Peace On Earth. Good Will To All People!

Below is a picture of members of the Mountain Bears Democratic Club as they participated in the Blue Jay Christmas Parade. They and I wish everyone of you a very joyous holiday season. And yes our wish includes you grumpy conservatives who insist on us saying, “Merry Christmas!”

From All Enemies Foreign And Domestic

On Tuesday, election Day, I watched with some trepidation. I did not want a blue wave; I wanted a blue Tsunami. As the votes came in and the wave grew so did my anticipation. But I kept telling myself to manage my expectations and to accept whatever progress we Democrats were able to make. The results of elections for the House of Representatives looked good. The results of the gubernatorial elections and the senatorial elections in Texas, Georgia, and Florida were problematical because those elections are in dead red states. It would be unrealistic to think those red states would not remain true to form, and yet there was hope. What I was seeing was only the beginning. I knew there were too many votes that would not be counted that night, and that we would have to wait several days before the results would be known.

I went to bed cautiously optimistic even though I knew it was unlikely that Beto O'Rourke would pull off the miracle in Texas or that Georgia and/or Florida would reject the destructive Republicans supporting Trump. Now a week has gone by and Florida and Georgia are still teetering on the brink of disaster for Republicans. They, the Republicans, seem to be in a panic, and they are lashing out with absolutely absurd accusation even though the numbers reported thus far and the odds still favor them in those states.

The GOP spinmeisters are absolutely beside themselves: “No wave! No wave!” they babble much in the same manner that Trump babbles “No Collusion, No collusion!” All right, I will concede that the results of the mid terms are not a blue Tsunami, but they are one hell of a large wave. Taking over the House of Representatives by such a large margin and flipping seven governorships and six state legislative chambers is a very strong victory.  Furthermore, Beto O'Rourke came very close to beating Ted Cruise in Texas while taking mainstream Democratic Party positions on the issues rather than trying to paint himself as being Republican-lite. This is not good news for Republicans. If Beto O'Rouke and Democratic congressional candidates who won in red states without trying to out Republican their Republican opponents is not a repudiation of Trump it is at least a sign that people want him held in check. That is good, but you will not hear champagne corks popping from my direction, not yet!

The problem is that voters are driven by emotions rather than logic. All we have to do is look back a few years to see what that means. Barack Obama's election in 2008 was a reaction to the crash that was caused, at least in part, by George W. Bush's mismanagement of the economy. This reaction by the voters was understandable, and it would have been rational if it had been a rejection of the policies that caused the crash and/or exacerbated the recession that followed. But the voters are not that sophisticated or wise. The reason that we know the voters were not making a rational decision in 2008 is because in 2010 they gave the Republicans control of the House of Representatives, thus rewarding the Party that had crashed the economy and was doing every thing it could to obstruct the efforts of a president and a party that was trying to get us out of George W. Bush's recession. My point is that we cannot view a few special elections and a single general election, particularly a mid-term election, as a trend because the voters are too damn fickle to allow that.

The one thing that seems to remain fairly constant in regard to the electorate is not a good thing; it is the number of paranoid individuals who always buy the fear and loathing being peddled by shameless demagogues such as Donald Trump. Furthermore, it is exactly that group of paranoid voters that now comprises eighty percent of the Republican base. That is why the Republicans cower in fear of the angry Trump chumps, and why the elected members of the Republican Party are every bit as obsequies to Trump as they were before the elections! The remarkable thing is that while those elections may not be a trend they are at least a warning to Republicans that their base is shrinking. Continuing to practice what Richard Hofstadter described as the paranoid style in American politics is a rejection of reality that requires the practitioner to reject all inconvenient facts. This frequently results in the sort of self deception that causes the demagogues to become as delusional as the people they are exploiting. What makes this rejection of reality and self deception so dangerous now is that Trump has turned partisan politics into a life and death struggle for the rule of law by firing Attorney General Sessions.

Where are the Republicans who claim to revere our constitution and the rule of law? What happened to that red line Republicans such as Lindsey Graham drew in the sand regarding the firing of the attorney general? Why is it now alright to replace Sessions with a lackey who is more than likely to interfere with Mueller's investigation! The answer is that Lindsey Graham, like the rest of the members of his party, has lost his moral compass and has become a political eunuch serving the king of his party and the would be dictator of this country!

Make no mistake about it, Trump's appointment of Whittaker to replace Sessions as attorney general on a temporary basis is a naked attempt to end the investigation! Wake up America! This is worse than Watergate was! Trump is a clear and present danger to us as a democracy and as a nation of laws. We must once more defend the rule of law and our Constitution against the attacks of a corrupt and lawless president!

My condolences to the victims of the fires in California. My heart also goes out to the victims of the shootings at the Borderline Bar and Grill in California. I must confess that I have run out of words to express my feelings about such tragedies and horrible crimes. The best I can do in that regard is to refer you to my previous post, “Human-Kind.” 

Human-kind

Shameless demagogues practicing the politics of fear and loathing. Bombs being sent through the mail. Good people being slaughtered in their places of worship. It is enough to make a person revisit a burning question we have probably been asking from the very inception of our species: “Why do such terrible things happen to good people?” But a very wise lady once told me that the question is a trap. “We cannot know or understand the answer,” she warned. What we do know is that evil walks the earth feeding on hatred and paranoia, that we must confront that evil whenever and wherever it rears its ugly head, and that we must do our best to deprive it of the hate and fear that sustains it.

My heart goes out to the victims of the violent attack that took place in Squirrel Hill. Pennsylvania and to the people who lost their loved ones there on that terrible day. In a very meaningful way we are all the victims of that horrible crime because it was an attack on our family – the family of humankind. Science and all of the world's great religions tell us that we are all related to each other, that we are each others' brothers and sisters. We must not ignore the suffering of our brothers and sisters, and we should not wait for some terrible tragedy before we let them know we care about them. Even in the great depths of our grief and the heat of our anger we must tend to the light of love and good will. As difficult as it might be at times, that light must be sustained because it is our love and good will that separates us from such evil and allows us to form the bond and the promise we share with each other. There is no us and them; there is only us, and we must do better.

Blessed And Cursed By Hope

Hopes, dreams, and aspirations are all too human and necessary. The problem arises when we tie them to expectations that may be too optimistic. When the events or results fall short of our expectations we suffer disappointment. The disappointment we suffer is particularly vexing when we have expended too much hope and expectation on events or outcomes over which we have no control, such as hoping and expecting someone else to act in an ethical or a wise manner.

So it was that I allowed myself to invest too much of my hope in conservative Democrats and misnamed “moderate” Republicans. I say too much hope because I really did know better than to expect those conservative Democrats and misnamed moderate Republicans to do the right thing. In fact I even warned one of my friends about them. I told this friend that Heidi Heitkamp and Joe Mansion would act like politicians rather public servants, and they would do what it takes for them to get re-elected. I also told him that Lisa Murkowski, Jeff Flake, and Susan Collins were Republicans first and were very unlikely to go against the majority of their party regardless of what is right or wrong. And yet I had this strong hope that I was wrong.

Kudos to Heidi Heitkamp. Her vote against Kavanaugh's appointment (technically against cloture) was a pleasant surprise, and I am not about to question her motives. Lisa Murkowski's vote against cloture was less of a surprise but is still worthy of praise. Jeff Flake, on the other hand, did what his name suggests and flaked out as usual. He is great at occasionally expressing his disagreements with the Republican leadership, but he caves in to those leaders whenever push comes to shove. How can anyone call for an investigation into the allegations against Kavaqnaugh and then express his satisfaction with a show and a sham in which the FBI was so constrained about who they could interview that one cannot truthfully call what they did a credible background check or an investigation! As for Susan Collins, what she did is indicative of what we already know about her. She demonstrated that she still has the backbone and conscience of a jellyfish!

The reasons Susan Collins gave for voting for the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh are even less believable than Jeff Flake saying he is satisfied with the FBI's so called investigation. I am struck by the inanity of Susan Collins and other Republicans accusing the Democrats of depriving Kavanaugh of his right to the “presumption of innocent.” Someone should point out to those disingenuous prevaricators that there is also something called due process. Presumption of innocence is a criminal standard, and as such it requires the same sort of due process as a criminal matter would require. In other words, there has to be a criminal style investigation and a trial in which all of the evidence is presented through witnesses, all witnesses are called upon to testify, and all witnesses are subjected to cross examination! None of that was done! Indeed this sham of a hearing and investigation did not even rise to the level of competence that the bar association insists on for civil matters. I should add that the test for civil matters (a preponderance of evidence) is the test that should apply in regard to confirmations. But regardless of what test should be applied, the key issue that none of the Republicans want to talk about is the egregious lack of any effort to gather and present any evidence other than the testimony of the two principals in regard to only one of the three alleged acts of misconduct or criminal activity on the part of Brett Kavanaugh!

Once more the Republican senators are selling crap for chocolate to the base Republicans, knowing that the Trump chumps are stupid enough to believe Trump when he blames the Democrats for the taste. The rest of us are not buying the crap, and we are justifiably angry!  I can only hope that enough of us will express this anger in the voting booths this November.  I know I will.  What we need is a gigantic blue tsunami rather than a mere wave!  

Capitol Kangaroo Hearings

The confirmation hearing for Judge Kavanaugh came in two parts. There was the usual sort of hearing and then the hearing resulting from the allegations of Brett Kavanaugh's sexual misconduct. Thursday the hearing in which Dr. Basey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh testified began, and yesterday it looked like it would end in a storm of verbal flatulence and objections thereto. Lets get real about this. Any confirmation hearing is a job interview that can and will turn into a fact finding hearing if and when there are allegations that could or should disqualify an appointee from sitting on the court or filling another position to which he or she was appointed. So lets look at what a fact finding hearing should be.

In order to determine the veracity of the allegations you need to start with an investigation conducted by professional, nonpartisan law enforcement personnel (the FBI). Then you need to gather all the relevant documents and objects to be introduced through witnesses. Next you need to call all the witnesses you can identify, and have them testify before the committee. You can introduce sworn statements and declarations as evidence but those statements and declarations do not replace testimony. A statement or declaration cannot be cross examined, so such documents must be introduced through the witness who is purported to have made the statement or the declaration. In other words, the hearing is quasi judicial in regard to the rules and procedures followed.

In spite of the fact that the Democrats were demanding a valid investigation and fact finding hearing in regard to the allegations of sexual misconduct the Republicans refused to follow the rules and procedures stated above; choosing instead to conduct a kangaroo hearing designed to provide eye wash while ramming through the confirmation of a political hack (not unlike Abe Fortas) as the next supreme court justice. Even during the first hearing that did not involve the allegations of sexual misconduct the Republican Party refused to produce or make available thousands of pages of documents relevant to judge Kavanaugh's legal background. The majority party also refused to delay the hearings in order to gather facts or to urge the President to instruct the FBI to reopen its investigation of Judge Kavanaugh's background in regard to the allegations made by Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez, and Julie Swetnick. Furthermore, the Republicans refused to even call any witnesses who could corroborate or refute the allegations. This refusal to call witnesses was particularly egregious in regard Mark Judge who Dr. Ford identified as being in the room when Brett Kavanaugh was trying to rape her. The Republicans even tried to discredit the polygraph test taken by Ms. Ford without calling as a witness the person who administered the test.

On Thursday Senator Grassley started the farce by spinning so wildly that it must have required a whole bottle of Dramamine to keep him from puking. The utter nonsense he spun then became a litany almost all Republicans (who probably passed on the Dramamine) would eventually regurgitate because they had to say something to justify the camera time. Ah but those senators were supposed to yield their time to Rachael Mitchell, the female prosecutor who Grassley called an “assistant.” Indeed Ms. Mitchell did all the questioning of Dr. Ford. Unfortunately for the Republicans and Brett Kavanaugh, Dr. Ford was a very credible and sympathetic witness. Her story was so compelling that reporters described the ashen faces of Republican senators who refused to answer any questions as they rushed through the halls during the break that followed her testimony. Then came the testimony of Brett Kavanaugh who began with a statement in which he belligerently ranted at the process, disparaged and denied the allegations and generally came over as a bully who, in spite of some tears he shed over what might be his downfall, appeared to be the sort of person who could sexually assault someone.

Still Senator Grassley and some other Republicans held to their plan and yielded their time so that Ms. Mitchell could question Mr. Kavanaugh. Ms. Mitchell came across as calm and as gentle as one would expect on direct examination. Her role in the hearing ended because the Democrats pressed Kavanaugh about his denials and his drinking. They also asked whether he wanted an FBI investigation of the allegations against him so that he could clear his name. Kavanaugh refused to answer that question, saying only that he would do whatever the committee wanted. Senator Durbin then asked the question that broke the camel's back. Senator Durbin pointed out white house counsel, Don McGahn, at the hearing and told Kavanaugh to ask for the FBI to reopen its investigation of Kavanaugh's background so that McGahn could forward the request to President Trump. Kavanaugh refused to do so or to say whether he wanted the FBI to conduct an investigation to clear his name. The result of the questioning by Democrats was absolutely devastating to Kavanaugh. This prompted Lindsey Graham to demonstrate that whatever conscience he had has now been overwhelmed by his political ambitions, and he set about hauling Trump's injudicial water with an absurd political rant about the confirmation hearing, delays in the process, and the smearing of Judge Kavanaugh's good name. That was it, that is when all pretenses of comity were dropped. The Republican senators stopped yielding their time to Ms. Mitchell, and they started repeating ad nauseam the Republican Party's litany of illogical and mostly false arguments and accusations.

The Republican senators wailed and bellowed about unsubstantiated allegations while refusing to call for an investigation of those allegations. Many tried to defend that absurd refusal by quoting Joe Biden: "The next person who refers to an FBI report as being worth anything obviously doesn’t understand anything. FBI explicitly does not, in this case or any other case, reach a conclusion, period. Period." The quote is meaningless. The FBI does not reach conclusions but it investigates backgrounds and credibility all the time, and it produces the evidence thus gathered so that it can be weighed by the finders of fact. As stated above, the gathering of evidence is the first step taken by anyone who wants to know the facts. The Republicans obviously do not want to know the facts.

In their partisan zeal the Republican senators even accused the Democrats of acting like Republicans by trying to delay the confirmation until after the mid term elections (they must have been thinking of the Merrick Garland precedent). Furthermore, you have to love Kavanaugh's oft repeated reference to “being Borked.” Let me see if I understand this: Robert Bork was Solicitor General under Nixon and was the only one in the justice department who had so little moral fiber that during the Saturday night massacre Bork actually carried out Nixon's order to try to end the Watergate investigation by firing Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. Okay, so I think being Borked must mean not being confirmed because you have a very serious character flaw that makes people think you are unfit for the position. One could also say that about someone who sexually assaults women!

What the Republicans tried to pull off here is like telling us that we should approve of a room they inspected at night without turning on any of the lights because they can attest to the cleanliness of that room. From the outside it appeared that Senator Grassley had the votes to pass the confirmation on a strictly partisan basis. Fortunately, Senator Flake was confronted by two ladies who were sexual assault survivors. Those ladies had him trapped in an elevator and made him listen to them. It was a dramatic moment captured by cameras of the news media. While Senator Flake says that the confrontation did not cause him to change his position in regard to voting for the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh something clearly brought about an attack of conscience that surprised everyone. When the senators gathered in the hearing room to vote on sending the confirmation of Kavanaugh to the full senate for approval, Senator Flake had a side bar with Democratic Senator Coons. After that sidebar Senator Flake said he would vote for the conformation to be sent to the full Senate but would vote against the confirmation there unless there was an FBI investigation prior to that vote. In an agreement he had reached with Democrats this investigation must be completed in a week and must confine its scope to current allegations. I wish the FBI was not kept on such a short leash, but I have confidence in the ability and commitment of that agency to do the job. The big question is what the majority party will do with the evidence uncovered by the investigation! What we have witnessed thus far is not encouraging.

Toxic Packing

Most Historians consider Franklin Roosevelt's attempt to "pack the court" a serious and dangerous error. But refusing to give Merrick Garland a hearing and then doing away with the filibuster in order to allow a Republican president to pack the court was every bit as bad. Neil Gorsuch shall forever be known as the Republican [in]justice squatting in the stolen seat. Not being content with that the Republicans persuaded Justice Kennedy to retire so that Donald Trump could appoint Kennedy's successor to the court. Making this obscene act of partisanship even more egregious is the fact that Trump is under investigation for committing crimes against this country and is generally considered to be unsuited both intellectually and emotionally for the high office he holds. Michael Wolff's book, Fire And Fury, Omarosa Manigault-Newman's book, Unhinged, Bob Woodward's book, Fear, and an op-ed by someone the New York Times characterizes as being high up in the Trump administration all confirm what we have been hearing from a white house that is leakier than the Titanic; which is to say that a large number of the people close to Trump question his intellect, his knowledge, and his mental health. Just who you want to be appointing people to crucial life long positions, isn't it?

But fear not, the Donald turned to the right wing, anti-government Federalist Society for help, and they gave him a list of their favored reactionaries to choose from. When looking at the Federal Society's list you have to bear in mind that Trump said he would appoint to the Supreme Court justices who will protect the right to life, meaning he wants someone who will overturn Roe v. Wade. Needless to say that with five people close to Trump pleading guilty to committing crimes, Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, being convicted of criminal acts, and Trump's long time accountant, Alan Weisselberg, being granted immunity Trump was and still is desperate to end the Special Counsel's investigation. Fortunately for Trump Brett Kavanaugh, whose expansive view of presidential power and immunity from indictments must have seemed like a godsend to Trump, was added to the Federalist Society's list! Is it any wonder why Trump eagerly appointed Kavanaugh?

So now the rush is on to get Kavanaugh confirmed before the next session to the Supreme Court. Indeed so great is the rush that the Republicans are using it as an excuse for not making available to the committee holding the confirmation hearings any of the records from Kavanaugh's time as George W. Bush's White House Secretary, even though those documents are likely to deal with subjects such as torture, stem cell research, same sex marriage, and abortion. Furthermore, over forty thousand pages of documents were not delivered to members of the committee until the day before the hearings, and the requests for a recess to allow members to read those pages were not granted. Where was this great concern for having nine justices on the court when the Republicans refused to even consider the appointment of Merrick Garland? Ah but things have changed since then. For one thing we did not have a president who has apparently committed high crimes and misdemeanors back then!

What should be obvious to any observer at this point is that the confirmation hearings are a farce and a sham. And just in case anyone missed that point the Republicans provided another example by labeling as classified relevant documents that contained no information any government security agency has deemed classified. The apparent intent of labeling those documents classified was to prevent any member of the committee from asking Mr. Kavanaugh about the information the documents contain. Clearly the Republicans have done everything in their power to hide information about Kavanaugh form the Democrats and from the public at large. This fact plus Kavanaugh's obfuscations and evasions where too much for the Democrats to bear, and much to his credit Senator Cory Booker led a revolt.

In what Senator Booker called his Spartacus moment, he announced that he was breaking the rule by making public a document bearing the committee's classified label. Senator Cornyn, from Texas, warned Booker that the penalty for breaking that rule can be expulsion from the Senate. “Start the proceedings against me,” Senator Booker challenged. Senator Mazie Hirono then said “and against me because I'm also going use a document that is classified.” Several other Democratic senators made similar statements. The Democrats then proceeded to use those documents in their questioning of Kavanaugh, thereby demonstrating how spurious the classified designations were and how deceptive and unresponsive Kavanaugh was being.

This revolt by the Democrats is more than just a shot across the bow. They, the Democrats, are finally making the Supreme Court and particularly the outrageous packing of the court an issue. Hopefully in doing so they will be able to make the voters realize what is at stake, because packing the court with reactionary [in]justices will deprive the people of this country of precious rights for generations to come. Think about it for a moment. In jeopardy are reproductive rights, the right to vote, the right to collectively bargain with employers and to seek legal remedies when injured by dangerous products or unfair employment practices. And those are just a few of the rights under attack today!

Bless John McCain

I have not had the honor of knowing John McCain. Like most Americans, the best I can say is that I know about him. He and I did not share a political philosophy, and when I had the opportunity I voted against him. Having said that I also have to say that he was and still is an American hero who has served his country with great valor and dedication! Much to his credit John McCain admitted that he was a fallible human being who made mistakes, and he took responsibility for those mistakes. There were also times when he did what was political rather than what was right. Unfortunately that is one of the things politicians have to do far more often than they would like in order to get elected. Unlike most politicians today, however, John McCain also had the courage to do what was right even when it hurt him politically -- much to the surprise of his critics and the consternation of his supporters.

In many ways John McCain seems like someone from another era, embracing what should be enduring values that seem to have fallen by the wayside. One of the most fundamental concepts of democracy is the concept of the loyal opposition, and John McCain was guided by that concept. As prickly as he could be, he did not see his opponents as his enemies or as enemies of the country, and he was willing to compromise with them in order to provide the people of this country with the government they deserve and expect. You do not hear much about duty, honor, country today but those three words defined John McCain's life as did love – love of his country, his family, his friends, and his colleagues.

Rest In peace, John McCain. You will be missed!

Is Truth Dead?

It started during the Presidential Campaign. Donald Trump lied about everything all the time, and members of the main stream media knocked themselves out trying to avoid calling Trump the lier that he is. At first members of the media tried to be polite by saying Trump was incorrect or mistaken. Then reporters and commentators resorted to such euphemisms as “falsehood,” or “untruth.” But the lies just kept coming and in such a volume that fact checking Trump took more time and effort than news reporters can spare. Far from improving after the election the volume of Trump's lies actually increased and has grown ever more frequent and frantic as the courts and the Mueller investigation come closer to revealing the extent to which Trump joined Putin in a conspiracy to interfere with our presidential election.

As I have stated before the first victim of any would be despot is the truth. To say that the facts are not on Trump's side would be an understatement; indeed the facts will probably be fatal to his Presidency. That is why we hear Kellyanne Conway on Meet The Press trying to pass off Trump's lies as alternative facts, and why Rudy Giuliani infamously said, “the truth isn't the truth!” Not being content with that absurdity Giuliani embarrassed the hell out of the law school that has to claim him as a graduate by insisting that Trump would be walking into a perjury trap if he allowed Mueller to interview him because there are “different versions of the truth.” If Mueller favored James Comey's version of events, Giuliani said, Mueller would charge Trump with perjury. Apparently Rudy forget what Mr. Mueller and every other law school graduate knows, to wit that perjury is a crime that must be proven in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt, and that there is this thing called evidence which corroborates one version of the events and discredits the opposing version of events. So if we were to accept Giuliani's illogical argument we would have to say that our whole justice system is worthless! That is what is at stake here. That is what it means to accept the alternate universe of Trump or any other would be despot. In the world of the despot truth becomes irrelevant, and reality becomes what his fraudulency says it is.

Teach your followers well, daddy Trump. Wash their brains, rinse and repeat, and repeat, and repeat! “No Collusion! No Collusion! No Collusion! Witch Hunt! Witch Hunt! Shameless Witch Hunt! Where the hell are Hillary's emails? Everything is her fault, don't you know – hers and Obama's. And did you know Mueller is really a conflicted Democrat registered as a Republican?” So sayeth the Donald who has conflicts of interest galore, and who presides over the most corrupt and incompetent administration ever.

Five people close to Trump have pled guilty to committing crimes and Paul Manafort has been convicted of eight counts of fraud. As of August 21, 2018 we can add to that list of criminals Trump's Mr. fix it, Michael Cohen, who pled guilty to eight charges including campaign finance violations that he committed at the direction of Donald Trump. Some witch hunt -- with over 32 indictments, 6 guilty pleas, and one conviction! What has to be scaring the hell out of Donald Trump is that thus far Special Counsel Mueller has actually been holding back on the issues of who might have collaborated with Russia and of Trump's rather obvious attempts to obstruct justice! No wonder Trump is so desperate to end the investigation.

Unfortunately for Trump truth is not dead, and our legal system is still functioning as it should. But Trump's attacks on truth and our judicial system are increasing in proportion to his desperation, and both are at risk because of the power he has as the President of the United States. Reject the dark and smelly world of Trump and the soiled Republican diapers covering has ass. Elect a congress that will hold Trump in check. Let Mueller do his job and let the truth be revealed. Facts and truth are not relative they are absolute. Furthermore, we are capable of determining the facts and of knowing the truth.

When The Skunks Fight The Air Suffers

The unmistakable stench of corruption emanating from Donald Trump and his administration is overwhelming, and the number of people close to the President who have been indicted for committing crimes or who are mired in scandals is absolutely astounding. Now comes another creature freshly ejected from the swamp that Trump is rapidly turning into a cesspool. It is the thrice fired reality star, Omarosa Manigault-Newman, who has a reputation for being almost as ruthless and dishonest as Donald Trump is. She is mad as hell over being fired and removed from the white house, and she is throwing the book at Trump -- her book, aptly entitled Unhinged.

The fact that Omarosa's book describing Trump as “unhinged” has come out so soon after she was fired by white house Chief of Staff, Kelly is a good indication that she has been locked, loaded, and ready spray for quite some time. The fact that she had a recording, surreptitiously made, of General Kelly telling her she was fired should have set off an alarm similar to the ones used on submarines, which is the blast of a horn followed by “Diving! Diving! Diving!” But instead of taking cover Trump decided to try to out spray Omarosa:

Donald J. Trump
(@realDonaldTrump)

“Wacky Omarosa, who got fired 3 times on the Apprentice, now got fired for the last time. She never made it, never will. She begged me for a job, tears in her eyes, I said Ok. People in the White House hated her. She was vicious, but not smart. I would rarely see her but heard....”

Bad move Donald! What don't you understand about her saying she has more tapes? What don't you understand about her being pissed off or about her wanting to keep the pot boiling in order sell more copies of her book disparaging you?

Omarosa has been making the rounds of talk shows and news shows to sell her book, and she has now added to her criticism of Trump by talking about his use of the N word (not terribly surprising to anyone who has not napping for the last decade). Trump being Trump cannot resist egging her on by insulting her:

Donald J. Trump
(@realDonaldTrump)

When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn’t work out. Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!

And how did Omarosa respond to the insults? By releasing another surreptitious recording – imagine my surprise. This one is of Trump's campaign staff discussing his use of the N word. Since he cannot compete with audio recordings, Trump is filing a suit against her. But if Trump's legal action against Omarosa gets out of arbitration he is going to be subjected to the discovery process! Maybe Omarosa can get Michael Avenatti to represent her. He is really good at discovery!

As for what the discovery might reveal. There is little that can be revealed about Donald Trump that will shock me. Like most intelligent people, I am already appalled by Trump's corruption and incompetence. The big question is how long can this nation hold its nose. I am not even trying to hold my laughter. This eye stinging, nose racking contest between two of the most reprehensible creatures on earth is far too funny. They (Trump and Omarosa) really deserve each other!

What's Left

Obviously my title is a loaded question with multiple possible meanings. That is intentional. Lets begin with “left” being a rather vague political label. Generally associated with that label are other labels such as liberal, progressive, and socialist. Liberal is often preceded by, “tax and spend” – tax us and spend on you if you are one of those undeserving (unfortunate) others. Obviously the Republicans have done a fine job of villainizing liberals. They brand liberals as the ones who have made the government the problem by rewarding welfare mom's, among other things. So now timid Democrats are tippy towing around the label of liberal. “Progressive!” There you go; call yourself a progressive. That will solve the label problem. How can anyone object to a progressive. It is after all a term that invokes a noble past, and we all know Republicans love to celebrate the past. Unfortunately, that is not quite true; what Republicans really celebrate is a nationalistic mythology rather than our actual history. Real history is far too messy for the simple slogans and rituals the Republicans depend on. It is better to leave real history to the pointy headed intellectuals. But Republican objections not withstanding, here is a little background on Progressives in American history:

Wikipedia describes the Progressive Era as “... a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States that spanned from the 1890s to the 1920s. The main objectives of the Progressive movement were eliminating problems caused by industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and corruption in government.”

To the Republican donors (aka Plutocrats) the progressives were a bunch of malcontents who embraced trust busters like Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft! And we all know that Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft were not real Republicans. The Taft that was a real Republican was Robert Taft, who apparently believed that free enterprise means the most ruthless and shrewdest plutocrats should be able to destroy the free market by creating monopolies and/or by concentrating the resources and means of production into fewer and fewer hands.

Destroying the free market! If you are a Republican this topic invariably brings up the subject of socialism. Socialism is the label the Republicans have spent the most time villainizing, often using it interchangeably with Communism. Socialism and Communism are not synonymous, but that does not matter to Republicans. The distinctions between different groups of people calling themselves socialists does not matter to Republicans either. The Republicans will not tell you that the American Socialists are usually inclined to favor regulations rather than government ownership or that Democratic Socialists, though more inclined to nationalize things such as health care and education, still support democracy and free enterprise. The Republicans today are not interested in debating facts or issues. They want to run against labels. They have spent decades kicking and burning the straw dog named socialism. If they call you a socialist you are in good company considering that they have accused both Roosevelts (Teddy and Franklin) as well as all the labor union leaders of being socialists. They have also spent decades convincing the American public that socialists want to take away all private property and collectivize everything!

Given how successful the Republicans have become in making socialism a pejorative term it was really courageous of Bernie Sanders to call himself a socialist and remarkable that he was still able to attract so many supporters. The fact that he was so successful during the Democratic primaries and the fact that other Democrats are now following his example has made some established Democrats very fearful. This is good news for the media pundits who are exaggerating the split in the Democratic Party for dramatic effect. They are doing this in an effort draw the marks to the pitchmen, and they are just one small gasp away from going into full panic mode! “Oh woe,” they wail, “the Democrats are turning hard left! How will they ever attract the moderates they need to win the red states?” Big tent rather than big guy, dumb ass! Whether you are on the right or the left the popularity of Bernie Sanders and the success of Donald Trump should tell you that people are seeing a problem that is being neglected, and they want change. Forget the damn labels. From the foregoing, it should be obvious that Republicans will denigrate any and all labels denoting Democrats, and when necessary Republicans will even create labels to attack. Furthermore, they villainize any and all successful Democrats, particularly successful female Democrats.

So what is a Democrat to do? While I agree with those who say it is better to avoid the label of socialist because the uninformed view it as toxic, I think we should follow the example John F. Kennedy set when he said:

"If by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people-their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our politics abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal", then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal."

In other words, let your audience know that you are a member of their community rather than a label, and you want to run on the issues that are important to your community rather than indulging in name calling! The environment is important; we all breath, drink water and eat. Furthermore, health care, education, fair wages, Social Security, etc. are important to everyone. Do you really think that the health care you receive should be determined by someone who considers any and all of your health care as overhead? The answer to that question should tell you that universal health care is not a radical idea. Nor is it radical to say that money should not be sucked out of our public school systems to subsidize charter schools favored by affluent parents. A quality public education system is needed to guarantee opportunity for all and to enlarge the educated talent pool of this country. It should be noted that a complete education today also includes a college or a trade school education. Tuition free colleges and trade schools are not a radical idea; they are a necessity. Our children need a complete education to compete in a global market!

What is left? A lot of important issues I have not discussed here as well as a lot of fog and largely meaningless labels. The middle ground today is the establishment. It has been kicked, bitten and frayed by the radical right wing of the Republican Party, and it is now generally regarded as weak and ineffective. Call it moving to the left. Call it anything you want, but the driving political force today is the need for change and reform. We cannot take prosperity for granted when so many people are being left behind. We have to change direction. Same old, same old will not cut the mustard, not on a local level and not on a national level!

Puppet Is Too Polite

By the time of the pre-election debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump it was already clear that there was something wrong with the relationship between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. And when Hillary Clinton pointed that out by calling Trump Putin's puppet the Donald denied it. “NO puppet,” he said. “You're the puppet.” It is the same tattered tactic Trump always employs; he always accuses his critics of doing what he is being called out for doing. It is doubtful that Trump's attempted verbal jujitsu actually fooled anyone in this instance, but there were obviously enough people who did not care about his fawning over the Russian dictator to allow Trump to win the election.

Now Trump has displayed such a disturbing subservience to Putin that it is causing normally cautious people to question Trump's loyalty to the United States! What I am talking about is the joint press conference with Trump and Putin at Helsinki in which Trump publicly accepted Putin's denials in the face of every one of our intelligence agencies saying that Russia has and still is attacking our electoral system. And no, those agencies did not say they “think” Russia hacked Trump's opponents and weaponized the contents of the purloined files; instead they definitively stated that Russians (both in the military and civilians) participated in the hacking and other subversive efforts to help get Trump elected. It should be noted here that the indictment of members of the Russian military for this attack is convincing evidence that Putin is lying. Saying that members of the Russian military were not involved or acted on their own without Putin's knowledge defies credulity in light of the detail and evidence presented in the indictment.

The press conference referred to above was preceded by a private meeting between Trump and Putin. The fact that this meeting was private, with interpreters being the only ones other than Trump and Putin present, was of great concern to America's diplomats and security personnel, and with good reason. Trump prepared for that meeting by doing things he knew would greatly please Putin -- things like criticizing NATO and the EU and insulting both British Prime Minister, Theresa May and German Chancellor, Angela Merkle. It does not take a genius to figure out why this pleases Putin? Vladimir Putin calls the dissolution of the Soviet Union a great tragedy, and he is determined to restore it. Harry Truman established and promoted NATO, the Marshall plan, and trade agreements between the European countries and members of NATO as a defense against threats posed by what Ronald Reagan described as the “evil [Soviet] empire.” In that regard Putin sees the military alliance of NATO and the prosperity of the European Union nations as a grave threat to his ambitions. The very frightening thing about the private meeting is that we do not know what agreements were reached or what Trump promised to Putin. What we do know is that the press conference following the meeting was a puppet show featuring a smirking Vladimir Putin pulling Donald Trump's strings right there in front of everyone. I was an embarrassing and appalling spectacle. The fact that Putin can pull Trumps strings should scare the hell out of everyone who values freedom!

Pundits are at a loss to explain what many have called this bromance between Trump and Putin. We keep hearing that Trump is insecure and emotionally immature. We keep hearing that he has no intellectual curiosity and is very ignorant and naive. We keep hearing that he cannot admit that the Russians attacked our electoral system because doing so might make people question the legitimacy of his election. All of those contentions are probably true, but they leave a lot to be desired in regard to explaining why Trump is acting like Putin's man ho. And yes, I do mean man ho! Calling Trump a puppet is far too polite and describes the what but not the why. I have a one word explanation for the why, and that word is, “Corruption.” Trump has been bought and paid for!

I know what I wrote in the preceding paragraph may seem too harsh, but we cannot ignore Trump's unsavory reputation as a businessman, his refusal to produce his tax returns, and his refusal to divest himself of businesses that create conflicts of interest. When American banks responded to Trump stiffing them by refusing to loan him or any of his companies any money, Trump turned to Russian Oligarchs for his financing. Many of his financial dealings with those oligarchs and the banks controlled or influenced by those oligarchs are very suspicious, many people even say shady. In light of those shady dealings I believe the most cogent explanation for Trump's panic over the Mueller investigation is that that investigation is likely to uncover the festering corruption that is making Trump work against the best interests of this country and its allies. Why else would Trump purposely weaken our ability to defend ourselves by attacking the credibility of the FBI and all of our other intelligence agencies while undermining the European Union and NATO?

Whether you agree me or not in regard to Trump's motives, there is one thing that is irrefutable: the only choice the Republican Party now gives us is between the worst government Putin can buy and a government minus Trump and the Republican diapers covering his ass. Wake up America! Our economy and our democracy have been placed in grave peril by a corrupt president, a feckless Republican Party, and a vicious adversary! If you do not vote to replace the soiled diapers covering Trump's ass with Democrats who will hold Trump in check and protect the very legitimate and necessary investigation Mueller is conducting do not complain about the corruption, the economy, or the fact that America is giving up its influence in the world and its well recognized greatness. By the way, how do like the price you are now receiving for your soy beans and other farm products? 

Embarrassed American

Consider this an open apology to the world. Donald J. Trump makes me embarrassed to be an American. Even though I am proud to be a Democrat and a critic of Trump, I still feel the need to apologize to our friends and allies for the fact that so many of my countrymen still support Trump and the Republicans who are covering his ass like a soiled diaper. To the British people who are apologizing to us for some of their countrymen flying over London a blimp that is an effigy of a diaper clad infant Donald Trump let me say that I find this effigy and the fact that it is a blimp quite appropriate. The Google Dictionary's definition of blimp is in part, “a pompous, reactionary type of person', and as an example of its usage it says,"no Colonel Blimp could have been more nationalistic." But in Trump's case the nationalism is not real. It is rather the sort of demagoguery that exploits xenophobia and paranoia while trying to transform flag waving and other ritualistic patriotic observances into a quasi religion with Trump as its head priest or its patron saint or even its god. To put it bluntly, Trump's brand of nationalism is nothing more than snake oil with very nasty side effects.

Far from defending or promoting our interests abroad Donald Trump is taking a wrecking ball to them. His phony nationalism manifests itself in destructive protective tariffs that are precipitating a trade war with our friends and most loyal allies, including the EU and Canada! As Delphine Strauss quite correctly stated in her July 8, 2018 Financial Times article:

“Donald Trump raged against his G7 allies this week, accusing them of charging the US “massive” tariffs and erecting barriers to keep American farmers out.

Economists, however, have heaped scorn on many of the US president’s claims, saying they were a distortion of reality that betrayed a lack of understanding of the issues or of what mattered for the US economy.”

Furthermore Trump is conflating trade policies with defense policies. At the NATO breakfast meeting, the he accused Germany of being “totally controlled” by Russia because of the gas Germany buys from Russia, but as Bess Levin stated in Vanity Fair:

“By pointing a diminutive orange finger at Germany, Trump is trying to spread the blame, deflecting attention from his own administration’s all-too-cozy ties to Putin, whom he’ll visit later this week. It’s the same move he pulled in October 2016, when he so eloquently told Hillary Clinton, “No puppet, no puppet. You’re the puppet.” For their part, the Europeans were not impressed; Merkel, who grew up in a Germany that was literally partially controlled by Russia, remarked that the country had been “free of Russian control since the fall of the Berlin Wall”

A long term goal of Vladimir Putin has always been the destruction of NATO, and Trump is greatly aiding Putin's efforts to undermine NATO by falsely

claiming that the US is paying 90% of the costs of the alliance. The real percentage the US pays is 22%.

Just in case you are wondering, the answer is no. I am not going to apologize for any of the vitriol in this post. Miss Levin was justified in using it, and the Brits are correct in showing their displeasure with Trump by flying the effigy of him! Even many Republican lawmaker are beginning to understand that Trump is a disaster for their party, their country, and the world. It is a pity none of them have the courage to do what is necessary to remedy that. So far their response to Trump's dangerous actions has been far too timid. Still the resolution in House of Representatives supporting NATO in contradiction of Trump's unwarranted and false criticisms of the alliance is progress, as is the rebuke the Senate handed Trump in the form “...a non binding measure calling for a greater role in overseeing Trump’s trade decisions, [knowing that the measure will be seen as] an implicit criticism of new tariffs the president has levied on some of the country’s closest allies and largest trading partners."

Injustice For All

I strongly disagree with the people who call Justice Kennedy a Moderate, and I am not the only one voicing this objection. As Amelia Thompson Deveaux said:

“Although he was appointed by a Republican president, Kennedy earned a reputation as a moderate thanks to his willingness to join the court’s liberal wing in important rulings on gay rights, abortion, affirmative action and some criminal-justice issues...[But an] analysis of Kennedy’s voting record during his three decades on the court shows that he voted with the court’s right wing in the majority of cases — including controversial, closely decided cases — throughout his career. And although he was likelier to side with the liberals once he became the court’s swing vote, legal experts say that he occupied the ideological middle ground on relatively few issues.”

Indeed, as Steven Rosenfeld warned on June 24, 2013, “corporations are getting whatever they want.” And this was in no small part thanks to Justice Kennedy acting like one of the tools of the oligopoly by joining the so called “conservative” justices or injustices in decisions such as Citizens United! Now as if the stolen seat Gorsuch is squatting on is not bad enough, Kennedy has decided to give Donald Trump another Supreme Court appointment, but not before upholding Trump's latest Muslim ban. Atta boy Kennedy! Give 'em a head start on lamenting the loss of your moderation!

Giving Trump another Supreme Court appointment is bad news for any individual or entity legally defined as a person, unless that person's name ends with “Inc.” or that person is at least close to being included on Forbe's list of wealthiest people. According to the New Yorker the addition of another Trump appointee, vetted by the Federalist Society or some other right wing organization, means the court:

“... will overrule Roe v. Wade, allowing states to ban abortions and to criminally prosecute any physicians and nurses who perform them. It will allow shopkeepers, restaurateurs, and hotel owners to refuse service to gay customers on religious grounds. It will guarantee that fewer African-American and Latino students attend élite universities. It will approve laws designed to hinder voting rights. It will sanction execution by grotesque means. It will invoke the Second Amendment to prohibit states from engaging in gun control, including the regulation of machine guns and bump stocks.”

And, as the New Yorker points out, “these are just the issues that draw the most attention. In many respects, the most important right-wing agenda item for the judiciary is the undermining of the regulatory state.” And judging by Janus v. Afscme, in which “a 5–4 majority (including Kennedy) said that public employees who receive the benefits of union-negotiated contracts can excuse themselves from paying union dues” I am sure we can count on more decisions that are adverse to labor.

Any hope that Trump will appoint anyone who even resembles a moderate is delusional. He, Trump, is Putin's man, and kleptocracy is his plan! He is rapidly turning the swamp into a cesspool.

Well Said

The picture on the cover of Time Magazine's June issue showing Donald Trump and a crying child was photo shopped to contain images from two unrelated pictures, but, like great art, it reveals a larger truth!

The sights and sounds of frightened children being separated from their parents and the anguished pleas of those parents reflect the cruel reality of Trump's fascist tedancies.  Trump's decision to separate children from their parents was a deliberate act. It was not and is not a matter of law. The laws that are relevant to this situation are the same laws that were in effect during the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, neither of which had such an unrealistic zero tolerance policy that it required this obscene separation of families. Make no mistake about it, this mass separation of parents and children is unique to the Trump administration.

Anyone who seriously doubts the danger Trump poses to this nation, its political traditions, its values, and its democracy is either not paying any attention to what Trump is doing or is totally delusional.

Lets put this cruel separation policy into context. Time and time again Trump has pandered to the Xenophobes and Neo-Nazis. His tweets are full of racist comments and nativist nonsense.  Do you remember his comments about the Neo-Nazis at Charlottesville, when he said both sides were responsible for the violence that took the life of a young lady who was peacefully demonstrating against the Nazis?

Why does Trump lie about undocumented immigrants committing such a high percentage of the crimes being committed in this country?  Why does he try to dehumanize undocumented immigrants by saying they are infesting our country?  Why does Trump conflate illegal immigration with people who are seeking asylum when he knows or should know that by doing so he is in violation of international law? Could it be because the asylum seekers have darker skin than Trump likes or that they speak Spanish?

Why is Trump pulling the United States out of the United Nations Human Rights Counsel? Does he not know that Eleanore Roosevelt wrote the United Nations Universal Declaration Of Human Rights? Does he not know the feelings of guilt this nation felt for the anti semitism that caused us to turn away thousands of Jews fleeing Nazi Germany? Has Donald Trump learned nothing from our past?   Does he take no pride in the fact that this the most powerful nation on earth also became the greatest moral force on earth?

Under Trump we have lost that morality and the moral force resulting therefrom! He is making people of good conscience ashamed of what this country is becomming. We must heed the lessons of the Nuremberg trials. This is no tume to sit on the sidelines pretending you don't know.  Wake up America!  Oppose Trump, his cruelty, and his enablers before it is too late!

Fear And Loathing Here!

Fear and loathing! Get your red hot fear and loathing here! No need to trouble your weary mind with any intellectual examination of evidence or vexing questions about what crimes Trump, his campaign staff, or members of his administration may have committed. Leave those questions to the egg heads. You don't need any facts or logic either. The Republicans have alternative facts for you, and every thought or argument you will ever need is already pre-dissembled and wrapped up in attractive conspiracy theories guarantied to fit people of both genders, all sizes, and all shades of white; all courtesy of Donald J. Trump!

Don't bother thinking about the five people who have pled guilty to crimes because of evidence dug up by Mueller's investigation or of the many indictments resulting from the investigation thus far. None of that matters. This whole fake Russia-r thing is a witch hunt. "NO COLUSION!"  So sayeth the Donald. And no, the fact that the Donald seems to fear witch hunts more than he fears warlock hunts does not mean that he suffers a gender issue. It just means he suffers a language issue.

It's phony, Trump tells us. This whole Russia investigation is phony. Did you know that out of the thousands of people working for the FBI and the hundreds of people directly or indirectly working for Mueller there are thirteen Democrats Trump knows of who are investigating him? How can you doubt that there are a lot more he doesn't know about or hasn't counted. And those Democrats, those evil Democrats actually planted a spy in Mr. Trump's campaign. A SPY? Can you believe that? It's horrible! It's even worse than Watergate! Ah, but fear not. Donald Trump will fix it. If you re-elect the Republican diapers covering his butt he will turn the Federal Bureau of Investigation into the Peephole's Bureau of Investigation, and it will spy only on Democrats, and beauty pageant contestants, as well as adult and not so adult screen actresses. And don't say that is a war on women. Donald loves the women. He can't keep his hands off of them, but that is another subject.

To all of you who are buying the fear mongering and loathing being sold by Trump and his fellow demagogues let me just say: “if the world seems like a dark and smelly place to you perhaps it is because of where you have your head.”

Gasping

The stench from the soiled diapers covering Donald Trump's corrupt ass has a nation gasping for fresh air. Thanks to those diapers (Devin Nunez, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, et al.) we do not have anything like the Senate Judiciary Committee carrying out a Watergate style investigation with the sort of public hearings that kept people glued to their television sets in anticipation of finding out what the President knew and when he knew it! That is why Michael Avenatii has become such a phenomenon. He is filling a void that should be filled by patriotic representatives of the people – which is something Republican Senators and Congress members, with very few exceptions, have not been in at least ten years.

Without the daily drama of public congressional or senate hearings rumors and leaks replace solid information, and that makes it much easier for the dumb asses to remain willfully ignorant! Kudos to Morning Joe for juxtaposing video clips of the shameless lackey, Mike Pence calling for an end to the Mueller investigation and Richard Nixon calling for an end to the Watergate investigation. It was as if Mr. Pence had opened a time capsule to release and echo Mr. Nixon's anguished cry of guilty indignation and desperate obfuscation!

Meanwhile, the fascist idiot in chief, Donald Trump, is trying to deflect attention away from the sundry investigations and court actions against him and/or his associates by ending an agreement that was keeping Iran from developing nuclear weapons and by beginning negotiations that are supposed end North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Consistency is obviously a concept Mr. Trump does not grasp or place in high regard. I might add that ending the Iranian agreement and opening an embassy in Jerusalem as well as threatening to abandon our allies in Syria is only adding to the instability in the mid-East, and it demonstrates just how dangerously ignorant and impulsively stupid Trump really is. That ignorance and stupidity does not bode well for finding solutions in Korea either.

Validating The Invalid

We all do it; we all seek facts, commentaries, and arguments that validate our opinions and/or beliefs, and we are annoyed by facts, commentaries, and arguments that contradict our opinions and/or beliefs. MSNBC is in the habit of trying to present both sides of the issues by inviting Republican apologists or, far worse, Trump apologists to join in the discussions. More often than not I react to those apologists with disgust! I refer to the practice of interviewing those apologists as helloing up the elephant's ass. In fact I have been known to shout: “There isn't but one thing that can come out of the elephants ass, and I don't want it dumped in my living room!” So am I closing my mind to facts I do not like or valid arguments I do not like? I know it may appear that I am, but I do not think so because what we are witnessing today goes way beyond mere spinning to outright lying! The Republicans have alternative facts, don't you know?

I used to listen to both sides no matter how ridiculous I thought the other side was being. I even studied extreme right wing literature just to see how ridiculously paranoid they were. There is nothing new about demagogues exploiting the fear and loathing of gullible people who are far too eager to blame others for their own failures. Before Rush, how low can you go, Limbo we had people like Joe Pine and later Wally George pitching what Richard Hofstadter called the paranoid style in American politics. The difference between then and now is that people actually read news papers and news magazines, and there were popular liberal commentators on the radio to counter the fear mongering of xenophobic reactionaries. Even right wing television personalities like George Putnam were on networks that had some journalistic integrity and reported factual news. But the greatest difference between then and now is that the extreme right wing was considered a fringe group that influenced the Republican Party rather controlling it.

All of that changed when liberal commentators were not as prevalent as the reactionary ones, and when cable television stations such as Fox News abandoned any attempt to be factual. At that point the propaganda of the fear and loathing crowd went unchallenged by any fact checking! Why the mainstream media was derelict in its duty to keep the public informed can be summed up in one word,”Commercialism.” Selling the product was more important than keeping the public informed. Why people stopped tuning into liberal commentators has often been a subject of conjecture. My opinion is that the falling ratings of liberal commentators were the result of liberals taking good sense for granted and accepting science and facts as the validation of their policies. How naïve of them! Science and reality have no impact on people who seek validation in a pool of ignorance and false certainties where beliefs and shared assumptions are vigorously defended against all inconvenient facts. As Eric Hoffer said: “Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves.”

Therein lies the problem. Educated people fed up with the mind rot of Fox and with the Neanderthal purveyors of nativist nonsense welcomed MSNBC, but we still wound up with Donald Trump as President. The bottom line is that too many of the ignorant joined the willfully ignorant in throwing a tantrum, and our anachronistic electoral college magnified the destructive results of the that tantrum. Now we have another problem that must be addressed and addressed soon. As Vox news has reported, “Sinclair’s pro-Trump news is taking over local TV. See if they own your station." That is right, our anti trust laws have become a sham and no longer protect us from the efforts of Rupert Murdock and Julian Sinclair Smith to mute anyone who does not spew right wing garbage at people who think they are watching news programs! If you do not think this matters you should bear in mind that the first victim of despotism is always the truth! I agree with Mr. Hoffer that propaganda does not deceive people, but I have one very important caviate and that is unless there is an absence of Truth. We can and we must fight back! Write to your elected Representative and get rid of any politician who will not protect the expression of the diversity of opinions that a free press and freedom of speech are supposed to provide and protect!

Intellect Barred By Roseanne

If you live in a county where the cows outnumber and out think the humans Roseanne Barr's show, which tries to normalize the sort of right wing dumbfuckery that makes fear and loathing such a profitable product for the likes of Fox News, Dimbart News, and Rush Limbo, just might be the show for you. Why are farmers so unsophisticated when it comes to politics? Why do they think they still have the self sufficiency of subsistence farmers while touting the agrarian myth that all industry is dependent on farmers who grow commercial crops to send to urban markets? The farmers that participated in the Grange movement certainly knew better than to spout such self sufficiency nonsense. As Grange organizers often said, it is that self sufficiency nonsense that makes farmers so vulnerable to exploitation. I suppose in many respects today's farmers are experiencing the same sort of amnesia that causes too many blue collar workers to oppose labor unions, but that does not explain all of it. It does not explain the fear and loathing that makes otherwise reasonable people work against their own self interests.

During the nineteen-fifties and sixties there were many books and articles that discussed the dehumanization of the assembly lines and the feelings of alienation and isolation urban dwellers often felt even when surrounded by other people. Similarly, rural folks know that isolation is just a part of farm life, which is what makes church services and other gatherings of people who share certain basic assumptions and prejudices seem like a God send. To put it in rural terms, if you are one of the chickens in a group that is shrinking and becoming more isolated your vulnerability is probably going to make you think that anything overhead casting a shadow larger than a sparrow casts is a chicken hawk and any creature on the ground that does not have feathers is a fox. Which is to say you are going to be very susceptible to the type of tribalism, and fear, and loathing being peddled by right wing demagogues and would be despots.

Donald Trump is not the aberration the pundits are portraying him to be; rather he is the extreme result of the McCarthy/Bircher wing taking over the Republican Party and of the willful ignorance and paranoia Rosanne Barr is trying to normalize. In this Ms. Barr is being aided and abetted by the main stream media. Here is a hint for the lame stream media, calling wrong wrong is not the sort of partisanship you should avoid. The normalization of the hateful, destructive, and corrupt behavior by our President is a clear and present threat to our country and our democracy! The most prosperous, knowledgeable, and productive societies in history have always been trading empires that embraced diversity and eagerly learned from other cultures!

So far Roseanne's character is Archie Bunker without the redeeming humanity and satirical qualities that made all in the family so successful. And I do not expect any better from her. The far right is all about beliefs rather than facts. It is anti intellectual, anti science, and anti anything and everything that questions basic assumptions, accepted beliefs and the tribal norms and folkways of a majority rapidly becoming a minority and feeling threatened by that reality. I know it must seem odd to many that Roseanne Barr, who was considered to be to the left politically could shift so far to the right, but they who embrace radical ideologies are susceptible to deeply felt disappointments that can cause them to shift in the opposite direction. As Eric Hoffer said: “Disappointment is a sort of bankruptcy - the bankruptcy of a soul that expends too much in hope and expectation.”

We cannot, we must not let our disappointments cause us to accept the fear and loathing of the alt. Right as the new normal! We are much better than that. We are America, damnit!

The Evidence Mounts

Evidence of Donald Trump's incompetence, dishonesty, and commission of acts that are detrimental to the vital interests of this country increases daily.

Trump's appointment of John Bolton as National Security Director is just one more piece of evidence indicating that Trump's Romneyesque approach to draining the swamp assumes that the swamp will drain itself in disgust if Trump keeps crapping in it! Trump is now taking a similar approach in dealing with Special Counsel Mueller's investigation. The firing of Deputy Director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe is a prime example of this approach.

As the New York Times reported, Andrew McCabe is a 21 year veteran of the bureau who “...oversaw two of the most politically charged cases in F.B.I. history: the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, and the investigation of Donald J. Trump’s campaign ties to the Russian government.” It should be noted here that Mr. McCabe was also one of the people who read the notes Mr. Comey made contemporaneous with the meetings where Mr. Comey thought President Trump had made troubling statements or inappropriate requests. So Mr. McCabe was participant in the investigation of Trump's campaign and is a potential witness who can corroborate Mr. Comey's version of events! In what passes for Trump's mind you cannot pose a much greater threat than that. To Trump this obviously means Mr. McCabe must be discredited, even destroyed if possible; Andrew McCabe must become an example of what happens to all such would be witnesses. To that end Trump spent months hurling insults and accusations at deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe and letting it be known that he, the President of the United States, wanted McCabe fired.

“Mr. Trump … seized on the fact that Mr. McCabe’s wife, Jill, ran for a Virginia State Senate seat as a Democrat and received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from a political ally of Mrs. Clinton. He says Mr. McCabe never should have been allowed to oversee the Clinton investigation. He says the campaign donations are proof that a pro-Clinton bias within the F.B.I. explains why Mrs. Clinton was never charged.” But “Mr. McCabe did not begin supervising the Clinton investigation until after his wife had lost the race, and records show that he sought ethics and legal advice inside the F.B.I. before deciding not to recuse himself.”

The fact that Mr. McCabe finally did recuse himself late in the investigation does not matter to Trump, nor does it matter to Attorney General Jeff Session's who fired Andrew McCabe just two days short of the date on which Mr. McCabe's retirement was to become effective; thus depriving Mr. McCabe of the pension he would have received if he had been allowed to retire.

The stated reason for firing Mr. McCabe and depriving him of the pension he earned with 21 years of devoted service to this country was that he, McCabe, was not forthcoming with investigators about what Mr. Sessions said was an “unauthorized disclosure to the news media.” To put the accusation in the department parlance, Mr. McCabe “lacked candor” when he was questioned about supposedly leaked information appearing in the Wall Street Journal.  The documents supporting and/or making this allegation against Mr. McCabe have not been made available for public scrutiny, but the rush to fire Mr. McCabe before his retirement makes the allegations suspicious at best, particularly when you take into consideration the fact that other members of the FBI to whom Comey showed his notes were also accused of political bias are no longer with the bureau. 

Those of you who have been paying attention also know that there has been a marked change in the tone of Trump's criticism of Mueller's investigation. In addition to Trump's mindless chants of “No Collusion” and “Witch Hunt” he has now taken to criticizing Mueller by name. Trump has also added to his legal team “a new lawyer, former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova, who has accused FBI officials of being involved in a "brazen plot" to exonerate Hillary Clinton in the email investigation and to "frame" Mr. Trump for nonexistent crimes.

This latest addition of Fox News commentator diGenova to Trump's defense team just emphasizes the fact that none of the heavy hitters in the relevant areas of law will work for Trump. There is now an unmistakable odor of desperation about that as the probable legal consequences begin to seep into the denser regions of Trump's awareness. Everyone is entitled to competent legal representation unless they refuse to take legal advice and/or try to stiff their attorneys. Defense by Fox? I would laugh at that if the appointment of John Bolton and Trump's other actions did not threaten us with a government of and by Fox News and Vladimir Putin. Such a government is almost as scary as conjecture about what Trump will do as his legal perils hurl him into his political death throes.  

Bear Slapped!

What are we to make of this? Vladimir Putin has just bear slapped his man ho, Donald Trump, and Putin did this in public where he knew everyone would see it. In a not so vailed threat to the United States, “Vladimir Putin ... announced that Russia has developed and is testing a new line of strategic, nuclear-capable weapons that would be able to outmanoeuvre US defences, suggesting a new arms race between Moscow and the west.” Mr. Putin said the development of these weapons was a result of the “...US pulling out of the 1972 anti-ballistic missile treaty signed with the Soviet Union.” The speech in which Mr. Putin made this threat “...came in the same month that the Pentagon released a new nuclear arms policy, which followed on from a promise by the US president, Donald Trump, to develop an arsenal 'so strong and powerful that it will deter any acts of aggression'.”

Is this Mr. Putin's way of reminding Mr. Trump of who is the boss? Or is it merely a reaction to the hawkish behavior that threatens to keep Russian military aggression in check? Whatever Mr. Putin's intent may be, he could not have made this threat of nuclear proliferation at a worst time for Donald Trump!

As Vox reported “... Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team has either indicted or gotten guilty pleas from 19 people and three companies so far — with most of those being announced just in the past two weeks.

That group is composed of four former Trump advisers, 13 Russian nationals, three Russian companies, one California man, and one London-based lawyer. Five of these people have already pleaded guilty — the latest being former Trump campaign staffer Rick Gates, who signed a plea deal and committed to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation Friday.”

In other words Mr. Mueller is gathering up the people close to Trump and is placing them like fallen leaves in a basket labeled “Cooperating/indicted” and/or a basket simply labeled “indicted!” Furthermore, NBC is reporting that:

”Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is asking witnesses pointed questions about whether Donald Trump was aware that Democratic emails had been stolen before that was publicly known, and whether he was involved in their strategic release, according to multiple people familiar with the probe.

Mueller's investigators have asked witnesses whether Trump was aware of plans for WikiLeaks to publish the emails. They have also asked about the relationship between GOP operative Roger Stone and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and why Trump took policy positions favorable to Russia.

The line of questioning suggests the special counsel, who is tasked with examining whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election, is looking into possible coordination between WikiLeaks and Trump associates in disseminating the emails, which U.S. intelligence officials say were stolen by Russia.”

The new threats of an arms race by Putin make any conspiracy or collusion with Russia to interfere in our elections all the more egregious, and they make Trump's refusal to enforce the congressionally mandated sanctions against Russia all the more damning. During the cold war any conspiracy involving US citizens and the Soviet Union against this country and its allies was considered treasonous by a majority of the people even though such a conspiracy did not meet the legal definition of treason.  Even the legal distinction between espionage and treason was often meaningless to defendants convicted of either crime, e.g. although the Rosenbergs could not be charged with treason because we were not technically “at war” with the Soviet Union, their conviction for espionage carried with it the same penalty as a conviction for treason and they were executed! The threat from Russia then and now is real, and Putin has just reminded us of how grave that threat is. We desperately need an honest President who will defend this country from all threats foreign and domestic!