pulled.
But that's all right. Far as Trump can tell, he already knows more than he needs to.
No doubt that's very comforting to the man. But will it console him if he loses the 2020 election?
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
CHARLIE BROWN IS DOWN!
As I mentioned last time, there was a good chance Donald Trump would refuse to work with Congress on any project—even one everybody agreed needed to be done—if the Democrats continued to investigate him for possible crimes.
A month ago he met with Congressional leaders to talk about a massive infrastructure project. They left it with Trump saying: Come back in a month and I'll have some ideas on how to fund the deal.
A month goes by, the Demos continued to press for his taxes and so forth, and Trump decided to bail. He comes into the meeting fifteen minutes late and briefly announces he will have nothing to do with those guys.
Basically, he is refusing to perform the functions of the presidency until he gets things the way he wants them.
The ball was teed up, Mr. Brown took a hopeful run at it, and Lucy yanked it out of play. As he lay on the ground, cursing his trusting nature, Lucy delivered the verdict. "You'll never work in this town again."
Trump's position is, of course, that all investigations into his activities are—by definition—invalid.
The Russia Hoax is over, and he was proved innocent. Not only can such a thing be allowed to happen again, happening once was clearly a treasonous attempt at a coup against the leadership of this wonderful country—and after Trump went to all the trouble to Make It Great Again.
Crimes against the nation! And everybody knows it!
The next step is for him to instruct his Attorney General to indict those meddling Democratic hotheads for this new and continuing insurrection. Then hang 'em all from lampposts throughout the District of Columbia as an warning to the others.
All this, of course, is designed to protect future presidents from this sort of illegal abuse. Because if it can happen to Trump, the most innocent creature ever spun out of God's glorious materials, no president is safe.
His actions are quite selfless, you see.
He's putting himself on the line for the next guy, whoever it might be. It's really very inspiring, don't you think?
A month ago he met with Congressional leaders to talk about a massive infrastructure project. They left it with Trump saying: Come back in a month and I'll have some ideas on how to fund the deal.
A month goes by, the Demos continued to press for his taxes and so forth, and Trump decided to bail. He comes into the meeting fifteen minutes late and briefly announces he will have nothing to do with those guys.
Basically, he is refusing to perform the functions of the presidency until he gets things the way he wants them.
The ball was teed up, Mr. Brown took a hopeful run at it, and Lucy yanked it out of play. As he lay on the ground, cursing his trusting nature, Lucy delivered the verdict. "You'll never work in this town again."
Trump's position is, of course, that all investigations into his activities are—by definition—invalid.
The Russia Hoax is over, and he was proved innocent. Not only can such a thing be allowed to happen again, happening once was clearly a treasonous attempt at a coup against the leadership of this wonderful country—and after Trump went to all the trouble to Make It Great Again.
Crimes against the nation! And everybody knows it!
The next step is for him to instruct his Attorney General to indict those meddling Democratic hotheads for this new and continuing insurrection. Then hang 'em all from lampposts throughout the District of Columbia as an warning to the others.
All this, of course, is designed to protect future presidents from this sort of illegal abuse. Because if it can happen to Trump, the most innocent creature ever spun out of God's glorious materials, no president is safe.
His actions are quite selfless, you see.
He's putting himself on the line for the next guy, whoever it might be. It's really very inspiring, don't you think?
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
HEADS UP, CHARLIE BROWN!
I see that Donald Trump met with Democratic leaders of Congress and they've all agreed to work on a two trillion dollar infrastructure bill. No word on how they're going to pay for this monumental undertaking, but they're planning to meet again in a few weeks when Trump says he will offer suggestions on financing the package.
Wow.
Because at a press conference after the midterm election Trump promised to stop working entirely with the Democrats if they refused to give up on the idea of investigating him. Now that the Mueller Report is in, and many Democrats are chomping at the bit to not only investigate the man, but to impeach the bastard forthwith, you'd think Trump would retire to Florida and stew in his radioactive juices.
But no, apparently not.
So, is the president getting ready to yank the ball away at the last moment, leaving the Dems to flutter in the breeze, stripped of their shoes and socks?
Is the man about to shout, "Psych!"
I guess time will tell.
He may even be playing fair. After all, as the 2020 campaign heats up, Trump might be thinking it would be good to at least look presidential. Except for the Rich Guy Tax Reform Bill, which many middle class folks are starting to regret, not a lot has been done by Trump's administration.
He's already said he plans to let fixing health care languish until he has the votes to make everybody pleased. (And profoundly surprised, considering the source.)
Certainly nothing else has changed. The man is surly as ever at his rallies, practically calling for the heads of all Democrats who promoted the Witch Hunt.
A failed coup, he calls it. And he seems to mean it.
Well, yeah, failed. So far...
Wow.
Because at a press conference after the midterm election Trump promised to stop working entirely with the Democrats if they refused to give up on the idea of investigating him. Now that the Mueller Report is in, and many Democrats are chomping at the bit to not only investigate the man, but to impeach the bastard forthwith, you'd think Trump would retire to Florida and stew in his radioactive juices.
But no, apparently not.
So, is the president getting ready to yank the ball away at the last moment, leaving the Dems to flutter in the breeze, stripped of their shoes and socks?
Is the man about to shout, "Psych!"
I guess time will tell.
He may even be playing fair. After all, as the 2020 campaign heats up, Trump might be thinking it would be good to at least look presidential. Except for the Rich Guy Tax Reform Bill, which many middle class folks are starting to regret, not a lot has been done by Trump's administration.
He's already said he plans to let fixing health care languish until he has the votes to make everybody pleased. (And profoundly surprised, considering the source.)
Certainly nothing else has changed. The man is surly as ever at his rallies, practically calling for the heads of all Democrats who promoted the Witch Hunt.
A failed coup, he calls it. And he seems to mean it.
Well, yeah, failed. So far...
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
AND EVERYONE KNOWS IT
The president's son-in-law recently opined that the Mueller investigation probably did more harm to the country than Russia's half-assed attempt to mess with our democracy.
His argument was buoyed-up by down-playing that country's efforts, but sure, it's arguable the investigation damaged American stability.
Though not, it is equally arguable, as badly as the presidency of Donald Trump.
Trump's position has always been "no collusion and everybody knows it." He apparently means by this that the investigation was egregiously partisan and aimed at his blameless heart despite ample evidence there was nothing to look at.
A hoax, in other words, which is an expression favored by the president for many national discussions, including Global Warming.
Trump's statement on collusion was bullet-proof in this very narrow sense: Collusion means cooperation in a crime, often somebody else's crime. If there's no crime to begin with, there can be no collusion.
By definition.
And Trump has always been convinced nobody was doing anything to influence his election. (Oh, maybe that 400-pound man lying on his bed; as we all know, fat guys are all computer hackers.) The idea somebody was messing with the election is insulting, after all. Trump knows he's perfectly capable of getting his fat ass elected on his own hook. (The logical error eludes him; the Watergate break-in occurred despite the fact Nixon faced no serious threat in the coming election.)
It's not clear if Trump believes Russia did anything even now. What are the chances the man will ever read the Mueller Report?
I didn't hear more from Mr. Kushner, so I don't know if he suggested a reason why his father-in-law was targeted. Pure partisan politics, I would imagine, and therefore despicable.
(It would be funny to find out the man thought the investigation proper and above board, and was just commenting on the irony of the results.)
The fact is, I don't see how anyone could AVOID performing this investigation.
Obviously we can't take Mr. Trump's word when he says "no collusion" or anything else. In speech, the man is spectacularly unreliable. It is therefore reasonable to ignore any pronouncement he makes on any subject.
Besides, Trump always behaves like a guilty man. This may mean he's guilty of something else, and that will come out in due time. As for obstruction of justice, it's hard to see how he could think himself guilty of that. He doesn't seem to have a clear idea of what actions could lead to such a charge.
Bottom line, Donald Trump is just a life-long rich a-hole who is used to getting whatever he wants whenever he gets an itch for it. What could be illegal about that?
His argument was buoyed-up by down-playing that country's efforts, but sure, it's arguable the investigation damaged American stability.
Though not, it is equally arguable, as badly as the presidency of Donald Trump.
Trump's position has always been "no collusion and everybody knows it." He apparently means by this that the investigation was egregiously partisan and aimed at his blameless heart despite ample evidence there was nothing to look at.
A hoax, in other words, which is an expression favored by the president for many national discussions, including Global Warming.
Trump's statement on collusion was bullet-proof in this very narrow sense: Collusion means cooperation in a crime, often somebody else's crime. If there's no crime to begin with, there can be no collusion.
By definition.
And Trump has always been convinced nobody was doing anything to influence his election. (Oh, maybe that 400-pound man lying on his bed; as we all know, fat guys are all computer hackers.) The idea somebody was messing with the election is insulting, after all. Trump knows he's perfectly capable of getting his fat ass elected on his own hook. (The logical error eludes him; the Watergate break-in occurred despite the fact Nixon faced no serious threat in the coming election.)
It's not clear if Trump believes Russia did anything even now. What are the chances the man will ever read the Mueller Report?
I didn't hear more from Mr. Kushner, so I don't know if he suggested a reason why his father-in-law was targeted. Pure partisan politics, I would imagine, and therefore despicable.
(It would be funny to find out the man thought the investigation proper and above board, and was just commenting on the irony of the results.)
The fact is, I don't see how anyone could AVOID performing this investigation.
Obviously we can't take Mr. Trump's word when he says "no collusion" or anything else. In speech, the man is spectacularly unreliable. It is therefore reasonable to ignore any pronouncement he makes on any subject.
Besides, Trump always behaves like a guilty man. This may mean he's guilty of something else, and that will come out in due time. As for obstruction of justice, it's hard to see how he could think himself guilty of that. He doesn't seem to have a clear idea of what actions could lead to such a charge.
Bottom line, Donald Trump is just a life-long rich a-hole who is used to getting whatever he wants whenever he gets an itch for it. What could be illegal about that?
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
TAXES, TAXES
Donald Trump's theory of taxation has never changed. From the beginning, during the 2016 campaign when all the other candidates were releasing their taxes, he has maintained his hands were tied.
"I would absolutely love to release my taxes, but I can't. I'm under audit! What can I do?"
And from the beginning, spokes-folk from the IRS have pointed out they have no problem with Trump handing over copies of his taxes, audit or no audit.
But the president stands firm. Does he think releasing his taxes would entail storming the offices of the auditors and yanking free all copies of his paperwork?
The way he talks about the audit, you might believe Trump was just biding his time until the ordeal was complete, reasonably asking folks to have a little more patience. Apparently not. In reality he holds out little hope for getting clear of the IRS any time soon. Or ever.
"Seems I'm always under audit. None of my rich friends ever get audited, but the IRS always goes after me. I don't know why."
Maybe it's because you're a shady businessman who boasts he's too smart to pay taxes like all the other chumps out there.
Trump also brags about the folks who prepare his taxes, saying they're tops in terms of "respect." Does he mean they're too respected in the industry to produce documents the IRS has any chance of understanding, that they generate so much legal smoke the auditors would never be able to penetrate it?
(Like the fog in Bleak House, so thick nobody would ever be able to see their way out of Chancery Court.)
Understanding his taxes is the second big point for Trump. Nobody, he says, will be able to make heads or tails of his stuff, so why bother? Recently, his spokes-lady took the same position: None of those pesky Democrats demanding the president's taxes has the smarts to grok the man's numbers.
Maybe not, but I'm pretty sure they'd be able to find some folks who can.
(Trump himself is of course one of those precious few who can follow the twisty path of his own taxes, but remember, that man has a special gift for this sort of stuff, once pointing out he understands tax law better than the greatest CPA.)
Trump's third point is that the American people don't really want to see his taxes after all. It's just those damned Democrats in Congress who are putting up a stink. And they're only doing it in a desperate attempt to retaliate against Trump for beating them so badly in the 2016 election.
It's the same reason those bastards set loose that massive Witch Hunt into the Russia Thing!
As for that, Trump seems to think the Mueller report revealed there WAS NO attempt by Russia to influence the election. "The whole Russia thing was a hoax!"
(Like most human beings studying the world in hopes of proving true the nonsense squirming about in their brains, Trump has no trouble reversing the meaning of the stuff he finds.)
The fellow's sour-grapes pronouncement might make more sense if he had originally released five years of taxes during the campaign, but now the loser Democrats were on the warpath looking to get the five years before THAT, ignoring the fact the first round of documents proved Trump to be a monument of virtue and above-board reporting.
All of Trump's arguments are ridiculous, of course, but that hasn't slowed him down. He's a windup toy monkey who slams his cymbals together with ever-increasing fervor, looking to distract folks from the truth.
So far, it's working.
"I would absolutely love to release my taxes, but I can't. I'm under audit! What can I do?"
And from the beginning, spokes-folk from the IRS have pointed out they have no problem with Trump handing over copies of his taxes, audit or no audit.
But the president stands firm. Does he think releasing his taxes would entail storming the offices of the auditors and yanking free all copies of his paperwork?
The way he talks about the audit, you might believe Trump was just biding his time until the ordeal was complete, reasonably asking folks to have a little more patience. Apparently not. In reality he holds out little hope for getting clear of the IRS any time soon. Or ever.
"Seems I'm always under audit. None of my rich friends ever get audited, but the IRS always goes after me. I don't know why."
Maybe it's because you're a shady businessman who boasts he's too smart to pay taxes like all the other chumps out there.
Trump also brags about the folks who prepare his taxes, saying they're tops in terms of "respect." Does he mean they're too respected in the industry to produce documents the IRS has any chance of understanding, that they generate so much legal smoke the auditors would never be able to penetrate it?
(Like the fog in Bleak House, so thick nobody would ever be able to see their way out of Chancery Court.)
Understanding his taxes is the second big point for Trump. Nobody, he says, will be able to make heads or tails of his stuff, so why bother? Recently, his spokes-lady took the same position: None of those pesky Democrats demanding the president's taxes has the smarts to grok the man's numbers.
Maybe not, but I'm pretty sure they'd be able to find some folks who can.
(Trump himself is of course one of those precious few who can follow the twisty path of his own taxes, but remember, that man has a special gift for this sort of stuff, once pointing out he understands tax law better than the greatest CPA.)
Trump's third point is that the American people don't really want to see his taxes after all. It's just those damned Democrats in Congress who are putting up a stink. And they're only doing it in a desperate attempt to retaliate against Trump for beating them so badly in the 2016 election.
It's the same reason those bastards set loose that massive Witch Hunt into the Russia Thing!
As for that, Trump seems to think the Mueller report revealed there WAS NO attempt by Russia to influence the election. "The whole Russia thing was a hoax!"
(Like most human beings studying the world in hopes of proving true the nonsense squirming about in their brains, Trump has no trouble reversing the meaning of the stuff he finds.)
The fellow's sour-grapes pronouncement might make more sense if he had originally released five years of taxes during the campaign, but now the loser Democrats were on the warpath looking to get the five years before THAT, ignoring the fact the first round of documents proved Trump to be a monument of virtue and above-board reporting.
All of Trump's arguments are ridiculous, of course, but that hasn't slowed him down. He's a windup toy monkey who slams his cymbals together with ever-increasing fervor, looking to distract folks from the truth.
So far, it's working.
Thursday, April 11, 2019
MONKEY HOUSE
Donald Trump is a bully and a liar, and he exaggerates every aspect of his public life. He's also a drama queen.
His latest mental excursion: He claims the Mueller investigation was an attempted coup on the presidency.
At the conclusion of the Attorney General's investigation of the investigation, one wonders how many folks will have to be hanged to satisfy Trump's cartoon sense of justice.
Apparently, Trump's victory lap following the end of the Mueller probe (wherein he was explicitly exonerated of all charges, as far as the president knows), the man is so tuckered out he has collapsed into Mandarin vengeance.
(Or maybe Roman Emperor vengeance: It's reported Nero was so incensed one of his servants broke a glass, he had the man tossed into a pool of lampreys for a thorough debarking.)
Trump, for his part, knows without doubt he has been grievously harmed. Indeed, the entire nation has suffered because of the America-hating antics of the Democrats.
Fact is, so many people injure and disappoint the president his cabinet is often half deprived of congressionally-approved participants.
But that will no doubt all change after the 2020 election. Trump expects to win, of course, and keep control of the Senate. He also expects to win back the House.
He's so sure of this outcome he plans no further attempts to replace Obamacare until after the election, when an already designed and perfected health bill is to be unveiled.
In the meantime, he still plans to obliterate Obamacare in the courts, leaving millions unprotected. But when the new plan drops, all will be well and all will be healthy. Guaranteed. In fact, being healthy may be a requirement for enrollment in this new version of American healthcare. During the coverage gap, unhealthy folks will surely be weeded out by God's loving request to join his Heavenly Choir.)
(Hey, you wanna dis God now? What are you, a commie?)
Trump's perverted view of the world is locked tightly into his human brain, the gelatinous organ that is the source of nearly all man's woes. (We're also buffeted by disease and bad weather.)
The poor man can't be wrong (as far as he knows), so don't pester him with arguments he wouldn't be able to understand.
Everything outside his noggin is a hoax. Or fake news.
His latest mental excursion: He claims the Mueller investigation was an attempted coup on the presidency.
At the conclusion of the Attorney General's investigation of the investigation, one wonders how many folks will have to be hanged to satisfy Trump's cartoon sense of justice.
Apparently, Trump's victory lap following the end of the Mueller probe (wherein he was explicitly exonerated of all charges, as far as the president knows), the man is so tuckered out he has collapsed into Mandarin vengeance.
(Or maybe Roman Emperor vengeance: It's reported Nero was so incensed one of his servants broke a glass, he had the man tossed into a pool of lampreys for a thorough debarking.)
Trump, for his part, knows without doubt he has been grievously harmed. Indeed, the entire nation has suffered because of the America-hating antics of the Democrats.
Fact is, so many people injure and disappoint the president his cabinet is often half deprived of congressionally-approved participants.
But that will no doubt all change after the 2020 election. Trump expects to win, of course, and keep control of the Senate. He also expects to win back the House.
He's so sure of this outcome he plans no further attempts to replace Obamacare until after the election, when an already designed and perfected health bill is to be unveiled.
In the meantime, he still plans to obliterate Obamacare in the courts, leaving millions unprotected. But when the new plan drops, all will be well and all will be healthy. Guaranteed. In fact, being healthy may be a requirement for enrollment in this new version of American healthcare. During the coverage gap, unhealthy folks will surely be weeded out by God's loving request to join his Heavenly Choir.)
(Hey, you wanna dis God now? What are you, a commie?)
Trump's perverted view of the world is locked tightly into his human brain, the gelatinous organ that is the source of nearly all man's woes. (We're also buffeted by disease and bad weather.)
The poor man can't be wrong (as far as he knows), so don't pester him with arguments he wouldn't be able to understand.
Everything outside his noggin is a hoax. Or fake news.
Friday, April 5, 2019
DETECTING LIES
The Lieutenant Governor of Virginia went on record reiterating his claim the incidents of sexual conduct reported by several women were consensual. He bases his emphatic position on the fact he passed a lie detector test administered by a top-notch examiner. That's not nearly good enough.
The gentlemen seems to misunderstand what a lie detector really does.
Despite the popular name, lie detectors don't detect lies. They detect increased levels of stress experienced by the person "on the box" as certain questions are asked. For this reason, law enforcement personnel refer to the device as a polygraph machine, not a lie detector.
Levels of stress are determined by an increased rate of breathing, elevated heartbeat and blood pressure, and changes in skin conductivity. It's these multiple squiggly lines that qualifies the device as a polygraph.
Stress can be caused by a number of things. Asking a woman to give her age and weight could easily produce a failed polygraph, even if she answers accurately. These particular questions often have increased levels of stress built in.
And by the way, participants will not be asked specific questions like age and weight. The examiner will probably bracket the answer and call for a yes or no response. For example: Are you older than forty? Are you older than forty-five? And so forth, ultimately zeroing in on the correct number.
Because the examiner is looking for a pattern of increased stress leading up to a "money" question, followed by a releasing of stress once the big question is asked, it is imperative the person being tested know all the questions ahead of time.
In fact, the pre-test interview is probably the more important part of the procedure. Detecting "lies" is not a "gotcha" operation. Fateful questions are embedded in the list, surrounded by control questions the subject should be able to answer without much thought. The examiner works his way up to the crucial point, then backs off. Also, the most important questions are often asked multiple times during the session, revealing several bouts of rising and lowering tension.
Knowing the list of questions ahead of time produces anticipation which enhances the level of stress as the test rolls forward.
Obviously, subjects are likely to show little stress when stating what they think to be true. Some nervousness may be expected when approaching the crucial points, but it won't be much, and repetition is likely to dampen the effect.
If the Lieutenant Governor is convinced the sexual encounters were consensual, he will likely pass a polygraph. Doesn't mean a thing.
The gentlemen seems to misunderstand what a lie detector really does.
Despite the popular name, lie detectors don't detect lies. They detect increased levels of stress experienced by the person "on the box" as certain questions are asked. For this reason, law enforcement personnel refer to the device as a polygraph machine, not a lie detector.
Levels of stress are determined by an increased rate of breathing, elevated heartbeat and blood pressure, and changes in skin conductivity. It's these multiple squiggly lines that qualifies the device as a polygraph.
Stress can be caused by a number of things. Asking a woman to give her age and weight could easily produce a failed polygraph, even if she answers accurately. These particular questions often have increased levels of stress built in.
And by the way, participants will not be asked specific questions like age and weight. The examiner will probably bracket the answer and call for a yes or no response. For example: Are you older than forty? Are you older than forty-five? And so forth, ultimately zeroing in on the correct number.
Because the examiner is looking for a pattern of increased stress leading up to a "money" question, followed by a releasing of stress once the big question is asked, it is imperative the person being tested know all the questions ahead of time.
In fact, the pre-test interview is probably the more important part of the procedure. Detecting "lies" is not a "gotcha" operation. Fateful questions are embedded in the list, surrounded by control questions the subject should be able to answer without much thought. The examiner works his way up to the crucial point, then backs off. Also, the most important questions are often asked multiple times during the session, revealing several bouts of rising and lowering tension.
Knowing the list of questions ahead of time produces anticipation which enhances the level of stress as the test rolls forward.
Obviously, subjects are likely to show little stress when stating what they think to be true. Some nervousness may be expected when approaching the crucial points, but it won't be much, and repetition is likely to dampen the effect.
If the Lieutenant Governor is convinced the sexual encounters were consensual, he will likely pass a polygraph. Doesn't mean a thing.
Monday, March 25, 2019
IT'S MUELLER TIME!
Donald Trump has always been difficult to listen to, but now, following the end of the Mueller investigation, he will be particularly insufferable.
He claims to have been totally vindicated by the report, but that is far from the truth. On the other hand, far from the truth is where Trump operates.
Mueller concluded that Russia attempted to interfere in our 2016 election by two means: a Web-based disinformation campaign; and the hacking of Democratic emails later disseminated by WikiLeaks.
Trump has often denied those attacks, since it puts an asterisk on his victory. But because he and his people didn't directly assist Russia in making those particular attacks, they were exonerated of collusion.
This doesn't mean there wasn't collusion in some other form. Certainly Don Junior attempted to collude with Russian nationals in getting dirt on Hillary, but that operation failed. And the Russians were apparently not involved in either of the two attacks set forth by Mueller. So it doesn't count, even as an attempt.
Other Trump folks had unreported meetings with Russians, and lied about them to the FBI. Indictments and plea deals have already gone out on those crimes. Again, since these meetings were not apparently related to the two official Russian attacks investigated by Mueller, they didn't count as collusion.
As for obstruction of justice, Mueller offers no opinion, throwing the matter to the Attorney General. He does say this conclusion is not an exoneration of Trump. The AG says he will not prosecute, so I guess the president picked the right guy there.
Trump's position is that because he was not found guilty of colluding with the two specific Russian attacks, he should never have been investigated in the first place. But remember, he doesn't consistently agree there WERE any attempts to influence the election. His real relationship with Russia (and Putin in particular) will probably never be fully known (even by Trump). As a result, the question of his guilt vis-a-vis Russia will remain an open question.
But not to Trump. The only thing open about Trump is his mouth, and we're going to be hearing a lot of fine partisan rhetoric coming out of that turbo-charged device.
Trump is already saying the investigation of his activities began very early on, and illegally at that. I imagine he's referring to the "I was tapped by Obama in Trump Tower" deal. It's not clear if he understands what happened there. Foreign nationals were tapped, and when they called Trump or his people, the Americans were inadvertently recorded.
Trump hints that Obama set this whole thing in motion, maybe even encouraging those foreign nationals to call Trump so Obama could listen in. (Which might explain why Trump called the man "sick.")
Again, full information may never be known, but that never stops Trump from declaring total victory. It's what he does.
The firing of FBI Director James Comey triggered the Mueller investigation. It also triggered non-stop attacks by Trump on those two men, impugning their integrity and so forth. But Comey's handing of the Hillary email situation, especially the reopening of the investigation just before the election, helped put Trump in office.
And Mueller may have just handed Trump his reelection.
Irony is alive and well.
He claims to have been totally vindicated by the report, but that is far from the truth. On the other hand, far from the truth is where Trump operates.
Mueller concluded that Russia attempted to interfere in our 2016 election by two means: a Web-based disinformation campaign; and the hacking of Democratic emails later disseminated by WikiLeaks.
Trump has often denied those attacks, since it puts an asterisk on his victory. But because he and his people didn't directly assist Russia in making those particular attacks, they were exonerated of collusion.
This doesn't mean there wasn't collusion in some other form. Certainly Don Junior attempted to collude with Russian nationals in getting dirt on Hillary, but that operation failed. And the Russians were apparently not involved in either of the two attacks set forth by Mueller. So it doesn't count, even as an attempt.
Other Trump folks had unreported meetings with Russians, and lied about them to the FBI. Indictments and plea deals have already gone out on those crimes. Again, since these meetings were not apparently related to the two official Russian attacks investigated by Mueller, they didn't count as collusion.
As for obstruction of justice, Mueller offers no opinion, throwing the matter to the Attorney General. He does say this conclusion is not an exoneration of Trump. The AG says he will not prosecute, so I guess the president picked the right guy there.
Trump's position is that because he was not found guilty of colluding with the two specific Russian attacks, he should never have been investigated in the first place. But remember, he doesn't consistently agree there WERE any attempts to influence the election. His real relationship with Russia (and Putin in particular) will probably never be fully known (even by Trump). As a result, the question of his guilt vis-a-vis Russia will remain an open question.
But not to Trump. The only thing open about Trump is his mouth, and we're going to be hearing a lot of fine partisan rhetoric coming out of that turbo-charged device.
Trump is already saying the investigation of his activities began very early on, and illegally at that. I imagine he's referring to the "I was tapped by Obama in Trump Tower" deal. It's not clear if he understands what happened there. Foreign nationals were tapped, and when they called Trump or his people, the Americans were inadvertently recorded.
Trump hints that Obama set this whole thing in motion, maybe even encouraging those foreign nationals to call Trump so Obama could listen in. (Which might explain why Trump called the man "sick.")
Again, full information may never be known, but that never stops Trump from declaring total victory. It's what he does.
The firing of FBI Director James Comey triggered the Mueller investigation. It also triggered non-stop attacks by Trump on those two men, impugning their integrity and so forth. But Comey's handing of the Hillary email situation, especially the reopening of the investigation just before the election, helped put Trump in office.
And Mueller may have just handed Trump his reelection.
Irony is alive and well.
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
INTO DARKNESS
It's hard to keep up with all of President Trump's tweets and verbal rants. A few days ago he was blasting away at John McCain, saying the late senator destroyed the Republican dream of "repeal and replace" of Obamacare. Elsewhere, he was marking the twilight of that bane of hard-working folks all over the world: socialism.
But if he really meant to replace Obamacare, wouldn't that entail some version of healthcare augmented for low-income folks? And couldn't that government-assisted system be labeled a variety of socialism?
In fact, we may never know. Congress could never come up with the details of a replacement. We just know it was supposed to be "great" and even cheaper than Obamacare, according to Trump.
But then, the man does exaggerate from time to time.
I presume Trump's comments about socialism (recently and in the State of the Union) are meant to undercut the progressive Democratic dream of extending Medicare to all Americans, a notion promulgated by a larger and larger fraction of presidential hopefuls.
If Trump is reelected, expect that evil chunk of socialism to descend into the welcoming darkness. And that may not be all. Perhaps we will see a further erosion of bedrock socialistic practices, like the building of roads and bridges, the creation of mandatory schooling, and so forth. All the stuff governments (federal, state, and local) do for the people without a lot of input from folks (just a money-grab of income).
All of that (and more) would disappear in a truly laissez-faire economy, of the sort doted on by hardcore capitalists.
The good news for Trump, now that socialism is dropping below the horizon, nobody will expect him to act to fix the nation's crumbling infrastructure. It was supposed to be next on the list (after repeal and replace and tax breaks for the rich), but he got bogged down in the border "emergency."
Also, he seems to be waiting for the Mueller Report to define the rest of his term.
But what of socialism on a cosmic scale? Sorry to say, but truly independent citizens might also have to give up any hope of heaven. Why should God reward folks just for doing their duty to the Supreme Being?
Far as I can see, the Afterlife is a socialist boondoggle.
Perform God's work as best you can, then drift off into darkness. Stop trying to "get stuff" out of the universe! Nobody said this life would be a day at the beach.
(After Global Warming gets through with us, we'll probably have to abandon the notion that spending a day at the beach could ever be a good thing.)
But if he really meant to replace Obamacare, wouldn't that entail some version of healthcare augmented for low-income folks? And couldn't that government-assisted system be labeled a variety of socialism?
In fact, we may never know. Congress could never come up with the details of a replacement. We just know it was supposed to be "great" and even cheaper than Obamacare, according to Trump.
But then, the man does exaggerate from time to time.
I presume Trump's comments about socialism (recently and in the State of the Union) are meant to undercut the progressive Democratic dream of extending Medicare to all Americans, a notion promulgated by a larger and larger fraction of presidential hopefuls.
If Trump is reelected, expect that evil chunk of socialism to descend into the welcoming darkness. And that may not be all. Perhaps we will see a further erosion of bedrock socialistic practices, like the building of roads and bridges, the creation of mandatory schooling, and so forth. All the stuff governments (federal, state, and local) do for the people without a lot of input from folks (just a money-grab of income).
All of that (and more) would disappear in a truly laissez-faire economy, of the sort doted on by hardcore capitalists.
The good news for Trump, now that socialism is dropping below the horizon, nobody will expect him to act to fix the nation's crumbling infrastructure. It was supposed to be next on the list (after repeal and replace and tax breaks for the rich), but he got bogged down in the border "emergency."
Also, he seems to be waiting for the Mueller Report to define the rest of his term.
But what of socialism on a cosmic scale? Sorry to say, but truly independent citizens might also have to give up any hope of heaven. Why should God reward folks just for doing their duty to the Supreme Being?
Far as I can see, the Afterlife is a socialist boondoggle.
Perform God's work as best you can, then drift off into darkness. Stop trying to "get stuff" out of the universe! Nobody said this life would be a day at the beach.
(After Global Warming gets through with us, we'll probably have to abandon the notion that spending a day at the beach could ever be a good thing.)
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
PRESIDENT QUEEG
It is a cliche of politics that the cover-up is worse than the crime. In this case, the "crime" was just a microscopic hiccup in President Trump's seriously glitchy operating system. He referred to Apple CEO Tim Cook as "Tim Apple."
Life moved on for a while, then the wheels came off.
At first Trump said he actually uttered the man's last name very softly, in between his first name and the company he represents, like: "Tim [Cook] Apple." Unfortunately, the video record of the event was clear: There was no room in Trump's sentence for another word to have been spoken, softy or otherwise. Plus, his revised version of events made little sense. Why would he say "Tim Cook Apple"? In other words, the lie was not only ridiculous, it was no help at all.
Trump then explained he really DID say "Tim Apple," but it was on purpose. To save words and time, he said, he ran together the man and the company. In print he suggested it would have looked like "Tim/Apple."
He went on to excoriate the Fake News folks for trying to ruin his life, etc.
An unnamed supporter was quoted as wondering why Trump would bother to lie about something so small.
But lie he did. Twice. (So far.) And very badly. The man simply can't help himself.
Trump appears to see himself as a perfect being, incapable of error. That goes for the big issues, like North Korea and the National Wall Emergency, down to the smallest, like a momentary twisting of a man's name.
Perfection is all! And any reports to the contrary must be labeled with withering precision: Fake News straight from the Enemy of the People!
All apparent glitches can be attributed to the Press, you see. Those bastards make this crap up to harm the president and, by logical extension, the country. Trump knows this for a fact and reports it that way to his supporters.
And they appear to believe him.
There have already been attacks on the press by Trump supporters, and in the run-up to the 2020 election, there will undoubtedly be more. There's no escaping this. Anyone attempting to supplant Trump will just naturally cite items in the news as proof the president is unfit. Since (according to the president) all of this so-called news is fake, there must be consequences for those who make it up. Severe consequences.
After all, the future of this country is at stake.
Trump has no sympathy for the lying press. Whatever happens, they bring it on themselves by their treasonous actions. They're only getting what they deserve.
The president's ex-fixer, Michael Cohen, says he worries there will be serious unrest in this country should Trump not prevail in 2020. I'm not surprised. At the last presidential debate, Trump famously said he would not necessarily accept the results of the 2016 election. He was going to wait and see.
From the beginning, then, he's been setting the tone for his supporters: The rule of law is contingent on getting what you want from any given election.
This is no way to run a country.
In the court-martial that concludes The Caine Mutiny, the aggrieved Captain Queeg takes the stand to proclaim the disloyalty of his officers. He says they made up stories to make him look bad. He says, for instance, he can prove by geometric logic that someone had stolen strawberries from the officers' mess. (In the courtroom, folks begin to wonder if this is relevant.) Queeg hauls out his fidget-spinner ball bearings in an attempt to maintain his composure, but it's already too late: Everybody can see he's losing it.
That was then. Nowadays, President Queeg could hustle those steel balls till the cows came home, but none of his supporters would be able to see anything but Fake News.
In America, the obvious is not that obvious anymore.
Life moved on for a while, then the wheels came off.
At first Trump said he actually uttered the man's last name very softly, in between his first name and the company he represents, like: "Tim [Cook] Apple." Unfortunately, the video record of the event was clear: There was no room in Trump's sentence for another word to have been spoken, softy or otherwise. Plus, his revised version of events made little sense. Why would he say "Tim Cook Apple"? In other words, the lie was not only ridiculous, it was no help at all.
Trump then explained he really DID say "Tim Apple," but it was on purpose. To save words and time, he said, he ran together the man and the company. In print he suggested it would have looked like "Tim/Apple."
He went on to excoriate the Fake News folks for trying to ruin his life, etc.
An unnamed supporter was quoted as wondering why Trump would bother to lie about something so small.
But lie he did. Twice. (So far.) And very badly. The man simply can't help himself.
Trump appears to see himself as a perfect being, incapable of error. That goes for the big issues, like North Korea and the National Wall Emergency, down to the smallest, like a momentary twisting of a man's name.
Perfection is all! And any reports to the contrary must be labeled with withering precision: Fake News straight from the Enemy of the People!
All apparent glitches can be attributed to the Press, you see. Those bastards make this crap up to harm the president and, by logical extension, the country. Trump knows this for a fact and reports it that way to his supporters.
And they appear to believe him.
There have already been attacks on the press by Trump supporters, and in the run-up to the 2020 election, there will undoubtedly be more. There's no escaping this. Anyone attempting to supplant Trump will just naturally cite items in the news as proof the president is unfit. Since (according to the president) all of this so-called news is fake, there must be consequences for those who make it up. Severe consequences.
After all, the future of this country is at stake.
Trump has no sympathy for the lying press. Whatever happens, they bring it on themselves by their treasonous actions. They're only getting what they deserve.
The president's ex-fixer, Michael Cohen, says he worries there will be serious unrest in this country should Trump not prevail in 2020. I'm not surprised. At the last presidential debate, Trump famously said he would not necessarily accept the results of the 2016 election. He was going to wait and see.
From the beginning, then, he's been setting the tone for his supporters: The rule of law is contingent on getting what you want from any given election.
This is no way to run a country.
In the court-martial that concludes The Caine Mutiny, the aggrieved Captain Queeg takes the stand to proclaim the disloyalty of his officers. He says they made up stories to make him look bad. He says, for instance, he can prove by geometric logic that someone had stolen strawberries from the officers' mess. (In the courtroom, folks begin to wonder if this is relevant.) Queeg hauls out his fidget-spinner ball bearings in an attempt to maintain his composure, but it's already too late: Everybody can see he's losing it.
That was then. Nowadays, President Queeg could hustle those steel balls till the cows came home, but none of his supporters would be able to see anything but Fake News.
In America, the obvious is not that obvious anymore.
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
CRANKING UP THE MACHINE
A year and eight months to go before the 2020 election, and the Democratic field is already crowded. Is that a good thing?
It's like the opposite of 2016, where Hillary Clinton was the presumed candidate from the git-go. (Sorry, Bernie.)
This time Hillary is not running, and that might turn out to be bad news for Donald Trump. In 2016 he campaigned against the woman, using her political baggage (Bill and other items) to demonize her. There's a good chance her presence in the race put him over the top.
This time the only thing he has going for him is that he's the incumbent, which often works in a candidate's favor. Unless he's really a horrible president.
The problem for Democrats is, a very large number of Trump voters simply cannot detect that the man is as horrible as he is.
One of Trump's biggest supporters is Donald Trump. The man thinks he's doing A+ work as president, and can't imagine anyone in the country who wouldn't see the same thing. Based on this, reelection should be a lock.
Trump knows that politics is the only reason anyone complains about him and his excellent performance. What he doesn't get is that opposition to him is based on who he is and what he does (or wants to do).
On the other hand, politics IS the reason he gets a lot of his support. Many Republicans feel stuck with Trump. They don't much like him, but they can't do anything about it. Not now, anyway. Maybe in 2024.
On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders is coming on strong. But he has two problems: every damn day the man gets older, plus he may find it impossible to win a national election for religious reasons.
You may recall leaked emails that had Hillary's folks speculating about Bernie, about the fact he's Jewish. And worse, that he might be an atheist.
Will Americans at large vote such a guy into the presidency? Pretty sure it would be the first time, if they do.
In the meantime, a lot of his ideas from 2016 have gone mainstream among Democratic candidates. And they seem to find favor with a lot of voters, too. Turns out, you don't need Bernie to get Bernie's platform.
Maybe that's his ultimate contribution. That and enthusiastic campaigning for whatever Democratic candidate that emerges from the pack.
And the sooner the better.
The best thing the Democrats could do is settle on a viable candidate as early as possible and begin to pound away on Trump. One on one. If too many people attack the fellow he might emerge with sympathy. That would be annoying.
(Fortunately, Trump doesn't know what to do with sympathy. He's a winner, damn it!)
Perhaps the candidates could collude to limit the field. At the very least they need to fight relentlessly positive campaigns during the primaries. Present themselves to the people and let the process do the work of winnowing.
Keep the focus on Trump right up to the national election. Assuming he's not in prison by then.
It's like the opposite of 2016, where Hillary Clinton was the presumed candidate from the git-go. (Sorry, Bernie.)
This time Hillary is not running, and that might turn out to be bad news for Donald Trump. In 2016 he campaigned against the woman, using her political baggage (Bill and other items) to demonize her. There's a good chance her presence in the race put him over the top.
This time the only thing he has going for him is that he's the incumbent, which often works in a candidate's favor. Unless he's really a horrible president.
The problem for Democrats is, a very large number of Trump voters simply cannot detect that the man is as horrible as he is.
One of Trump's biggest supporters is Donald Trump. The man thinks he's doing A+ work as president, and can't imagine anyone in the country who wouldn't see the same thing. Based on this, reelection should be a lock.
Trump knows that politics is the only reason anyone complains about him and his excellent performance. What he doesn't get is that opposition to him is based on who he is and what he does (or wants to do).
On the other hand, politics IS the reason he gets a lot of his support. Many Republicans feel stuck with Trump. They don't much like him, but they can't do anything about it. Not now, anyway. Maybe in 2024.
On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders is coming on strong. But he has two problems: every damn day the man gets older, plus he may find it impossible to win a national election for religious reasons.
You may recall leaked emails that had Hillary's folks speculating about Bernie, about the fact he's Jewish. And worse, that he might be an atheist.
Will Americans at large vote such a guy into the presidency? Pretty sure it would be the first time, if they do.
In the meantime, a lot of his ideas from 2016 have gone mainstream among Democratic candidates. And they seem to find favor with a lot of voters, too. Turns out, you don't need Bernie to get Bernie's platform.
Maybe that's his ultimate contribution. That and enthusiastic campaigning for whatever Democratic candidate that emerges from the pack.
And the sooner the better.
The best thing the Democrats could do is settle on a viable candidate as early as possible and begin to pound away on Trump. One on one. If too many people attack the fellow he might emerge with sympathy. That would be annoying.
(Fortunately, Trump doesn't know what to do with sympathy. He's a winner, damn it!)
Perhaps the candidates could collude to limit the field. At the very least they need to fight relentlessly positive campaigns during the primaries. Present themselves to the people and let the process do the work of winnowing.
Keep the focus on Trump right up to the national election. Assuming he's not in prison by then.
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
A COMBUSTION OF TROUSERS
A Republican Congressman was asked by a reporter if he thought Michael Cohen would tell the truth to the committee this time.
"No," the man said.
So I guess the question is: Why bother to listen to the words of a known liar?
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, for one, said it was laughable for anyone to take a convicted liar at his word.
Michael Cohen, who was for many years a "fixer" for alleged real estate titan Donald Trump, will shortly enter jail for, among other crimes, lying under oath to Congress about Trump's plans to build a residential tower in Moscow. It seems he lied to obscure the fact that the presidential candidate had financial interests in Russia that persisted for longer than he wanted folks to know.
Now Cohen is expected to testify he was influenced to lie by his boss, Donald Trump. The problem is getting folks to believe him.
In court, a person who changes his previous sworn testimony can expect to be asked the standard question by skeptical attorneys: "Were you lying then or are you lying now?"
The idea is to place doubt in the minds of jurors. And it works.
Either way, you see, the individual is (or was) a liar. And once a liar, always a liar. Nothing they say now will count for much.
About all a person can do is attempt to correct the record, then slink away. Maybe it will do some good in the long run. And maybe not.
People lie for a variety of reasons: to protect themselves, to protect loved ones, to make themselves look better (or worse) than they are.
People even confess to crimes they didn't commit, often to get away from an interrogator with an overbearing personality, many of which lie to the suspect, saying he'll be able to go home and sleep in his own bed tonight.
Once he has signed the confession.
That, of course, doesn't happen. But at least you can get out of that room and into a cell where the guy is not pounding away on you.
(A better way to get out of that room is to request a lawyer, but innocent folks don't want to look guilty. Cops can use that against you.)
Folks make false confessions out of desperation, but they still hold out hope. Surely the evidence of the case will exonerate them. Then they get to court and find out jurors fixate on confessions (which are simple) and ignore complicated physical evidence they can't understand.
The fact those confessions were later withdrawn hardly matters.
("Were you lying then or are you lying now?")
Once you start lying, you're doomed.
Michael Cohen will have to prove that his lies were so obvious nobody should be able to use them to impeach his current statements. Backing himself up with documentary evidence would help, but it probably won't be enough for Republicans bent on supporting their party's leader no matter what.
"More lies," they'll say.
And being politicians, they can maintain that position even if they secretly believe everything Cohen is now saying. Which, lucky for them, is a way of lying they won't have to be held accountable for.
Because when the dust settles, it's better to be thought an idiot than a liar. Plus you can say you were just being loyal, and that counts for quite a lot in politics.
Unless you're Michael Cohen and your loyalty was to Donald Trump.
"No," the man said.
So I guess the question is: Why bother to listen to the words of a known liar?
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, for one, said it was laughable for anyone to take a convicted liar at his word.
Michael Cohen, who was for many years a "fixer" for alleged real estate titan Donald Trump, will shortly enter jail for, among other crimes, lying under oath to Congress about Trump's plans to build a residential tower in Moscow. It seems he lied to obscure the fact that the presidential candidate had financial interests in Russia that persisted for longer than he wanted folks to know.
Now Cohen is expected to testify he was influenced to lie by his boss, Donald Trump. The problem is getting folks to believe him.
In court, a person who changes his previous sworn testimony can expect to be asked the standard question by skeptical attorneys: "Were you lying then or are you lying now?"
The idea is to place doubt in the minds of jurors. And it works.
Either way, you see, the individual is (or was) a liar. And once a liar, always a liar. Nothing they say now will count for much.
About all a person can do is attempt to correct the record, then slink away. Maybe it will do some good in the long run. And maybe not.
People lie for a variety of reasons: to protect themselves, to protect loved ones, to make themselves look better (or worse) than they are.
People even confess to crimes they didn't commit, often to get away from an interrogator with an overbearing personality, many of which lie to the suspect, saying he'll be able to go home and sleep in his own bed tonight.
Once he has signed the confession.
That, of course, doesn't happen. But at least you can get out of that room and into a cell where the guy is not pounding away on you.
(A better way to get out of that room is to request a lawyer, but innocent folks don't want to look guilty. Cops can use that against you.)
Folks make false confessions out of desperation, but they still hold out hope. Surely the evidence of the case will exonerate them. Then they get to court and find out jurors fixate on confessions (which are simple) and ignore complicated physical evidence they can't understand.
The fact those confessions were later withdrawn hardly matters.
("Were you lying then or are you lying now?")
Once you start lying, you're doomed.
Michael Cohen will have to prove that his lies were so obvious nobody should be able to use them to impeach his current statements. Backing himself up with documentary evidence would help, but it probably won't be enough for Republicans bent on supporting their party's leader no matter what.
"More lies," they'll say.
And being politicians, they can maintain that position even if they secretly believe everything Cohen is now saying. Which, lucky for them, is a way of lying they won't have to be held accountable for.
Because when the dust settles, it's better to be thought an idiot than a liar. Plus you can say you were just being loyal, and that counts for quite a lot in politics.
Unless you're Michael Cohen and your loyalty was to Donald Trump.
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
"IT'S A TRAP!"
In interviews promoting his new book, former Acting Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe mentioned the fact that his boss at the Justice Department (Rod Rosenstein) suggested Trump might be removed from office by means of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.
McCabe says the suggestion was one of many thrown out during a chaotic conversation following the election of Donald Trump (over which hung the possibility of Russian intervention).
Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican, South Carolina) jumped on this comment and demanded to know the details. He wants to know if these men committed treason by discussing the 25th Amendment. He wants to haul the gentlemen in question before a Senate committee and get to the bottom of it.
For his part, Rosenstein implied he was joking. Same when he suggested he wear a wire in his meetings with the new president. Just joking.
McCabe says he didn't get that impression.
According to the 25th Amendment, the president can declare himself unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, at which point the vice president will take over as acting president until such time as the president says he's ready to go back to work.
In addition, should the vice president and a majority of the executive department declare to the leaders of both houses of Congress that the president cannot do his job properly, the vice president shall become acting president. If the president objects, Congress has to vote on the matter. It takes a two-thirds majority in both houses to remove the president against his will.
It is not specified what sort of reasons might be valid for removing the president. In the case where the president himself ops out, it would probably be because of mental or physical impairment. (Woodrow Wilson was so wiped out by the death of his wife he was pretty much a basket case; at the time there was no way to deal with that.)
In the case of others piling on the president and trying to remove him, the reasons might not be limited to mental or physical health. If it could be shown the president was in the thrall of a foreign power, he might be considered unfit to do his job.
On several important issues (Russian interference in the 2016 election and the nuclear missile capabilities of North Korea), Donald Trump has ignored the opinions of the US intelligence community in favor of input from Vladimir Putin.
Something like this might be put forward as a reason why Trump cannot be allowed to remain president.
As usual, politics looms over the issue. Trump says he got no help from Russia in his election, and loyal Republicans just naturally agree.
But there are also mental health matters. Several Senators (including Republicans) have labeled the president a pathological liar. Is that a mental condition that might rise to the level of incapacitation? If not, can a tendency to lie repeatedly be seen as an impediment to the proper operation of the presidency?
These are all questions that might reasonably be discussed in the context of the 25th Amendment.
But here's a worrisome point: Senator Lindsey Graham, who supports the president in most things, appears to have declared the mere mention of the 25th Amendment a treasonous act.
Maybe the Senator would be okay with the president sidelining himself, but what if others make the move? If they failed to get a two-thirds vote in their favor, would the vice president and a majority of the cabinet end up in prison? Or worse?
You may recall Benjamin Franklin saying (in the run-up to the American Revolution) the plotters needed to hang together or they'd all hang separately. What they were doing was treason, don't forget, and punishable by death.
Is the 25th Amendment an invitation to treason? It could be, depending on how you look at it. You have to be careful around that thing.
In another context (and in another galaxy, far far away) Admiral Ackbar once famously said: "It's a trap!"
Might those words also be accurate in reference to the 25th Amendment?
McCabe says the suggestion was one of many thrown out during a chaotic conversation following the election of Donald Trump (over which hung the possibility of Russian intervention).
Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican, South Carolina) jumped on this comment and demanded to know the details. He wants to know if these men committed treason by discussing the 25th Amendment. He wants to haul the gentlemen in question before a Senate committee and get to the bottom of it.
For his part, Rosenstein implied he was joking. Same when he suggested he wear a wire in his meetings with the new president. Just joking.
McCabe says he didn't get that impression.
According to the 25th Amendment, the president can declare himself unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, at which point the vice president will take over as acting president until such time as the president says he's ready to go back to work.
In addition, should the vice president and a majority of the executive department declare to the leaders of both houses of Congress that the president cannot do his job properly, the vice president shall become acting president. If the president objects, Congress has to vote on the matter. It takes a two-thirds majority in both houses to remove the president against his will.
It is not specified what sort of reasons might be valid for removing the president. In the case where the president himself ops out, it would probably be because of mental or physical impairment. (Woodrow Wilson was so wiped out by the death of his wife he was pretty much a basket case; at the time there was no way to deal with that.)
In the case of others piling on the president and trying to remove him, the reasons might not be limited to mental or physical health. If it could be shown the president was in the thrall of a foreign power, he might be considered unfit to do his job.
On several important issues (Russian interference in the 2016 election and the nuclear missile capabilities of North Korea), Donald Trump has ignored the opinions of the US intelligence community in favor of input from Vladimir Putin.
Something like this might be put forward as a reason why Trump cannot be allowed to remain president.
As usual, politics looms over the issue. Trump says he got no help from Russia in his election, and loyal Republicans just naturally agree.
But there are also mental health matters. Several Senators (including Republicans) have labeled the president a pathological liar. Is that a mental condition that might rise to the level of incapacitation? If not, can a tendency to lie repeatedly be seen as an impediment to the proper operation of the presidency?
These are all questions that might reasonably be discussed in the context of the 25th Amendment.
But here's a worrisome point: Senator Lindsey Graham, who supports the president in most things, appears to have declared the mere mention of the 25th Amendment a treasonous act.
Maybe the Senator would be okay with the president sidelining himself, but what if others make the move? If they failed to get a two-thirds vote in their favor, would the vice president and a majority of the cabinet end up in prison? Or worse?
You may recall Benjamin Franklin saying (in the run-up to the American Revolution) the plotters needed to hang together or they'd all hang separately. What they were doing was treason, don't forget, and punishable by death.
Is the 25th Amendment an invitation to treason? It could be, depending on how you look at it. You have to be careful around that thing.
In another context (and in another galaxy, far far away) Admiral Ackbar once famously said: "It's a trap!"
Might those words also be accurate in reference to the 25th Amendment?
Friday, February 15, 2019
EMERGENCY
President Trump has now signed the spending bill presented to him by Congress, avoiding another partial government shutdown. In doing so, he has agreed to accept several hundred million dollars LESS than was on the table before he was "proud" to send the federal government into the longest shutdown in history.
That's a move that will not go down well with his supporters.
But he has a plan to turn all that around: declaring a national emergency.
Trump has repeatedly warned everybody that he has an "absolute right" to declare an emergency to bypass Congress for funds to build his big, beautiful wall.
(He's back to calling it a "wall" again, chastising folks for politicizing this vital structure by calling it anything else. Though he was the only one doing that.)
Now he's declared his emergency.
Why didn't he do it earlier? One reason was because he knew there was the risk of getting sued over his spurious declaration. And he will undoubtedly BE sued.
The other, nastier reason is this: He thought he could bully Nancy Pelosi into giving in to him. Thus proving he has the upper hand, like a strong president should have.
Like a strong MAN should have.
Instead, he proved he's merely devious. Not that we didn't already know this.
And here's the problem he's ignoring: Every twist and turn of this funding process only serves to remind folks that this country was NOT the one that was supposed to be paying for the wall.
At every campaign rally where he blasted out his key promise for a humongous border wall, the biggest response was always the second part, when he stated that MEXICO was going to be paying for the damned thing. Those guys were the problem, after all, sending their rapists and so forth into America, so it made sense they would be the ones responsible for ponying up the mazuma.
Trump will no doubt repeat his bizarre notion that because of his greatly superior new trade agreement, Mexico IS paying for the wall.
It's a position that makes about as much sense as his claim he meant to say "wouldn't" instead of "would" at the press conference in Helsinki, putting Putin ON the hook instead of taking him OFF the hook for meddling in our 2016 election.
Trump's biggest delusion is that he's so beloved by the people of America we all rush to buy whatever nonsense he deigns to let drop from his petulant lips.
He is, after all, a political Einstein. Who among us "wouldn't" listen to him?
That's a move that will not go down well with his supporters.
But he has a plan to turn all that around: declaring a national emergency.
Trump has repeatedly warned everybody that he has an "absolute right" to declare an emergency to bypass Congress for funds to build his big, beautiful wall.
(He's back to calling it a "wall" again, chastising folks for politicizing this vital structure by calling it anything else. Though he was the only one doing that.)
Now he's declared his emergency.
Why didn't he do it earlier? One reason was because he knew there was the risk of getting sued over his spurious declaration. And he will undoubtedly BE sued.
The other, nastier reason is this: He thought he could bully Nancy Pelosi into giving in to him. Thus proving he has the upper hand, like a strong president should have.
Like a strong MAN should have.
Instead, he proved he's merely devious. Not that we didn't already know this.
And here's the problem he's ignoring: Every twist and turn of this funding process only serves to remind folks that this country was NOT the one that was supposed to be paying for the wall.
At every campaign rally where he blasted out his key promise for a humongous border wall, the biggest response was always the second part, when he stated that MEXICO was going to be paying for the damned thing. Those guys were the problem, after all, sending their rapists and so forth into America, so it made sense they would be the ones responsible for ponying up the mazuma.
Trump will no doubt repeat his bizarre notion that because of his greatly superior new trade agreement, Mexico IS paying for the wall.
It's a position that makes about as much sense as his claim he meant to say "wouldn't" instead of "would" at the press conference in Helsinki, putting Putin ON the hook instead of taking him OFF the hook for meddling in our 2016 election.
Trump's biggest delusion is that he's so beloved by the people of America we all rush to buy whatever nonsense he deigns to let drop from his petulant lips.
He is, after all, a political Einstein. Who among us "wouldn't" listen to him?
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
SOTU#2
Donald Trump's second State of the Union address rumbled out onto the airways last night, one week late due to the shutdown and Nancy Pelosi's annoying grit.
The president harped on how well the economy was doing, and seemed to be taking most of the credit for that excellent situation. But we expect that from politicians. They never meet a chunk of good news they aren't eager to take credit for.
Trump had a lot of guests, mostly old military types and victims of various things the man has a solution for: stuff that could be built on the southern border.
One odd moment: a holocaust survivor sat next to a WWII vet who helped liberated a death camp. Behind them, the upholstery of chairs contained swastikas in the pattern. Well, it's an old Indian symbol, or so I've heard.
(In my junior high classrooms it showed up on the cast iron radiators. In town, it ringed the bottoms of street lights. Also, we hosted the headquarters of the American Nazi Party, but that might have been a coincidence.)
As expected, Trump spent a lot of time listing the crimes of illegal immigrants. One thing those guys do (he says) is hog American jobs. Nevertheless (he was forced to admit) we Americans are holding down more jobs than ever before in the history of this country. Including women.
Including women in Congress.
And that last superlative might come back to bite the man in his ass. A lot of those women are Democrats who came to office on a platform that countered Trump. And at least one of them is very hot to impeach the MF.
Trump took the opportunity to announce his next summit with Kim Jong-un. He also stated ("in my opinion") if he hadn't been elected president we would be deep in a very bad war with North Korea right now. That's hard to say (I mean in reality; Trump finds it very easy to say, and has done so repeatedly), but there's no question Trump's love affair with Kim has kept things mellow over there. No real progress on denuclearization, unfortunately, but nice and mellow.
By the end of the address, Trump had a warning for Congress. And he whipped it out twice.
The only things that could disrupt the stratospheric progress of America into a boundless future was "foolish wars, politics, and ridiculous partisan investigations." To repeat: "We could have peace and legislation or war and investigation."
No question Congress could get together and produce useful legislation. On fixing our crumbling infrastructure, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, and so forth. But if those folks want to see real action ...and a thick, spiky signature at the bottom of those bills, they're going to have to knock off the witch hunts.
This is not news. At a press conference following the 2018 midterm election, Trump implied he would not cooperate (i.e., sign bills passed by Congress) if those traitors kept up with their threatened investigations.
The man is calling for unity and cooperation. He just doesn't want to be the first item on the Congressional agenda: Send Trump packing, then get busy making America better without him.
But if he's true to his threats, this might be the only way it CAN be done.
The president harped on how well the economy was doing, and seemed to be taking most of the credit for that excellent situation. But we expect that from politicians. They never meet a chunk of good news they aren't eager to take credit for.
Trump had a lot of guests, mostly old military types and victims of various things the man has a solution for: stuff that could be built on the southern border.
One odd moment: a holocaust survivor sat next to a WWII vet who helped liberated a death camp. Behind them, the upholstery of chairs contained swastikas in the pattern. Well, it's an old Indian symbol, or so I've heard.
(In my junior high classrooms it showed up on the cast iron radiators. In town, it ringed the bottoms of street lights. Also, we hosted the headquarters of the American Nazi Party, but that might have been a coincidence.)
As expected, Trump spent a lot of time listing the crimes of illegal immigrants. One thing those guys do (he says) is hog American jobs. Nevertheless (he was forced to admit) we Americans are holding down more jobs than ever before in the history of this country. Including women.
Including women in Congress.
And that last superlative might come back to bite the man in his ass. A lot of those women are Democrats who came to office on a platform that countered Trump. And at least one of them is very hot to impeach the MF.
Trump took the opportunity to announce his next summit with Kim Jong-un. He also stated ("in my opinion") if he hadn't been elected president we would be deep in a very bad war with North Korea right now. That's hard to say (I mean in reality; Trump finds it very easy to say, and has done so repeatedly), but there's no question Trump's love affair with Kim has kept things mellow over there. No real progress on denuclearization, unfortunately, but nice and mellow.
By the end of the address, Trump had a warning for Congress. And he whipped it out twice.
The only things that could disrupt the stratospheric progress of America into a boundless future was "foolish wars, politics, and ridiculous partisan investigations." To repeat: "We could have peace and legislation or war and investigation."
No question Congress could get together and produce useful legislation. On fixing our crumbling infrastructure, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, and so forth. But if those folks want to see real action ...and a thick, spiky signature at the bottom of those bills, they're going to have to knock off the witch hunts.
This is not news. At a press conference following the 2018 midterm election, Trump implied he would not cooperate (i.e., sign bills passed by Congress) if those traitors kept up with their threatened investigations.
The man is calling for unity and cooperation. He just doesn't want to be the first item on the Congressional agenda: Send Trump packing, then get busy making America better without him.
But if he's true to his threats, this might be the only way it CAN be done.
Friday, February 1, 2019
ALL HAIL, PRESIDENT TRUMP!
After US intelligence officers testified before a Senate committee, contradicting the president on several key subjects (the viability of ISIS, Iran's nuclear ambitions, North Korea's likeliness to give up WMDs), Donald Trump first said they needed to go back to school.
A day or so later he said he'd been told by the intelligence officers that they had been "totally misquoted and totally taken out of context" by the lying fake-news press.
And now everything is fine; everybody's on the same page on these subjects.
What a relief! For a second there I thought the country was in trouble, but now I see everything is honky-dory!
Thank you, Mr. President, for making it all better.
The Senate needs to haul National Intelligence Director Dan Coats back in there and grill his ass for appearing to mislead the American people. I guess it would be understandable if he had given in to the temptation to make himself look more important. After all, you judge a hero by the nastiness of the villains who face him.
Still, the man needs to learn humility. He also needs to be able to make statements in his assessment of foreign threats to this country that can't be twisted out of context, especially when videotaped verbatim by the lying press. (They have their evil ways, obviously.)
Remember, this is the same Dan Coats who came to the president before the Helsinki meeting with Vladimir Putin and insinuated the Russian president might have been behind efforts to affect the American election that put our glorious leader in power.
Have you at long last no shame, sir? Never mind, it's off to the Re-Education Camp for you! Where you will no doubt learn (or re-learn) that our president is a very stable genius who possesses a far better understanding of world affairs than any military general or so-called intelligence professional.
While it's true Donald Trump has (under existing law) at best six more years to eliminate all external threats to this country (and repair all internal crises that might exist within the borders of other nations), at the rate he's knocking down these brush fires he should be able to create a perfect world with plenty of time left over for a victory lap (and maybe an historic journey to Mars, where he can lay the groundwork for an interplanetary wall that will keep those alien bastard Martians from coming to America).
These are indeed special times!
A day or so later he said he'd been told by the intelligence officers that they had been "totally misquoted and totally taken out of context" by the lying fake-news press.
And now everything is fine; everybody's on the same page on these subjects.
What a relief! For a second there I thought the country was in trouble, but now I see everything is honky-dory!
Thank you, Mr. President, for making it all better.
The Senate needs to haul National Intelligence Director Dan Coats back in there and grill his ass for appearing to mislead the American people. I guess it would be understandable if he had given in to the temptation to make himself look more important. After all, you judge a hero by the nastiness of the villains who face him.
Still, the man needs to learn humility. He also needs to be able to make statements in his assessment of foreign threats to this country that can't be twisted out of context, especially when videotaped verbatim by the lying press. (They have their evil ways, obviously.)
Remember, this is the same Dan Coats who came to the president before the Helsinki meeting with Vladimir Putin and insinuated the Russian president might have been behind efforts to affect the American election that put our glorious leader in power.
Have you at long last no shame, sir? Never mind, it's off to the Re-Education Camp for you! Where you will no doubt learn (or re-learn) that our president is a very stable genius who possesses a far better understanding of world affairs than any military general or so-called intelligence professional.
While it's true Donald Trump has (under existing law) at best six more years to eliminate all external threats to this country (and repair all internal crises that might exist within the borders of other nations), at the rate he's knocking down these brush fires he should be able to create a perfect world with plenty of time left over for a victory lap (and maybe an historic journey to Mars, where he can lay the groundwork for an interplanetary wall that will keep those alien bastard Martians from coming to America).
These are indeed special times!
Friday, January 25, 2019
BLINKY
It may be time for Trump to undergo another physical examination. First (and for some time now) he's had this thing where he sniffs the air like a snake flicking its tongue to test the environment. That doesn't seem to be going away.
Now he's having trouble with his eyes: excessive blinking.
Not long ago he made a proposed solution to the shutdown. He offered modest help for the DACA folks and announced the border fence (not a "wall," cuz the Demos hate that word for some reason) would not run from sea to sea, like a proper wall (or fence), but for just a few hundred miles.
(For details, see my previous post, BLINK.)
Next he gave in to Nancy Pelosi (you know, the woman he calls "Nancy"), agreeing to postpone the State of the Union until after the shutdown.
Now he's agreed with Senate leaders of both parties that the shutdown will end for at least three weeks, so negotiations can be made to fund (or not fund, as the case might be) the border fence.
All he wants is a "fair deal," by which he appears to mean getting everything he wants and nothing he doesn't want.
Of course, Trump's doctor may not agree there's anything wrong with the man's eyes, suggesting instead the president was just taking time to get used to his new hobby, cave exploration.
"I like to go to caves, where it's cool and dark. It's what I do now. I call it caving. I cave whenever I can. Doctor's orders."
(This might also explain Trump's prominent raccoon eyes. You gotta wear goggles when you're jacking around in caves. It's only common sense.)
The latest news might mean the State of the Union could go on as originally scheduled, next Tuesday. But from what I've read, Pelosi may decide to let the man twist in the wind for a bit before announcing the path is clear for his speech.
Trump, in his bizarre way, has suggested Pelosi (he calls her "Nancy") doesn't want the speech to take place at all because she can't handle the truth.
Apparently Trump thinks he can only get media coverage if he's speaking in front of a joint session of Congress, where he can let loose a stinging barrage of Democrat-burning truth.
If only that were true. It would be great to go a few days without Trump's wide open mouth on my television screen.
But the fact is President Trump gets more media coverage than any American president ever. (That's GOTTA be true, right?) Too bad that coverage shows the man to be exactly what he is.
Where's Fake News when you need it?
Now he's having trouble with his eyes: excessive blinking.
Not long ago he made a proposed solution to the shutdown. He offered modest help for the DACA folks and announced the border fence (not a "wall," cuz the Demos hate that word for some reason) would not run from sea to sea, like a proper wall (or fence), but for just a few hundred miles.
(For details, see my previous post, BLINK.)
Next he gave in to Nancy Pelosi (you know, the woman he calls "Nancy"), agreeing to postpone the State of the Union until after the shutdown.
Now he's agreed with Senate leaders of both parties that the shutdown will end for at least three weeks, so negotiations can be made to fund (or not fund, as the case might be) the border fence.
All he wants is a "fair deal," by which he appears to mean getting everything he wants and nothing he doesn't want.
Of course, Trump's doctor may not agree there's anything wrong with the man's eyes, suggesting instead the president was just taking time to get used to his new hobby, cave exploration.
"I like to go to caves, where it's cool and dark. It's what I do now. I call it caving. I cave whenever I can. Doctor's orders."
(This might also explain Trump's prominent raccoon eyes. You gotta wear goggles when you're jacking around in caves. It's only common sense.)
The latest news might mean the State of the Union could go on as originally scheduled, next Tuesday. But from what I've read, Pelosi may decide to let the man twist in the wind for a bit before announcing the path is clear for his speech.
Trump, in his bizarre way, has suggested Pelosi (he calls her "Nancy") doesn't want the speech to take place at all because she can't handle the truth.
Apparently Trump thinks he can only get media coverage if he's speaking in front of a joint session of Congress, where he can let loose a stinging barrage of Democrat-burning truth.
If only that were true. It would be great to go a few days without Trump's wide open mouth on my television screen.
But the fact is President Trump gets more media coverage than any American president ever. (That's GOTTA be true, right?) Too bad that coverage shows the man to be exactly what he is.
Where's Fake News when you need it?
Sunday, January 20, 2019
BLINK
Unless I'm hallucinating (and I can never absolutely rule that out), Donald Trump's newest proposal gives us the best hope so far of ending the shutdown.
He offered three years of DACA (and it might have been an extended-population DACA), but more important: All this talk of redefining the "wall" as a fence of some sort has yielded the admission the wall is no longer to be a solid barrier that extends from sea to sea. It's a high-tech fence that beefs up the border in strategic, high traffic areas.
Now all the Democrats have to do is push for infinite extension of expanded DACA and a limited number of strategic areas along the border to be included in the package.
These are things that can be negotiated. It's no longer a "yes/no" issue. It's a "how much" issue.
Trump can declare victory now (you always knew he would, you just have to be prepared for the horror of his twisted logic), he can push for more strategic zones to be added to the beefed-up border later, based on actual, documented traffic.
And the Democrats can play the same game in the future, giving in a little on the expanded border solution in exchange for movement in other areas, like healthcare.
Trump had already laid the groundwork for this deal by solving the "Mexico will pay for it" problem (declaring the new trade agreement does this automatically), and pointing out the border patrol folks always wanted a "see-through" barrier in place, not a solid concrete wall.
We just have to endure Trump's face-saving pronouncements, how he "never said" the wall would be a sold concrete edifice paid for directly by the government of Mexico.
It's the price we have to pay for dealing with a self-aggrandizing egomaniac.
He offered three years of DACA (and it might have been an extended-population DACA), but more important: All this talk of redefining the "wall" as a fence of some sort has yielded the admission the wall is no longer to be a solid barrier that extends from sea to sea. It's a high-tech fence that beefs up the border in strategic, high traffic areas.
Now all the Democrats have to do is push for infinite extension of expanded DACA and a limited number of strategic areas along the border to be included in the package.
These are things that can be negotiated. It's no longer a "yes/no" issue. It's a "how much" issue.
Trump can declare victory now (you always knew he would, you just have to be prepared for the horror of his twisted logic), he can push for more strategic zones to be added to the beefed-up border later, based on actual, documented traffic.
And the Democrats can play the same game in the future, giving in a little on the expanded border solution in exchange for movement in other areas, like healthcare.
Trump had already laid the groundwork for this deal by solving the "Mexico will pay for it" problem (declaring the new trade agreement does this automatically), and pointing out the border patrol folks always wanted a "see-through" barrier in place, not a solid concrete wall.
We just have to endure Trump's face-saving pronouncements, how he "never said" the wall would be a sold concrete edifice paid for directly by the government of Mexico.
It's the price we have to pay for dealing with a self-aggrandizing egomaniac.
Friday, January 18, 2019
NEGOTIATING WITH DONNY
When folks are at an impasse, the one who calls for negotiation is usually the hero. The side who refuses to meet is the villain in the piece.
When it comes to the partial government shutdown, the fellow calling out repeatedly for the other side to come in and negotiate a settlement is Donald Trump.
Is this a trap?
The last time they met, Trump walked out after only fourteen minutes, as soon as he got Pelosi's answer about the wall: "No wall."
Since he hasn't apparently changed his mind, it's confusing to hear him call for more talks. If not his position on the main subject, what has changed?
The only public movement on his part concerns the Democrats' ability to name the item in question. Trump is apparently willing to grant them the right to call that thing a wall, or a fence, or a barrier. He's even okay with them calling it "peaches."
His bizarre position seems to be this: The Democrats won't agree to a wall because they object to the word "wall." And he's determined to fix this, out of the goodness of his heart. And to be the hero who saved America.
"Call it anything you want," he appears to be saying, "just FUND the damned thing."
And he can't see why they refuse his generous offer. He's unafraid, as a proper hero needs to be, of any unforeseen consequences.
I mean, those rascals could call it "Donald Trump's Stinky A-hole."
(The name designed to answer the joke's set-up question: What do you call that thing that deters unwanted foreigners from coming into America?)
Other Republicans call for the Democrats to negotiate a solution to the shutdown. But those guys are likely to have Trump's back. When they say "negotiate" they mean "give him whatever he wants."
That's not a negotiation. That's a show-trial.
On the other hand, maybe Trump wants some sort of "negotiation" so he can shift his position slightly and claim victory. He can't do this unilaterally without it looking like he caved, and he can't do that without letting down his pals on Fox News. (Whose criticism of Trump is the real author of this story.)
Or maybe Trump needs the opposition in the room so he can work some kind of Jedi mind trick on the Democrats. A deal materializes (magically) and Trump quickly declares victory so he can move on to destroying the world in some novel and unpredictable way. (It's his special power.)
Or maybe a new threat can be detected, something unrelated to Bigger Caravans forming in the South, a bountiful catastrophe that could give Trump cover to table the wall for the duration. Sort of like how World War II ended the Great Depression.
Substitute one crisis for another and move on. Is anything else even possible?
Good news: There's a new summit coming up with Kim Jong-un. Maybe Trump can parlay that into a nuclear exchange with North Korea. That should cause some heads to pivot away from our southern border.
So say goodbye to South Korea, Japan, and half a dozen US cities. We're going to put America back to work digging fallout shelters.
Hey, it's starting to sound like a workable plan!
When it comes to the partial government shutdown, the fellow calling out repeatedly for the other side to come in and negotiate a settlement is Donald Trump.
Is this a trap?
The last time they met, Trump walked out after only fourteen minutes, as soon as he got Pelosi's answer about the wall: "No wall."
Since he hasn't apparently changed his mind, it's confusing to hear him call for more talks. If not his position on the main subject, what has changed?
The only public movement on his part concerns the Democrats' ability to name the item in question. Trump is apparently willing to grant them the right to call that thing a wall, or a fence, or a barrier. He's even okay with them calling it "peaches."
His bizarre position seems to be this: The Democrats won't agree to a wall because they object to the word "wall." And he's determined to fix this, out of the goodness of his heart. And to be the hero who saved America.
"Call it anything you want," he appears to be saying, "just FUND the damned thing."
And he can't see why they refuse his generous offer. He's unafraid, as a proper hero needs to be, of any unforeseen consequences.
I mean, those rascals could call it "Donald Trump's Stinky A-hole."
(The name designed to answer the joke's set-up question: What do you call that thing that deters unwanted foreigners from coming into America?)
Other Republicans call for the Democrats to negotiate a solution to the shutdown. But those guys are likely to have Trump's back. When they say "negotiate" they mean "give him whatever he wants."
That's not a negotiation. That's a show-trial.
On the other hand, maybe Trump wants some sort of "negotiation" so he can shift his position slightly and claim victory. He can't do this unilaterally without it looking like he caved, and he can't do that without letting down his pals on Fox News. (Whose criticism of Trump is the real author of this story.)
Or maybe Trump needs the opposition in the room so he can work some kind of Jedi mind trick on the Democrats. A deal materializes (magically) and Trump quickly declares victory so he can move on to destroying the world in some novel and unpredictable way. (It's his special power.)
Or maybe a new threat can be detected, something unrelated to Bigger Caravans forming in the South, a bountiful catastrophe that could give Trump cover to table the wall for the duration. Sort of like how World War II ended the Great Depression.
Substitute one crisis for another and move on. Is anything else even possible?
Good news: There's a new summit coming up with Kim Jong-un. Maybe Trump can parlay that into a nuclear exchange with North Korea. That should cause some heads to pivot away from our southern border.
So say goodbye to South Korea, Japan, and half a dozen US cities. We're going to put America back to work digging fallout shelters.
Hey, it's starting to sound like a workable plan!
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
WATERBOARDING AMERICA
President Trump, being human, knows he's doing the right thing. That's inescapable. He has said he will never give in, because the safety of Americans is at stake.
The fact that the majority of Americans don't want the wall means nothing to him. He campaigned on the wall, and he won the election. That's the only thing that counts.
Elections have consequences, he says.
The fact that he wasn't elected by the majority of the voters is not even a fact in his mind. He knows Hillary's victory in the popular vote is fake.
Interestingly, the safety of Americans really IS at stake, but not because of the lack of a border wall. The shutdown itself is jeopardizing our safety, in many ways.
Trump would reject that calculation.
My way or the highway, he might as well be saying.
He's counting on the decency of members of Congress. If he won't budge, they'll have to give in to end the stalemate. But if they do, it won't be because they're wrong. It'll be because they're better people than he is.
Trump wouldn't be able to make that calculation either.
He would declare victory and bluster about to find more ways to impose his will. And collect his victory in 2020, seeing it as proof his methods are sound.
Trump is a villain who kidnaps and tortures the hero's girlfriend because he knows he can get more leverage that way. He's a blackmailer who will never release the hostages, no matter what ransom is paid.
In short, the man is a thug.
But because he's a human being he will never be able to see it this way.
One small question remains: At what point does torturing the American people become an impeachable offense?
The fact that the majority of Americans don't want the wall means nothing to him. He campaigned on the wall, and he won the election. That's the only thing that counts.
Elections have consequences, he says.
The fact that he wasn't elected by the majority of the voters is not even a fact in his mind. He knows Hillary's victory in the popular vote is fake.
Interestingly, the safety of Americans really IS at stake, but not because of the lack of a border wall. The shutdown itself is jeopardizing our safety, in many ways.
Trump would reject that calculation.
My way or the highway, he might as well be saying.
He's counting on the decency of members of Congress. If he won't budge, they'll have to give in to end the stalemate. But if they do, it won't be because they're wrong. It'll be because they're better people than he is.
Trump wouldn't be able to make that calculation either.
He would declare victory and bluster about to find more ways to impose his will. And collect his victory in 2020, seeing it as proof his methods are sound.
Trump is a villain who kidnaps and tortures the hero's girlfriend because he knows he can get more leverage that way. He's a blackmailer who will never release the hostages, no matter what ransom is paid.
In short, the man is a thug.
But because he's a human being he will never be able to see it this way.
One small question remains: At what point does torturing the American people become an impeachable offense?
Friday, January 11, 2019
LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN
Donald Trump recently described how immigrants enter this country in such a way as to trigger derision from talk show hosts. Seth Meyers may even have made his joke twice (or maybe the second time was Stephen Colbert).
Trump said (paraphrasing): They make a left turn. Or a right turn. Usually it's a left. They make a right turn, go along the border until the barrier ends, then they make a left turn into this country.
The talk show guys joked that these words are gibberish. But I understand perfectly what he's talking about:
Immigrants approach the western end of the border, say around Tijuana. But they don't attempt to cross. Instead, they make a right turn, headed east, and follow the border on the Mexican side until the barriers peter out. Then they make a left turn (north) and enter America. Because without a wall or sturdy fence to stop them, they can just come on in.
What makes Trump's version sound so nonsensical is the lack of context.
I remember a scene in one of the Stephanie Plum mysteries. Two characters are driving in a car. They get into a conversation that comes to an end when a third character chimes in.
Was the third person hiding in the backseat of the car? No. The main characters had arrived at a destination, got out of the car, and walked to the front door of a house. The third person had to emerge from the house in order to enter the conversation.
But the author provided no context, no running description of the action of the two characters. This allowed the third character to come out of left field and begin talking. It was startling, disconcerting. I don't know, maybe it was supposed to be.
(Or maybe I remember the scene incorrectly. What do you want me to do, read the entire series again to see if I can find that scene?)
Trump's version of the migrants' journey lacks context. It needs more description to ground the listener. But he seems unaware of this. Why?
I think it's because he's aways been a rich man. Trump lives in a world where he can get away with stuff like this.
Like in the recording his "fixer" made of the two men discussing a payment to a third party to compensate him for buying off one of Trump's alleged sexual playthings. The big guy suddenly bellows for somebody to get him a Coke. (Pretty sure he said "please.")
When you're rich and powerful, your underlings have to be constantly on the alert for random demands from the boss. And be ready to comply instantly to make his every wish come true. Trump is used to this behavior, on his part and on theirs.
In his defense, he's paying for the service, and if his people don't like it, they can take a hike. And they do, in droves, if his presidency is any example.
Like rats from a sinking ship.
(Is that expression even true? What about "Red sky at night, sailor's delight; red sky at morning, sailor take warning"? Is that true? Anyway, how does it benefit a rat to leave a sinking ship before anyone else? So they can get a good seat on the lifeboat?)
When you're rich and powerful, you can be oblique and things still get done. Say it however you want, they'll figure it out. Their jobs depend on it.
People get used to the behavior they can get away with. It becomes part of their self image. It's who they are.
(It works in the arena of sex, too. "When you're a star, you can do anything you want. Grab 'em by the pussy, whatever," some guy famously said.)
When Trump wants something, he usually gets it. Right away, and perhaps with a little bow of deference. "Here you go, sir. And may I just say you're looking especially orange today. Keep up the good work!"
This is why being president is so frustrating for Trump. The machine is broken. He makes demands, and folks just mill about, ignoring him. Or tell him he's great, and do nothing to help him.
And now, instead of being able to fire all those annoying Democrats, there's even more of them to get in his way.
Son of a bitch!
Trump said (paraphrasing): They make a left turn. Or a right turn. Usually it's a left. They make a right turn, go along the border until the barrier ends, then they make a left turn into this country.
The talk show guys joked that these words are gibberish. But I understand perfectly what he's talking about:
Immigrants approach the western end of the border, say around Tijuana. But they don't attempt to cross. Instead, they make a right turn, headed east, and follow the border on the Mexican side until the barriers peter out. Then they make a left turn (north) and enter America. Because without a wall or sturdy fence to stop them, they can just come on in.
What makes Trump's version sound so nonsensical is the lack of context.
I remember a scene in one of the Stephanie Plum mysteries. Two characters are driving in a car. They get into a conversation that comes to an end when a third character chimes in.
Was the third person hiding in the backseat of the car? No. The main characters had arrived at a destination, got out of the car, and walked to the front door of a house. The third person had to emerge from the house in order to enter the conversation.
But the author provided no context, no running description of the action of the two characters. This allowed the third character to come out of left field and begin talking. It was startling, disconcerting. I don't know, maybe it was supposed to be.
(Or maybe I remember the scene incorrectly. What do you want me to do, read the entire series again to see if I can find that scene?)
Trump's version of the migrants' journey lacks context. It needs more description to ground the listener. But he seems unaware of this. Why?
I think it's because he's aways been a rich man. Trump lives in a world where he can get away with stuff like this.
Like in the recording his "fixer" made of the two men discussing a payment to a third party to compensate him for buying off one of Trump's alleged sexual playthings. The big guy suddenly bellows for somebody to get him a Coke. (Pretty sure he said "please.")
When you're rich and powerful, your underlings have to be constantly on the alert for random demands from the boss. And be ready to comply instantly to make his every wish come true. Trump is used to this behavior, on his part and on theirs.
In his defense, he's paying for the service, and if his people don't like it, they can take a hike. And they do, in droves, if his presidency is any example.
Like rats from a sinking ship.
(Is that expression even true? What about "Red sky at night, sailor's delight; red sky at morning, sailor take warning"? Is that true? Anyway, how does it benefit a rat to leave a sinking ship before anyone else? So they can get a good seat on the lifeboat?)
When you're rich and powerful, you can be oblique and things still get done. Say it however you want, they'll figure it out. Their jobs depend on it.
People get used to the behavior they can get away with. It becomes part of their self image. It's who they are.
(It works in the arena of sex, too. "When you're a star, you can do anything you want. Grab 'em by the pussy, whatever," some guy famously said.)
When Trump wants something, he usually gets it. Right away, and perhaps with a little bow of deference. "Here you go, sir. And may I just say you're looking especially orange today. Keep up the good work!"
This is why being president is so frustrating for Trump. The machine is broken. He makes demands, and folks just mill about, ignoring him. Or tell him he's great, and do nothing to help him.
And now, instead of being able to fire all those annoying Democrats, there's even more of them to get in his way.
Son of a bitch!
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